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Will U.S. Deport Kurdish Activist Ibrahim Parlak Back to Turkey Where He Was Jailed & Tortured?
We turn now to a case of Michigan resident Ibrahim Parlak, who faces imminent deportation in an asylum case that stretches back more than 20 years. Parlak is a Kurdish man who came to the United States in 1990 fleeing persecution in his native country of Turkey, where he’d been arrested and tortured for his affiliations with the political arm of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Once Parlak reached the United States, he was granted political asylum. A year later, he was granted permanent residence. But all this changed in the years following 2001, when the FBI began to review old asylum files. In 2004, Parlak was arrested and threatened with deportation. But much to the surprise of the Department of Homeland Security, the community around him in Harbert, Michigan, rose to his defense. People built websites, organized letter-writing campaigns, held vigils and made so much noise that the agency released him. But now, his immigration case has suddenly come up again. The Department of Homeland Security has once again threatened Parlak with deportation and has ordered him to apply for residency to some other country. He fears he’ll be returned to Turkey, where the increasing crackdown on Kurdish communities has killed hundreds and displaced 200,000 from their homes. To talk more about the case, we’re joined in Chicago by Ibrahim Parlak, his daughter Livia, and their lawyer, Rob Carpenter.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Livia Gazzolo, the daughter of Ibrahim Parlak, who we’ll be talking about today. That was Livia singing at a vigil for him a few years ago. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, as we turn to the case of Michigan resident Ibrahim Parlak, who faces imminent deportation in an asylum case that stretches back close to a quarter of a century.
Ibrahim Parlak is a Kurdish man who came to the United States in 1990 fleeing persecution in his native country, Turkey, where he’d been arrested and tortured for his affiliations with the political arm of the [Kurdistan] Workers’ Party, a Kurdish independence group, better known as the PKK. Once Parlak reached the United States, he was granted political asylum. A year later, he was granted permanent residence.
But all this changed in the years following 2001, when the FBI began to review old asylum files. In the years after Parlak arrived in the U.S., the U.S. government had designated the PKK a terrorist organization, and suddenly, this made Parlak a terrorist, too, although he said he was never a part of the PKK. In 2004, Parlak was arrested and threatened with deportation. But much to the surprise of the Department of Homeland Security, which had designated Parlak a terrorist, the community around him in Harbert, Michigan, rose to his defense. People built websites, organized letter-writing campaigns, held vigils, made so much noise that the agency released him.
But now his immigration case has suddenly come up again. The Department of Homeland Security has once again threatened Ibrahim Parlak with deportation, and has ordered him to apply for residency to some other country. He fears he’ll be returned to Turkey, where the increasing crackdown on Kurdish communities has killed hundreds and displaced 200,000 people from their homes.
To talk more about the case, we go to Chicago. Ibrahim Parlak is with us; his daughter Livia is with us; and their lawyer, Rob Carpenter.
We welcome you all to Democracy Now! Ibrahim Parlak, let’s begin with you. You’ve been here for 25 years. Why is this coming up now?
IBRAHIM PARLAK: Through the whole time, I’ve been trying to become a citizen, and I followed all the procedures and took the exam and passed the exam. Just when I was about to celebrate becoming a citizen, something came up, and they brought up that I had a connection in the past with Kurdish organizations. And I told them, at that time, "Nothing is new, and you should have known that, and all is in the file." And so, since then, it’s just become sort of like this endless nightmare. And after September 11, it’s got more difficult. And it’s been continuing since then. And, you know, America became my second home. It’s my country. That’s where I live. That’s where my family is. That’s where my community is. That’s where my business is. So I’ve been fighting to stay. And—
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me turn to your lawyer, Rob Carpenter. Rob, if you could lay out for us the legal case—what happened, how he was approved by the U.S. government to live here all these years, and then what happened? Talk about the politics of the United States and Turkey, as well, within that.
ROBERT CARPENTER: Sure, I’ll be happy to. So, when Ibrahim arrived to flee the torture that he was subjected to by the Turkish government, he was granted asylum. He presented all of the relevant facts as to his affiliation with the political arm of the PKK, which was not a terrorist organization at that time. And the government willingly approved his asylum and then his permanent residence. Some time later, when he applied for naturalization to become a U.S. citizen, the government revisited that application in light of the PKK having been designated a terrorist organization after the fact, and decided to try to, I believe, widen the breadth of the definition of terrorism and material support of a terrorist organization to encompass a retroactive application. And the courts upheld that reading of the law, as—frankly, as absurd of a principle as it is. And so, you know, after the removal case took place and after his appeals were exhausted, many people on both sides of the aisle politically came to his aid and pushed for him to receive what’s called deferred action, which would allow him to stay even if he had the deportation order. And that’s how he’s remained from 2009 until 2015. The other reason why he’s been able to remain with work authorization in the United States after that fact is because he’s stateless. Turkey revoked his citizenship. So there’s nowhere to send him to.
