05/23/23 05/23/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the officers understood the weapon was a war style weapon. >> to kill humans efficiently. it is good at that. >> the trauma and the efforts for change. >> i hope collectively will have the strength and courage to do what is right. amy: wednesday marks one year since an 18-year-old gunman shot

dead 19 children and two teachers at the robb elementary school in uvalde, texas. we will look at the new frontline documentary "after uvalde: guns, grief & texas politics." then as governor ron desantis prepares a run for the white house, we will look at a sweeping new anti-immigrant law in florida. >> it will criminalize the transportation of undocumented immigrants into florida. it will impose new employer verification restrictions and hamper the ability of employers to hire immigrants. it will deny medical services to undocumented immigrants seeking care in state-funded hospitals. they can do a lot of harm. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman. house speaker kevin mccarthy emerged from the white house monday without a deal to raise the limit on the national debt. mccarthy's high-stakes negotiations with president biden came just 10 days before the u.s. faces a possible default on loans, with republicans demanding sweeping cuts to social programs as the price of any deal to raise the u.s. debt ceiling. after the talks, mccarthy shrugged off a reporter's question about whether republicans would support rescinding the trump-era tax cuts that overwhelmingly favor corporations and wealthy u.s. residents. >> so the problem is not revenue, the problem is spending. i believe, like any household, like any business, like any state government, when you're this far out of whack, you have to spend less than you spent last year. amy: earlier this month, the congressional budget office reported extending tax cuts passed in 2017 and signed by

then-president trump would add $3.5 trillion to the federal deficit through 2033. this is house democratic leader hakeem jeffries. >> they have taken revenues off the table. it has exploded the debt by $2 trillion, subsidized the wealthy and well-connected. they say, we can't have a conversation about that. we can't have a conversation about revenue, we can have conversations about any policy changes that democrats would like to have. does that sound like a negotiation? amy: house democratic leader jeffries said he's open to a deal that would see federal spending frozen at current levels. members of the congressional progressive caucus have rejected that idea. they are calling on president biden to invoke his authority to avert a debt default under the 14th amendment of the constitution. russia's war in ukraine spilled

back into russian territory monday as of described -- self-described anti-kremlin russian militias launched cross-border raids into the belgorod region of southwestern russia. groups calling themselves the russian volunteer corps and the freedom of russia legion claimed to have captured the russian border town of kozinka and several others. this is an unnamed fighter with the group in a video released monday. >> we are russians just like you. we are people just like you. we want our children to grow up in peace and free people so they can travel, study, and just be happy in a free country. but this has no today in today -- no place in today's putin's russia. amy: in a statement, russian officials said they'd opened a terrorism investigation against anti-kremlin militia fighters in belgorod.

meanwhile, a recent u.n. report accuses mercenaries from russia's wagner group of involvement in a march 2022 massacre in a village in mali which killed at least 500 people. most of those are believed to civilians, rather than islamist militants, as claimed by authorities. the report also says the attack by malian troops and wagner in moura included rapes and torture. wagner mercenaries operate in mali and at least six other african nations, where they have been accused of atrocities, while the u.s. has said wagner is trafficking natural resources from african nations to fund the invasion of ukraine. india's meteorological department has issued heat alerts for the capital new delhi and several states as daytime temperatures soar to 45 degrees celsius, or more than 113 degrees fahrenheit. parts of the northern state of uttar pradesh have suffered blackouts of more than 12 hours, coming despite a government order that all power plants run

at full capacity. in alberta, canada, forecasters say rain and cooling temperatures should help firefighters bring a record-smashing spring wildfire season under control after some 2.3 million acres burned. smoke from the fires has prompted air quality alerts in u.s. states, including colorado, idaho, montana, and utah. on monday, the world meteorological organization reported extreme-weather events caused some 2 million deaths since 1970, with over 90% of those killed from the global south. the biden administration has reached a three-year deal with three western states to conserve water from the colorado river. under the agreement, the federal government will distribute $1.2 billion to water districts and tribes in california, arizona, and nevada to compensate them for cutting back their water use.

