03/27/24 03/27/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> to hear the words that the key bridge has collapsed, it is shocking and heartbreaking. amy: six workers who are on the francis scott key bridge when it collapsed are presumed dead. they hailed from mexico,

guatemala, el salvador, and honduras. we will go to baltimore for the latest. then soldiers deployed in el paso as tensions rise on the border. but first, the supreme court appears likely to preserve access to the abortion pill mifepristone. we'll examine the case and we'll speak with arizona state senator eva burch. she made headlines last week when she gave a speech on state senate floor where she shared her plans to obtain an abortion after receiving news that her pregnancy was nonviable. >> generally speaking, people speak -- seek abortion for the same reason i did. i am choosing because i am pregnant and for reasons i should not have to explain to you or to the church or to the state of arizona, i need to not be pregnant anymore. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s. supreme court appears set to preserve access to the abortion pill mifepristone, which is used for roughly two-thirds of all abortions in the united states. oral arguments were held tuesday in a case wrought by a group of anti-choice medical associations which have sought to overturn moves by the fda to increase accessibility to the drug which was first approved over 20 years ago. on tuesday, several justices questioned if the doctors even had standing to bring the challenge. abortion rights activists rallied outside the supreme court ahead of the ruling. >> this decision is a decision between a doctor and -- that is how it has always been. [indiscernible] amy: we'll have more on the supreme court hearing after headlines.

the official death toll in gaza is nearing 32,500 as israel continues its assault in defiance of a u.n. security council resolution calling for a ramadan ceasefire. on monday, an israeli air strike killed saher akram rayan, a longtime correspondent for the palestinian news agency wafa. his son was also killed in the attack. by one count, 136 journalists have been killed so far in gaza. on the humanitarian front, unicef's james elder says the hunger crisis in gaza is worsening as palestinian families struggle to find food to eat. >> a week ago i was in a hospital where we have reports of 20 plus children dying of malnutrition and dehydration. i saw a roomful of mothers, carers over children that are

paperthin. incubators of babies or prematurely come also malnourished. amy: on tuesday, u.n. special rapporteur francesa albanese accused israel of committing acts of genocide. she spoke in geneva about her major new report. >> following nearly six months of unrelenting israeli assault on occupied gaza, it is my solemn duty to report on the worst of what humanity is capable of and to present my finding. the anatomy of a genocide. history teaches us genocide is a process, not a single act. it starts with the dehumanization of a group and the denial of that group's humanity and ends with the destruction of the group in all or in part.

the dehumanization of palestinians as a group is a hallmark of their history come of ethnic cleansing, dispossession, and apartheid. amy: in washington, u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin met with the israeli defense minister yoav gallant on tuesday. austin said the civilian death toll in gaza has been "far too high" but he vowed the u.s. would keep arming israel. a new report by the arms control group sipri found 69% of all arms imported by israel comes from the united states. the group said u.s. weapons, particularly warplanes, have played a major role in israel's attacks on gaza and lebanon. meanwhile, at the state department, spokesperson matt miller said the biden administration has not found israel's actions in gaza to be in violation of u.s. or international law. >> we have not found them to be in violation of international humanitarian law either when it

comes to the conduct of the war or or the provision of humanitarian assistance. amy: president biden and vice president kamala harris spoke in raleigh, north carolina tuesday. a group of pro-palestinian activists interrupted the president while he talked about his record on health care. pres. biden: a patient with a heart disease, diabetes, or child with asthma could not get coverage. why? the insurance company consider those pre-existing -- >> [indiscernible] pres. biden: everybody deserves health care. >> [indiscernible] pres. biden: they have a point. we need to get a lot more care into gaza. [applause] amy: in lebanon, seven paramedics have died in an israeli air strike on an emergency health center in the town of habbariyeh. lebanon's health ministry condemned the attack as a violation of the geneva convention.

hezbollah responded by firing dozens of rockets into northern israel. one factory worker reportedly died in israel. authorities in maryland fear six missing construction workers died on tuesday when the francis scott key bridge partially collapsed after a massive cargo ship crashed into a support column. just prior to the accident, the crew on the 95,000 ton cargo ship sent an urgent mayday call after the ship lost power possibly due to contaminated fuel. the warning gave authorities on land the chance to limit bridge traffic. but eight construction workers were still on the bridge where they had been fixing potholes. only two of the workers were rescued on tuesday. the missing workers include a salvadoran father of three named miguel luna, a honduran father of two named maynor yassir suazo sandova, two guatemalan men, and at least one mexican national. we'll have more on this story later in the show.

