Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-09-04 Friday

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

Headlines for September 04, 2026; Stanford Student Newspaper Wins Suit over Trump’s Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Speech; “They Got Zero Notice”: 2,500 Workers Laid Off as Tyson Foods Shutters Meatpacking Plant in Illinois; “Terrorizing Our City”: ICE Targets Immigrants in Danbury, CT, Including at School Bus Stops; “Top of the World”: Remembering the Restaurant Workers Killed Atop World Trade Center in 9/11 Attack

York, this is Democracy Now. The Stanford student newspapers sued the Trump administration because non-citizens in our newsroom saw what was happening in the news to Ramesa Oss Turk and to Mahmoud Khalil, and they were frightened to put their name on a story or to go cover the news or to write opinion articles because the chilling effect was so real for them. The Stanford Daily has won a major free speech lawsuit against the Trump administration. We'll speak with the student newspapers, editor-in-lawful. chief. Then Tyson foods shuts down an Illinois meatpacking plant laying off 2,500 workers amidst a

historic cattle shortage caused in part by drought and the rise in cost of fertilizer and diesel due to the U.S. war on Iran. Then to Danbury, Connecticut, the site of mass protests after ICE detained dozens of people, including parents dropping their children off at school bus stops. And as the 25th anniversary of the September 11th, the tax approaches. We'll look at the deaths of nearly 80 restaurant workers at Windows on the world, the restaurant on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center. With 450 employees, Windows was like the UN of the restaurant world. I was from Peru, its New York City is a melting pot. I came from the ivory course. In the U.S. was a big to big dream.

This just in, the plane has crashed into one of the towers. My friend's wife called me to say, your building is burning. I'm trying to call my husband. We didn't know who's there. We'll speak to the Oscar-nominated filmmakers, Julie Cohen and Betsy West. Co-directors of the new documentary Top of the World. We'll also talk to Seku Sibi, who is supposed to work at the restaurant on 9-11. He is from the Ivory Coast.

he asked his friend from Ecuador to work for him. All about and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the war and peace report. I'm Amy Goodman. The death toll from a U.S. missile strike on a wedding party in Iran has risen to five. Among the dead is a six-year-old boy. A funeral for the victims was held Thursday. Nearly 70 others were wounded in the U.S. bombing that struck a home in the Iranian city of Kuhetstock on Tuesday.

one of the dozens of U.S. attacks on Iran earlier this week. Reuters reports it was likely a direct hit by a U.S. munition and not a ricochet off another target. Other news outlets, including the New York Times and the BBC, came to similar conclusions. On Thursday, Vice President J.D. Vance said the U.S. will investigate the missile strike, but that he doubts the U.S. was behind the attack. I will say that the Iranian state media has not been a very good. good scribe about what's happened in the conflict thus far. So I'm extremely skeptical of this. Vance's pledged to investigate the bombing of the wedding party. Come six months after U.S.

cruise missiles struck an elementary school in Minab. That attack killed over 150 people, many of them little girls and boys going to school. The Pentagon's yet to publicly release a report on the strikes. Meanwhile, Vance was asked by CNN's Caitlin Collins whether the war would continue into November. Will this war be over by the time of the midterm elections? Well, Caitlin, again, I don't, I wouldn't call it a war. Right now, there is no active shooting. I recognize there have been places where this is flared up.

Major combat operations, again, major combat operations lasted for about six weeks. Israel's far right, national security minister to Marban Gavir, is outlined a plan to remove all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. He called for the next government to form a ministry in charge of emigration to carry out his plan of mass expulsion. 250,000 in the first year. Is it possible? It is possible. 1.1 million within three years and within seven years we can reach almost 1.9 million, which will accumulate.

It is possible. It is realistic. It is in our hands. It is within our capabilities. Please. This comes as Israel continues to carry out deadly attacks in Gaza, killing at least three Palestinians on Thursday, despite the U.S. broker's so-called ceasefire. Meanwhile, Amnesty International's accused Israel of brazenly confiscating land in the occupied West Bank as part of what the group calls Israel's annexation agenda. The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to strip federal funding from universities that participate in board. boycotts of Israel. The measure passed 237 to 169 with 33 Democrats supporting the bill. Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Taleb, who is Palestinian-American, blasted the legislation. This bill is an attack on free speech and academic freedom, all in the name of defending a genocidal

apartheid state. While the Trump administration is stripping universities of their funding, deporting international students, and pressing universities to shut down their black and African-American studies departments, Congress is voting today to force universities to pledge their loyalty to what? To a foreign government. That's right. Support Israel's governments right now war crimes or lose federal student aid. Missouri's Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday. A new Republican drawn congressional map may not be used in November's midterm elections. Republicans had hoped their mid-decade redistricting effort would gain them an additional House seat in the next Congress. Meanwhile, the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal at the Supreme Court

Thursday seeking to reverse a federal judge's order blocking U.S. Postal Service restrictions on mail and ballots from taking effect. U.S. District Judge And Dara Tawani issued the temporary restraining order last week, halting President Trump's directive to U.S.PS to deliver ballots only to voters on federally approved lists. On Thursday, Judge Tawani grilled government lawyers over the plan warning it could lead to, quote, major disenfranchisement, unquote. The Justice Department says states could lose billions of dollars of federal funding for low-income residents unless they report undocumented immigrants living in their communities.

