wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. ♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on the "newshour" tonight -- the biden administration warns israel to change the way it is prosecuting the war with hamas or risk losing u.s. support. our exclusive conversation with japanese prime minister fumio kishida on efforts to increase security cooperation in asia.

>> russia's aggression against ukraine is a reckless deed which shakes the foundation of the international order with a strong sense of crisis that today's ukraine might become tomorrow's east asia. geoff: and amna nawaz on the u.s.-mexico border in arizona, with migrants who've made the grueling journey through mexico and those trying to help them. ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward, i think that is the most rewarding thing. people who know, know b.d.o. >> a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and

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this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to "the newshour." today for the first time, president biden publicly threatened to condition support for israel. his remark came in a phone call with the israeli prime minister. the president said his future policy was dependent on whether israel took multiple steps to ease the civilian suffering from gaza and also reiterated his call for an immediate cease-fire. following all of this is nick schifrin. great to have you here. white house readouts of

residential phone calls with foreign leaders are not always illuminating, but we learned a lot today from the summary of the call between president biden and netanyahu. tell us what you learned. nick: the readout and officials i spoke to said president was very direct with the prime minister and the president said that following that killing of the world central kitchen aid workers, the car they were traveling in, they were hit by israeli munitions, biden said israel had to better protect aid workers, better protect civilians and reduce humanitarian suffering. that's a quote from the readout -- "president biden made clear u.s. polity -- policy will be determined by our assessment on israel's action on these three steps." president biden had not made those steps public until now. he said if he had a redline that , would be a full-scale military

operation into rafah, where 1.4 million gazans have fled. a few minutes after president biden's call with netanyahu, the secretary of state, who was on the call listening to the president and prime minister, was even more blunt. sec. lincoln: -- sec. blinken: if we don't see the changes that we need to see there will be changes in our own policy. nick: blinken also said that israel's priority should be not be fighting hamas or even protecting israel territory but instead their priority in gaza is this -- sec. blinken: right now there is no higher priority in gaza than protecting civilians, surging humanitarian assistance and ensuring the security of those who provide it.

israel must meet the moment. nick: israel hasn't responded to those statements yet but argued the limiting of humanitarian aid is not their fault, but un capacity in gaza. it called the killing of those aid workers inadvertent, the product of a misidentification and it has called for what president biden is calling for, and independent open investigation geoff: the president also call forward cease-fire. that demand is noteworthy. nick: it is because up until now the president has said there should be a cease-fire as part of a hostage deal. a u.s. official said he was very direct with the prime minister on this. there is a hostage deal on the table. 35 to 40 hostages would be released from hamas in exchange for a six-week cease-fire, but hamas has insisted that part of that deal must be to allow all of those gazans in rafah to

return north into northern gaza. israel has resisted that hamas demand. in israel there are also hostages but also hamas militants and israel said it is too hard to save the hostages or kill those hamas militants if those civilians were to flood back into northern gaza. today u.s. official told me president biden told netanyahu, get the hostage deal done, no more posturing, even that allows gazan civilians to move north from rafah. another sticking point, the exact number of palestinian detainees, including those convicted of murder, who would be released from israeli detention in exchange for those 35 to 40 hostages. how far israel is willing to go on that compromise and how far or whether even hamas is willing to make a compromise remains to be seen. geoff: such valuable reporting. thank you as always. nick: thank you.

♪ stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. here are the latest headlines. israel's military suspended leave for all combat units in case iran retaliates for an air strike in damascus that killed two iranian generals. prime minister netanyahu defended the bombing. pm netanyahu: for years iran has been working against us directly and through its proxies, and therefore israel is working against iran and its proxies, we will act according to the simple principle that whoever hurts us or plans to hurt us, we will hurt them. stephanie: in iran, state media reports suspected sunni muslim militants attacked iranian security forces, leaving 27 dead. it happened in a province in southeastern iran. officials said the militants struck in chabahar and rask,

trying to seize revolutionary guard headquarters. russian drone attacks on ukraine's second-largest city claimed the lives of at least four people overnight, including three rescue workers. police video showed one of the explosions as drones hit two apartment buildings and a power plant in kharkiv. firefighters worked to extinguish the flames. ukraine says the russians are deliberately firing drones in pairs, the first to cause damage and the second to target emergency crews. in taiwan, the death toll grows to 10 after a powerful earthquake. search teams found one body on a hiking trail in a national park. some 50 survivors have been cut off from a highway in that park. david chen was one of them and reunited with his family today. david: i am lucky to survive this disaster. we were terrified, especially when the earthquake first happened. we thought it was all over. that place, the place we all knew, it was prone to rockfalls.