a court in russia has extended "wall street journal" reporter evan gershkovich's pre-trial detention until at least june 30. friday will mark one year since evan was detained on espionage charges while he was on a reporting trip. police in india detained dozens of protesters tuesday as they attempted to march to prime minister narendra modi's residence in new delhi. the protest came in response to last week's arrest of delhi chief minister arvind kejriwal, who is a prominent critic of modi. this all comes as part of a political crackdown ahead of national elections in india which begin in april. the new york judge presiding over donald trump's hush money trial has imposed a partial gag order on the former president, barring him from attacking witnesses, jurors, court staff, and others. in his order, judge juan merchan noted trump's history of making "threatening, inflammatory, denigrating" comments. the criminal trial begins april

15. nbc news has reversed its decision to hire ronna mcdaniel, the former chair of the republican national committee. her hiring sparked a rare on-air revolt by many of the top anchors on nbc and msnbc over her role in spreading donald trump's lies about the 2020 election. in campaign news, independent presidential candidate robert f. kennedy, jr. has tapped the massively wealthy silicon valley attorney nicole shanahan to be his running mate. shanahan is the former wife of google co-founder sergey brin. she gave over $4 million to fund a controversial super bowl ad for kennedy which resembled a 1960 commercial by his uncle john f. kennedy. robert f. kennedy, jr.'s run for the white house has been widely condemned by other members of the kennedy family, many of whom -- with dozens of the extended

kennedy family who met with joe biden at the white house last week to show their support for his reelection. more details are coming to light about the federal probe into the music mogul sean "diddy" combs. on monday, federal agents raided two of his homes. the investigation is being led by a team at the department of homeland security, which focuses on human trafficking. in recent months, combs has faced five separate lawsuits over sexual misconduct. it includes a lawsuit by woman who accused him of raping her and forcing her into sex trafficking. combs lawyers have issued statements criticizing agents for using what they call military level force during the house raid. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now!'s juan gonzález in chicago. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world.

amy: the u.s. supreme court appears likely to preserve access to the abortion pill mifepristone, which is used for roughly two-thirds of all u.s. abortions. oral arguments were held tuesday on the biden administration's appeal of lower court rulings, which restricted access to the pill, including its availability by mail. the case was brought by a group of anti-choice medical associations which have sought to overturn moves by the fda to increase accessibility to the drug which was approved by the fda over 20 years ago. this was the first abortion-related supreme court hearing since the court overturned roe v. wade in 2022. since then, medications to terminate pregnancies have increased in importance because patients can get them by mail and take them at home, including in states that have severely limited or banned abortions. a decision on the case is

expected by july. for more, we are joined by michele goodwin, a professor of constitutional law and global health policy at georgetown university and founding director of the center for biotechnology and global health policy. she is the author of "policing the womb: invisible women and the criminalization of motherhood." she joins us from washington, d.c. professor, welcome back to democracy now! first give us your overall impression of the oral arguments before the supreme court and where the justices stood across the political spectrum in questioning -- and doing their questioning. >> it is great to be back with you. overall, the justices showed they were skeptical of the claims brought by the plaintiffs in this case. a group of individuals who call themselves doctors who claimed they have been affected negatively by mifepristone been in the marketplace.

they claim it is a drug that was rushed to the marketplace by the fda and that it is unsafe. and because, as they say, it is unsafe, they will be put in a position of having to treat individuals who have been harmed by this drug who appear in hospitals in emergency rooms. it is important to unpack their claim. first of all, they rely on three studies, two of which have been retracted and one was just a collection of anonymous blog posts. the second thing, when the fda brought this drug to the marketplace for approval, it had been under review for 54 months. three times the links of other drugs approved the same year over 20 years ago, as you noted. the third thing is over decades of research, both in the u.s. and abroad, it is clear mifepristone is incredibly safe, safer than even tylenol. that is to say the negative

indication that would cause a person to need medical care is less than what people would experience by taking tylenol. but these are the kinds of claims that have been out in the social atmosphere. the justices were incredibly skeptical even with regard to just the question of standing. amongst these individuals who are claimed to be doctors, what is a person who has a masters degree in theology -- no indeed, likely a person that would not be admitted into any hospital to be able to provide any care to anybody. another is a dentist. again come a person who would likely never be in a hospital allowed to treat anyone. two claim they would be most affected called into emergency rooms to help the abundance of people who would be appearing because they would have complications due to using mifepristone, but they had no record. the justices really push them.

