Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-07-20 Monday

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

Democracy Now! Monday, July 20, 2026

From New York, this is Democracy Now. The Secretary General remains deeply concerned by the continuing military escalation between Iran and the United States of America. He's particularly concerned about attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and across the region. The United Nations is calling for new talks between the U.S. and Iran as the war rapidly escalates. The U.S. has bombed Iran for nine consecutive nights, while, at least three U.S. soldiers were killed in Jordan and Iraq in the deadliest weekend for U.S. troops since early March. We'll get the latest.

Then to Houston, Texas, where protests are continuing over the death of Lorenzo Salgado O'Raljo, a Mexican father of three U.S. citizens who was fatally shocked by an ice agent as he drove to work. I really hoped that my dad would be the last person. that this would happen to. But you saw what happened less than a week later. Out there in Maine, there is a young three-year-old child who saw the worst of the worst. And it is terrible to think that this could happen again.

We'll hear voices from the streets of Houston and speak with Democratic Congress member Al Green, Then millions of people across North America face another day of hazardous air pollution as nearly a thousand active wildfires continue to rage in Canada. President Trump's threatening new tariffs on Canada while ignoring the link between the fires and climate change. We'll go to Canada for the latest. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org.org. The war and peace report.

I'm Amy Goodman. The United States is continuing to strike Iran for a ninth straight day. after two U.S. service members from Hawaii and Texas were killed in an Iranian air attack on a base in Jordan. A third soldier was killed in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone. On Saturday, the U.S. struck a water desalinization plant in the village of Banji, disrupting drinking water for about 10,000 people in nearly two dozen villages in southern Iran. According to drop-site news, U.S. attacks have also targeted nine bridges to airports, railroad junction and a road tunnel since Wednesday. And the International Atomic Energy Agency

is looking into reports of an attack on the construction site of a planned nuclear power plant and Dachovin. Over the weekend, the State Department issued a warning to Americans abroad, calling on them to remain cautious. This comes as Axios reports. The U.S. is sending dozens of refueling planes to Israel ahead of increased military operations against Iran. Iranian authorities report U.S. attacks so far this month have killed at least 41 people and wounded more than 400 others. This is the advisor to Iran's supreme leader. If in the next two or three days, the Americans continue the war, we will enter a phase of complete offense and destruction. Should they try to seize any part of our territory,

we might enter that same phase of offense, abandoning our defensive posture, abandoning our deterrence and reciprocal measures. In Gaza, Israeli strikes in Gaza City on Saturday killed at least nine Palestinians, including three children, according to local health officials. Separately, an Israeli attack on a tent sheltering, displaced families in southern Gaza, killed at least one Palestinian and wounded several others Sunday night. This is Huda Alaham, who is building with someone. destroyed in an Israeli strike.

Our message to the world is to stop this war on us. We can't stand it. We don't have anything. We can't find food to eat. Why are they doing this? We haven't done anything. We were staying safely in our homes. We want to eat.

We want to live like everyone else. Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,100 Palestinians in Gaza since October when Israel agreed to a U.S. brokered, so-called cease fire. In the occupied West Bank, dozens of Israeli settlers stormed a Palestinian village near the southern town of Yatatat on Sunday, setting fire to a mosque in buildings. Footage obtained by Reuters showed the settlers attacking a Palestinian homes starting fires near the property and spraying graffiti on its walls. Eyewitnesses called it a coordinated attack. It was an attack on the entire village.

Settlers came from the nearby settlement of Havat Mahon. They were around 40 settlers. Six were attacking here. They directly attacked this house to prevent anyone from getting out of the house, and the others went towards the mosque, and they tried to set fire to the mosque. Elsewhere, Israeli settlers deliberately set fire to Palestinian farmland and olive groves in the village of Till, south of Nablus. In June Amnesty International accused Israel's government of carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing and the occupied West Bank amidst a steep rise of state-backed violence and forced displacements by Israeli settlers. Israel's revoke the protected status of now crocodiles to pave the way for a new prison

modeled after the Trump administration's so-called alligator alcatraz, ICE jail, in the Florida Everglades. The proposal by Israel's far-right national security minister to Mar-Ben-Gavir would see Palestinians held in a prison surrounded by a crocodile-infested Mote. Israeli researcher and political commentator, Shaill Ben Afghayim, said on X, quote, the fact that Israel's trying to surround a prison with crocodiles tells you all you need to know about these camps, which are designed to torture, rape, and murder Palestinians often held as hostages without charges, unquote. In Ukraine, Russia launched one of its largest ballistic