stephanie: nearly 1100 people were injured in the earthquake, and about 700 people were still stranded today. back in this country, a federal judge in florida refused to dismiss the classified documents case against former president trump. he had argued the material was personal and legal for him to keep. in a separate election interference case, a judge in georgia also rejected trump's bid to dismiss. the judge ruled that even core political speech is not impenetrable from prosecution if allegedly used to further criminal activity. the u.s. army corps of engineers is aiming to open a limited channel into the port of baltimore by the end of april. it would support one way traffic for shipping barges. it has been more than a week since the francis scott key bridge collapsed after it was struck by a barge. a federal court ruling in california means thousands of migrant children have to be moved out of open-air border camps and into safer indoor facilities, and soon. the ruling came late wednesday

and puts new pressure on customs and border protection. the agency says it has greatly increased capacity at processing centers in san diego, but can't keep up with demand. democratic leaders in california announced an agreement to reduce the state's budget deficit by 17.3 billion dollars today. 3.6 billion worth of cuts will come from one time funding to schools, welfare and climate programs. the cuts don't hit at governor gavin newsom's expansion of health coverage for undocumented immigrants. still to come on the newshour -- what you need to know about the uptick in cases of bird flu in farm animals and the risk to humans in the u.s. a look at how the biden and trump campaigns are raising and spending their advertising dollars. and a new documentary captures the story of a journalist's gender transition while embedded with the taliban. >> this is "the pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

geoff: the challenge presented by china is one of the main focuses of the biden white house and soon the president will meet with the leader of one of america's strongest alleys -- japan, in a bid to deepen the military partnership in east asia. in a moment, i'll speak with japan's prime minister fumio kishida. but first, a look at the stakes of the coming summit. next week, a new plan to strengthen military cooperation expected to be unveiled by two powerful leaders. president biden will host japanese prime minister kishida in washington on wednesday followed by a summit among the two nations and the philippines. it's all part of japan's shift in military strategy over the last decade. slowly abandoning its post world war ii inward approach of pacifism to deal with the rising power nearby, china. the p.r.c.'s military activities

in the region are seen as increasingly aggressive. live fire military exercises off the coast of taiwan, sailing its ships dangerously close to others in the south china sea , and ramming boats from the philippines in disputed waters. china also claims sovereignty over islands which japan considers its own territory. in term, prime minister kishida promises increased military strength to return the p.r.c. >> this is an urgent task we have no time to wait for. geoff: this is driving the u.s. and japan to joint operability. on the economic point, the biden administration last month came out against nippon steel's bid to buy u.s.

based u.s. steel, saying it is vital for it to remain an american steel company. nippon steel fired back saying the deal would advance american priorities by driving greater quality and competitiveness. while strengthening american supply chains. the white house makes clear it doesn't want to damage its relationship with japan. >> the president has been clear about making sure that steel workers in this country know he has their back, but that doesn't take away one bit from the terrific relationship we have with japan. overnight i spoke with prime minister kishida from his residence in tokyo. welcome to the newshour. one of the key items on your agenda next week is vaguest on -- focused on nippon steel. president biden suggests this is a national security issue, that the u.s. needs to maintain

strong american steel companies. pm kishida: well, with regard to the specific case of us steel, since the individual discussions are going on, amongst the direct parties concerned, i would chosen not to directly comment on it. however, with regard to the japan-u.s. alliance, it is stronger than ever. and japan has grown to be now the world's largest foreign investor into the united states and creates lots of jobs in the united states. it is expected that this investment is going to be expanded even further. so in order to make this win-win more definite, i think what we need to do is to ascertain sustainable and inclusive economic growth in the asia pacific and work together so that rule-based economic order can be sustained and maintained , and aced on that the basic , notion on the economic front as well, i will continue to work strongly toward it. geoff: while you're in washington next week you and , president biden will agree to