In a legal opinion issued Wednesday, the DOJ warns any state resisting the Trump administration's mass deportation program could lose funding for. TENIF, temporary assistance for needy families, and SSI, the Supplemental Security Income Program. The changes are almost certain to draw a legal challenge from Democratic State attorneys general. This comes as new data show nearly 10 million people, including two and a half million children, have lost access to health coverage during President Donald Trump's second term, and that's before new work requirements and steeper cuts to Medicaid and the children's health insurance program, CHIP, fully take effect. Five million fewer people are receiving

SNAP food assistance benefits following passage of the 2025 GOP budget reconciliation package known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Federal authorities have once again deported asylum seekers from the U.S. to Haiti, despite an epidemic of gang violence that's displaced nearly one and a half million people. It was the third consecutive Thursday. that a deportation flight landed in the northern city of Capacien. Haiti's main international airport in Port-au-Prince is considered too dangerous. In June, the Supreme Court ruled six to three to allow the Trump administration to cancel TPS, temporary protected status from more than a third of a million Haitians living in the U.S.

UNICEF warns one in 13 children in Haiti are suffering from acute malnutrition. In other immigration news, China's government's demanding answers after a Chinese national was found dead, just hours after being booked into ICE detention in the U.S. territory of the northern Mariana Islands, 51-year-old Leon Yong Wei is at least the 57th person to die in the custody of ICE or the U.S. Border Patrol since March of last year. In Washington State, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE has released Loretto Javar, a 76-year-old green card holder from the Philippines who was detained during his U.S. citizenship interview. He was jailed for over two months even though he's battling stage four cancer. An immigration and customs enforcement officer who shot a Venezuelan immigrant in Minnesota was taken into federal custody late Thursday on charges. of making false statements to investigators. That's according to CBS News, which reports a federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment against the agent Christian Castro.

He's expected to appear in court today. This comes after the Texas Republican governor, Greg Abbott, refused to extradite Castro to Minnesota to face more serious charges of second-degree assault and falsely reporting a crime. Meanwhile, ProPublica reports a U.S. prosecutor in Minnesota plan to file federal civil rights charges against Castro, but was overruled by higher-ups at the Justice Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans wrote in an email review by ProPublica, quote, This is being directed by the main justice and the U.S. attorney. I objected in the strongest possible terms and fought it as hard as I could.

It wasn't enough, he said. In Nepal, rescue workers pulled two survivors from a hydropower tunnel Friday morning, nine days after the partial collapse of a glacier triggered a massive flood and landslide. Rescue workers continuing as authorities believe dozens of others remain trapped in similar tunnels. On Thursday, authorities said the disaster had killed nearly 1,300 people on both sides of the China-Napal border with more than 5,600 still missing. The United Nations warns the Himalayas are warming twice as fast as the global average accelerating the retreat of glaciers and increasing the rest of. of devastating landslides and floods. The United Nations warns nations will fail to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius

above pre-industrial levels falling short of a cornerstone of the Paris Climate Agreement. A new report by the UN Environment Program finds that even under the most optimistic scenario, global temperatures are set to rise by at least 1.8 degrees with catastrophic consequences. This is UNEP director, Inger Anderson. Above 1.5 degrees centigrade, we can expect an identification of extreme weather, of glacier melt, of ecosystem loss, and of sea level rise. And human health and food and water security, cities and infrastructure will come under an increasing string. So put simply, there is no good outcome if we were. remain above the 1.5. The report concludes that the best remaining option is to overshoot current

climate goals on the road to net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, the UN's weather and climate agency is calling for an urgent global response to an unprecedented ocean heat wave that's fueling extreme weather in many parts of the world. The World Meteorological Organization reported Thursday that a supersized El Nino effect is likely to persist through at least next February, Last month, the World Food Program estimated nearly 50 million additional people and highly vulnerable communities will be pushed into acute hunger because of the strengthening El Nino. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in New York, joined by Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez in Chicago.