missile attacks on the Capitol Keeves since the start of the war, leaving at least six people dead and dozens injured. Ten people were also killed in a Russian strike near the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. In response, Ukraine targeted Moscow with 400 drones, wounding two people, setting buildings ablaze. This is a key resident whose apartment was damaged in a Russian attack. There was the first strike. The building shook. Then it was quiet for a while, because the front doors had been blown off. Here in the hallway, then came the second strike. And then there was a huge blast. We heard it. The building started shaking, and I could hear everything flying around. A Colorado prison guard faces multiple charges, including attempted murder,

after he allegedly shot a protester outside the for-profit ICE jail where he works. Witnesses say 42-year-old Brandon Booth responded to demonstrations last Thursday outside the Geo Group's Aurora Ice Processing Center by firing a single shot at protesters, then fleeing the scene. The bullet struck 21-year-old Emma Landis in the heel, sending her to the hospital. In the wake of the shooting, Booth's former sister-in-law told the Denver Post, Booth was, quote, not a good person at all, unquote. She said he'd previously slammed her into a wall, giving her a concussion, adding, quote, this is not a person who does the right thing or respects boundaries,

especially of women and kids, she said. Meanwhile, records show the ICE agent behind the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero once told a court. A head injury had left him with impaired cognitive functioning in memory. David Brayette filed a lawsuit against the main community college system in late 2023, alleging post-concussive injuries after a steel beam fell on his head during a firefighting training course. Just two years later, Brouet went to work as an ice officer, despite his injury and his documented history of domestic violence against two previous wives and his daughters. He's an Afghan war vet.

The far-right social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have been arrested in Miami after British authorities issued new rape and sex trafficking charges against the brothers. The United Kingdom's Crown Prosecution Service announced the charges Saturday. 38 new charges in total have now been authorized against Andrew and Tristan Tate. bringing the total number of charges faced to 59. The charges relate to seven victims spanning a period from 2010 to 2017. I want to make it clear. There is no place for male violence against women and girls in our society,

and we will continue to work tirelessly to support victims and investigate all reports made to us. Andrew and Tristan Tater, dual British U.S. citizens prominent in the far-right hyper-masculine online community, known as the Manosphere. They previously lived in Romania where in 2023, prosecutors filed a criminal indictment

against them on charges, including violence, rape, and human trafficking. Despite the charges, they were freed from travel restrictions in Romania earlier this year after White House officials took an interest in their case. Andy Burnham takes over

as the United Kingdom's next prime minister succeeding Kirstarmer. Burnham is Britain's 7th,000. Prime Minister in a decade. He's the former mayor of Manchester, considered to be more left-leaning than Stramer. Starmor was forced to step down from office after members of his Labor Party called on him to resign after the party's huge losses in Britain's local elections. Millions of people across North America face another day of hazardous air pollution as nearly a thousand active wildfires continue to rage in Canada. Hazardous air quality alerts are

once again in effect today for major cities, including Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, and Minneapolis. Here in New York air qualities improved, at least for now, following what officials are calling the second worst smoke event in New York City's modern history. On Friday, President Trump blamed Canada, threatened to impose new tariffs on Canada over the record levels of hazardous air. We'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. In Maine, former state lawmaker Troy Jackson has emerged as a frontrunner to replace Graham Platner as the Democratic Party's nominee to challenge Republican Senators Susan Collins in November's midterm elections.

Over the weekend, Jackson's campaign got a boost when several rivals withdrew from the race. Meanwhile, Jackson received broad support in county-level meetings in the Maine Democratic Party ahead of a nominating convention next Saturday. Troy Jackson's a progressive who narrowly lost the Maine Democratic gubernatorial primary when he was cross-endorsed by Graham Plattner. Plattner withdrew his nomination earlier this month after a former girlfriend accused him of rape. And New York City Mayor Zohran, Mamdani says

he's still looking into arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits New York for the UN General Assembly in September. Mamdani spoke with the New York Times, the interview podcast. I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague. He's a war criminal. who has been charged by the International Criminal Court.

And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years. I've also said that I will follow the laws that we have here in New York City because I believe that there is an importance in following the law as a leader who presides over our city and that's something that I plan to do. Meaning, I'm sorry, I don't understand what that means. Meaning that whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that's what we will do, but we won't be writing our own laws to that end.

New York City Mayor, Zoran Mamdani. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, DemocracyNow.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The U.S. is expanding its attacks on Iran after at least three soldiers were killed in the deadliest weekend for the United States since March. Two U.S. service members were killed in an Iranian attack on a base in Jordan. A third soldier was killed in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone.