justice brown really pushed give us the facts, tell us actually this has ever happened where one of your plaintiffs has been put in the position of having to help someone because they had complications due to mifepristone. and they could.com up with that. on the other hand, the lawyer for these individuals kept claiming it would be a potentiality in the future that there would be a probability in the future because more people are using mifepristone. now, to just be clear, it is not the case people do not come to a hospital after they use mifepristone. some people might. but the question is, are they in a dire medical situation where they actually need care? this is an important distinction because the fda did acknowledge there are people who use mifepristone and go to a hospital, but this is not because they have been in medical crisis. people go to the er would have

colds and the flu as well. it does not mean they are dying or there is a medical crisis that would qualify this drug to be one that should not be on the marketplace. that was the general overview, skepticism from justices gorsuch, cavanagh, amy coney barrett, soda meyer, kagan as well as ketanji brown jackson. not a good day for those who are pushing this antiabortion agenda. let me say one additional thing, comstock was brought up by justice thomas. we might want to talk a bit about that. it is a centuries-old law that has not been repealed by congress but has not been used by congress in 100 years. it is the next flight of strategy that might be used by those who have an antiabortion stance. what the comstock act does is prohibit contraception from

being mailed by the u.s. postal service or by carriers. juan: what parts of the fda's authorities to regulate mifepristone are being challenged by these plaintiffs? >> this was the mystery even for the members of the united states supreme court. justice is hard you brown jackson put it squarely to both the government lawyer as well as the general pre-logger as well as the lawyer for the group. it is strange. as justice ketanji brown jackson said, who is decide in these cases? do we leave it to the fda where there are scientists who are trained to do these kinds of reviews to hold to account the

pharmaceutical industry, people who have the capacity, the knowledge, the experience to review the data that comes in from both the pharmaceutical industry and as well the data collected by the government? who is best qualified, those individuals or would it be judges and justices? she made note of the fact that with the evidence presented by the plaintiffs in this case, which included anonymous blog posts and that to serve as credible evidence before judge kaczmarek in amarillo, texas, basically showing the emperor has no cothes, that judges are not in the best position to review the scientific evidence. and for the alliance of who brought the suit in the first place, they really had no response to that. amy: just as good time to brown jackson asked the lawyer representing the mifepristone

manufacturer to layout her concerns about judges parsing medical and scientific studies about pharmaceuticals. this was attorney jessica ellsworth's response. >> you have a district court that relied on one study that was analysis of anonymous blog posts. you have another set of studies that he relied on that were not in the administrative record and never would be because they post the fda decision -- they have been retracted for lack of scientific rigor and misleading presentations of data. those sorts of errors can infect judicial analyses precisely because judges are not experts in statistics, not experts in the methodology used for scientific studies, for clinical trial. that is why fda has many hundreds of pages of analysis in the record of what the scientific data showed.

courts are not in position to second-guess. amy: this is justice thomas questioning erin hawley, the lawyer representing the abortion pill's challengers. >> miss hawley, i am sure you heard the answers of the solicitor general and the council for danco with respect to the comstock act. i would like you to comment on their answers. >> we don't think there are any case in this court that empowers fda to a norm other federal law. with respect to the comstock act is relevant here, the comstock act says drugs should not be mailed either through the mail or through common carriers. so we think the plaintext is pretty clear. amy: erin hawley now becomes one of the only women ever to argue

a prominent abortion case at the supreme court for the antiabortion side. this is her first supreme court argument. her husband is senator josh hawley, republican of missouri. he was in the courtroom for the oral arguments. the significance of what she is saying and if you can talk more about who the doctors were who brought the case against mifepristone and the whole discussion that took place in the court around the issue of dentist? >> let's back up d toanco, the manufacturer who has a stake in this as do other pharmaceutical manufacturers. there is a concern that if this case were allowed to go forward, including with the very attenuated individuals who claim they -- there is standing in this case in order to have standing, and this was a prominent issue discussed yesterday under article 3 of the

