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geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. amna: shocking election results in india with the prime minister wins a third term but not in the landslide expected. geoff: and why some universities are returning to standardized testing in their admissions processes. >> when we evaluate that student, we see they are in the 99th percentile of a high school with that score. that is a very meaningful figure. >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of "the newshour," including kathy and camilla 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. amna: welcome to "the newshour." president biden signed an executive order today that temporarily blocks migrants from seeking asylum when border encounters reach a certain number. geoff: the president used the announcement to set himself apart from predecessor and political rival former president trump. >> i will never demonize immigrants. i will never refer to immigrants as poison in the blood of the country. further, i will never set -- separate children from their families at the country -- at the border. i will not ban people from the country because of religious beliefs.

i will not use the u.s. military to go into neighborhoods across the country and pull millions of people out of their homes and put people in detention camps waiting for asylum as my predecessor says he would. geoff: still, the new bill is the most restrictive order to date on immigration. >> president biden said he needed to take this action to secure the border. it uses what is known as 212f authority to temporarily suspend entry. that allows him to -- asylum request will be shut down when daily averages hit 2500 encounters between ports of entry. migrants will then be sent across the border or to their home country, and asylum requests will only reopen if the average drops below 1500 encounters across a 14-day period, and the aclu has already

said that it plans to file a legal challenge to this executive action, so it is headed to the courts, potentially as far as the supreme court. geoff: this is notable in part because president biden ran unpromising to make the asylum process more humane, as he put it, for migrants. >> there will be two exceptions, which is that it will not impact on accompanying children and will not impact victims of human trafficking, but roughly, according to april numbers from cdp, daily encounters are around 5500, and under u.s. law, migrants have the right to claim asylum not just at ports of entry but between ports of entry, so it will impact potentially hundreds of thousands of migrants who have attempted to claim asylum between ports of entry, and immigration lawyers told me they are fearful that this executive action will force some families to separate themselves. essentially parents sending their children across the border

alone, since unaccompanied minors will not be prohibited to seek asylum wherever they claim asylum across the board. geoff: the president was flanked by democratic councilmembers and is still getting some and coming from republican senators. >> republicans like senator john cornyn of texas accused the president of playing politics with this executive act. >> it is a shell game. they are not serious about it. this is a conversion based on the proximity of the next election and sinking poll numbers, and we think it deserves to be called out for what it is. >> it is important to note that senator cornyn was one of the republicans that voted against that bipartisan senate border deal that president biden negotiated with republicans, with one of the most conservative republicans there is in the senate, senator james

lankford, but president biden also received some harsh criticism from democrats. >> it's not a time for us to turn to trump-era policies. it is not time to go and use the tools that trump used. that does not make this better or ok. on the contrary, we should not be looking to those policies. it did not work under the prior administration, and it's not going to work today under this administration. >> that's the chairwoman of the hispanic caucus. she along with a number of other latino lawmakers were not happy about this executive action, but there were some latino lawmakers that were at the event today alongside the president. geoff: the president said he will have more to say on this in coming days. based on your reporting, what might that entail? >> multiple sources told me that

when president biden met with leaders of the hispanic congressional caucus that they asked him not to implement this executive order he did today. i asked him to not do it but said that if he had to, that they wanted him to accompany it with other actions that would potentially provide relief for undocumented migrants currently in the united states. i'm told that the white house is considering some actions that would impact undocumented migrants currently in the u.s. that are married to u.s. citizens, and that could protect some 700,000 to one million undocumented migrants who are married to u.s. citizens. it would give those spouses protections allowing them to potentially get work permits, and that would take away the fear of deportation as they go along the process to get green cards. geoff: you have been ahead of the pack with this reporting from the start. thank you so much. amna: senator mark kelly is a democrat from the border state of arizona. he supports the president's move and joins me know.

welcome back. thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me on. >> to take this step some three weeks before the first presidential debate and five months before the election when polls show immigration is a top voting issue for many leaves many to think that it is a political decision and not a policy one. as you have noted, republicans walked away from a border deal back in february come up with the president has always had this authority, so why this move now? >> first of all, arizonans and folks who live in other border states deserve to have real solutions for this problem and deserve to have a border that is under control. i have been in the united states senate about three years, and it has really been unfair, especially to people who live close to the border. i talked to mayers and sheriffs all the time about this issue. we have an opportunity to talk about the politics behind this. we had an opportunity with