The U.S. identified the soldiers killed in Jordan as 1st Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan at 25 years old of Hawaii and private Isabella Gonzalez, 19 years old from Texas. A third soldier remains missing in action after the attack in Jordan. The U.S. has now struck Iran for nine consecutive nights. Iran's retaliated by striking U.S. allies across the Gulf. Earlier today, Iran threatened to not allow a, quote, single drop of oil or gas to transit the Strait of Hormuz if U.S. aggression continues. This comes as Axios reports. The U.S. is sending dozens of refueling planes to Israel ahead of expected increased military operations against Iran. According to Iranian authorities, at least 41 Iranians have been killed

and 408 wounded in U.S. attacks so far this month. We're joined now by Toby Jones, Associate Professor of Middle East History at Rutgers University, author of Desert Kingdom, how oil and water forge modern Saudi Arabia, as well as running dry essays on energy, water, and environmental crisis. Toby Jones, if you can start off by commenting on these developments, the ninth straight night where the U.S. attacked Iran, Iran retaliating across

the Gulf. The number of U.S. soldiers has increased who are killed to 17. Another one is missing and the targeting of civilian infrastructure. Take it all on, Professor Jones. Good morning, Amy. Thank you. We're at a remarkable moment. We shouldn't be surprised that the United States has escalated violence in the region. What's been on display since February when the war started, or at least the most recent round of what is a long war in Iran, started, is that the United States has considerable violence at its disposal, but it has limited political capacity to dictate terms. While it had a series of nebulous objectives in February, regime change, dismantling or at least challenging Iranian nuclear capacity, what the war has come

down to in the summer is essentially control over the Strait of Hormuz, which was not in question at the start of the war. The United States is unhappy that Iran has essentially emerged for months of fighting with control over a strategic waterway. The United States is frustrated by its inability to change or alter any of that. Iran sits in a position of primacy at Hormuz, and the United States is lashing out, seeking to undo that position to challenge and to bottle back up Iran's newfound strategic influence and capacity and control over what is the world's most important energy corridor. So what we're seeing then is the United States expanding its war efforts, to inflict pain on Iran, to maximize both military targeting as well as civilian and infrastructure damage,

to create the conditions for the impossibility of life and to weaken the Iranian regime. It's hard to say that it's working for nine straight days. Iran has remained defiant, and has even escalated and retaliated against not only Jordan, but also against Kuwait, and more recently against the headquarters of the U.S. 5th Fleet, the naval 5th Fleet, and Bahrain. Iran has been steadfast. The United States is scrambling. It's hard to know where this is going to go, where this is going to go, but it's all very disturbing. And can you talk about the soldiers who have died that we know of and the missing soldier?

Talk about the U.S. presence from Jordan to Iraq, where these soldiers were killed. One of them, not in an Iranian strike, but when they were when they were, when they were, dismantling an Iranian drone? Well, Americans seem to forget the just sort of massive presence. The United States has built militarily in the Middle East, and particularly surrounding the Persian Gulf, since the early 1980s. It's been a 50-year-long project marked and sort of punctuated by conflict against Iraq, an ongoing siege and sanctions regime against Iran, but all with the

the idea of creating a massive military footprint in order to secure American hegemonic and political economic interests, primarily energy, but also Israeli security and American-Israeli relations, as well as American relationships with the authoritarian across the region. So that footprint has been built steadily over time, and it's more or less a permanent presence. The targeting of U.S. soldiers, on the one hand, is a normal act of war from the Iranians. They're responding to aggression against them, which they did not provoke. in February, but which the United States and the Israelis believed was in their interest to pursue.

And so Iran is striking out at American infrastructure. One of the most fascinating aspects of the war over the last several months is how little we actually know about the costs for both American forces and American military material and infrastructure in the region. We know that Iran has targeted infrastructure in the Gulf, both civilian and military, has now begun to attack Jordan. What we don't know is we don't know the scale of the world. of the physical damage that's been obscured and hidden from us from the Department of Defense

and the Pentagon. I mean, Hegseth is petulantly avoided confronting or being honest with what the costs are. And the only reason we know about the deaths of these three soldiers and the possibility of a fourth is because you can't hide the returning of dead bodies. We don't know how many people have been injured. We don't know the knock-on effects in the region. We know very little. We have very little information.

