Episode 31: John Washington, Volunteer for No More Deaths

John Washington, a volunteer for No More Deaths which is a humanitarian aid organization, joins the show to talk about a report on the missing persons crisis created by the brutality of United States border patrol agents. The report is called, "Disappeared: How the U.S. Border Enforcement Agencies Are Fueling a Missing Persons Crisis."  Washington highlights the strategy of "Prevention Through Deterrence," which aims to make it harder on border crossers by pushing them into the desert and creating situations where they will die. The border patrol agents also use deadly apprehension tactics that chase and scatter border crossers so they wind up alone, split from their guides, injured, and fail to make it to the border because they die. During the discussion portion, Rania Khalek, who has just returned to the U.S. after going to Syria twice, talks about what happened in Aleppo this past week and comments on the narrative pushed by media that fails to acknowledge the true nature of the "rebels," who were in control of the part of Aleppo.