they hope to/water usage by 13%. 30 years of drought fueled by the climate crisis have reduced the river's natural flow by about 20%. conservationists welcomed the agreement but said a more permanent solution is needed to protect both the river and the 40 million people who rely on it for agriculture, drinking water, and electricity. in nevada, lawmakers have approved a measure that would protect people from out of state who travel to nevada seeking an abortion from prosecution. the bill now heads to republican governor joe lombardo's desk. lombardo's office said he hadn't yet decided if he would sign it into law. in related news, eight more women have joined a lawsuit against texas' near-total abortion ban, arguing the restrictions put their health and lives at risk as they were forced to carry out pregnancies despite experiencing medical emergencies. five other women had initially filed the lawsuit in march. south carolina republican

senator tim scott has entered the race for his party's 2024 presidential nomination. scott officially announced his candidacy monday at a campaign rally in north charleston. >> joe biden and the radical left are attacking every single rung of the ladder that helped me climb. that is why i am announcing today that i am running for president of the united states. amy: senator scott is the 11th black senator in u.s. history and only the second african-american republican senator since reconstruction. he has an "a" ratings from anti-abortion and pro-gun groups. the writer e. jean carroll is seeking further damages in a defamation lawsuit against donald trump after he mocked her in a may 10 televised town hall

event broadcast live on cnn while an audience packed with trump supporters laughed and applauded his remarks. carroll is seeking at least $10 million in additional compensation. earlier this month, a new york jury in a separate lawsuit found trump liable for sexually abusing her at the bergdorf goodman department store in the 1990's and defaming her, ordering trump to pay $5 million. meanwhile, federal prosecutors led by special counsel jack smith have filed a subpoena seeking information about the trump's asians deals -- trump organization's deals in seven countries since 2017. the probe suggests smith is looking into possible connections between the trump organization's foreign business dealings and classified documents trump took him to his mar-a-lago resort after he left office. the u.s. secret service has detained the driver of a rental truck that crashed into security barriers on lafayette square outside the white house on

monday night. no one was injured in the ramming. investigators found a nazi swastika flag in the truck and say the driver hit the barriers at least twice in an apparently deliberate attack. in arizona, the fbi has launched an investigation into the fatal shooting of respected tohono o'odham artist and ceremony leader raymond mattia, who was gunned down by border patrol agents right outside his home last thursday. mattia lived in the community of menegers dam, just a few miles from the u.s.-mexico border, and had called border patrol after finding a group of migrants on his property. mattia's family says he went outside when the agents arrived and that he was about two feet from his front door when they heard gunshots. his relatives are demanding justice as authorities have released few details into what happened. this comes as more details have emerged on the death of an eight-year-old migrant girl from panama in border patrol custody last week. anadith tanay reyes alvarez suffered from a congenital heart condition and sickle cell

anemia. she and her parents and siblings were detained in texas for over a week. she later appeared to have a seizure and had difficulties breathing. it wasn't until her body went limp and she began bleeding from the mouth that border agents took her to the local hospital where the girl was pronounced dead less than an hour after arriving. her mother told "the near daily news" "she cried and begged for her life and they ignored her. they did not do anything for her." in georgia, the gruesome death of lashawn thompson, a 35-year-old black man in the fulton county jail last year, has been ruled a homicide due to severe neglect. the findings of the independent autopsy were released monday by thompson's family and civil rights attorney ben crump. thompson was being held in the jail's psychiatric wing where his family says he was eaten alive by insects and bedbugs in his cell. the report found the lack of

medical treatment first thompson's schizophrenia, as well as dehydration, malnutrition, rapid weight loss, and "severe body insect infestation" all contributed to his death. thompson's independent autopsy, which was funded by former nfl star colin kaepernick, came after the fulton county medical examiner ruled his cause of death was undetermined. in hollywood, members of the sag-aftra actors union have set a june 5 deadline for 160,000 members to cast ballots in a strike authorization vote. in recent days, actors have joined hollywood writers on picket lines after some 11,500 members of the writers guild of america went on strike earlier this month to demand livable wages as corporate profits soar. on sunday, students at boston university graduation ceremony booed and chanted, "pay your writers!" as warner bros. discovery ceo david zaslav delivered the commencement address.