What’s changed now, as of two weeks ago, is that we received word that the government had, through back channels, acquired travel documents with the government of Turkey to, in fact, deport him to Turkey, even though he’s not a citizen there and has no real legal way of returning there. Now he does. And so, that was a game-changing piece of information. And so, we took a hard look at the file and are certain that he’ll be tortured if he’s returned to Turkey. And in light of current events, I think that it’s indisputable that he’ll be tortured if he’s returned to Turkey. So we filed a motion to reopen the case to have his claim under the Convention Against Torture, which is a U.N. convention the United States is a signatory to, re-examined by the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the underlying case reopened so that that claim for relief can be—so that the Board of Immigration Appeals can take a look at it again.
AMY GOODMAN: Ibrahim Parlak, what happened to you in Turkish custody before? And what do you think would happen if you return to Turkey now?
IBRAHIM PARLAK: In the past, I’ve been many times taken under the police custody, and once held when the military curfew was issued, '78, for almost three months held in the military custody. That's when I was just about 16. And then, the latest was '88. I was captured and put in jail, in it almost a month, for a month, mistreated, tortured. And it's just—you know, it’s not a memory you want to revisit.
If I go back, what’s happened now, it’s sort of—I mean, to accepting even to go back there, for someone like me, have to be suicidal to do that, because it’s—the conditions over there, they are worse than even before. And, you know, you have over five cities now under curfew, hundreds of thousands of people pushed out of their homes. And, I mean, just this morning, when I was looking at the Turkish headlines, I mean, three Kurdish women in Silopi, they got assassinated. All they were doing, just humanitarian work for those people who are under curfew. And, you know, then you have someone like Tahir Elci, who was just trying to protect historical monument in the middle of the city, get assassinated. And you have journalists being taken away; even they won’t release information where they are. And then you have an immigrant, who had been deported back to Turkey from Russia, get beaten up at the airport in front of everybody, being as a traitor. And then you have the Turkish newspapers running headlines, since the Turkish government released information to them, that after 25 years, finally we got him. He’s on his way back.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you feel, if you were sent back to Turkey, you could be killed?
IBRAHIM PARLAK: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring Livia into this conversation, your daughter, Livia Gazzolo. How has this latest threat to your dad being forced back to Turkey affected you and your family?
LIVIA GAZZOLO: It’s been really scary. I guess, when I was little, it was all kind of—I didn’t know much about the story. I knew the rough outline. I knew my dad was innocent, and everybody loved him, and that’s what got me through. But lately I’ve learned more and all of the details, and it’s just all really scary and very real.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, you’re in college. Have you been put on a no-fly list?
LIVIA GAZZOLO: They didn’t say outrightly that I was, but they said that my name—that it was someone else with my name, Livia Gazzolo, who was on the no-fly list, and I was supposedly mistaken to be her.
AMY GOODMAN: You were stopped coming back from London on a school trip, stopped—
LIVIA GAZZOLO: On a school trip, yeah, twice, in the span of two hours. And my bag was completely checked, and I was patted down and had to be escorted onto the plane. And then again, I went to San Francisco and was taken aside—before I turned 18, too, which was a little startling.
AMY GOODMAN: Ibrahim Parlak, do you have support of elected leaders?
IBRAHIM PARLAK: Yes. It’s been—it’s been a long journey. Through this long journey, the situation I’m in or I’m forced to be in, it’s hard to accept or hard to deal with on a daily basis. But one thing is for sure, that having the community and also having elected officials, someone like Senator Carl Levin, who introduced private bill every two years since 2005, and someone like Congressman Upton, who did the same thing, and still working hard to find a solution, and someone like Jan Schakowsky, and trying to do the right thing—
AMY GOODMAN: Before we end, I want to ask Rob Carpenter: Would Ibrahim Parlak being returned to Turkey violate the Convention Against Torture? We just have 15 seconds.
ROBERT CARPENTER: Yeah, I don’t think there’s any question. It would be at odds with the Convention Against Torture, because it, under Article 3, prohibits the refoulment or return of an individual who is, more likely than not, going to be tortured upon his or her return. And I think that we’re well above that standard. We’re approaching a virtual certainty of him being persecuted upon his return.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you all for being with us—we’ll continue to follow your case—Ibrahim Parlak and your daughter, Livia Gazzolo, also your attorney, Rob Carpenter.
That does it for our broadcast. Democracy Now! is hiring a director of finance and operations. Visit democracynow.org for more information.
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"Every Time I Think About Those Kids It Gets Me Mad": Obama Tears Up as He Orders New Gun Control
President Obama has laid out his plans to take executive action in an attempt to cut gun violence. Part of his plan will result in mandatory background checks for individuals purchasing firearms online or at gun shows. The administration is also calling for the hiring of 200 new federal agents to enforce the nation’s gun laws and $500 million to increase access to mental healthcare. On Tuesday, Obama spoke at the White House surrounded by family members of people killed in shootings. It was one of the most emotional speeches of Obama’s presidency—at times he wiped back tears as he remembered children killed by gun violence.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: President Obama has laid out his plans to take executive action in an attempt to cut gun violence. Part of his plan will result in mandatory background checks for individuals purchasing firearms online or at gun shows. The administration is also calling for the hiring of 200 new federal agents to enforce the nation’s gun laws and $500 million to increase access to mental healthcare.