Hi, Juan. Hi, Amy, and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. A federal judge has ruled that Trump administration has violated the constitutional rights of international students and seeking to deport them for their pro-Palestinian activism and criticism of Israel. In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Noel Wise wrote, quote, in the United States, free speech, including the freedom to criticize the government and its leaders, is not a sign of our democracy's fragility. It's evidence of its strength. That strength is diminished when members of our society, citizens and non-citizens alike, must self-censor and behave or suffer the government's retaliation, she said. The lawsuit was filed by the Stanford Daily, the student newspaper at Stanford University,

which claim some of its writers on student visas declined to cover pro-Palestinian protests or report on topics related to Israel fearing deportation. Student journalists also requested their published articles on such topics be removed from the paper's website. The case raises broader questions about the climate of fear and political repression facing international students during the Trump administration. One of the most striking examples is Ramesa Ozturk, the Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University. Last year, masked, plainclothes immigration agents snatched Ozturk off the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts. A year earlier, she had co-written an opinion piece for the stuff, Tuft student newspaper, the Tufts Daily, critical of the university's response to campus

protests over Gaza and the school's failure to uphold student Senate resolutions on Palestine. Tufts University later stated the op-ed did not violate university policy, that no complaints had been filed about it, and that Ramessa Ozturk had been in good academic and immigration standing. Nonetheless, her student visa was canceled and she spent more than six weeks in an ICE jail in Louisiana. An immigration court eventually ruled in Ramesa's favor saying the government failed to meet its burden of proof to deport her. However, the message from the Trump administration to international students across the nation remain clear. Their ordinarily protected free political expression could now potentially cost them their immigration status and their freedom.

Well, for more, we're joined by two guests who successfully challenged the Trump administration in court. Here in New York City, George Porteus is with us, editor-in-chief of the Stanford Daily. And in Moorsetown, New Jersey, Will Creeley, legal director of fire, the foundation for individual rights and expression, which represented the Stanford Daily in court. George and Will, we welcome you both to Democracy Now. Let's begin with you, George Porteus. You are a rising senior at Stanford. the editor-in-chief of the paper. Talk about why you brought this suit. What were the student reporters saying to you, the international students? Well, thank you for having me. And what we were

hearing from the non-citizens in our newsroom and from non-citizens across campus, current students, former students, alumni, was that they were genuinely frightened because of what they saw in the headlines, what they saw happen to Ramesa Oostirk. They were understandably frightened that if they reported the news, even if they weren't writing an op-ed, even if they were just covering a protest or a vigil. If they put their name on a byline, they were frightened that they were going to lose their visa. And so what we said is we can't function as a newspaper if we don't have these voices included in our newspaper. So we filed suit, and last week the judge gave us a favorable ruling.

And, George, what was the initial response of the Stanford administration to your lawsuit? Did they Did they support your efforts? You know, the administration has remained relatively silent about this suit. We still haven't heard any response from them since this decision. And we're an independent organization. So this was a suit filed by the Stanford Daily on our own independently, and that's really why we were in this case, not really because of the university. And what does this all taught you in terms of the ability of a,

folks to stand up and defend the First Amendment? Well, I think what it's shown me is that it really has to begin locally, because we were dealing with a problem inside of our newsroom with our peers, and this was about solidarity, and also just the practical need to continue doing our jobs and to continue reporting the news. So it's shown me that it really does begin with everyday people. It begins with students, too. Students, I think, have enormous power to stand up to what this administration has done in terms of civil liberties and constitutional rights.

And we have real power is what this ruling has shown us. And are other students who have previously said they're not going to cover a protest? Are they willing to now? Has this made a difference change the climate in your newsroom? You know, it's still, I think, too early to see. But I'm hopeful that this ruling, because it's a very strong legal precedent, will carve out more room for non-citizens to feel that they can participate in democracy on campus. Will Creeley, you are legal director at fire.

the foundation for individual rights and expression. Talk about why you approach the Stanford Daily, why this is such a significant decision. Well, it's an honor to be here, Amy and Juan, and I'm so proud listening to George now expound upon the importance of folks like George and his predecessor Greta standing up for First Amendment rights. It's extremely important. When you see Rumaezza Ozturk in Prison Orange from a detention center in Louisiana for co-authoring an op-ed, you know something has gone terribly wrong.

With this administration again and again, the chill is the point. These actions that they're taking, these wanton violations of the First Amendment, are designed to get folks like George and his colleagues at the Stanford Daily to feel scared, to think twice, to ask that their names not appear on news reporting or opinion pieces. That's flatly un-American. So it was extremely important to us to fight back, and we're so grateful for the bravery of the Stanford Daily folks and our Jane Doe colleague, Jane Doe plaintiff, who was a member of Students for Justice in Palestine and was no longer going to protest or flying a Palestinian flag

or wearing shirts that expressed her political opinions. She self-censored because of what the administration was doing. That's a First Amendment violation every day of the week. It's flatly un-American, and that's why, We're very proud of last week's victory. Well, some members of the Trump administration responded. Steve Miller posted on X, quote, a district court judge says America must admit and keep foreigners who hate America and hate Americans.