This has remained more or less true, both in terms of what happens on the waters of the Gulf and what happens elsewhere. What Americans have probably not paid sufficient attention to is the massive vulnerability of all of these places and systems. There's a separate question of whether they're actually necessary or not. I don't believe that they are. I think Americans voted in the last election because they're tired of U.S. wars in the Middle East and elsewhere, but the reality is that there is an ongoing physical, significant commitment by the U.S. military to the region. So it's hardly surprising that in the course of war, that American soldiers would come under fire and pay a price. Speaking of coming under fire, talk about what's happening to international

law right now, Toby Jones. Well, look, international law remains a bedrock of how the global system is supposed to function. It establishes both a set of norms for behavior, as well as ostensibly a kind of system of accountability for people to behave appropriately both in times of war and absent times of war. But what we've seen since at least the early stages of Desert Storm, the lead up to the 1991 War and everything that's followed, both from the position of American war fighting in the region, and importantly, the way that's linked to how Israel behaves in the West Bank and southern Lebanon and especially in Gaza is that international law and international norms, what might be considered war crimes, while they are very obviously being committed through

the targeting of infrastructure, the targeting of civilians, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in Lebanon, the targeting of water desalination, bridges, infrastructure, oil refineries, and all the sort of following environmental and social harm that comes from all of that lays bare that the system of international law is a system in which there's no accountability for real power in the world. The United States and Israel, they enjoy, if not absolute, pretty close to absolute impunity. And in fact, remarkably, the United States has begun

talking about dismantling the international criminal court, not just ignoring systems of international norms and law, but actually dismantling it so that it can behave the way it wants to in the world. About 25 years ago, when I first moved to the Middle East to study Arabic in Cairo, this was in 2001 and 2002, my wife and our friends and I did a year, year-long Arabic language program at the American University in Cairo.

9-11 happened while we were there. The U.S. started its war in Afghanistan. Israel staged the siege in Ramallah that spring. American citizens in Cairo were concerned, and I think rightly so, predicted the kind of escalation of American imperial violence that would follow over a generation, both in Afghanistan and Iraq. We circulated a petition gathering signatures amongst other American citizens in Cairo, and it was significant enough that we got an audience with the then-American ambassador

I won't name him on air, but a George Bush appointee with several of us in his office, and he sat us down and he rolled up his sleeves and said, nobody cares about international law. And that was a real eye-opener, and it was an important moment. It's not a system of beliefs or practices or a legal system that needs to be abandoned, but we need to reckon with how it's not equally imposed or enforced and how people like Iranian citizens, Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis, and those without big enough guns are,

not protected by it. Interestingly, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, said the administration will dismantle the ICC brick by brick, if necessary. Meanwhile, the United Nations is calling for Iran and the U.S. to come back to the table. Toby Jones, Associate Professor of Middle East History at Rutgers University, writes frequently on oil war in the Middle East author of Desert Kingdom, oil and water forge modern Saudi Arabia, and running dry essays on energy, water, and environmental crisis.

Coming up, we go to Houston, Texas, where protests continue over the death of Lorenzo Salgado-Ralho, the Mexican father of three, fatally shocked by an ICE agent as he drove to work. Back in 30 seconds. And, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, and, he'll be a-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-lmash-we, and let the bussarer-sssarry-enfah. Who's not He'stare, I'mr He'sma,

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cut, cut, Hockey or talk by Palestinian a musician Huda Asford, performing in our Democracy Now studio. To see your full performance and interview, go to DemocracyNow.org. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. We go to Texas, where Houston community members continue to demand justice for Lorenzo Sagal-Arajo, shot and killed by an ICE agent on July 7th. He was a 52-year-old Mexican father of three U.S. citizen sons,

lived in the United States for nearly 35 years, worked in construction. The ICE agents involved have not been identified. It's also unclear whether they remain on active duty or have been placed on administrative leave. The Office of Harris County District Attorney Shantir is pursuing an independent investigation. While Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Trump ally, said Texas Rangers will investigate the fatal shooting, advocates fear the Trump administration may attempt to withhold key evidence. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has also announced it'll hold a field hearing in Houston Friday to hear eyewitness accounts and testimony in Salgado-Arajo's killing. But three key witnesses who are in the van with Lorenzo are still being detained.

in a nice jail in Conroe, Texas, run by the for-profit prison company Geo Group. One of the witnesses is Lorenzo's brother, Victor, who now faces deportation. Well, Democracy Now has been on the ground in Houston over the weekend and visited the community-built memorial at the site of the fatal shooting in the heart of the Magnolia Park neighborhood in the city's East End District. Democracy Now is Maria Inez-Tadesena, spoke with some of the visitors, as well as Cesar Espinoza, executive director of Fio. Today we are at the memorial, the makeshift memorial, the community

memorial, the community shrine that has been set up for Mr. Lorenzo Salgado Arou. Apparently, from what we know, Mr. Lorenzo was coming this way, and then he U-turned, and his van ended up in this very spot, and unfortunately this is where he took his last breath. As you can see, you know, this is in the heart of Magnolia Park here in Houston. Texas, one of the first Latino communities here in Houston. People of the second, third generation, people who have maybe their immigrant parents moved here and they've grown up here. This is a very Latino part of town.