>> if you want to be successful, you're going to have to figure out how to get along with everyone. and that includes difficult people. some people cash amy: and dozens of transgender children and youth from across the country gathered in washington, d.c., monday for a prom celebrating trans lives as -- lives. the prom was held at the national mall as anti-lgbtq attacks intensify nationwide. this is trans activist chase strangio, a staff attorney at the aclu and one of the organizers of the action. >> these young people are here with their families and trans adults who love and care for them. today we are choosing to build upon the legacy of our tran cestors and our collective

imagination on their freedom, beauty, and joy that we represent. our joy is ours. you may not see it. you may try to take it away but it is ours. today and every day we celebrate, cultivate, and embry said. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, wednesday marks one year since an 18-year-old gunman shot dead 19 children and two teachers at the robb elementary school in uvalde, texas. we will speak with pulitzer prize-winning journalist maria hinojosa about her new frontline documentary "after uvalde: guns, grief & texas politics." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a candlelight vigil is being held wednesday in uvalde, texas,

to mark a year since the second deadly school shooting in u.s. history. on may 24 last year, an 18-year-old gunman armed with a semiautomatic ar-15 rifle entered his former elementary school. he shot dead 19 children between the ages of nine and 11 and two of their teachers. nearly 400 officers rushed to robb elementary school, but it took them 77 minutes to confront the gunman. investigators found officers had "failed to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety." all of this is examined in a new documentary called "after uvalde: guns, grief & texas politics." in the special produced by frontline futuro media, and the , texas tribune pulitzer , prize-winning journalist maria hinojosa travels to uvalde to report on the tragedy.

th is how begins. >> every t years, the xas gislaturcomes to session it's reay 2023 a a busy me here at e capitol >> the legislave sessi will come to oer. awmakersre votinon bills from t cost of fu to operty tes. ny witho controversy. >> t resolution isdopted. >> but ihis sessn, the legislates facinghe disive issue of guns. it is ne of your business how ma guns iwn. after o of the deadlie scho shootin in histy. >> we dend the cstitutio >> we do erything to prott

the guns. let's just t somethi differen ou cldren -- >> unimaginable tragedy in texas. >> a gunman opened fire at robb elementary. >> may 24, 2022, accounts of yet another mass shooting in our country began to hit the news. >> armed with a long rifle. >> withidays of his 18 d, a ung man gally bought o ar5 style weapo and a wk lar walkednto his o fourth grade classroom and opened fire. >> the death toll stands at 19 kids, two adults. amy: an excerpt of the new frontline documentary "after uvalde: guns, grief & texas politics." it airs on pbs on may 30. this is the trailer. >> in collaboration with the

texas tribune, maria hinojosa examines the police response. >> the officers understood the weapon was a war style weapon. >> its purpose is to kill humans. it is very good at that. >> the trauma and the efforts for change. >> i hope collectively you will have the courage and the strength to do what is just and right. amy: for more we are joined by the pulitzer prize-winning journalist maria hinojosa, the founder of futuro media and host of latino usa. she angers this new documentary a -- anchors this new documentary "after uvalde: guns, grief & texas politics" which is a production of frontline, futuro media, and the texas tribune. she is cohost of the podcast "in the thick." she is the author of the memoir "once i was you." welcome back to democracy now! this is a powerful documentary that will air next week.

talk about your investigation of the uvalde massacre with this, as you said, 18-year-old gunman, days after his birthday, legally purchases two ar-15's with how many rounds of ammunition, something like 375 rounds of ammunition. in texas, you have to be 18 years old to buy a rifle. the state does not require a license to openly carry one in public. you tell the story through the people who survived and the loved ones of those who did not. take us on that journey, maria. >> amy, it is great to be with you. thank you for talking about this. it is interesting, if the family is in uvalde feel like they are ignored. they feel what i was able to gather in my reporting, some have said people in uvalde and texas that are like, get over

this. i was incredibly surprised and hurt by that sentiment. like many of us in the country, what happened in uvalde was so particular. you have a latino kid going into his old fourth grade classroom and seeking out his own. uvalde is this big. everybody knows each other. i needed to understand, what happened to this young man that he became obsessed? amy, i don't know if you know this, his nickname -- people knew him -- his nickname was "school shooter." so everything was right in front of everybody to say, this is a real problem that we have here. well, there's one psychiatrist in all of uvalde. even though the governor talks about wanting to support efforts to treat mental health, in a town like uvalde, which is an hour away from the u.s.-mexico border, which is a majority latino town -- the other thing i