On Tuesday, President Obama spoke at the White House surrounded by family members of people killed in shootings. It was one of the most emotional speeches of President Obama’s presidency. At times, he was wiping back tears as he remembered children killed by gun violence.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: All of us should be able to work together to find a balance that declares the rest of our rights are also important. Second Amendment rights are important, but there other rights that we care about, as well, and we have to be able to balance them, because our right to worship freely and safely, that right was denied to Christians in Charleston, South Carolina, and that was denied Jews in Kansas City, and that was denied Muslims in Chapel Hill and Sikhs in Oak Creek. They had rights, too. Our right to peaceful assembly, that right was robbed from moviegoers in Aurora and Lafayette. Our unalienable right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, those rights were stripped from college kids in Blacksburg and Santa Barbara, and from high schoolers at Columbine, and from first graders in Newtown—first graders—and from every family who never imagined that their loved one would be taken from our lives by a bullet from a gun. Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad. And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day.
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"A Profound Day": Mother of Teen Who Was Shot Dead over Loud Music Praises Obama's Action on Guns
When President Obama spoke about gun control on Tuesday, he was surrounded by family members of people killed in shootings. Standing just behind him was Lucia McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, the 17-year-old who was shot dead in 2012 in Florida at a gas station in a dispute over the volume of a car stereo. Lucia McBath has since become a leading gun control advocate.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: President Obama, speaking Tuesday at the White House, surrounded by family members of people killed in shootings, including Lucy McBath, who joins us now from Washington, D.C. She’s the mother of Jordan Davis, the 17-year-old who was shot dead in 2012 in Florida at a gas station by a man named Michael Dunn, who confronted Davis and his friends about the volume of their car stereo. Lucia McBath has since become a leading gun control advocate.
We welcome you back to Democracy Now!, Lucy.
LUCIA McBATH: Thank you. Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: You were front and center, standing right behind President Obama as he spoke yesterday. Talk about the significance of what he has done.
LUCIA McBATH: Well, yesterday was a very profound day towards the movement of gun violence prevention in this country. And specifically speaking as a victim of gun violence, standing on that platform with President Obama and all the other victims, it was just an amazing day for us, specifically because we’ve been on the front lines. We have been fighting this fight for some time, and it’s been very disheartening, time and time again, to watch our legislators not be beholden to the constituents that they—that have placed them in office, but to be beholden to the gun lobby. And for the first time now, we see some, you know, concerted effort and change in keeping our communities and our families and our futures safe. So yesterday was the right move, the right step, and we are definitely going in the right direction.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you think that these executive orders would have saved Jordan’s life, your son?
LUCIA McBATH: No, I don’t believe so, because, in my case, Michael Dunn had purchased his guns legally. That was not an issue. For us, it would be more so dealing with the Standard Your Ground laws and the application of those laws around the country. But definitely, the executive orders that are being put in place by President Obama are a tremendous start towards making sure that, you know, gun sellers in this country are accountable for the guns that they’re selling, who they’re selling them to, making sure that they are licensed, making sure that they are instituting background checks on any guns that they’re selling to individuals. We have to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals.
And as President Obama said yesterday, he’s going to make sure that we spend more time and effort in managing those individuals that need help with mental illness, keeping guns out of their hands, and just also—you know, just the huge proliferation and trafficking of guns in this country. These are very, very profound steps. He’s moving in the right direction. If our legislators have not been accountable to keeping our communities safe—with Manchin-Toomey, they’ve turned their backs on the American community—then if he has to take executive orders to keep us safe, then we applaud him for doing so.
AMY GOODMAN: Lucy McBath, the story about your son Jordan Davis’s death was turned into a film last year called 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets. I want to play the film’s trailer.
REPORTER: Forty-five-year-old Michael Dunn is being charged with shooting and killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis. The confrontation began over loud music.
CORY STROLLA: Was there music playing in the car?
LELAND BRUNSON: Yes.
CORY STROLLA: What type of music?
LELAND BRUNSON: Rap.
ERIN WOLFSON: Did the defendant say anything about the music?
RHONDA ROUER: "I hate that thug music."
TEVIN THOMPSON: "Thug" is the new N-word. He just seen four black kids.
MICHAEL DUNN: I’m not racist. They’re racist.
REPORTER: Michael Dunn is claiming self-defense.
CORY STROLLA: Jordan Davis threatened Michael Dunn.
MICHAEL DUNN: He goes, "You’re dead, [bleep]."
I look, and I’m looking at a barrel.
SEN. TED CRUZ: This is about the right of everyone to protect themselves, to protect their family.
CORY STROLLA: Under the law, it’s justified.
MICHAEL DUNN: I said, "You’re not going to kill me, you son of a [bleep]."
POLICE DETECTIVE: There’s no weapons in their car.
MICHAEL DUNN: Could have been just a stick.
POLICE DETECTIVE: Could it have been your imagination?
MICHAEL DUNN: It cert—well, no. I mean, anything’s possible, I guess.
UNIDENTIFIED: Maybe they didn’t have a gun, but he thought they had a gun.
UNIDENTIFIED: They think it’s a gun when it’s in the hands of a young African American.
RON DAVIS: Trayvon Martin’s father texts me: "I just want to welcome you to a club that none of us want to be in."
UNIDENTIFIED: It’s going to be open season.
UNIDENTIFIED: Open season on—on who?