constitution, one must have some skin in the game. one must have been affected by the law, the regulation. one must show they have been harmed by it and that somehow the court is able to provide the kind of relief that they need. the first thing is it is very hard to show either individuals who have been affected negatively by mifepristone being in the marketplace because, as was raised by the justices, these individuals can opt out. the federal government recognizes individuals conscious. and that is that doctors and -- not only doctors, even people who are pharmacists, nurses can claim they have a religious objection to performing certain types of medical care. a pharmacist can have a religious objection to dispensing certain types of care. what the justices walked them through, the lawyers, is those

individuals usually go through a process. they let their pharmacy know. they let their hospital know such that they are not even called upon when there are cases that present which they would not want to provide care. in this case, erin hawley said that was not enough. it was simply not enough these individuals would be able to exempt themselves out. in fact, she seemed to suggest there would be somehow complications at hospitals where somehow even though they had existed -- exempted themselves out, there was to be called upon to help in cases of managing a miscarriage or an abortion. that is important to note because it gets back to the question of standing. as to the other issues with regard to these doctors, the so-called doctors in this case will stop well, of the seven, boils down to only two who are obstetricians, gynecologists who

might be in the hospital performing some care, obstetric or gynecological care. but as justice jackson noted, the kind of relief they seek in this case is totally disproportionate to who they are -- the relief already exists. that is the fact they can just be exempted from providing any kind of care in an emergency room that might relate to somebody who needs to manage a miscarriage. it was interesting that justice amy coney barrett also made another clarification, and that is to say that these individuals would not know if they were called in -- necessarily know when they have been called in for emergency care to evacuate a uterus it was because someone took mifepristone. and there was discussion about that, including amy coney barrett asking questions with regard to ultrasounds and matters on that note. juan: michele goodwin, could you

talk about the group behind this alliance, so-called alliance of doctors, the alliance defending freedom? >> well, yes. there has been for some time now an confusion -- significant infusion of finances, of money that has gone into defeating roe v. wade, claire pare -- planned parenthood b casey, and a legacy of cases that affirmed roe v. wade. that is important for listeners to know. in the dobbs decision when justice alito in writing that opinion he seemed to suggest out of nowhere there was roe and planned parenthood v casey and otherwise there is no legacy before the court. that is not accurate. for years before roe, 30 years before roe, the supreme court said determining your own cash

it is a civil liberty. that was the case that involved men. after roe, a legion of cases that continue to affirm roe. what we have now is alliance that has been deeply funded that has been attempting to chip away at abortion rights both really and also state-by-state. involved in the dobbs case, involved in the texas litigation , legislation that overturned abortion rights in that state, they are very active in seeking to also interfere with the federal government seeking to use in paul as a means of helping individuals and an emergency situation who also need to terminate pregnancies. it is worth noting this particular organization is not just involved with this particular case but it is part of a movement -- a well-funded movement seeking to not only undermine abortion rights but

also seeking to undermine other reproductive freedoms that people truly care about, including access to contraception. amy: were you surprised by the tone of the questions? do you think they're headed toward allowing mifepristone? >> i believe they are towards allowing mifepristone to remain in the marketplace because the risk is that any other group that would like to have a drug or vaccine removed from the marketplace just for the right kind of judge that might lean in to what is information that is inaccurate and standing to individuals and potentially risk important vaccines from being removed from the u.s. marketplace, which would be a risk to assault -- to children, adults, and also globally. amy: michele goodwin, a professor of constitutional law and global health policy at georgetown university and founding director of the center for biotechnology and global

health policy. host of the ms. magazine podcast "on the issues with michele goodwin" and author of "policing the womb: invisible women and the criminalization of motherhood." in 2021, her guest essay for "the new york times" headlined "i was raped by my father. an abortion saved my life." i've asked, the state legislation in arizona speaks from the senate floor explaining why she is about to have an abortion. just back from that abortion, she will talk about why it was so important to take her personal agonizing decision public. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "all of the women" by allison russell. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as we continue on the issue of reproductive rights, we are joined by democratic arizona state senator eva burch. last week, she made headlines when she made a speech on the floor of the arizona state senate where she shared her plans to obtain an abortion after receiving news that her pregnancy was nonviable. state senator burch spoke about her struggles with fertility and a miscarriage she had over a decade ago.