heard, amy, historically, uvalde feels neglected, like they have never really been cared for. so the mental help -- the mental health help the governor says he was going to put out there in order to stop more shootings, did not get to uvalde. that is one thing. the other thing, amy, that -- i came away with so much. i am not the same maria hinojosa before uvalde and after uvalde. amy, we survived september 11 and a lot of my 9/11 trauma i relived that when i was down in uvalde. the story of uvalde is one of, yes, this horror but also a history of the people of uvalde standing up to power. people might be surprised. one of the longest student walkouts in american history took place in uvalde, texas,

in 1970. the kids -- again, the kids organized it because in robb elementary and the other schools in uvalde, there was corporal punishment if you spoke spanish. you are an hour away from the u.s.-mexico border. everybody speaks spanish. they kids as young as six years old as we document in our front line, if they were heard speaking spanish by a white teacher, the teacher would take a wet ruler and slap them on the back of their calf. so there is a history of the people of uvalde saying "no more" and in my reporting, amy, i realized how important uvalde is not just for texas, but for the country because it is one of the birthplaces of the southwestern chicano movement.

people don't know about that. amy: i want to go back to a texas tribune piece at about how uvalde used to be known as, or just describing, for that 1970 latinx student walkout. this features to people who were there, retired spanish teacher who took part in the boycott, and a walkout organizer. this is santos. >> i was 17 years old. we would plan at night. we started at the high school at 10:00 and people started getting up most of you could see all of the people moving. people got up and joined us. we put together a list of 14 demands. we wanted a more -- we wanted more mexican-american teachers, more books having to do with mexican-americans in the library.

>> we had no hispanic teachers. we had all white teachers and an all-white school board. the hispanics worked custodians. my second grade teacher got me by my ear and pulled and pulled and pulled. i remember crying and crying and blood was coming down. and i remember the beatings on our hands for speaking spanish. amy: that video from the texas tribune, would you, maria hinojosa, worked with in producing or document or for frontline. it's so important as you're describing and if you can continue talking about fitting it into the latino history of the united states, the movement organized. >> right. i find it very interesting, amy, that this part of the movement -- it is known but it is

national history. uvalde was part of that. right now what you're saying is part of that tradition of activism that is as a result of this massacre that is happening again. the reporting for us focused on an attempt for some of the families affected in the valley to try to raise the age of purchase for nar from 18 -- 18 to 21. it is now legal to buy nar if you're in texas when you turn 18, which is what the shooter did. interestingly, the activism, while there was no change in legislation in texas because of what happened in uvalde, just as a legislature is closing down its session, the families did move things. they were able to at least get a point to testify at the texas state capitol.

the truth is, uvalde is still very abandoned. it is a mental health desert. this is very personal, has nothing to do with the frontline, but for me personally, i hope uvalde becomes the opposite of a mental health desert, that it becomes a mental health forest, a place where people can go be surrounded in nature and the murals for the 19 kids and the two teachers. uvalde is a beautiful little town. it should be known for more than just this massacre, which is what we are trying to say. yes, this massacre happened. but also, uvalde is much more complex and there is a history we all need to know. amy: that history also inspires the very young. the potent poignancy of this documentary, part of it is the relationship you have with kaitlyn gonzalez, the 10-year-old who survived the

massacre. a robb elementary's go fourth grader who lost two of her best friends in the shooting. this is her last august speaking at a school board meeting in uvalde where she demands the firing of the school police chief pete arredondo. >> if a law enforcement's job is to protect and serve, why didn't they protect and serve my friends and teachers on may 24? i have messages for pete arredondo and law enforcement that were there that day. turn in your badge and step down. you don't deserve to wear one. amy: can you tell us, maria, about kaitlyn gonzalez, who goes on to organize with people from 1970, but tell us her story. >> people think of uvalde and it

is this overwhelming sadness. i am a different person since eyes that my time in uvalde. the thing that gives me so much hope, there's a saying in mexican spanish "there is no bad for much good cannot come." the good for me personally is i have reestablished -- established relationship with kaitlyn gonzalez and her family. she has become that person who has taken the sadness and the rage that she feels -- you hear it. she is talking to law enforcement and saying, how could you weigh 77 minutes before you came to save the kids in the classroom? she has transformed that rage into understanding that voices power. in our documentary, she is working with one of the organizers of the 1970 walkout. you can see -- activism in our country is part of our democracy. some people don't like it but it is a part of our democracy.