And for Lorenzo Salgado Arauj, he felt like this was home. He raised his family here. And so he was at home when this happened to him. The other thing that I was pointing out earlier was the Red Bricks. I mean, this is a clear reminder of community. coming together to save themselves. The red brick significance is when the city of Houston refused to pave the streets in the borough in the neighborhood,

people got together and they bought these bricks and they laid them down by hand. People like Lorenzo Salgado Arajo would have been the people who would have come together and with their hands would have built this street, would have built the neighborhood. When we came here the first time, I noticed that immediately,

and it brought chills to me. because it's very symbolic that this happened here. You know, one of the things we have seen, and one of the things that also brings a lot of emotion to us, is seeing all the abuelitas, the mamas, the daughters, the men, the dads coming out here, and taking care of the shrine. If you look at the flower, where the veladores are,

a man built that and brought that over here. After we spoke with Cesar Spinozao Fiel, community members from different parts of Houston came by Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's shrine to pay their respect. My name is Sonia. I was born two streets down from here. I'm an educator. So I worked also down the street from this place.

I came here today because Mr. Lorenzo is everybody's father. I'm a child of immigrants myself. and when I'm here. I'm overwhelmed with emotion because it's like if I was looking at my own dad, post it up there. The amount of support

that this family has gotten, it's no coincidence and it's not by accident. It's because he's Houston's dad. He looks just like all of our parents. He has the same story, the same American dream. And today I decided

to stop and come here because I just needed to pay my respects and I needed him to know. I needed the family to know that they're not alone, that we're all with them and that he's cared for. Sadly, after this, my dad has started carrying his passport with him everywhere he goes because he's just, he was just so struck by what happened. He's so scared. He's, he's, an American citizen also, but just afraid that somebody will profile him the same way that Mr. Lorenzo was profiled. On Saturday evening, community members continued coming by Mr. Lorenzo's memorial, bringing candles, fresh flowers, balloons, and other offerings to honor him.

They placed a poster that showed Mr. Lorenzo with Joan Sebastian Durand Guerrero, the 25-year-old Colombian father killed by eyes. in Maine on the same week. Parents also came to the memorial with their children. My name is Efraian Montalvo. We are here because we are afraid of what is happening. Like Mr. Lorenzo, we also work in construction, and we don't know if we will come back home.

If we have children with us, we worry about them being stopped or that the same thing will happen to us as it happened to him. I've been here for about 20 years. I arrived to the United States. States around 2006. I drive through these streets every day for work. We brought a hard hat, part of the gear we used on the construction site, as a symbol of the

sorrow we share with his family. This is very sad. My son is four years old. If immigration were to stop me, my son is four years old. If immigration were to stop me, the thought of having to leave my son, I have a lot of fear. If they stop me or to leave him, there is fear, there is fear. That was Afrayan Matalvo, a construction worker who was at the memorial for Lorenzo Salgado-Orajo, fatally shot by a nice agent in Houston. Ephraim visited the memorial with his four-year-old son. The Salgado family laid Lorenzo Salgado Arauj to rest in a private funeral and burial Saturday.

His oldest son, Ronaldo Salgado, said in social media, quote, We played music, courses, danced. We celebrated the life of the man who provided for my mom and my brothers for more than 30 years, unquote. On Sunday afternoon, hundreds gathered for another rally, calling for justice and accountability in Lorenzo Salgado Araldo's death. They were joined by Ronaldo and his brother Lorenzo Jr. Protestors temporarily shut down a bridge holding signs that red borders kill and abolish ICE. Democracy Now is Maria Ness Teresina spoke with some of them. We're at Texas heat.

I spelt in Texas heat. I'm spelt in Texas heat. I'm felt in Texas heat. We are at Irvin Chu Park in Houston ahead of the march demanding justice for Lorenzo Salgado Arauj. Several grassroots organizations have gathered here. Community members, there are people holding signs saying abolish ice, ice out of Texas. you can hear the music in the background. We spoke to some of the activists and members of the community.

My name is Vivek McAtroman, and I'm an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. ICE has not slowed its terror even one notch since the brutal murder of Lorenzo Salgado Arajo. As you mentioned, a young high school student described by his peers and his teachers as a very sensitive student was very forcefully detained at the Hobby Airport here in Houston. And of course, in the immediate days following Lorenzo's death, not in Houston,

but across the country, we've seen the continuation of ice brutality. We saw in the immediate aftermath of Lorenzo's death the brutal shooting in the head of Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. We saw a man in Florida fleeing ice hit by oncoming traffic. And what has been the response of Houston officials, of Harris County officials? What power do they have to stop ICE operations here in the city and protect the community. Many of the people here, in fact, spent many months at City Hall demanding an end to collaboration between ICE and HPD. And through that public pressure, the city actually decided to pass an ordinance

that limited the collaboration between ICE and HPD. Almost immediately after that ordinance was passed, which took a lot of work from the bottom up, after Greg Abbott threatened to withhold some funding, almost immediately John Whitmire, the mayor, folded, and the city council folded. And this is the kind of attitude we've seen from them over and over, just a complete betrayal of the people who have put them in power. Thank you for Lorenzo!