>> two years ago while i was campaigning for this senate seat, i became pregnant with what we later determined was a nonviable pregnancy. it was a pregnancy that we had been trying for and we were heartbroken over it. but now i wish i could tell you otherwise, but after numerous ultrasounds and blood draws, we have determined that my pregnancy is once again not progressing and is not viable. and once again, i have scheduled an appointment to terminate my pregnancy. i don't think people should have to justify their abortions, but i choosing to talk about why i am made this decision, because i want us to be able to have meaningful conversations about the reality of how the work that we do in this body impacts people in the real world. amy: that is arizona state senator eva, a former nurse practitioner who worked at a women's health clinic and has been widely critical of abortion restrictions in arizona, where abortions are banned after 15 weeks of pregnancy. there are no exceptions for rape or incest.

arizona state senator eva burch joins us now from phoenix. welcome to democracy now! let me start by saying you publicly announced plans last week to have an abortion. i can't believe we're talking about this globally. did you have the procedure? and what was it like to have to make this public to everyone? and as you did this, republicans walked out of the state senate. >> thank you for having me on the show today. i felt like he was really important for me to bring people along so people could see what this looks like. i am at this critical intersection in the abortion conversation because i have been health care provider, i have been a patient seeking abortion care, now is a lawmaker i knew my perspective was unique. i wanted to share that and pull people into the conversation so we could be more honest about what abortion care looks like in

arizona but this is happening all over the country. who the abortion patient is calm and try to break through some of the stigma and some of the misunderstanding about abortion care and hopefully move the needle in the right direction. juan: senator, could you talk about how your profession as a whole provider and nurse practitioner has influenced your approach, the conversations perhaps you had with other women in similar situations? >> i worked in the reproductive health care space for some time. i don't work in abortion care because that was not available to me as a nurse practitioner but i have had patients who were pregnant who had questions, patients who were concerned about whether or not arizona is a hospitalable environment. we have to counsel with the understanding that our laws here are in flux, that abortion care

is not guaranteed in arizona by any means -- not only for patients who are just uncertain about whether or not they want to continue their pregnancy but for patients who might be experiencing complications or pregnancy loss the way i was. juan: can you talk about the reaction since you made your announcement from other members of the senate as well as protesters, how you and your family have coped with that? >> i have had been overwhelmingly positive response. it has really been moving for me. i have had people sending me letters to the legislature, emails and messages, direct messages on social media to the tune of thousands. what i am mostly receiving our people telling me their own stories are just thanking me for giving them a seat at the table.

i think people really do not want to bring people along with them with their abortion experiences. this is highly personal and a little taboo. it is a sensitive subject. people don't want to talk about it but they want to be heard. i think people are grateful for this opportunity to pull people in and to have a voice, to have a seat at the table. as far as the reaction within the legislature, i have not had any of my republican colleagues reach out to me to talk about this -- not maybe in the way i would have hoped for but i was not overly optimistic about that. it wasn't about trying to convince my colleagues as much as it was about trying to bring light to what is happening in arizona so our constituents can make decisions for themselves and hopefully get engaged in the political process and help to elect pro-choice candidates up and down the ticket. that is what we need in arizona and this country to make real change. amy: in one of the articles,

many about you, they said you said i was told i could choose adoption, i was told i could choose parenting which were two things i could not choose. it was cruel to suggest that was an option for me when it is not. if you could explain that and also what it was like to have these republicans walked out on you, one of them, a female state legislator walking in thinking you were done with your speech and then walking out for the second time. >> yes. i think a lot of people don't really understand the ways that laws can be sort of weaponized against patients, not to necessarily ban abortion but to make abortion inaccessible or difficult experience to create a hostile environment in the abortion clinic, to create confusion in the patient and provider relationship. we have a lot of stats.