UNIDENTIFIED: You can say later that maybe he did have it.
UNIDENTIFIED: It’s time to pick up where Dr. King left off.
PROTESTER: Justice!
UNIDENTIFIED: I’ve never covered a trial with this much international attention.
UNIDENTIFIED: This was a 21st century lynching.
RON DAVIS: Was he all right to kill my son?
LUCIA McBATH: What happened to Jordan? What happened to Jordan?
AMY GOODMAN: A trailer for 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets. Lucy McBath, as you listen to that and you stood behind President Obama, what do you think now has to happen in this country?
LUCIA McBATH: Well, as we know that, you know, this was just a giant leap forward, but there’s so many parts and pieces to the gun culture and the gun problems that we have in this country, there’s a lot more that has to be addressed. But what we want to make sure that we begin doing is—you know, definitely background check legislation in place for all gun sales in this country is definitely a deterrent. We’re not going to be able to take all the guns off the street. And most definitely, President Obama is not trying to infringe upon anyone’s individual Second Amendment rights. He wants to make sure that he tempers and balances with those rights commonsense measures in our gun laws to protect us, basically, from ourselves. There are a lot of moving pieces and parts. This is going to be a long battle and a long process. It is a cultural shift and change. And as President Obama said yesterday, that takes a long time.
So, moving forward, we begin with what we know we can do now—background check legislation, making sure that gun dealers and sellers are fully licensed, making sure that we give more help to those individuals in this country who are mentally ill so that they’re not getting their hands on guns, keeping guns out of the hands of convicted criminals, and, you know, beginning to really see a drop in some of the gun trafficking, the illegal gun trafficking. As he also said, too, is that—beginning to spend more time and effort—the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice, you know, spending more time and effort on research for gun safety technology. These are all beginning measures, but there’s so much more that has to be done, and it’s going to take years to really stem this tide of gun culture in the country.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to turn to a clip of you testifying, Lucy McBath, at the first-ever Senate hearing on Stand Your Ground laws. This was back in October, October 29th, 2013.
LUCIA McBATH: I was raised in a family steeped in justice and confident in the triumphant goodness of humanity. My mother was a registered nurse. And my father, who served in the U.S. Army Dental Corps, was also for over 20 years president of the NAACP for the state of Illinois. He worked actively with President Lyndon Baines Johnson in the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If he could see me here today testifying in front of the United States Senate, he would be beaming with pride and amazed at how far his daughter had come—until he came to understand what brought me here.
AMY GOODMAN: As we wrap up, Lucy McBath, with you testifying in that first-ever Senate hearing on Stand Your Ground, how does Stand Your Ground fit into this story?
LUCIA McBATH: Well, Stand Your Ground is just one of the laws that we will definitely have to begin to amend in the country, and, you know, because statistics are showing that, you know, so many more people in this country are dying under what’s deemed justifiable homicides under these laws. And so, those are definitely going to have to be addressed. We know in the states where there have been background check legislation put in place and other measures, we know that these justifiable homicides have dropped. So those are definitely—you know, that’s the course of action that we have to continue to look forward to. As I said earlier, you know, piece by piece, bit by bit, there are so many moving parts and pieces to the gun culture, and it’s just a matter of identifying what we can do best first, and then begin to move on the other measures of changing the gun laws in our country.
AMY GOODMAN: And your father working with Dr. Martin Luther King, who was assassinated—gun violence in 1968. Even after that, even after President—after Robert Kennedy was assassinated a few months later, President Johnson could barely get passed the kind of gun control he wanted to. He was thwarted by the gun lobby in the United States. What do you say to the NRA today?
LUCIA McBATH: Well, what I say is that, you know, the NRA today is not the NRA of 25, 30 years ago. And what we do know is that 90 percent of the NRA card-carrying members in this country agree with us, is that there have to be some commonsense measures put in place to keep our people from dying in the streets such as they are. And so, if it’s the NRA leadership that is pushing this fear mongering and this kind of extremist agenda, then we need to expose that. The American citizens need to understand and know what’s happening. And it’s not necessarily all of the NRA members, because most of them are law-abiding gun owners. They’re law-abiding hunters. They’re law-abiding enthusiasts, gun enthusiasts. And those aren’t the ones that we’re going after. But we need to make sure that we’re exposing what’s happening with the NRA gun lobby. Most people that I talk to around the country say that they feel helpless and hopeless. They don’t know what to do. So, as much as I know to do is that we give people the information that they need. We are doing the policy research. We are doing the work bringing to light what’s truly happening in this country. And we’ll continue to do so.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you so much, Lucy McBath, for joining us, again, mother of Jordan Davis, the 17-year-old killed in 2012 in Florida in a gas station parking lot, killed by a man who didn’t like the fact that Jordan and his friends were in their car playing loud music. Lucy McBath, now a leading gun control advocate, especially in the evangelical community. When we come back, a debate on gun control. Stay with us.