I'm Frances Escobaracosta. I am with Amigos de Los Salgado. We are a new organization that formed on the wake of Mr. Lorenzo's death. We are strong advocates for the Salgado family. So it's composed mostly of childhood friends of Ronaldo. We went to middle school, high school together, stayed in contact throughout our early adulthood years. And it hit us as if it was our own family member. When we heard the news of Mr. Salgado being shot by ICE agents, it broke our hearts as if it was in our own family.

Do you have family members of yours, relatives, who are afraid to go out in the street after not only the shooting of Mr. Lod's, but just the presence of ICE and the city of Houston. I have had also family members taken by ICE and deported to Honduras. And these are folks who were on a pathway to citizenship. They were on a path to get visas or residency or whatever the respective immigration status was. They were doing things the right way. I had a cousin who was detained and deported last year in August, and another who was detained earlier in 2026.

So just months after our first cousin was detained and deported, another cousin of ours was also detained and deported. My name is Alma Cooper. I'm here first because we are demanding justice for Lorenzo. But it's not just that. these terrorists coming from the government is not just in Houston, it's not just in Texas,

it's not just in the United States, it's terrorists all over the world. Just look at the Marco Rubio's declaration a couple of days ago. It's plain and simple terrorism. They are terrorizing the entire world. So I heard the about the killing of Lorenzo Salgado, the same Tuesday last week at night when the news,

I was watching the news and I mean, this is terrorists from the state, from the government, the criminal that is in the White House. For something greater and honestly I just work together. With how things are looking, we need to fight back. That's why I'm here. My name is Jorge Ojeda. When I saw Lorenzo's bed, and reminded me a lot of my dad who grows out,

but when my parents came in legally, doesn't matter, because my grandpa was the one that came in illegally to make that happen. And it doesn't matter at all. If you come here legally or not, you shouldn't be murdered just because you're here without a piece of paper. We just received word that Lorenzo Salgado Arauj

to all the sons, Ronaldo and Lorenzo Jr. will be addressing the crowd on the stage. I really, really hoped that my dad would be the last person that this would happen to. But you saw what happened less than a week later. Out there in Maine, there is a young three-year-old child who saw the worst of the worst. And it is terrible to think that this could happen again. The number one thing I think our government fears is the people coming together, becoming educated, and having these difficult conversations with each other.

And it's really important for us to stay united, to stay positive, and to keep fighting for justice. And I really only have three more words for y'all. I love you, Houston! It's very nice to see so many people. So many people of all backgrounds, racist, country. countries, religions come together and try to ask for what's right. Try to ask for the bare minimum, and it's going to be justice. Is that too much to ask?

I hope you guys have a safe, powerful march. And thank you all for being here for my dad, Lorenzo Salgado Arauj. Thanks to democracy now is Maria Inez Tarasena, Nicole Salazar, and Hany Massoud in the streets of Houston. This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. We're joined now in Houston by Democratic Congressmember Al Green, who serves on the Homeland Security Committee.

On Sunday, he attended a rally for Lorenzo Salgado O'Raljo, the 52-year-old Mexican father of three U.S. citizens shot and killed by an ICE agent July 7th. He'd been in this country for almost 35 years. Last week, Congressman Green took to the House floor to warn of a possible Trump cover-up in the killing. Representative Green, thank you so much for being with us. If you can talk about what you are demanding now and the congressional hearing on the road in Houston that will take place on Friday. Well, thank you for having me.

Amy, may I please take just a moment to compliment you on the excellent reporting. That was probably the best that I've heard or read in terms of what actually happened, and those reporters should be commended highly. I'm grateful to have this opportunity to talk about the demands. The demands are very simple, a demand for justice. the justice has to include an investigation. The investigation has to be independent. It has to be transparent. It has to give us the opportunity to know what happened to Mr. Lorenzo, Salgado, Arajo. We still don't have all of the facts. We have what typically happens in these circumstances,

which is ICE will make a statement, and then after they make a statement that appears to be bogus, they will say, wait until all of the facts are out. Well, they have rushed to judgment, and then they encourage that others not rush to judgment, but they make the initial statement that creates the confusion that surrounds a case, which is the case with what happened here.

My belief is that there is an attempt to cover up currently taking place. And that attempt to cover up is something that ICE has perpetrated in other cases. We can recall what happened in Minnesota. We remember Mr. Preddy. We remember what happened with Ms. Good. These attempts to cover up have manifested themselves, and they've been experienced. And that's what's happening now. And, Amy, it's done for a given reason.