tighten military cooperation. japan wants to establish the joint command headquarters before the end of march 2025, because of the concern about the -- about china. what will this strengthened u.s.-japan military relationship be able to do in the future that it cannot do now? pm kishida: i've seen in the russian aggression against ukraine as well as the situation in israel and palestinian. -- israel and palestine. in terms of the international community, it is really faced with the historical turning point. in that context, i am of the view that the importance of the japan-u.s. alliance is growing even more. and after world war ii, i would say that in terms of the inter pacific situation for japan, i think it is the most severe and complicated situation. that is why at the end of 2022, japan had put together the national security strategy, in which it was decided that the defense expenditure will be raised to 2% of g.d.p. i hope that in my visit to the united states this time, japan and the united states will be

able to deepen into discussion on how our security cooperation can further be expanded. geoff: will this new headquarters be involved in actual military operations or just responsible for planning military exercises between the u.s. and japan? pm kishida: well, based on the national security strategy that japan had formulated, we are now planning to form the joint headquarters. however, the control per se will remain individually to each of the states concerned, namely japan and united states. under the new system, i will make sure that japan and the united states will make that coordination accordingly. geoff: would this new command be involved in coming to the defense of taiwan if china were to attack taiwan? president biden has said on a number of occasions that the u.s. would come to the defense of taiwan if china were to attack it. would japan do the same? pm kishida: well, i would

refrain from answering your question, your hypothetical question about taiwan. however, the peace and stability over the taiwan straits is very important, and not only for japan's security, but also for the stability of the entire international community. therefore, we have always taken consistently the position that, issues of her taiwan are to be resolved through dialogue in a peaceful fashion. of course, we will convey what we are thinking formally to the -- formally to china and also continue working closely with allies like the united states and other like minded countries so that our position can be clearly communicated. geoff: what's your level of concern, though, about chinese military activities in the south china sea and elsewhere in asian waters? what do you believe is president xi's ultimate goal? pm kishida: well, with regard to china, without affording adequate transparencies they are expanding military strength in this part of the region, inclusive of the nuclear and missile capabilities in a broad

way, and in such a speedy fashion. they are increasing their cooperation with russia as well. so in the sea of japan, in the pacific ocean and so forth, their military activities are expanding, and also becoming much more intensified. so we are going to ask them to raise their transparency and act, along with international code of conduct. geoff: during the visit, you'll also be announcing cooperation in space. is japan pushing to have the first non-american on the moon and has the u.s. agreed to that plan? pm kishida: with regard to space, it has been confirmed that japan will extend its cooperation in this area. so this is the dream that a japanese astronaut might be stepping his feet on the face of the moon. i hope that when i visit the united states, it will become one of the outcomes of the discussion. geoff: you mentioned ukraine

earlier. let's return to that. does u.s. military support for ukraine make it harder for the u.s. to meet its commitments in asia? pm kishida: well, russia's aggression against ukraine is a reckless deed which shakes the foundation of the international order with a strong sense of crisis that today's ukraine might become tomorrow's east asia. i have been dealing with this issue, continuing the severe sanctions against russia and the continuing strong support of ukraine. and, on the 19th of february, tokyo had hosted the japan-ukraine conference on economic growth and reconstruction. based on that, of course, that japan will continue its cooperation to ukraine. and, of course, the international community has to cooperate in sending strong messages constantly to russia because some of the asian countries might take it wrong. geoff: do you believe that support for ukraine, as many in the u.s. argue, is important as

a possible deterrent to china in the region? pm kishida: we really need to maintain international order, which is based on the rule of law and which is free and open. and we should never allow any country to make it a habit to be aggressive against others. if that is allowed, then that would send the wrong messages to countries all over the world, including asia. geoff: the north koreans launched another ballistic missile this week. how much of this new military partnership is about containing the north and its aggression? and what's your level of concern about the apparent military cooperation among china, russia and the dprk? pm kishida: of course, the nuclear and missile development by dprk threatens not only japan, but also the peace and stability of the entire international community. i sense that very lately, the level of the dprk missile development capability is improving, very significantly. that is what i sense and i have a deep sense of crisis over that . therefore, the cooperation amongst allies and with the like minded countries, specifically