bipartisan legislation negotiated by democrats and republicans in the white house, worked on for months. we work right up to the finish line on this legislation, and the politics of the presidential election superseded everything where the former president decided that he did not want this legislation passed and was able to get my republican colleagues in the senate to run away from a comprehensive piece of legislation that was going to help the border patrol, help cbp, help communities in southern arizona and other states -- amna: pardon the interruption. this was back in february. president biden could have taken the action sooner. why now? >> he has been calling on congress for three and a half years to do something on the issue. we were going to have more border patrol agent on the border funding for that. more judges to adjudicate asylum claims, machines to detect

fentanyl, changes in asylum policy -- these were all very positive steps. i have spent a lot of time on the border in arizona, and it is very unfair, especially to border patrol agent, who often lose control of the situation. the president was put in a situation where he had to do this unilaterally without congress, but ultimately, the solution is for congress to come back together -- i hope this can happen soon. it may have to wait until after the election, unfortunately -- and have not only a border security bill but comprehensive immigration reform that supports our economy to help us grow our economy, to provide for companies the workforce they need. amna: let me ask you about what president biden has said previously. he did slam then president trump for using the same authority years ago. here mr. biden is debating mr.

trump back in 2020. >> this is the first president in the history of the united states of america that set anybody seeking asylum has to do it in another country. that has never happened before in america. that has never happened before in america. you come to the united states and make your case. amna: the question is -- why should migrants today not have that right under international law and u.s. immigration law to make their case? >> this is different than what president trump did. amna: it is under the same authority, though. >> it is under the same section, same federal authority, but this does not change the ability for individuals to come here and seek asylum. what it does is if numbers go up to a point where it is unmanageable, we will temporarily close the southern border for people to enter between ports -- ports of entry. they will still have cbp one app

to lawfully seek asylum. that is available today and has been for some time now. >> that is a very restricted app with restricted access. this would essentially restrict access across the southern border for people to arrive and make an asylum claim. >> i don't agree with you that the app is restricted. it may be challenging at times to get an appointment, but the idea behind the app is register ahead of time, go to a point of entry, get an appointment for an asylum claim. people will still be able to do that. what will happen, though, if the numbers go up above a certain average in a given week, until they go back down, we will restrict people from coming across the southern border. we are a country of immigrants, and it is important to me that people can come here when they meet the requirements, to have an asylum claim, that they can come to our country, especially

children. people that have special needs and other issues that they are facing in their home country. that is important. but what is also important is that this is safe for border control, for cbp officers, for people who live in these southern border communities, and over time, it has not been a safe situation. it also needs to be safe for migrants. when border patrol gets overwhelmed with the number of individuals and people are waiting in the desert, essentially, with no water, no food, and border patrol cannot manage this, this is not good for them. we have migrants that die, that pass away in the desert. we are trying to get operational control over the situation. it is unfortunate that the legislation in february did not pass. that provided border patrol, cbp, with the tools they need to manage this, but it became political because of the former who did not want this issue solved.

so republicans ran away from this. we need comprehensive immigration reform, and we need border security. amna: i have been on the mexican side of the border during previous times of border restrictions and seen families who then have to decide if they will decide to send their kids alone because obviously, unaccompanied minors still to get access. are you at all worried this will fuel another potential crisis of children arriving alone at the u.s. border? >> of course i'm worried. we don't want to see kids winding up in a situation where in mexico, they are separated from their parents. that is not the goal. speaking to the secretary of homeland security today about this, as we roll out these changes in policy, what we expect to see is the number of individuals that are entering our country between ports of entry and who are not using

things like the cbp one app and other lawful means to come to the united states and seek asylum, that those numbers will trend down significantly. that is the expectation. amna: senator mark kelly, democrat from the border state of arizona, thank you for your time. good to see you. >> thank you. geoff: in the day's other news, wisconsin's attorney general filed federal charges against three donald trump allies who allegedly delivered fake electro paperwork, claiming the former president had won the state. all three are due in court in september and face up to six years in prison and fines. wisconsin is now the fifth state to bring charges over attempts to overturn the results of the