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Gun Owners of America vs. American Constitution Society: A Debate on Obama's Gun Executive Orders
As President Obama announces plans to use executive actions to strengthen gun control regulations, we host a debate between John Velleco, director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America, and Caroline Fredrickson, president of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: As President Obama announced plans to use executive actions to strengthen gun control regulations, he condemned Congress for blocking efforts to reduce gun violence.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: When it comes to an inherently deadly weapon—nobody argues that guns are potentially deadly—weapons that kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, Congress actually voted to make it harder for public health experts to conduct research into gun violence, made it harder to collect data and facts, and develop strategies to reduce gun violence. Even after San Bernardino, they’ve refused to make it harder for terror suspects, who can’t get on a plane, to buy semi-automatic weapons. That’s not right. That can’t be right. So the gun lobby may be holding Congress hostage right now, but they cannot hold America hostage. We do not have to accept this carnage as the price of freedom.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to a debate on President Obama’s plan to take executive action to reduce gun violence. We’re joined by two guests. In Washington, John Velleco is with us, director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America. And Caroline Fredrickson joins us, president of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.
Caroline Fredrickson, let’s begin with you. Can you lay out exactly what these executive actions are?
CAROLINE FREDRICKSON: Well, the president is basically doing what he is required to do under the Constitution, which is to faithfully execute the laws. The Supreme Court has laid out that there are quite a number of regulations that are consistent with the Second Amendment. Congress has passed laws requiring licensing and background checks. And what President Obama has done is moved to clarify the law about who’s subject to a background check, and make sure that we actually have the resources to enforce those background checks, so that people who have been barred from buying a gun by Congress, dangerous people, who are dangerous felons or have a mental illness that makes them incompetent to have a gun, or those who are violent domestic abusers—and what President Obama has done is moved to clarify the law to make sure that those people actually are really not getting guns, and make sure that there is some enforcement behind the laws that Congress has duly passed and that have been understood by the Supreme Court to be consistent with the Second Amendment.
AMY GOODMAN: John Velleco, how do you feel about President Obama’s announcement yesterday?
JOHN VELLECO: Well, the president is redefining the law. He’s really changing the law, because the Congress has been very clear on things such as what constitutes a federally licensed gun dealer. And so, in changing the law, he’s taking on the role of the legislative branch, and he’s reinterpreting laws and taking on the role of the judicial branch. So, he’s not operating—I mean, President Obama is really in full community activist mode now, and he’s trying to do what he can to get around the Congress. And he’s really thumbing his nose at the will and the wisdom of the American people, which is represented through their elected officials in Washington, which the Congress has, not once or twice, but on many occasions, voted on and voted down proposals such as the president is trying to push, such as universal background checks and closing the so-called gun show loophole.
AMY GOODMAN: Caroline Fredrickson, what do you feel is wrong with—what do you—how do you respond, I should say, to John Velleco saying that he’s defying Congress?
CAROLINE FREDRICKSON: Well, you know, we worked with a group of constitutional law experts who have laid out very clearly that within the understanding of the Constitution and the president’s executive authority, he is clearly empowered to do what he needs to do to make sure our laws are enforced. You know, in essence, what it comes down to is the question of who’s in the business of selling firearms. And I think we all have to take a step back and think about that, because what the president is basically saying, in the 21st century, when so much commerce goes on over the Internet, and we recognize that—you know, that a crime that would exist—say, for example, selling child pornography, if you sell it at a newsstand, that’s illegal; if you decide to sell it over the Internet, it’s still illegal. And so, what’s essentially happening is the president has acknowledged that the Internet exists, and it exists for firearms sales. How many people are buying books and clothes and all sorts of things over the Internet, and they know they’re buying those things? Because it’s on the Internet does not make it somehow outside of commerce. It’s fully in commerce.
And so, we need to move into the 21st century when it comes to gun sales, as well, and make sure that we don’t have this enormous loophole that large sellers of firearms are getting around our really, really significant, important background checks, because I think all of us—and as Lucy, who was so very articulate and compelling, who spoke before, had mentioned, you know, 90 percent of NRA card-carrying members agree that background checks are fully consistent with the Second Amendment and should be enforced. So I think, let’s just be realistic and commonsensical, and make sure that the 21st century sees 21st century technologies governed by the same laws that have governed brick-and-mortar commerce prior to this moment.
AMY GOODMAN: John Velleco, do you think the sale of guns should be limited in any way?
JOHN VELLECO: Well, what the president is doing is he’s redefining what a gun dealer is, and he’s saying that a private individual, who can sell as few as one or two guns, should be classified as a federally licensed firearm dealer, which means you’re getting a license with the BATF, being subject to inspections by the BATF, paying fees. For people who sell—there’s no number on it. So, this is very dangerous for private individuals who want to sell a part of their collection or if they just want to engage in private transactions, and the penalties are very severe. It’s a five-year prison penalty and a $250,000 fine. So what the president is doing is, even though the Congress has already said no to the universal background check system and making the federal government so much more involved in private transactions, he’s going around that and really threatening private individuals who want to sell from their own collection, you know, with imprisonment and huge fines. So, you know, he’s going about this the wrong way.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask Caroline Fredrickson—
JOHN VELLECO: These laws need to go through the Congress.
AMY GOODMAN: —on this issue of private gun sales, explain what the president is now going to enforce.