Court ordered civilizational suicide. It will not stand. Response and also the issue that you, if you could talk a little bit about the due process question you raised. Stephen Miller has got it exactly backwards. In the year 1800, Thomas Jefferson in his inaugural address made clear that in this country we protect the First Amendment rights of even those who call for the dissolution of this country responding to the alien sedition acts.

We have a long history in this country of protecting that speech. That's what makes this country special. We have to live those values. It's Stephen Miller who's un-American here, not folks who are expressing their political opinions. The United States is supposed to be where folks from around the world, folks like Rumaezah Oz Turk, Mosan Madawi, Mahmoud Khalil, can come and learn about what it means to be able to speak out without fear of a midnight knock on the door or being whisked away by mass federal agents. We're going to continue fighting for those fundamental American rights no matter

who's in office. Well, we're going to be talking about people being whisked away by federal agents in a moment when we go to Danbury, Connecticut. I want to thank you both for being with us and just ask you as you go into your senior year, George. What are you majoring in? I'm a history major. So what have you learned? Well, history repeats itself. And I think what we've seen is this administration has a clear agenda. They're trying to instill fear on campuses. And they've done lasting damage. I mean, this lawsuit is a victory. But a lot of damage has already been done. So I think what I've learned is that we have a responsibility, especially as students. We have an opportunity to continue standing up for our peers, because when the most vulnerable

among us is afraid to speak, we should all be deeply concerned. George Porteus, editor-in-chief of the Stanford Daily, Will Creeley, Legal Director at Fire, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Coming up, Tyson Food shuts down an Illinois meatpacking plant, laying off 2,500 workers amidst a historic cattle shortage caused in part by drought and the rising cost of fertilizer and diesel fuel due to the U.S. war on Iran. Stay with us. There is power in a factory, power in the land and of the worker. But it all amounts to nothing if together we don't stand. There is power in a union.

Now the lessons of the past war were all learned with workers' blood The mistakes of the bosses we must pay for From the cities and the farmlands to trenches full of mud War has always been the bosses' wise, sir The young defending our rights Dahls unite With our brothers and our sisters Together we will stand.

There is power in a union. Now I long as brutality and unjust laws. Can not defeat us. The workers who can't... There's power in the union by Billy Bragg. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. As we head into this Labor Day weekend,

we turn now to the abrupt closure of a time. Tyson Foods beef processing plant in Jocelyn, Illinois. 2,500 workers lost their jobs with almost no notice. Many had worked at the plant for decades. The plant closed August 14th. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents more than 2,000 of the workers, said they received no advance notice from the company. On Thursday, dozens of laid-off workers protested the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield,

urging Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to reopen the plan under state ownership and provide relief to all affected workers. Tyson Foods also shuttered a facility in Utah, citing, quote, historic cattle shortages as the reason for the closures. The 75-year low of the U.S. cattle herd is due in part to drought the rise in cost of fertilizer and diesel due to the U.S. war in Iran and years of industry consolidation. workers held a rally in Jocelyn soon after the mass layoffs. They demanded Tyson increased their severance pay to at least six months of full compensation with benefits. Tyson Food CEO and president, Donnie King, made over $34 million last year, nearly 800 times more than the median Tyson worker and double the average CEO to worker pay ratio among S&P standard and poor's 500 companies.

This is a clip of laid off Tyson worker, a horro, S11, who spent 11 years at the plant. He sent the message yesterday. Disclosing make me a lot of stress. A lot of stress. Every day I have to think about I don't sleep. Every day, I have to apply the job. It is difficult to get a job in course of the year. It is very, very difficult. We lose our friends. our income go down and I want to talk 11 years attizing is not easy one year a tithes is not easy two weeks a tithing is not easy I think about our grandma our

dad's who spent 26 years 30 years 35 years attizin he spends all their life over there Well, what company can take them? Our governor, please. We want our job back. To talk more about this, we're joined by Caitlin Clark, director at Essential Workers for Democracy. Her latest piece in Labor Notes headline, Treated Worse Than Cattle.

2,500 Tyson workers laid off plant shutters overnight. She's joining us here in New York. Talk about what this means. 2,500 people laid off at once. Many worked at this plant for decades. Yeah, so 2,500 workers were laid off virtually overnight. They got zero notice to the workers, to their union, their families, or their community. Many of these workers, as you mentioned, and as Ahoro mentioned, have worked at Tyson for 10, 20, some 30 years,

doing some of the most dangerous jobs in America. Some have sustained cuts, chemical burns, repeated motion injuries. and through these years, they've made billions of dollars in profit for Tyson, which is one of the biggest meatpacking companies in the world. They're part of what we call the Big Four Meat Packers. They own 85% of all beef production in the United States. And the Big Four Packers have played a huge role in the cattle shortage that we're seeing today. So Tyson has credited the cattle shortage for the reason for the closure. But, you know, what we're seeing is while there are cattle shortages due to climate change-induced droughts and the increased price of diesel and fertilizer due to the war on