between japan and the united states and the republic of korea, we really need to enhance our cooperation. and as you mentioned, the dprk is having a concrete cooperation with russia. this is of course the concern shared by east asian countries. therefore, the international community has to cooperate even more. geoff: and lastly, sir, japan was one american ally that managed to get along with former president donald trump. how were you able to do that and if president trump is reelected, what advice do you have to u.s. allies on how to interact with him? pm kishida: during the days of prime minister abe with president trump, efforts were made on the u.s.-japan relationship. i would say that regardless of the outcome of the upcoming presidential election in the united states because of this , more complicated situation, the japan-u.s. alliance grows in importance even more and i

believe this is a notion shared as a common recognition in the u.s., going beyond party lines. in a bipartisan way. so this is why i've decided to visit the united states, to again confer this relationship, the importance of our alliances and so we can further develop our relationship. i hope that the japan-u.s. alliance will be understood as very important, not only in the security area, but also in the economic area as well. i hope that the u.s. will be able to reaffirm once again how important japan is as their partner. during my visit to the united and we hope to confirm that states. geoff: thank you for your time. we appreciate your visit. pm kishida: thank you. i thank you from the bottom of my heart and i thank you once again for your cooperation. ♪ geoff: there is growing concern tonight about the continuing spread of the highly contagious

bird flu in the u.s. as william brangham explains, while federal health officials say the risk to humans is low, the virus has now spread to dairy cattle and sickened one person. william? william: that's right, geoff. this strain of bird flu, called h5n1, has been sickening bird flocks across america for a few years now. millions have been killed to prevent further spread. yesterday, the country's biggest egg producer halted production when chickens at one its facilities got sick. but this virus has also been infecting mammals, most recently dairy cows in five different states. this week, a person in texas tested positive after working with cattle. he's had mild symptoms and is expected to recover. for more on this virus, we're joined again by jennifer nuzzo. she runs the pandemic center at brown university's school of public health. jennifer, so good to have you back on the program. dr. mandy cohen, the head of the cdc, says the risk to humans from this virus is low.

they're monitoring it and there's no reason to worry at this point. is that where you come down? jennifer: i think it's true that the risk to the general public is quite low and i think it's important that we continue to monitor the virus to make sure that doesn't change. one thing i do worry about is the risk to farmworkers, people exposed to sick animals. we do know that exposure to sick animals can result in human infection and we've seen that now to date with two cases in the united states, the most recent being in a worker that worked with sick cows. so i do worry about protecting farmworkers. but for the general public, the risk of contracting this virus is currently low. william: let's talk about this infection. this was someone who apparently had been working with cattle that had been infected with this bird virus. how should we see that route of infection? in does happen every now and then. a widespread infection amongst animals that jumps to one human. jennifer: we have been tracking

this virus for 20 years and in the last two years it has become a lot more concerning in terms of the number of species this virus has shown itself capable of infecting. historically we've called this a bird flu virus because it has predominantly affected wild and domesticated birds. but over the last two years we've seen the species range affected by the virus row quite a bit to include mammals, and that is quite alarming. this is the first time we've seen it in cows. cows haven't frequently been seen to get influenza a, which is the type of virus this is. that is new and surprising. but we have in the past seen humans that have had direct contact with sick animals get sick. it doesn't happen that frequently but when it does it is quite concerning because in many of these cases, the infection has been quite deadly.

forcefully in the most recent case, the infection has been quite mild. the symptoms have been different than the past, the sick worker had conjunctivitis and eye inflammation. while we're glad about a mild infection, we don't yet know why that is. william: for now, jumping from a group of animals to one human is one thing, but if it were to go from human to human, that's when it would be really troubling, is that correct? jennifer: the predominant reason we are worried now is we're worried that this virus may gain additional functionality and additional ability to infect humans. we could see human infections occur more frequently. the worst case scenario is this virus gaining the ability to be transmitted easily between humans. in the past there have been a few cases that we haven't been able to rule out limited human to human transmission but that human transmission hasn't been sustained and has been rare relative to the number of human cases.

but we are watching this virus primarily to ensure it doesn't gain the ability to infect humans more easily and spread between humans easily. william: right now there is no evidence of that happening? jennifer: no, there is not. we are watching it. but we don't often get head start or early warnings about future health threats so why you're hearing a lot of health officials talking in a concerned manner about this development is because we want to make sure we get ahead of it and don't allow this virus to infect many more animals or humans to give it any ability to gain the functionality to infect humans more easily. william: for people who are seeing these are cases in dairy cows and egg-laying chickens. do i have to worry about milk and eggs? what do you tell them? jennifer: it has long been a look health advice not to eat raw milk or eggs. that still applies.