CAROLINE FREDRICKSON: Well, you know, under the regulatory regime, there are a number of criteria that go into the examination of whether someone’s in the business of selling firearms. And what this essentially does is it says, offline, online, we should look at those indicia of whether someone is engaged in the business of selling firearms, and those people should be subject to the licensing requirements and doing background checks. And, come on, we all want to be safe on the streets. We want to have those same requirements applied to gun sellers who meet those criteria, again, whether they’re selling out of a storefront or whether they’re selling over the Internet.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, who talked about background checks on his show last night.
BILL O’REILLY: On the other side, the NRA and the gun owners should be reasonable. The FBI should background check anyone buying a firearm in America. That just makes sense. If you are paranoid and believe the government is stockpiling information so they can come to your house and take your guns, that’s your problem. Your problem. But the government has an obligation to enhance public safety.
AMY GOODMAN: John Velleco, can you respond to Bill O’Reilly on Fox?
JOHN VELLECO: Well, the government has an obligation to protect liberty. And what Bill O’Reilly is saying is that the government powers should be massively increased to be involved in private sales of a lawful product. And I would simply disagree with that. It would be unconstitutional. You have the Supreme Court, has said that the right to keep, bear arms is a fundamental right. That means people can’t just lose it without their due process of law. But when you start regulating private transactions between individuals, that’s exactly what is happening, is people are losing their ability to engage in their Second Amendment rights.
AMY GOODMAN: Caroline Fredrickson, can you explain what gun trusts are?
CAROLINE FREDRICKSON: Sure, but first I just have to comment on the fact that Bill O’Reilly and the Gun Owners of America are in a different place. And I think that just reflects that the NRA and Gun Owners of America, those two organizations, are so far outside of the mainstream, when, you know, we’ve got 90-plus percent of Americans who support these commonsense restrictions on gun ownership. And I can’t say that I have ever—you know, there has been a great frequency in which I have agreed with Bill O’Reilly, but here I’m 100 percent on his side. So I just think that reflects how isolated and extreme those opponents of these very simple and not very far-reaching—which they, themselves, acknowledge these are not huge steps, they’re fairly minor, and nonetheless they’re going to oppose them with all of their forces. So, you know, that’s just a question for themselves of why they’re opposing these very limited movements forward to make America a safer place.
But a gun trust is just—you know, it’s just a shell game that certain sellers set up. It’s trying to get out from under the law and the requirements by setting up a trust that somehow—that doesn’t fit the legal definition of who needs to get a license to sell. It’s just—it’s another loophole that needs to be closed down. And that’s another area in which President Obama has moved to make sure that our—that the enforcement of the laws actually reflects the spirit of the laws, that were passed to make sure that we keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.
AMY GOODMAN: On Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized President Obama’s plan.
DONALD TRUMP: The Second Amendment—the Second Amendment is so important. They’re trying—they’re not going to take your guns away, folks. They’re not going to take your guns away, not going to do it. They’re trying. They’re talking about the bullets. They’re talking about—and then, as you see, President Obama is on television.
AMY GOODMAN: And Senator Ted Cruz, also presidential candidate, criticized Obama’s actions.
SEN. TED CRUZ: This morning, President Obama is announcing new executive orders to try to go after our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Well, I can tell you right now, those executive orders are not worth the paper they’re printed on, because when you live by the pen, you die by the pen. And my pen has got an eraser.
AMY GOODMAN: John Velleco, your response? Do you feel any presidential candidate represents your point of view adequately?
JOHN VELLECO: Yes, I think many of them do, and particularly Ted Cruz, who understands that once he gets in office, he can reverse these executive orders, which—and I would contend that these are not minor, limited orders. These are very far-reaching. And I think when people start to realize what is actually going on here with these orders, they’re going to see that millions and millions of people who have not been convicted of any crime in any court of law are being denied their Second Amendment rights. And particularly, the president is directing the Social Security Administration to provide names to the FBI of people who are beneficiaries, who have—who are determined to be unable to handle their affairs. So, that means potentially millions of senior citizens and their gun collections that they’ve acquired over lifetimes could be in jeopardy through this action. That is not insignificant to allow the Social Security Administration to prohibit people from owning guns through the FBI NICS check.
AMY GOODMAN: Caroline Fredrickson, can you address John Velleco’s concern?
CAROLINE FREDRICKSON: Sure. Well, I mean, first I would just say, I was only parroting back the statement of the NRA spokeswoman, who said that these were no big deal. And so, I just—I think they’re important steps. I do think they’re pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. As Lucy mentioned earlier, and, again, so compellingly, there is so much more that can and should be done to ensure that Americans are safer and that we have some reasonable gun restrictions. You know, but at bottom, these efforts are quite justified and really limited. And the fact of the matter is that Congress has already prohibited people who are mentally—severely mentally ill from owning a gun. And don’t we all think that’s actually a good idea? The fact of the matter is, we just don’t have a great enforcement mechanism, and so they’re moving forward to try and address that. And that is what the executive order is all about.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank John Velleco for joining us, director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America, also the group’s federal lobbyist.
... Read More →
Executive Action: Bush Opened Guantánamo Without Congress, So Why Can't Obama Close It?