what we're documenting is seeing how kaitlyn is understanding the power of her voice and her democracy come in her town, is a little girl. what she says when she was at the rally at the capitol in austin, we need a rally of hundreds of people. she said, "i have to speak because my friends don't have a voice anymore." she has taken this -- i have hopes for kaitlyn and her life but she is also a kid dealing with severe ptsd and was not able to get the mental health written she needed in uvalde, so now her family has to travel to san antonio to get her the therapy that i can tell you is working. when i first met her in january, she was quite withdrawn. when i was last with her a couple of weeks ago, she is much more open.

of course i am worried about her and her family as the anniversary comes on may 24. amy: can you talk about the message that her mother got that so many parents got? it was recorded message on the phone on that day one year ago tomorrow, one year ago wednesday, as she thought her little girl, her kaitlyn was just enjoying fourth grade that day? >> here is what you need to understand. there is a dynamic in uvalde where the e those is that they are being surrounded and constantly challenged by undocumented immigrants because they are an hour away from the border. what does this have to do with it? well, there was school shutdowns in uvalde about every week leading up to the shooting. so why? because there were car police chases, chasing what they say are undocumented immigrants.

i was not able to document this part of the story, but there were school shootings that ash i'm sorry, school shutdowns that happened all the time. that message, there is a shutdown, everything is ok, it was par for the course. the only pediatrician in the town who got that message was like, oh, just another shut down because there's a car chase happening with the border patrol. so that was what was repeated to the parents, that everything is ok. it was not ok. the police did arrive within about three minutes. the problem is, when they heard -- and we document it is along with the texas tribune. when the police heard and understood that the assailant had nar, an automatic rifle, that meant those bullets could penetrate their police armor. in our documentary, here one of the officers say essentially,

if he hadan ar, he was going to take us out. whoever went first was going to be taken out. that is something we need to understand, that texas along in were afraid of the ar-15. that is why they weren't -- they're going to say it was because of lack of coordination and such, but you are trained in a school shooting, a mass shooting, you move in. you don't wait. they waited 77 minutes. amy: i want to talk about the guns, and this is another clip from your documentary that is airing next week "after uvalde: guns, grief & texas politics." >> as the city's only pediatrian, .uerrero s cad for many of uvde' childrenince thewereabies. >>f anyonesksou, they are ree-footix. he s seenust how ch dage t ar-15 c do.

it is ma24, 2022 talk to me about that morning. >> get tthe hospal and no so things wrong cause doctors d nurses areunning everywhe. r kids with minor injuries. and then you start to wonder, where is everybody else? so asked one of the nurses, this is everyone here? they're like, no, there are some deceased childn in theack. they tk me bkhere and that is truly when i realized the calir of whathese weons n do a chil'sody. imagine a chi who was decapited. at else i have tell you? ge chest woundwhere iteems like someo could p their handhrough the who chest. e only nsole asave is that maybe it was so fast, they did not have time touffer th

they went quickl ybe not acefullybut ickly. youreduced tsaying tha to pents. >> whaelse can do? i could not have done anything for th that da nothg. th'reeople sang, maybwe shld not sw the morary ctures othese kids at were kenfter thepassed. picturesf kids i their coffin . eett til's mother ose to ha anpen casket and that changed story. >> maybe that is wh it take thiss what hpened thay mo of thestype ofeapons that areble tonflict smuch mage andeath so quicy and ferociouy compad to oth weapons. if you turn 18 in tas, you n buone tomoow. >> is the somethg tgible you are like -- >> ultimately, a ban.