if you follow that guidance, you you should be fine. william: the u.s. has been focusing on threat of pandemic influenza for decades now. but we saw how covid punched all these holes in what we thought was a robust set of plans and preparations. are you concerned -- and again, no evidence this is happening -- but if this turn into something more severe, could we respond in a smart and timely way? jennifer: i think that's why we're talking about it now. what triggers will make us act. our recent experience with covid was quite humbling in a lot of ways. we have a bit more experience dealing with influenza rather than the flu pandemic. we had in -- had a flu pandemic in 2005. we have more familiarity with flu so you could imagine it easier, but every type of event will be challenging.

so i think that's why it's really urgent that we use in moment where we are getting some concerning signals from the animal world about potential future human health threats, to make sure we have everything we need to be able to respond if this virus does take a turn for the worse. william: jennifer nuzzo, brown university school of public health, always great to see you queued -- great to see you. thank you so much. jennifer: thanks for having me. ♪ geoff: the race for the white house takes money, a lot of it. yesterday, the trump campaign and republican national committee said they raised more than $65 million in march as they try to catch up to the nearly $100 million cash advantage biden and the democrats had a month earlier. both candidates are using the campaign money to reach key voting blocs and to push their core messages. domenico of npr has been

following the money and joins me now. it's always great to see you. the biden campaign has a clear cash advantage over donald trump. how much does that matter in a race like this one when the candidates are so well known and so well defined, and what does it matter seven months ahead of election day? domenico: i think it's a strong argument to say that these guys are so well defined that maybe all that tv money doesn't really matter as much. but i would say this is kind of like a world war i election. you're spending a lot for a few feet of important ground. it's pretty marginal as far as the groups they need to win. biden, it's very important for him, and why he is outspending trump, he's behind in the swing states. we've seen that biden's campaign and groups supporting him are spending about $13.5 since super thursday to only about $3 million or so for trump and his team. a lot of the money trump is spending right now is to raise

money. about $2.5 million of that they are using our digital ad pitches from save america asking people for more money. eventually the money will get there but right now they're needing to get for of it. geoff: what groups are the campaigns trying to reach with all of this money? domenico: one of the big things you need to do and why early advertising can matter is , because you want to win over groups that you might have vulnerabilities with or try to define your opponent. one big thing the biden campaign understands is trump has been off the airwaves for three years and some people may not see him , as urgent a threat for the people who voted for biden, for example, in 2020. the biden campaign needs to win back over so they will run a lot of drums words -- comp's words. part of it is shoring up your vulnerabilities. for biden that is latino, black and young voters. young voters, 1-29, 61% disapprove of the job he is doing. he needs them on board. latinos, 61% disapproving and

that's why we're seeing the ads we're seeing right now from biden. let's take a listen. >> for our abuelas -- >> insulin that cost $135, that is the difference between biden. >> and donald trump. >> for women, the freedom to decide our own bodies. >> this is the difference between joe biden. >> or donald trump. domenico: trump taking a different tack. now let's listen to and add he also ran in 2020 quite a bit. [spanish music] geoff: definitely a different approach. domenico: good luck getting that out of your head in the next

couple of days. geoff: how are the campaigns using these ads to reinforce their positions on important issues? domenico: one of the big issues is getting your message out. one of the big issues for the biden campaign is on abortion rights, on women's reproductive rights and using trump's words is of the ways they're going on the airwaves and let's listen to that. >> because for 54 years, they were trying to get roe v. wade terminated, and i did it and i'm and i'm proud to have done it. >> in 2016, donald trump ran to overturn roe v. wade. no in 2024, he is running to pass a national ban on a woman's right to choose. i'm running to make roe v. wade legal again. domenico: that is an ad running in a lot of places. one place i'm looking at is florida, whether or not they're going to run that ad there. they're really spending money on

michigan, wisconsin. gee, i wonder why. they're looking to build the blue wall back. geoff: the third party group no labels announced today they're not going to field a presidential candidate after spending millions of dollars to find calendar -- find candidates and get on the ballot. domenico: they got on the ballot in 19 states, raised billions but they couldn't field a candidate so they abandoned their effort. it's a lot of money they wound up having to spend. i know the biden campaign is thrilled about this. i have already got lots of texts and emails from interest groups on the left who were fighting against low labels because they feel like the path to donald trump to the white house is getting a third-party candidate who can siphon votes from biden. so having one of these groups out is important for the biden campaign. the next target is robert f. kennedy, jr., and why we have seen ads from groups on the left that have popped up to target him.