there is this mandatory counseling where they have to talk about adoption and parenting as alternatives to abortion, which of course is not always relevant to patients -- which is why it should be medical providers who are determining the appropriate counseling for the patient. they also have to talk about the probable, physical, anatomical properties of the fetus at the time your abortion will take place. again, in my case, but in general, is inappropriate and unnecessary. my pregnancy was not progressing. my embryo was dying and not subject to the probabilities of a normal healthy pregnancy. so that information was also just factually inaccurate for me. but that is what providers are required to do because of out of touch legislators who do not have any medical professional experience who are writing the laws and dictating what doctors have to say to patients in that environment. as far as my republican

colleagues filtering in and out and not listening to what i had to say, i've a couple of thoughts on that. one is i think these laws are intended to do what they did. i don't think they are surprised by it or concerned about it. i think it just reinforces what they're doing with these laws as having the intended impact. i don't think there is necessarily any need for my republican colleagues to hear what i have to say because they're not going to make any changes or do anything differently because of that. i will say i have good relationships with a number of my republican colleagues. we disagree on a lot of things. it is really the leadership in the arizona senate that is so skewed far to the right. they are extremists. they have sort of set themselves up for failure in that way. i did not experience anything i wasn't expecting in the chamber that day. amy: if you could respond to the

mifepristone oral arguments in the supreme court? >> i can't believe we're even talking about it, to be honest with you. mifepristone has, what is it, 26 years of safety data and it is extremely safe and effective medication? i think we cannot be setting this precedent where we are allowing religious or extremist organizations to be able to go to highly partisan trump-appointed judges and bring a case all the way up to the supreme court. i hope they do the right thing. it is unimaginable this is where we are with mifepristone. we use this medication so much more safely than 70 medications you can buy over-the-counter. it is an outrageous conversation we're having with this but i am hoping that the right decision will be made but it just goes to show how serious consequences are when we have someone like trump designing the highest

court in the land for the people in this country. we have to be conscious of that and work so hard to make sure we are making better decisions in november. amy: eva burch is a democratic arizona state senator and nurse practitioner who announced on the state senate floor that she played to get an abortion last week to call attention to the restrictions she and others now face. when we come back, baltimore, where six workers who were on the francis scott key bridge are presumed dead from mexico, guatemala, el salvador, and honduras. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. authorities fear six missing construction workers died on tuesday when the francis scott key bridge collapsed. maryland's governor said the crew on the ship was able to issue an emergency mayday call before colliding with the bridge, which allowed authorities to stop incoming traffic. this is audio from the broadcastify.com archive of maryland transportation authority first responder radio traffic just before the bridge collapsed. >> if we can stop traffic on the

bridge. there is a crew. you might want to notify to get them off the bridge temporarily. >> once the other unit gets here, i will write out. -- ride out. we'll have workers on the key bridge stop. >> the whole bridge just fell down. the whole bridge just collapsed. amy: authorities are still investigating but say the ship leaving lost propulsion and control around 1:30 a.m. tuesday. the crew of men were filling potholes were from mexico, guatemala, el salvador, and honduras and had been in this country for many years. they include a salvadoran father of three named miguel luna, a honduran father of two named maynor yassir suazo sandova, two guatemalan men, and at least one mexican national.

in a minute we will speak with maximillian alvarez, who is been reporting on the bridge collapsed. on wednesday he interviewed jesus campos who works for the company that employed the workers on the bridge. >> we do concrete repair on the bridge. we remove the damaged concrete and put new concrete. that is what we do at the company. >> at night? >> yes, with less traffic. we have worked there for a long time and there's never been a mishap like what happened. >> it was a horrible disaster. do you know if the workers got any warning? >> no, no, i understand they were on their half-hour break that they give them. they were inside the trucks. there were four or five trucks that have to be on site.