As President Obama takes executive action on gun control without going through CoAs President Obama takes executive action on gun control without going through Congress, could closing Guantánamo be next? In January 2009, Obama ordered the closure of the Guantánamo Bay military prison in one of his first executive actions. Seven years later, 107 prisoners are still there. We speak with Caroline Fredrickson, president of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. "I think something that’s really important for people to remember is that President George W. Bush opened Guantánamo on his own say-so, without Congress, without any authorization, any legislation to do so," Fredrickson says. "Obviously, Congress can use the power of the purse … But in terms of the president’s basic authority, he certainly has that."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Caroline Fredrickson, I’d like you to stay on for one minute to address another issue—not guns, but the issue of the executive authority of the president, what power President Obama can use, that we’re seeing he’s using on the issue of gun control. Could he use this to close the Guantánamo prison camp without congressional approval? In January 2009, one of his first executive orders was calling for the closure of the Guantánamo Bay military prison. Seven years later, 107 prisoners are still there.
CAROLINE FREDRICKSON: Well, so, you know, I think something that’s really important for people to remember is that President George W. Bush opened Guantánamo on his own say-so, without Congress, without any authorization, any legislation to do so. So I would call people’s attention—there was a very important Washington Post opinion piece about a month or so ago by Cliff Sloan, who is the special envoy to close Guantánamo appointed by John Kerry, secretary of state, and Greg Craig, who’s the former White House counsel. And they argue, quite convincingly, that the president is fully within his executive authority to close Guantánamo without going through Congress, because of that very same power that George W. Bush used to open Guantánamo, which is the commander-in-chief power, which is in his purview to take significant actions to affect our national security. And so, I think that’s a very compelling argument. Now, obviously, Congress can use the power of the purse to try and limit that. But in terms of the president’s basic authority, he certainly has that.
AMY GOODMAN: Caroline Fredrickson, I want to thank you for being with us—
CAROLINE FREDRICKSON: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: —president of the American Constitutional Society for Law and Policy.
This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. When we come back, we go to Chicago to hear the story of a man who has lived in this country for a quarter of a century. He comes from Turkey, was imprisoned and tortured there. Now the U.S. is threatening to send him back. We’ll speak with him, his daughter and his lawyer. Stay with us.ngress, could closing Guantánamo be next? In January 2009, Obama ordered the ... Read More →Headlines:
North Korea Says It Tested a Hydrogen Bomb
North Korea says it has successfully detonated its first hydrogen bomb. If confirmed, the test marks a major increase in North Korea’s nuclear capacity. The North Korean state-run TV network announced the test after seismologists detected a 5.1-magnitude tremor near the country’s main nuclear test site.
Announcer: "The first H-bomb test was successfully conducted at 10:00 on January 6, 2016. We will not give up a nuclear program as long as the United States maintains its stance of aggression."
North Korea’s announcement has not been independently verified, and experts have voiced skepticism about whether the country is actually capable of producing a hydrogen bomb. South Korea called the announcement a "grave provocation to our national security," while Japan condemned it as a "major threat to regional and international peace and stability." Speaking in Tokyo today, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy said the United States stands with Japan.
Caroline Kennedy: "We stand with Japan and our partners and allies in solidarity in the face of North Korean provocations, and we will work closely together with you in the coming days."
Hydrogen bombs can be hundreds or even thousands of times more powerful than the atomic bomb the United States dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945—the first and only use of nuclear weapons in war.
Obama Outlines Executive Action on Guns in Tearful Address
President Obama has laid out his plans to take executive action in an attempt to curb gun violence in the United States. Part of his plan will result in mandatory background checks for individuals purchasing firearms online or at gun shows. The administration is also calling for the hiring of 200 new federal agents to enforce the nation’s gun laws and $500 million to increase access to mental healthcare. On Tuesday, Obama spoke at the White House surrounded by family members of people killed in shootings. It was one of the most emotional speeches of Obama’s presidency. He wiped back tears as he remembered the first graders killed by a gunman at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
President Barack Obama: "Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad. And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day."
We’ll have more on President Obama’s speech after headlines.
Iranian President: Saudi Arabia Can't Hide "Crime" of Execution by Severing Ties
In Iran, a top military commander has condemned Sunday’s storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, calling it an "ugly, unjustifiable act." Brigadier General Mohsen Kazemeini made the remarks after protesters angered by Saudi Arabia’s execution of a Shiite cleric set fire to a part of the Saudi Embassy. The burning prompted Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan to break ties with Iran, while the United Arab Emirates downgraded relations with Iran, and Kuwait recalled its ambassador there. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday Saudi Arabia could not hide its "crime" of executing Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by severing ties with Tehran. Forty-six other people were executed alongside the cleric, marking Saudi Arabia’s largest mass execution in decades.
U.S.-Led Coalition: ISIS Has Lost 30% of Territory in Iraq, Syria
A spokesperson for the U.S.-led coalition fighting the self-proclaimed Islamic State says the militants have lost 30 percent of the territory they once held in Iraq and Syria. U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren made the announcement Tuesday.
Col. Steve Warren: "We believe, in Iraq, it’s about 40 percent; in Syria, harder to get a good number, we think it’s kind of under 20; and altogether around 30 percent, we believe, taking together Iraq and Syria."