geoff: thank you so much. domenico: thank you, geoff. ♪ geoff: last night we reported from mexico on the increasingly global migration making its way through that country to the u.s. southern border. tonight amna continues that journey starting in green valley, arizona. how often do you do this drive? >> at least once a week. amna: it's about an hour and a half drive from the church to the rugged border in the sonoran desert. >> it's a time-honored tradition to giving help to the stranger. amna: he's the founder of green valley samaritans and for almost a quarter of a century he's provided aid to migrants. >> a year ago we were running into the desert.

10, 15 people a day. now some days we are running into 300, 400. amna: a day? >> yeah. amna: but it's not just more people, it is where they're coming from. within minutes of reaching the border wall, pastor randy is out of the truck and handing out granola bars and water to a group of men from bangladesh. they tell me they've been traveling for three months and just arrived at this makeshift border camp. before long, more arrivals. they are from guatemala, finding the samaritans after walking for five hours. the group, including a five-year-old, have been traveling for a month. a five minute drive further down the border road, another large group that recently crossed, including this father and his children from senegal.

>> six months ago we had never seen somebody from bangladesh or africa in this part of the desert. it was all mexicans and central americans and sometimes a few people from south america. but now this is pretty regular. [speaking spanish] amna: i notice one of the first things you say is welcome. randy: yeah, we want to make sure that at least their first encounter is one of great welcome and saying we are glad you are here. amna: among the group are three sisters. a 13-year-old, 14-year-old and eight-year-old. they're traveling alone from the southernmost state in mexico. do you see any other kids traveling alone along the way? >> no, most had their families or their parents or their aunts and uncles or even close cousins. everybody had somebody. amna: and you have each other? >> yes, just us three. amna: the sisters are heading to

reunite with their mother, their sole provider who came to the u.s. 7.5 years ago to support the family. over the phone she shares her relief that her daughters made it safely across the border. >> i was desperate and so scared because i didn't know what was going on. amna: the girls, like everyone here are now just waiting to , turn themselves into border patrol. virtually all will seek asylum in the u.s., a legal procedure that takes years to determine. but for now, with a snack, water and reassurance from pastor randy that transport will come, spirits seem high. but in this remote stretch of the sonoran desert the journey , can quickly turn dire. 2:00 in the afternoon, i just met a group of folks that crossed over earlier this morning, in the middle of the night, two from molly, -- msli and two of them are very sick.

they said they are waiting for border patrol to arrive for hours. now they have arrived. an hour passes, a group is taken by ambulance to a hospital more than 90 minutes away. this border is the deadliest immigration route in the world. in arizona's pima county, more than 30,000 immigrants have died in the last seven years. randy: it shouldn't be so deadly. our people are saving lives day in and day out. amna: along the same span of rugged terrain, steven with u.s. border protection echoes that sentiment. stephen: when they're pushing family groups across in the middle of nowhere, that's been a big challenge. amna: when you say the organizations, you mean cartels? stephen: the cartels control everything here. tucson sector is the most inhospitable terrain on the

southwest border. amna: how does that impact your resources? you have larger groups and more remote crosses. what does that mean for your team? stephen: it makes it incredibly difficult for us to respond in a quick manner. for us, the number one thing is safety and preservation of life. amna: driving the border with the agent we quickly get a sense , of what his team is managing. this group of migrants, all 17 mexicans, crossed the border just moments earlier through a broken section of the border fence. the pace of what border patrol calls give-ups or people turning themselves in him a -- turning themselves in, is relentless. apprehensions here were up 30% in march chaired to a year ago and just down from record level as few months ago. the group is loaded on to a van to be taken to a nearby facility in nogales, arizona. stephen: they will get a medic