Iran. We've also seen a years-long corporate consolidation in the meatpacking industry that's led to alleged collusion between the big four packers to repress the prices that they pay to cattle producers for their livestock. In addition to repressing the wages that they pay to workers for their work in the meatpacking plants and inflating the prices that they charge to consumers at the grocery store. So after all this, these workers are now looking for new employment. Many of them are losing their health insurance. And because a vast majority of them are immigrant workers, many of them, even though they

are eligible to receive unemployment benefits, are afraid to apply for those benefits. And so these workers have been organizing, protesting, organizing rallies to call on Tyson to extend their severance pay and calling on Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. to intervene to help keep the plan open. And Caitlin, isn't the shutdown illegal? There's a warn requirement for employers of a minimum number of days that they must notify workers before shutting down. Yes, so that's been under debate.

The company has claimed that they will continue to pay workers severance pay until October, which would keep them in compliance with the Warn Act. But workers like Ahorah are receiving roughly half of their previous paychecks. So, you know, paychecks that used to be $900 or $1,000 are now much closer to $400 or $500 a week. So that payment will continue for two months until October, which the company is claiming will keep them in compliance with the Warn Act. On top of that, they have made a plant closure agreement with the union that will give the workers about one to four weeks of additional severance, depending on how long they worked there. but for workers who work more than 10 years at Tyson, they're only receiving four weeks of severance

on top of the federally mandated severance pay that they're receiving due to the Warn Act. Mentioned the union agreement. What has been the role of the union in this situation, and have they had meetings with the workers before signing such agreements? Well, unfortunately, what we've heard from many workers on the ground is that they are disappointed with their local unions,

signing of an agreement with Tyson, that basically said the union is not going to be fighting the closure of the plant, which has led many workers to independent worker action and organizing, to hold their own rallies and their own protest actions, to call on Tyson to do better for the workers and to increase their severance pay. This is, unfortunately, a very common reality for many members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. It's a 1.2 million member union that represents hundreds of thousands of meatpacking workers and retail grocery workers across the country who believe that they deserve, you know, a fighting

union where members are in charge. That's why we formed essential workers for democracy. It's a nationwide network of rank and file UFCW members who are fighting to build a stronger and a more democratic union from the bottom up, primarily through the right to vote for a top union leadership. We've seen what this looks like in other unions like the United Auto Workers that won the right to vote just a few years ago, elected new leadership, and then, went on strike against the big three automakers in 2023. Part of those contract negotiations were fighting companies like Stalantis to reopen formerly closed plants.

Now, that fight is still ongoing, but it demonstrates that rank and file union members and workers across the country are hungry to take on these companies for who they really are, that they don't need partnerships with management, that we need to take on the bosses and be serious about the level of inequality and exploitation that working people are facing today. And the message of the workers in this last 30 seconds who were rallying in Jocelyn and Springfield as we move into Labor Day? As we're going into Labor Day, I think it's an important reminder that working people in this country have never had their rights or their dignity handed to them by the bosses. It has to be organized for, it has to be fought for, and it can be won. When we look at labor history, we see that the eight-hour workday, the weekend, the 40-hour work week, those are all due to the power of the labor movement due to solidarity and strikes.

And working people need more. They deserve more. And they're ready to fight for it. It's time that our union leadership catch up with them. Caitlin Clark, Director at Essential Workers for Democracy, will link to your article, treated worse than cattle, 2,500 Tyson workers laid off plant shutters overnight. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez.

More than a thousand people rallied in Danbury, Connecticut, Wednesday night, to protest recent immigration arrests in Connecticut. There have been roughly 100 ICE arrests of immigrants in recent weeks, more than half in the city of Danbury. At least 60 businesses in the city also closed their doors for a day without immigrants, in support of the city's immigrant community. Among the arrests, local officials reported parents were picked up. When they brought their children to school bus stops,

the kids went into the bus, and then the parents were taken by ICE. This is Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy last week. There has been an obscene uptick in arrests here in Danbury, in particular this morning. There was a hunting of families happening at school. bus stops in which ICE apparently waited for kids to board the bus and then picked up the parents just to intentionally terrorize the kids so that when they get off the bus, their parents are gone in detention, feeling traumatized, alone, scared to death. This has to stop.