You take all of the evidence and you don't share it with any of the local constabulary. And in so doing, you can present the case to the grand jury. If you don't get a true bill, if there's no indictment, you win. If there is an indictment, it's a federal indictment. And that then allows the president to do what I call cleanup. up. He can then pardon the people if they are convicted. He's demonstrated that he would do this when he pardoned some 1,500 people who assaulted the citadel of democracy, the United States Capitol, when there was a peaceful transfer of power. So yes, there is going to be a shadow

hearing in Houston, Texas, under the leadership of the Honorable Benny Thompson, who is the ranking member, which means that if Democrats had 218 or more members of Congress, he would be the chairperson of the committee. This man has demonstrated his fairness over the years as the chairperson of the committee when they investigated the impeachment of President Trump, evidence that kind of led to the impeachment. So the Chicano, the Hispanic caucus will, of course, be a lead organization, as they should be. This is something that involves a community that they should. strongly represent. We all represent communities, but they are intimately involved, and they should be a lead organization. This will be a joint hearing here in Houston. I'm honored to sit on the

Homeland Security Committee, and my hope is that we will hear from the district attorney. He has made some very bold and powerful statements. My hope is that if given the opportunity, we'll hear from lawyers and people who have talked to the persons who are presently incarcerated, the three men who were in that truck and who have given accounts that are contrary and antithetical to what the government has said. This is an important hearing. It will expose more, but it will also cause this case to remain a part of the public dialogue. Unfortunately, these things happen with a degree of rapidity such that we have one circumstance that we're trying to understand, and we find ourselves moving on to another circumstance that we don't understand.

We've had something to happen now in Maine, and the cameras will move to Maine. And as a result, what has happened here will somehow become secondary or tertiary news. We have to make it primary news, and this is one of the reasons why this shadow hearing is so important. Can you talk about the relationship between the African-American community, Congress member Al Green and the Latino community. So often attempts are made to pit them against each other. Talk about the coalescing right now in Houston around the death of Mr. Salgado-Orajo. The best evidence of it is what took place last evening, last night, at the community of faith.

This is a church under the leadership of Bishop James Dixon. And there was a cross-section of persons there from all faiths, generally speaking. We had persons of different hues, different ethnicities, and we were all there to say to each other that we must respect and we must work with each other. Someone mentioned Dr. King's words, we must all learn to live together as brothers and sisters, I might add, or we will perish together as fools. We are doing just that, learning to live together such that we can take all the challenges of our time and confront a common enemy that continues to become a part or be a part of our lives.

And that common enemy, my dear sister, is invidious discrimination. Invidious discrimination is the common enemy for Latinos and African Americans. And we have to confront this common enemy together. We cannot allow people to segregate us and cause us to believe that one is somehow benefiting from opportunities that belong to the other. We have to work together, and we are working together. I'm honored to say that the Honorable Sylvia Garcia has done an outstanding job of presenting this case to the public. She has been assisted by other people, but she's done an outstanding job.

And we are working together. And yes, you're imminently correct. There have been attempts not just with this case, but in the main, in the country, to divide Latinos and African Americans to keep us at odds with each other, such that we don't focus on that common enemy, which is invidious discrimination. and it happens every day in the lives of these communities. People want to believe that there is no racism in the country. Well, you're wrong.

They want to believe that there really is no discrimination in the country. Some people would say this, but they are wrong. It does exist. Now, does it exist to the same extent that it did some hundred years ago when we had lawful segregation, which was a form of racism? No, it doesn't exist to that same extent. But it does exist to the extent that it has an impact on the daily lives of people working in the country. And we have to fight it.

And we are working together. And my hope is that this will give us greater unity. This man's life can stand for a lot of things. But in dying, he can also do something that we may not have done but for his death. And God forgive me for having to even say that. But maybe it will cause us to realize that we're all in the same boat. Some of us may be here from different places, but we're in the same boat now, and we should move together in this same boat toward liberty and justice for all. Well, I want to thank you, Democratic Congressmember Al Green of Texas, who serves on the Homeland Security Committee.

Again, on Friday, the Hispanic Caucus will be holding a field hearing in Houston. And we hope to have you on again soon, Congress member Green, as you are outgoing, having lost the primary. targeted among others by the cryptocurrency industry. We want to talk about all that with you and your more than 20-year career on Congress and what your plans are. I want to thank you so much for being with us from Houston. Coming up, millions of people across North America facing another day of hazardous air pollution is nearly a thousand active wildfires continue to rage in Canada.