al screening. amna: before he can finish his thought, he sees another group approaching. do you have staff, space, resources to support all of them? stephen: i don't know when we get the next van. it might be a little bit before he comes back. [speaking in spanish] amna: over the course of an we hour, document at least 70 people. minors, families, children as young as 6 months crossing the border to turn helps themselves in at this one remote spot. but is not just asylum-seekers. the agent says a masked man on the border fence is likely a scout for a cartel. stephen: he'll watch us, if it's people or drugs, whatever that guy is looking to push across, he's looking to tie up our resources, get us out of the area. amna: in fact, moments earlier, agents on a.t.v.'s marched two men out of the brush who had been evading border patrol. it's a sight that fifth generation rancher jim

chilton says he's increasingly seeing along his ranch. including 5.5 miles along the border. jim: the obama and trump administration averaged about 230 people coming to the ranch. in the last few years it's been about 1200 people. amna: chilton tracks the traffic using motion activated cameras on his property. what do you think should be done to stop those guys from cutting through your ranch? jim: president biden made a huge mistake stopping the wall. a wall is a very helpful tool. it would require the border patrol being at the wall and anybody who tried to cut it or roll over or over it, they apprehend them and kick them back into mexico. legal immigration pathways but the current flow of people claiming asylum between ports of entry is untenable.

jim: i feel for the undocumented immigrants. they're just trying to get into the country. but we can't accept everybody that has an issue. amna: a lot of folks on the outside looking in say there's a siege going on, an invasion at the border. is that how you see it? jim: when you have 8 to 10 million people coming into the united states, one could almost say it's an invasion. amna: but opinions on this frontier differ. chilton's neighbor just down the road doesn't see it the same way. cattle rancher lori lindsay's property also runs along the mexico border. lori: it is super peaceful and beautiful. i've lived in nine states. this is my favorite place. amna: and this comes with a view of the border wall. lori: [laughter] it does. right here. amna: lindsay says she's never

felt threatened and doesn't put much stock in the immigration debate from people thousands of miles away. lori: if you don't know it sounds like we're being invaded, criminals are coming to get us but it just isn't true. not that there isn't a problem. there is a problem with the cartels. we need to deal with those. but there are two separate issues going on. you have that and you have a mother who has come seven countries away with her young children, i think how desperate are you? i wouldn't want to do that with my kids. amna: back at the border, the division chief and border patrol agents are on the front lines on disentanging these two issues and managing a humanitarian issue that many border patrol agents didn't necessarily sign up for. to worry after seeing hundreds of people a day, thousands a week that there's compassion fatigue, burnout? stephen: i don't think so. it's hard to look at a group like this and see all these little kids. those kids didn't ask themselves to be here. you can put yourself in that situation.

imagine having to make those sacrifices, make those decisions to travel hundreds of thousands of miles with that little girl. she's probably 9 months old. maybe a year. so no, i don't worry about compassion fatigue. i don't. amna: pastor randy and the green valley samaritan volunteers say they're frustrated by elected officials's failure to act. randy: for over 30 years, both the republicans and democrats have not chosen to do anything but throw money at security and it hasn't changed a single thing. in fact, it's probably brought more people here. amna: as the sun starts to set, dozens of migrants wait for border patrol to arrive. including the sisters, eagerly anticipating seeing their mother for the first time in more than seven years. >> i am very excited to see her. >> it's been so long since i've seen her. amna: but after we leave, that

excitement turned to worry. in a moment of confusion as night fell over the desert, the girls are left behind by a border patrol van. their mother alerted newshour. we alerted border patrol who carried out an overnight rescue of the girls. last week, the sisters reunited with their mother. three more survivors of a dangerous journey who have reached their next safe space, whatever the path ahead. ♪ geoff: a new documentary on amazon prime and apple tv looks at the taliban takeover of afghanistan. it is the story of a journalist's gender transition while embedded with the taliban and has to keep his identity a

secret. he and the co-maker spoke to us earlier this week about this turning point in afghanistan and the risks of navigating a relationship with the taliban. amna: thank you so much for joining us on newshour. pleasure to speak with you both. jordan, and to the beginning of this film, you're already been living in afghanistan for a number of years, about five years, as a film maker for the new york times. you began documenting one group of tele-band fighters after they retook control of the country and at the same time you are in the process of your own gender transition. one point do you decide i need to turn the cameras the other way and start telling my story? jordan: i started the medical transition about five months before the taliban took over. objectively as a film maker i'm , thinking it could be interesting to document this