CNN's Dana Bash asked so-called border czar Tom Holman about the bus stop arrest. Are ICE officers detaining parents at school bus stops? ICE isn't a business of terrorizing children. That's just political fire. ICE is out there enforcing law that wasn't acted by Congress. So he didn't deny what ICE was doing. On Thursday, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal hosted a town hall in Danbury to hear directly from officials and community members. The advocacy group, Danbury unites for immigrants, says detentions occurred at day laborer gathering spots and Latino. grocery store, and that two of its legal observers were shoved by officers with one hospitalized with injuries from pepper spray. For more, we're joined by Juliana Soros, a lead organizer for

Danbury Unites for Immigrants, joining us from Danbury. Explain what's happening right now, Juliana. And why Danbury? Yeah, so Danbury has really become the epicenter of ice violence here in Connecticut. As you mentioned, at least 65 people were abducted over four days. That's over 65 families that have had their entire lives turned upside down and uprooted. I think that Danbury is targeted because Danbury is a diverse city. It's one of the most diverse cities in the country. And we know that our diversity is our strength. And that makes us kind of like an easy target for this administration right now at this time, unfortunately. And Caitlin, what we're seeing now, that in the first year,

of the Trump administration, big splash, high-profile raids with television cameras. And now since the firing of Christy Knoem as head of Homeland Security, we're now seeing a completely different approach for the same purposes. Now we're seeing basically thousands of people disappeared. As you say, what has been the impact on the Danbury community, which has a significant immigrant population? Yeah, we can feel the fear in our community in the streets. Last week, we really have been describing it as the administration terrorizing our city because that is what it felt like.

The streets were empty. Kids stayed home from practice. Kids stayed home from school. Kids were seeing this happen from inside the bus as agents, and mass agents often would shut down the street to just abduct people. So it really has been terrorizing. And we have seen this spectacle that these ICE agents have been doing and escalating alongside. They've come here with cameras.

They've just do like a gross display of force and intimidation in a grocery store parking lot where they're just walking around kind of hunting their next target. And the community sees that. You know, they drive by. These are, like I said, kids that are coming home from school on the bus, and they see that, and everybody's just really scared. So we tried to come together to have solidarity and to show this community that, you know, there are people that are here for them, and we are going to support them through this, and we'll work through this together. Juliana, can you talk about what happens at the school buses, at the bus stops? Yeah, so we saw this was last week. It was the first week of school.

And as Chris Murphy said, the senator, you know, we saw and heard from community members that ICE was stopping at school bus stops and they would take people, take parents after they had just dropped off their kids. And not satisfied in doing this just in the morning, they did that in the afternoon. Whether or not they were targeting specific bus stops, they were on bus routes. We have, you know, videos of kids inside the bus screaming ICE in. Danbury. So while Tom Holman said that, you know, he's not aware of it. Our community, our kids are very aware of ice presence and of the ice violence that is happening within our city. And Juliana, apologies for my senior moment of misidentifying you. It's okay. What does Danbury unite for immigrants doing right now to support these families?

Excuse me, we're doing a lot, but it's still not enough. You know, we have volunteers. mobilizing as early as 5.30 in the morning to try to document ice presence, to try to be witness to what's going on. We have helpline to try to field calls from families that are searching for missing relatives. We support people that are in post detention, whether it's with grocery cards, giving people rides, picking up school supplies that was much needed this week and trying to connect them with legal assistance as well. So we're trying to do a lot. We're trying to connect with our community members, but like I said, it's still not enough and we're working around the clock because what happened last week was horrendous. It's very interesting that the Danbury

mayor, Roberto Alves, was undocumented into his 20s. Said he said the fear he felt as a child is different from what his community is dealing with now. This is Mayor Alvis. This isn't a uniquely Danbury story. It is going on all across our country. It's up to us to document it. It's up to us to talk about it. I've thanked Ferry Nights for immigrants

immensely over the last week. I've asked folks to join their ranks so we get more people out there. I've also asked them to make sure they're careful that they're not also taking it too far with a group that's taking it too far on them

because that group has shown that they will kill American citizens for doing what these folks are doing to keeping our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers safe. We have seen, and it's not anecdotal, it's through the great investigative work of these advocates, that the majority of folks that they are grabbing, that they are detaining, that they're putting in dark places that aren't traceable right now, but when they're starting to learn about them before they go and get processed somewhere else, it's because of the work that these community groups are doing. So that's the Danbury mayor of us,

who came to this country undocumented until his 20s. We'll continue what's happening in Danbury and around the country here on Democracy Now. Giuliano Soros, I want to thank you for being with us, lead organizer for Danbury Unites for immigrants. Coming up next week is the 25th, anniversary of the September 11th attacks. We'll look at what happened at Windows on the World, on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center. More than 70 workers died on September 11th. It's been called the UN of workers. We'll look at the new documentary Top of the World.

Stay with us. my children Why Do we build We build the wall To keep us free That's why We build the wall

We build the wall To keep us free How keep us free My children My children How does the wall Keep us free It keeps out the enemy

We build the wall To keep us free That's why We build the wall. My children, my children, who do we call this poverty and keep us free? That's why we build the wall. Billy Bragg performing why we build the wall here in our Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org.