thats the ultimate goal wch i ow i'm not gog to get take aew people at the state level so we can get our voices heard. amy: that is uvalde's only pediatrician, as you described in your documentary, dr. roy guerrero. he knew almost every child. if you could continue on that point that he is raising, because it is such a critical one as this country knows more than one mass shooting every day this year, is the issue is what gets shown. it is too gruesome, they say. talking about children, fourth-graders decapitated. will it take what emmett till's mother did? showing the images? showing the pictures? what are parents and loved ones saying about this, maria, in addition to dr. guerrero? >> amy, look, this is such a

difficult painful conversation. i do want to take a moment to show a moment of respect for every parent who is had to deal with this. this is a very personal decision . so much surrounded by trauma. i don't want to be flip about something like this. this is a powerful conversation we need to have in our country. i did see the movie of emmett till my way to texas that looks at what mrs. till did in that decision of having an open casket, which changed history. i will tell you after the things i saw, amy, i'm sorry, the things i saw, amy -- i said, these images should be shown to everyone. everyone needs to see what i have seen because if you saw this, there would be a massive

uprising of people to say "no more. we have got to stop it." that was my personal reaction. we cannot force any parent to go through that, but the point here, actually, amy, the parents of the kids in uvalde, texas, are being denied all the access to all of that footage, everything. when you are a parent or a relative of somebody who has died like on september 11 or in a tragic way, it becomes a bit of an obsession to know everything about what happened. so there are parents in uvalde who want to see everything. they are being denied that by the district attorney and other members of texas politics. that is incorrect. they are the parents. they should have access to that before anyone sees that. and then they -- well, they

don't have access, but then they could make the decision whether or not these images should be shown. in many ways, the denial of this footage for them is a way of keeping them, in my view, her personal -- very personal, keeping them from exposing these things. these are terrific things. the ar, the assault weapon, is a killing machine. it is a weapon of war. as katilyn's mom said, my daughter was in school but she was confronted with a war machine. how do you understand this? i will quote dr. guerrero, an extraordinary human being and an activist who said, "if there was something in our community, it was a car, it was an animal, it was an amusement park ride, it was a ball, if there was something that was in the community that was killing children come everyone would do

something to say get that out of my community. and yet these weapons are available and accessible legally to an 18-year-old just like the shooter in uvalde, texas." amy: maria hinojosa, we will leave it there but continue to cover this issue. maria is a pulitzer prize-winning journalist, founder of futuro media, which has helped produce the documentary along with the texas tribune on may 30 titled "after uvalde: guns, grief & texas politics." coming up, as florida governor ron desantis prepares a run for the white house, we will look at florida's right turn on immigration, a fierce into immigrant law that is now going into effect under desantis. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "mesas redonda" by hermanos gutierrez.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we look at the sweeping anti-immigrant crackdown in florida led by republican governor ron desantis, expected this week announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential race. the aclu monday filed a lawsuit against florida over in a property law signed by desantis that restricts immigrants from buying homes in the state if they are born in china and also targets those from cuba, venezuela, syria, iran, russia, and north korea. the aclu said the law "harkens back to the anti-asian land laws of the past century. those laws violated the fundamental right to equal protection -- just like florida's does." the legislation takes effect july 1, along with a new and immigrant law that lulac has called "hostile and dangerous" and prompted it to issue a

travel advisory for the state along with the naacp. the law bans people who are undocumented from using driver's licenses issued in other states and prohibits state id cards to be issued to them. it requires hospitals that accept medicaid to ask about people's citizenship status during intake, which could stop people with undocumented status -- community members from seeking medical care. it also expands requirements for employers to use the federal e-verify system to check the immigration status of their workers. >> it is very sad and unfortunate. they called us today because the managers and the people who do cement went to work in another state. amy: in other videos on social

media, truck drivers are calling for boycotts of florida over its new anti-immigrant law. >> i don't know about you guys, but my truck will not be going to florida at all. if we all come together as one community, i'm pretty sure we can all come together as the latino community and boycott florida as a whole. what they're doing to our brothers and sisters out there is not fair. amy: for more, we are joined by two guests. in florida, andrea reyes is an immigration attorney based in jacksonville. she is featured in the new piece by geraldo cadava for "the new yorker" magazine headlined "florida's right turn on immigration." geraldo cadava, professor of history and latino studies at northwestern university and the author of "the hispanic republican: the shaping of an american political identity, from nixon to trump." we welcome you both to democracy now! andrea reyes, i want to begin with you in