they were in the trucks, supposedly. amy: for more, we're joined by maximillian alvarez, editor in chief of the real news. condolences to your city. if you can start off by talking about what you've learned learned about these workers. the warning did go out, albeit there were just a few minutes. enough time to stop all of the traffic from going over there bridge. talk about what more you understand about these men. eight. two have been said, what and critical condition, and six presumed dead. >> thank you for having me. it is an honor to be here. as you rightly said, our hearts are broken today here in baltimore. there is a hole in our hearts as big as the gap where the bridge used to be. there is a hole in these families that will never be filled again. and that is really what is first and foremost on our minds today. there is still a lot that needs

to be learned and investigated about this story. as you mentioned, what we know and what jesus campos told me yesterday and what i have seen from other reports coming out is that these workers who worked for broader builders come a contractor in operation for decades and contracts with the state of maryland on many other projects, that these workers were working with brawner in the middle of the night to fix potholes on the key bridge. the men who we believe now to be dead, six of whom were on that bridge, were according to jesus, on their 30 minute lunch break sitting in their cars or near their cars when the bridge itself collapsed. when i asked jesus if he knew if the crew received any warning about the mayday call, he told me very explicitly, no they did not. i believe we hear that in the

police dispatch. the police knew there was no direct line to the foreman and the folks on their bridge. so the police were racing to block traffic coming in on either side of their bridge and were waiting for backup so one of the officers could go on to their bridge and warned the crew. but every second that went by was a second lost and they did not have time to reach the crew on their bridge. i think the more egregious problem and the question we should be asking about is why the folks on that bridge doing that dangerous work in the middle of the night had no direct line to emergency dispatch when they are clearly working in a potentially hazardous environment in these massive mega ships are passing benny their feet. so far -- there are details that need to be confirmed but there's

a lot in this story that will appear different if you don't know construction workers, don't know a lot of immigrants, don't know a lot of undocumented immigrants. i'm not saying this is exactly what happened, but i have watched a lot of local news in the city the past 24 hours and there were reportedly two workers who were pulled a lie the water yesterday. one of whom went to the hospital and one reportedly refused emergency care, refused transport to the hospital. anchors have been saying i guess that person was fun and they went home. that may be the case. if you know workers and undocumented folks, or might immediately things, that was a worker was deathly afraid of going to the hospital because they may be undocumented. that is the situation 70 workers in this country are actually in right now. i can only imagine if that was the case, what must be going to a person's mind to refuse emergency care at that moment.

right now the families are grieving. the fellow workers are grieving. jesus was largely an shock when i talk to him. i was very emotional having talk to him as well. my foster daughter is run honduras and is -- is from undress and is undocumented -- my foster daughter is from honduras and is undocumented. juan: this issue of latino workers and immigrant workers being killed or injured on the job come it is been a national problem, almost an epidemic and has been given little attention. 18% of all workers in the united states are latinos but 23% of the fatalities in workplaces are among latinos and disproportionately among immigrant workers. your response to these facts, vis-à-vis the constant what we

hear in the media all the time about migrants being criminals and being a danger to society? >> i appreciate the question, juan. this is something i what to really stress for people. first and foremost, as you said, the reason so many folks are reaching out is because they feel connected to the story even though this was a unique, horrible accident. there are so many elements in the story that working people around the country feel connected to. i was in east palestine, ohio. i've had residents texting me all day because they feel connected to this in a way. i've had construction workers and building trades folks doing the same because construction is still one of the most deadliest jobs in this country. for deadlier than police. last year six crewmen on a construction crew were killed

when a car and baltimore county barreled into them. that is as many as died yesterday. each life is precious and we should care as much about those lives. you're killing as many as 10 times just by roadside accidents alone. those lives matter, too. this is not just construction workers. this is not just about contractors and all of that. the problem is so much bigger here and it goes to the heart of the discourse we're having in this country where donald trump and the people who been poisoned just like evil rhetoric and anti-immigrant stances, they are vilifying who look like. people who look like jesus. people who look like they meant on that bridge and my foster daughter and her friends and her boyfriend who works

construction. that could have been us. jesus and i knew that when we were talking to each other. i think the thing that is really important to stress to people is, we are not coming to this country to ruin it. we are not evil, enemies. we are neighbors. while we are being talked about as this invading horde to destroy the country, this story shows us immigrants are filling our potholes at night so we could have a smooth drive to work in the morning. immigrant workers and the contractors who employ them and exploit the contracting relationship, which happens across the country, that is why you find brown children working in meatpacking plants killing bone saws in the middle of the night, children primarily brown migrant children who should be in school working in hyundai parts distributors.