I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. We end today's show with a look at a new documentary that premieres on CNN, Monday, night just ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, September 11th, 2001. Top of the World is directed by the Oscar-nominated filmmakers Julie Cohen and Betsy West. It tells the story of windows on the world, the legendary restaurant atop the World Trade Center, the North Tower. Through the eyes of the former chefs and immigrant workers who kept the restaurant going, until it all came to a tragic end, a quarter of a century ago. Everyone who was at the restaurant the morning of September 11, 2001, was killed.

That includes 79 workers and 91 guests. This is the trailer for Top of the World. Innovative. Splendid. Grandios. Magical. Windows of the Wolf was a show every night. You couldn't get in unless you knew somebody. The World Trade Center was built during this financial crisis.

It was a very big expense. People just didn't like these two buildings. And so the idea was open a restaurant, humanizing. Joe Baum, who was opening this restaurant over 100 stories up in the air. He understood that people went out because he wanted an experience. With 450 employees, Windows was like the UN of the restaurant world. I was from Peru. It's New York City. It's a melting pot.

I came from the Ivory Coast. In the U.S., it was a big, a big dream. This just in, the plane has crashed into one of the towers. My friend's wife called me to say, your building is burning. I'm trying to call my husband. We didn't know who was there. We are still here, and we retain the memory of them. Everybody's notion of the restaurant changed.

It became ours. We weren't just coworkers. It was a family. These are the kind of stories like you remember. There will never be anything like Windows in the World. The trailer for Top of the World, a new documentary by the Oscar-Manan animated filmmakers, Julie Cohen and Betsy West. About Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the World Trade Center on the 10th, seventh floor. This is another clip from the film that features some of the former workers at the restaurant,

and how well things were going in the months before September 11, 2001. I think on the last year, we were the highest-grossing restaurant. Is it in the United States? Privately owned. We were all in sync, and we were mainly the same people moving ahead in the company. David Emil was the owner of Windows. So David comes to the front desk one day, and he's like, Natalie, you interested in being a manager?

Yes. I felt appreciated. That was the first opportunity that I was given to move ahead in my career. In 2001, I think for me, it was a first moment of stability. I decided to bring my wife to America. I was working a little harder.

I was getting the promotion and also improving significantly my English proficiency. And I had it pain. asylum case. For me, if it was going in the right direction. My wife got pregnant, and she was due in October 2001. 2001 was the 25th anniversary of Windows on the World. We were planning a series of parties.

We had a plan for October. Auv-Clico Champagne printed a special label for us. That was a 25th anniversary. re-label. Twenty-five years for any restaurant is a celebration, and for us it was momentous. That clip from the documentary Top of the World premiering on CNN Monday night. For more, we're joined here in the studio by the directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West. Their previous film together include RBG and Julia. My name is Pauly Murray and the forthcoming Amelia for Amelia Earhart. And we're joined here in New York by one of the former workers at Windows on the World who's featured in the documentary, Seko Sibi.

He worked as a cook at Windows on the World and was scheduled to work on September 11th, but a co-worker asked him to switch shifts. He later became president of Rock, that's Restaurant Opportunity Center United, an advocacy group for restaurant workers. Today is a nonprofit consultant. You lost 70 co-workers on September 11th as we come up on the 25th anniversary. My deepest condolences to you and, well, to everyone. So your friend, he was from Ecuador, you're from the Ivory Coast, asked you to work. He asked if you would switch with him, right? And could he work on September 11th in the morning?

Yeah, it is one of those stories that's very sad. but gave me the guilt all along. Moises Rivers was supposed to work on Saturday night, and asked me to swap a shift with him. It used to be off Sundays and Mondays, and I work for him on Saturday. On Sunday, he worked for me on Tuesday. He didn't make it.

And the men who brought you to Windows on the World, who also work there. Talk about him and his family and what happened that morning. You were home, right? Yeah, I was home. When I came from Africa in 96, I was living with Karim

up until 2020 when his wife came and he has two kids and I left his apartment and took my own. His wife called me and asked me to check the TV

because our building is burning. And I turned the TV on. It was effectively burning. If she asked me to call her husband, we have two phone. I keep calling the phone numbers. It was ringing. And nobody ever picked up until the phone went dead silent when the building collapsed. And Seku, could you talk about when you found out,

what the enormous loss of your coworkers on that day and how you did? to organize after 9-11? After we lost. After the collapse of a building, it was so difficult that we didn't know how to make sense of everything that happened. So we kind of organized ourselves. We went to the union first. Because the employer didn't have the name of his own employees. Everything was burned down in the building.