jacksonville. thank you both for joining us. if you can talk about exactly what this new law lays out, including someone can be arrested for driving and undocumented migrant across state lines? >> thank you for having me. sb 17, 18, has been the harshest immigration bill we have seen, harsher than a series of immigration bills that we saw in 2010, 2011 with the arizona bill. what it originally was designed to do was a lot more draconian than the final bill ended up being. and that has created a lot of fear and havoc in our immigrant communities on a state and local level. originally, the bill was supposed to criminalize anybody that was helping basically transporting, harboring, housing

and undocumented immigrant in their home, they could be subject to a 15 year penalty. the final bill provision actually states is -- states specifically a person who drives into the state of florida and eight and document it immigrant -- there is a specific word and it is an immigrant who enters without inspection. so the state bill is self uses the word "inspection" and in federal law, there's a specific definition for inspection that does not match the state definition of the bill. there's a lot of controversy. we expect to see a lot of controversy with that specific version because it is vague and overbroad. as you stated, the bill also does require hospitals to provide -- hospitals who receive medicaid to report quarterly reports to the governor's office and to the legislature about the immigrants that are receiving assistance in their hospitals.

however, what is tricky is there is a provision and it is specifically written to the bill that allows for the hospitals to select decline to answer. immigrants are allowed -- they're going to be able to decline to answer the said sums -- citizenship question but you're telling immigrants who don't naturally seek assistance, don't want people asking questions about their immigration status, now they're going to ask the questions despite the fact they have an opportunity to decline to answer. there's going to be a lot of fear and that as well. another big provision of the bill is come as you know, there are about 19 states and the district of columbia to provide licenses to undocumented immigrants. there are a lot of immigrants in the state of florida that have families and lived and other locations and obtain licenses from other states. this bill will make it so if an immigrant is stop and have a

drivers license under their state, the police officer can exercise their authority as if the person were driving without a license, which means they can to them and/or arrest them. those are the big three things. there is a section 4 noncitizens who potentially have their bar license will not be able to continue to have their license i believe starting november 1. we have a lot of daca recipients. it is not a permanent legal solution to their status, but it does provide stability through work permits and social security for them to be able to stabilize their lives. so a lot of these individuals who are not u.s. citizens or legal residents will no longer be able to hold licenses. it creates provision for law enforcement to have to mandatory cooperation with ice on any programs where in undocumented

immigrant my be. there are a lot of things in this bill and what makes it really terrifying is the amount of provisions it has. a lot of the previous bills we have seen have focused on 2, 3, 4 items. this had i think over 12 provisions that directly affect immigration. amy: geraldo cadava, you have written a book on the hispanic republican, clearly you have ron desantis preparing to run for president and he feels this will help him. whether we're talking about the abortion ban he just signed or when he says this is where woke goes to die, florida, and the don't say gay bill. and now you have this immigration law that is going into effect. it seems to be pillars of his platform. can you talk about why he feels, with a large latino population

in florida, this will help him win i national audience? talk about the makeup of florida and also the latino republicans. >> quick question. i want to say thank you for having me on and i want to say to andrea, it is nice to meet you here. we spoke before but have never met. you're the one doing the work on the ground and i'm just reporting. thank you for the work you're doing. i definitely think this bill is related to ron desantis' presidential ambition. he probably correctly perceived that the national mood, especially within his own party, is against making it easier for immigrants and asylum-seekers to settle in the united states. so he thinks if he can show that to be true, that he is doing something to be effective on

immigration in his own state, he might also become a good national leader on the issue as well. but i think it could be a miscalculation. florida is in some ways unique. through gerrymandering and voting restriction, he has engineered the situation in florida where he has 28 republican senators and only 12 democrats. so he can push through almost anything he wants to push through. i am not sure what he is trying to do in florida will translate nationally posted in fact, gain him wide acceptance on the national level. i think lotus latino communities are somewhat different then other latino communities. historically, they have thrown their support to republican party for a long time, for decades. in november 2022, 58% of latinos voted for ron desantis even despite the airlift's to