process in a place like afghanistan, and because i wanted to use my story to show the version of afghanistan that i had experienced, which was a beautiful, welcoming, loving afghanistan. amna: monica, you've covered conflict around the world. how did you come to collaborate with jordan on this? monica: i had heard about him before as an else cinematographer who had really trillion intimate access to the taliban so i was already wondering who is this guy? how did he get such intimate access? that's when we met and jordan said come here but i'm not sure i want to do a film about myself . i convinced him because i really think -- it takes enormous courage to do something so intimate about your own process but i thought his story was extraordinary. amna: jordan, there is one scene in particular that speaks to sort of the everyday navigation that you had to manage when you're deciding whether to go through the men's security line or the women's security line at the airport. here's a quick clip.

>> should i go through the men's or women's security check? >> women. >> why? >> because if you wear a mask and cover your face, they will know you from me. because they know me, that i am with you always. >> i'm so sick of being stressed about this. [speaking another language] amna: in a country like afghanistan, especially at that time how difficult were those , kinds of choices for you to navigate? jordan: it was terrifying, honestly, because there's no precedent for something like this. to my knowledge there's not been another transgender person, afghan or foreign, who was presurgery but living amongst the taliban as their desired or

their felt gender rather than their assigned at birth gender. my afghan cinematographer, teddy my colleague, the stakes for him , was so much higher, the trauma of having to bond with these taliban fighters was far more difficult for him. they had destroyed his country. as much as i was worried for myself, i was worried for teddy the whole time. what would they have done if they'd found out? i don't know, i don't want to know. amna: monica, we should point out jordan was allowed to embed with these taliban fighters because they believed he was male. you are not allowed to embed with tm because you are a woman. at the same time this is a point in afghanistan history where women and girls are being banned from public increasingly. what was it like for you as a storyteller? monica: when i was there i had , to be locked up in the hotel. not leaving because i was scared

to leave alone. you ca't go anywhere in these places without a male companion and jordan and the crew went on a car ride for about eight hours with multiple checkpoints and i could not go through any of those checkpoints. they would not allow a woman in the car, it was a very remote area and that was really hard, to know i had no access. i wished i could be with them and i couldn't. amna: it's a very personal film, jordan. it's your story but also the story of this country transitioning from what it was to what it is today. there was a moment when you struggled like a lot of journalists, with the idea of when and how to leave. here's that moment. jordan: so many foreigners have built, me included, we've built our careers, our bank accounts, our networks, our status and our reputation off the misery of afghanistan. for me, the least i can [beep] do is stick it out when the

going gets touch and give back. amna: jordan, you did eventually have to leave. i wonder how you reflect on that decision now. jordan: it was a big decision. i lived in afghanistan for six and a half years and it's the most significant relationship i've ever had. it is an incredible place and as a film maker, it's a gift. but when i was convinced to make the film, i knew the film would mean i would have to cut my ties with afghanistan most likely for the foreseeable future at least. i'm hoping that the film adds value to the world and adds conversations to people that make it worth having to end that relationship for a while. amna: monica, what do you want people to take away from this film? monica: for me personally, i just admire what reporters in war zones do. i want people to take away from it that they watch it and know what a hard sacrifice on a

personal level it is to go to these war zones and report, and how important it is that we keep on doing this. there are many urgent things happening happening in the world. in ukraine and gaza and many places. the job we do is important and we all sacrifice parts of our personal lives to do this. it's almost like a love letter to journalism because i think it is a profession that is so worth it. amna: thank you so much for joining us. a pleasure to speak with you. ♪ geoff: and there's a lot more online including a look at veterans with debilitating lung ailments and the struggle to get disability benefits. you can read more at pbs.org/newshour. join us tomorrow night for your guide about everything you need

to know about monday's solar eclipse. that is the newshour. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 60 -- for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of "the newshour," including leonard and norma klorfine into the judy and peter

bloom coble or foundation. >> c.f.p. professionals are committedded to acting in their clients' best interest. more information at let's make a plan.org. >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these institutions -- ♪ and friends of the newshour. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> this is "pbs newshour west" from weta studios in washington and our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

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