So we started to organize among ourselves to support over restaurant workers and see what we can do for each other, going out or looking for a job. The tourism industry was dead. No restaurant were hiring. But at least when you go to a restaurant and you find a – As a cook, you find a survey job. You can come to a center a place where we gather and say, hey, they don't have a cook position, but they have a server position.

So this is how we were keeping each other informed and helping each other get a new job. And that's what became later the Resident Opportunity Centers United. Julie Cohen, talk about your decision to focus on this, on this 25th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. Yeah, I mean, obviously there's a side of real sadness and tragedy and the loss of life and people that were dear to Saku and others. But Windows on the World was also a place of beauty, of diversity, of opportunity, and when we learned about really the extraordinary immigrant workforce of Windows and what they collectively created is just a reminder. of the contributions of immigrant New Yorkers to the restaurant world and to the culture of the city. And Julie, what are you hoping the message of the film's audience? There'll be a lot of commemorations in a few days of the tragedy.

Yeah, I mean, I think we want people to remember not just the tragedy, but the real beauty and the specific stories of what was lost on that day. I mean, you can be overwhelmed by the sadness, but let's not let that wipe away the legacy of a truly extraordinary institution in New York and all the people that helped make it be everything it was. And Betsy West, talk about why you wanted to get involved with this project on this 25th anniversary. Yeah, as Julie said, we were a little reluctant. at the beginning. I mean, such a painful memory. We're both New Yorkers. We worked in the news

business. We all spent months and months and months covering this story. But I think it was learning about the immigrant workers and realizing the connection to what's going on today, that this seemed like a story that was going to resonate. I mean, in, across the country, 22% of the people who work in restaurants are immigrants. And here in New York, I mean, it's well over 50% of the people. And the number of people who are picked up by ICE. How many, I mean, I don't know if we know the numbers are restaurant workers. I don't think we know, but we do know that ICE hangs out around restaurants looking for people. And, you know, this is a story of what the contributions of these people are. You know, how they help drive our economy and just our life, you know, our experience of going to restaurants and having a rich and diverse life.

And this seemed like an important story to tell. Yeah, and Betsy, following up on that, given this, I think, over 50,000 people arrested by ICE, just last month. Are you hoping to spur their conversation about the role of immigrants in U.S. society today? Yeah, absolutely. I think that, I mean, not only are immigrants working in restaurants, they're starting restaurants. I mean, again, the

percentage is it's over 30% of restaurants that are started in this country are by immigrants. And, Julie, you're not only a leading journalist, and documentary maker. You're also a leader of the protests in an area your community in New Jersey, particularly around ICE. Yeah. I mean, I would count myself among many Americans who are vocally speaking out against ICE's unlawful and unintelligent in terms of what the impact is on society. And you were also on democracy now with your husband, Paul Barrett, both pulling your bank accounts from Citizens Bank because of their support of deportation

has led them to pull out of support for CoreC Civic and Geo Group. That's true. Seku, what gives you hope today? I mean, you headed Rock, the Restaurant Opportunity Center, for years you just recently left. You see the climate today. You come from an immigrant community, you yourself from Cote d'Ivoire, from the Ivory Coast. Yeah. I think for me, the whole story of Windows on the Wall is a story for resilience.

I see mass deportation during the Bush number two era. Now it's gotten worse. But let's never give up hope because realities do change. But we need to keep fighting against the system that's making immigrant communities as, you know, the worst thing that ever happened to America. You were an asylum seeker when you came to the United States and now you're a U.S. citizen. Yes. It was a long process that took almost 20 years because adjusting studies in America is actually extremely complicated. So, but we should never give up hope.

I think the story for Windows on the Wall is a story for resilience, a resilience in the face of adversity, and this adversity we will overcome it if you don't give up, and we shall never give up. And Siku, when you hear of the current administration going after not only on also those are trying to show, shut down all asylum claims, eliminate status, trying to change, and increasing fees for people trying to come in,

your sense of what the future holds. Yeah, my sense, again, my sense of the future for America will always be hopeful. There is a bump on the road. I remember John Ashcroft in the Bush era. And I think we came back to the same thing. It is a cycle. There are something that's really bad in our days, and we have to face it. We have to fight against it.

What Joe is doing is a way to go. In a functioning democracy, immigrants are not seen as the enemy. But unfortunately, this is what is going. But the hope is we lose hope. And we shall never lose hope. We shall keep fighting. Sekusibi worked at Windows on the World, lost 70 co-workers at the World Trade Center. on September 11, 2001, went on to organize restaurant workers for almost a quarter of a century.

And Julie Cohen and Betsy West are the Oscar-nominated filmmakers. Their new film, Top of the World, premieres on CNN on Monday. That does it for our show. I'll be in Madison, Wisconsin, at the Barrowmore Theater on Saturday night and at Chicago for two events. One of them with Juan Gonzalez after the screening of steal this story, please. Check our website at DemocracyNow.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. Thanks.