this goes so much deeper. there are workers like this who are working in slave-like conditions in our country right now picking the tomatoes that go on your wendy's hamburger and yet we are contributing to this country. we want to make a better life for ourselves and our families just like the families who are grieving right now because those six men are never going to come home. we are not your enemy. we are your fellow workers. we are your neighbors. our children are your children's friends in school. i hope people can see this and see the humanity in as and see this idea that immigrants are somehow destroying our country when like corporate greed and all the corruption is causing catastrophes from east palestine to boeing to what have you. the enemies are clear. we are not it. we're just trying to make a life

for our families and work and live a comfortable dignified life. i don't know why that is such a hard thing for so much of the country to understand. amy: max, thank you for being with us. we would like to ask you to stay beyond the end of the show so we can conduct this interview in spanish and put it on our website. maximillian alvarez, editor in chief of the real news, based in baltimore, maryland. we are ending today's show in texas, where some 200 texas tactical border force soldiers were deployed in el paso tuesday. this comes after texas erected a second border fence covered in razor wire friday, and riot police attacked migrants who tried to pull it down. the new federal spending bill biden signed into law this weekend increases funding for ice and customs and border patrol.

this also comes as texas' harsh new anti-immigrant state law was put back on hold by the 5th circuit court of appeals last week after the supreme court briefly lifted its stay. sb4 gives local police sweeping powers to arrest and deport anyone they suspect entering the united states without authorization. for more we go to el paso, we where we are joined by fernando garcia, founder and executive director of the el-paso, texas-based border network for human rights. welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about these 200 soldiers that have been deployed the border and the whole debate over sb4 that almost would into effect if the supreme court had their way then did not because of a lower court ruling? >> good morning. thank you for having me. we have situation at the border

where the state of texas, massively militarizing our community especially in el paso but also the rest of the mexico-texas border. a little bit of context is that the state has deployed 10,000 state soldiers already, the national guard troops, in our communities. especially along the border. now we see an increase of that militarization. i think what is concerning, specifically having special troops or special forces coming to el paso with no training on how to deal with the civilian population, much less dealing with immigrants and children and refugees. i think this is the state of texas who serve the federal powers of especially enforcing enforcement laws were in this case come immigration law. we believe this is not only

illegal with the state of texas is doing but also violating many people's rights, especially in el paso region. juan: could you talk about the decision by a president lopez obrador in mexico? he blasted texas's sb4 law and said mexico won't accept anyone deported under that law? >> yes, yes. to be clear, what the state of texas has done come immigration enforcement and deportation system from actually allowing police officers, state police asking immigration status, "show me your papers" but also members of the community and then state magistrates, a state judge will decide the deportation of that person that was arrested.

this is impacting that only migrants for refugees coming across the border, but everybody in texas whether you're in houston, dallas, fort worth. everyone would be subjected. what lópez obrador did is saying officially he is not recognizing the authority of texas to enforce the immigration laws and start supporting their mexicans or any other immigrants back to mexico. i think that was the right decision. however, the state of texas is still building out the immigration state force. juan: also, the new spending bill that president biden just signed provides a massive increase to ice to tension infrastructure for more money for the customs and border patrol and ice. your response? >> that is unfortunate. we know what some extremist

politicians like mr. greg abbott is doing already in texas, which, by the way, other states are trying to mirror. georgia, louisiana. the fact the federal government does not have an alternative to that. an alternative narrative. doing migrants are being portrayed ads to the problem. we don't need more detention centers. we don't need more border patrol . what we need is more welcoming centers, more accountability and oversight to allow federal law enforcement at the border but also we need for the federal government to stop texas, stop the governor of what they're doing in terms of enforcing illegally, unconstitutionally. it is impacting latinos, people of color, migrants looking for

asylum and protection. what you saw in el paso come the pictures of people running to the barbed wire, it is how desperate the situation is at the border. the barbed wire and enforcement, it is illegally impeding migrants and families to ask for asylum which is their right, in international right. it is granted in the u.s. constitution. we expect the administration to be more forceful in accomplishing more humane and push for immigration reform. we have not seen that. instead, we have seen more militarization and resources for to partition centers coming from the administration. amy: we want to thank you for being with us and ask you to stay after to conduct this interview in spanish. fernando garcia is the founder and executive director of the el-paso, texas-based border network for human rights.

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