Afghanistan: U.S. Soldier Killed in Special Forces Operation
In Afghanistan, a U.S. soldier has been killed and two others wounded during a special forces operation in the southern province of Helmand. The Pentagon says U.S. forces came under fire in the town of Marjah. A U.S. helicopter reportedly crashed at the scene during a rescue attempt.
Female Journalist Ruqia Hassan Murdered by ISIS
The Islamic State has reportedly murdered a journalist who wrote about life in the ISIS-occupied Syrian city of Raqqa. Ruqia Hassan was reportedly killed in September, but activists say ISIS hijacked her social media accounts and used them to claim she was alive. A member of the activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently said that before her death, Hassan said, "I’m in Raqqa and I received death threats, and when Isis [arrests] me and kills me it’s ok because ... I have dignity. Its better than [living] in humiliation with Isis." Hassan was 30 years old.
Turkey Releases Vice News Journalist After 131 Days in Prison
In Turkey, Iraqi Kurdish journalist Mohammed Rasool, who worked for Vice News, has been released after 131 days in prison. Rasool was accused of assisting a terrorist organization. He was arrested in August in southeastern Turkey, where the Turkish government has imposed curfews as part of a wide-ranging crackdown. Human rights groups have recorded well over 100 civilian deaths in the area. A report by the Committee to Project Journalists last month called Turkey the fifth worst jailer of journalists in the world.
Venezuela: Right-Wing Opposition Takes Control of Congress
In Venezuela, right-wing opposition lawmakers have taken control of the Congress for the first time in 17 years. The opposition won 112 out of 167 seats in elections last month. The new legislature sets up a challenge for President Nicolás Maduro as he seeks to continue the Bolivarian revolution launched by late President Hugo Chávez.
Sanders: Wall Street Greed "Destroying the Very Fabric of Our Nation"
Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has taken aim at Wall Street in his latest address. Speaking here in New York at Town Hall, Sanders vowed to break up the biggest banks within a year of taking office.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Greed is not good. In fact, the greed of Wall Street and corporate America is destroying the very fabric of our nation. And here is a New Year’s resolution that I will keep if elected president, and that is, if Wall Street does not end its greed, we will end it for them."
5 Central American Families Win Halt to Deportations After Raids
Some of the first families set for deportation under the Obama administration’s latest round of raids have won a key victory after a top immigration appeals court halted their deportations. In what advocates dubbed "car-seat raids," agents rounded up at least 121 people over the weekend, targeting Central American families who have recently fled violence in their home countries. Activists say five of the families were able to win a halt to their deportation after citing due process violations. The order came just hours before they were set to be deported to El Salvador, which now has the highest murder rate in the world for a country not at war.
Supreme Court Receives Torrent of Briefs Against Texas Anti-Choice Law
A broad coalition of doctors, experts, lawmakers and organizations have petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn a Texas anti-choice law that could shutter all but a handful of abortion clinics in the state. Those who filed briefs opposing the law include medical professionals, religious groups, the Obama administration and more than 160 members of Congress. A coalition of cities and municipalities, including New York; Baltimore; Boston; Dayton, Ohio; and San Francisco, have also filed a brief against the Texas law, saying if it goes into full effect, cities and states without harsh abortion restrictions will see a surge in patients needing care. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the case in March.
Judge Says Chicago City Attorney Hid Evidence in Police Killing; Legislators Mull Recall of Emanuel
In the latest news to shake the administration of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a federal judge has ruled a top administration lawyer intentionally hid key evidence about a fatal police shooting, then lied about it. The judge’s ruling reversed an earlier decision in favor of two Chicago police officers that concluded they were justified in killing African American Darius Pinex during a traffic stop five years ago. The officers claimed they pulled Pinex over because his car matched a description they heard over their radios about a car wanted in connection with a shooting. On Monday, a judge ruled senior Chicago attorney Jordan Marsh intentionally withheld a recording of the radio dispatch showing the car did not actually match the description, then lied about his reasons for doing so. Marsh resigned hours after the ruling. This all comes as Mayor Emanuel faces calls to resign over a potential cover-up of the police killing of Laquan McDonald and over the fatal police shooting of a grandmother and college student, Bettie Jones and Quintonio LeGrier. Illinois state lawmakers are now considering steps to potentially allow a recall of Mayor Emanuel.
Michigan Governor Declares State of Emergency over Lead in Flint's Water
Michigan Governor Rick Synder has declared a state of emergency in the city of Flint over lead in the drinking water. The move came as federal officials announced they are investigating the issue. Governor Snyder apologized last week for the state’s handling of the water crisis in Flint, where residents have reported a spate of health problems, from rashes and hair loss to memory problems. The contamination began after an emergency manager appointed by Governor Snyder switched the city’s water source to the long-polluted Flint River in a bid to save money. In August, Governor Snyder quietly helped deliver 1,500 water filters to Flint—even as state officials assured people the water was safe.
35,000 Cows Found Dead After Blizzard in Texas, New Mexico
And an estimated 35,000 dairy cows have been found dead after a rare blizzard hit West Texas and eastern New Mexico late last month. The storm left snow drifts up to 14 feet high, burying many cows alive, while others froze to death or starved. An estimated 10 percent of the adult dairy herd in West Texas perished.
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A Most Unhappy New Year at Guantánamo
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