martha's vineyard and other places. in florida, a much more conservative latino population. what is interesting lately, it is not just cuban-americans and -- but also puerto ricans and colombians and others. amy: interesting you bring up martha's vineyard trip, taking undocumented immigrants, people -- asylum-seekers, putting them on a plane, flying them to martha's vineyard. andrea reyes, they're talking about arresting people for driving with people who are undocumented. he flew them. >> yeah, i mean, it is hypocritical, right? we are saying you can't have people come into the state but we are what it people to other jurisdictions. it is an overreach of his power as a state entity. again, we believe that because

of the overage that he is doing through immigration -- he is trying to enact immigration laws through state law. the u.s. supreme court has already ruled immigration -- the federal government has plenary power over immigration. so only when the federal powers give any authority to the states can actually implement anything related to immigration. so the fact he is trying to create immigration enforcement through state policy is going to become a constitutional issue as well. amy: you are an immigration lawyer, andrea reyes. you have been doing this for a number of years. trump through biden right now. what do you demand of the biden administration and how much power does biden have right now in the face of these republican governors come everyone from abbott in texas to desantis in florida? >> we spoke about this in the

article. we can look at any president, look at any administration and it is never going to be enough. whatever a president does when it comes to immigration is never enough because all they're doing is putting a band-aid on an open wound. a president can't fix the problems come the broken, delayed, strict immigration system that we have. they can't fix it. our constitution does not allow for it. only congress has the power to create laws to fix these problems. for decades, congress has refused to act on sensible -- you know, positive, sensible immigration reform. we look at the dream act for example. first created in 2001. 20 two years ago. that is a whole college student in terms of age that we have not been able to come together.

we are presented i think 11 or 12 percent of that dreamers act bill and congress has not been able to come together. i think the last time we had a real chance of passing was in 2010. but since then, we have presented new bills and nothing's happened. this is the most likable, acceptable, the most deserving immigrant population, the dreamers. and we can't get congress to act on behalf of dreamers. at the end of the day, people need to understand that, yes, when you go to vote for presidential elections, it matters, absolutely. all elections matter. but people think presidential elections will fix their problems when really, especially for immigrant populations, congress, the senate -- are senators and elected representatives have the power to build and create the laws we need to protect us. i think a big part of this movement that is going to come forward as a result ofsb17,18,

i'm hoping what happened in arizona in 2010, we will have these young, vibrant latino nonprofit organizations, grassroot movers, teaching and educating the population on not just what our political system looks like but, number one, you have to leave your baggage behind from your country. whatever happened in your country happened in your country. here in the united states, we have separate concepts that really help us. separation of powers. federalism, what is plenary power and state power. if we can educate the immigrant population, if we can get voters registered -- if think of people to register for voting, i think in the state of florida, i think there is 40% of current

permanent legal residents are eligible to vote and they haven't registered about because they don't speak english but also they don't trust the system and they don't believe in our way of government because sometimes they are stuck on how the government operated in their home country. amy: i want to bring professor geraldo cadava back into the conversation. you speak to a priest in florida josé rodriguez who says many conservative latino voters are prioritizing antiabortion laws over immigration. if you could talk about that and whether you think that will change as this becomes more and more extreme? >> one of the things i was interested in exploring is how this law might be seen by religious -- religiously motivated latinos. i was thinking the bill would kind of pulled him in different directions because on the one hand, they have long supported immigrant rights and the idea

that immigrants are neighbors and members of our community. at the same time they are increasingly kind of supporting antiabortion bills and ron desantis' other pretty radically conservative legislations. when i spoke with josé rodriguez, i wanted to understand how the latinos he works with see this bill. he things conservative latinos are now prioritizing antiabortion because they have gone all in on the conservative movement. he things it could have -- it could have a lot of blowback for negative consequences for them as well once they realize all of the negative effects of the immigration bill as well. he things right now, conservative latinos are just elevating the antiabortion issue over the immigration issue. amy: we have to leave it there but we will continue to cover this issue. professor geraldo cadava, thank you for being with us, professor of history and latino studies at northwestern university.

we will to your piece for the new yorker headlined "florida's right turn on immigration." and thank you to andrea reyes, immigration attorney based in jacksonville, florida. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693