Stay with us. Palestinian musician who'd ask for performing in our Democracy Now studio. To hear her full performance and interview, she is a biomedical engineer taught at Georgetown, go to DemocracyNow.org. This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.com.com. I'm Amy Goodman. Millions across North America face another day of hazardous air pollution as nearly a thousand active wildfires continue to rage in Canada. air quality alerts are once again in effect today for major cities, including Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, and Minneapolis.

Here in New York, air qualities improved, at least for now, following what officials are calling the second worst smoke event in New York City modern history. In Canada, the fires have disproportionately impacted indigenous communities forcing thousands to evacuate their homes. On Friday, President Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on Canada over the record levels of hazardous air. Trump wrote, quote, United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous and totally unacceptable, Trump said.

But Trump has not said a word about climate change, which many scientists say is a driving force behind the fires. We go now to Montreal, where we're joined by Rachel Gilmore, independent journalist, creator of bubble pop media. Thanks so much for being with us. Rachel, if you can talk about what's happening in Canada, the blowback, I guess you could say, in the United States. And President Trump threatening Carney and Canada with tariffs, blaming Carney for what's happening in Canada, actually standing next to Carney and the Mexican

president at the World Cup on Sunday in New Jersey. Yeah, the situation in Canada is, it's horrifying. I mean, we're watching the impact of the climate crisis in real time. It's disproportionately impacting, as you noted, indigenous communities here. People have had to flee their homes, a large number of them ending up in Thunder Bay, where there's actually not enough space for everyone. The people are camping in tents just so that they have somewhere safe to sleep. that isn't their communities that they've had to leave behind because of the ravaging wildfires.

As you noted, there's almost a thousand of them burning. It's genuinely a crisis. There's lots of mobilization happening here in Canada. And the commentary from Trump was extremely offensive to a lot of Canadians. I mean, what else is new? I think unfortunately no one's really surprised by it anymore. up here, but, you know, particularly given just days before he made those comments, a Canadian firefighter had died in Colorado fighting wildfires. So it was just extremely, extremely tone-deaf.

But the additional horror, I guess, of just the apathy in Trump's comments is the reality that he's not acknowledging climate change. And Mark Carney sort of did a little bit of, he doesn't usually respond directly to the more unhinged stuff that Trump says, but he sort of made this comment about how it is the climate crisis that is making the dry and hot conditions for more wildfires to be sparked when there's more extreme weather, which causes more lightning strikes. But the difficulty here is that, you know, as much as Carney's saying that in response to Trump, he's not exactly taking the climate action that we need here in Canada. In fact, quite the opposite, despite him sort of selling himself as this climate guy leaning on

his credentials from his time at the United Nations. If you can talk about that. I mean, on the one hand, you have President, you have Prime Minister Carney announcing a multi-billion dollar strategy on what he called breaking Canada's economic dependence. on the U.S., which must have infuriated President Trump, but it includes a new pipeline in Alberta and building up multiple liquefied natural gas terminals. The proposed pipeline would move one million barrels of oil daily from landlocked Alberta to the southern coast of British Columbia near Vancouver. If you can talk more about the significance of this, Rachel.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think a lot of us were shocked. by the announcement because so many people had this idea that Carney would at least give the tini bit of a dam about the climate crisis. And yeah, he came out and made this announcement alongside Alberta Premier Daniel Smith. Alberta is where most of the oil is in Canada. It's where we have our oil sands. And, you know, they announced this new proposed pipeline. And what's ridiculous about it, the claim is that we need this investment in oil and gas to diversify away from the United States. But the economic case even isn't there. We just twinned a TMX pipeline to the West Coast. And just now it's starting to make about a billion dollars annually. And we paid the Canadian taxpayers $34 billion for that pipeline, which means it will have to make that kind of profit for the

34 more years to be profitable. And that's the previous pipeline that the Canadian people were forced to buy by a liberal government. And now Mark Carney is saying that he's, you know, offering his full-throated support for another oil pipeline. I mean, the only way that we can actually profit from that oil pipeline is if we absolutely abandon the fight against climate change because we would need there to be a world where demand for oil and gas continues to uptick for decades into the future to actually make money off

of this pipeline. So it makes no economic sense. And obviously, it is a horrific plan for the climate crisis. In Canada, our oil and gas sector is our largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. And Mark Carney is selling the snake oil solution of carbon capture and storage to go alongside the oil and gas pipeline, but he's offering a tax credit for oil companies that use that captured carbon to actually inject it into depleted oil wells, racking out more oil that otherwise would not be able to be accessed by those companies. So they get a tax credit for that. Rachel Gilmore, thank you so much for being with us, independent journalist and Canada creator of Bubble Pop Media. I'll be in Martha's Vineyard, July 31st for the screening of Steel the Story,

please. I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.