2020 election. joining michigan, arizona, nevada, and georgia. attorney general merrick garland pushed back against republican lawmakers today over what he called unprecedented attacks on the justice department. during an appearance before the house judiciary committee, garland condemned what he called the conspiracy theory that his department played a part in donald trump's criminal hush money case in new york, and he denounced "dangerous falsehoods" about law enforcement. donald trump and his allies have attacked the criminal justice system. >> i will not be intimidated and the justice department will not be intimidated. we will continue to do our jobs free from political influence, and we will not back down from defending democracy. geoff: garland' appearance comes as republicans have moved to hold him in contempt over the biden administration's refusal to release audio of the president's interview with

special counsel robert mueller over his handling of classified documents. garland has said doing so could deter future witnesses from cooperating. the doj says the audio could spur deepfakes and disinformation. lawyers in the hunter biden criminal trial delivered opening arguments today. federal prosecutors tried to portray the president's son as a drug addict who intentionally lied on a form about his addiction when purchasing a gun. biden's attorneys said that her client did not believe he was an addict when he filed the paperwork. hunter biden arrived at the delaware court with his wife and first lady jill biden was also in court again today to show her support. hunter biden has plead not guilty. president biden said today he does not think israel's prime minister is playing politics with the war in gaza. instead, mr. biden said benjamin netanyahu is in his words trying to work out the serious problem he has. that follows comments the president made in a time magazine interview published today that there is reason to

believe netanyahu is prolonging the war for political gain. israel's army chief said today the idf is nearing a decision on launching an offensive at its northern border with lebanon where it has been exchanging fire with hezbollah. a state department spokesperson said today that the potential for such action adds urgency to the cease-fire plan president biden announced last week. >> escalation of that conflict is something we have been worried about and working to contain since october 7. it is our assessment that the acceptance of a cease-fire by hamas and beginning of a calm would help us reach calm in northern israel and southern lebanon. geoff: on the ground in central gaza, palestinians crowded around a police vehicle targeted in a series of overnight israeli strikes. gaza health officials reported that a family of three and eight police officers were killed. a large portion of the southern and western u.s. is believed -- is bracing for a blistering heat wave. parts of california, arizona,

and nevada could see temperatures top 110° this week. southern texas will also see dangerous heat levels. in all, the national weather service says some 19 million americans will be under excessive heat watches and warnings this week. officials are urging those in affected areas to stay inside, drink 20 of water, and check on neighbors and relatives. major league baseball has permanently banned san diego padres infielder took a pit avocado for placing sports bets, including on pittsburgh pirates games while he was on the team but not playing himself. the world for other players were also suspended for betting violations, each receiving a one-year ban. meantime, the former interpreter for los angeles dodgers star shohei ohtani pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud today. there has been no evidence otani

was involved in any way. on wall street, stocks eat out again after a report showed u.s. job openings fell more than expected in april. the dow jones industrial average rose 140 points to close at 38,711. the s&p 500 tacked on nearly eight points. nasa is trying to get the hubble telescope back online after a malfunction. the famous telescope slipped into a hibernating state more than a week ago due to a problem with one of its three remaining gyroscopes. those spinning wheels help keep the telescope stable. nasa said today it will operate with just one gyroscope, which will keep hubble idle until mid-june. hubble has been capturing the cosmos since it launched into orbit in 1990. it's larger and more powerful successor, the web space telescope, wind space in 2021. succumb, a key fda advisory committee rejects the use of party drug ecstasy for treatment

of ptsd. an artist gives his brief but spectacular take on painting people who feed america. " this is "the pbs newshour" from wbt studios -- weta studios in washington and the walter cronkite school of journalism in arizona state university. amna: india has reelected prime minister narendra modi, but indian analysts call the results a shot because modi's party lost at least 20% of its parliamentary seats, forcing him to rely on a coalition, and as nick schifrin reports, that could affect how modi will govern after 10 years in power. >> at his party headquarters in new delhi tonight, narendra modi entered with triumph despite an election that left him disappointed. >> for this blessing, i am indebted to all citizens. today is an auspicious day.

quit smoking promised a rising, stronger india, but many of the 640 million indians who voted over seven weeks voted their pocketbooks. >> this was an economic crisis for a large number of indians. they are the ones who delete voted mr. modi outdoor have voted against mr. modi. >> he says ruble indians worried about the economy were also worried modi would amend the constitution to revoke special rights for underprivileged communities as the opposition leader said today. >> i'm extremely proud of the people of india. i'm extremely proud of the people who have resisted this assault on the constitution. >> this really put the fear in the ranks of these indians who thought something that gives them political rights, that is

likely to be taken away. the two factors combined together could deliver what many believe is a stunning result. >> among those who voted against modi, his own stronghold in the northern state of matar firtash -- matar firtash. >> it was the battleground state around which mr. modi's party gained majority. that was a stunning result by itself and actually encapsulated what had happened in the election. >> a decade of modi's role has been defined in part by violence on religious minorities and a crackdown on civil society, the opposition, and press freedom. a coalition government could force modi to rein it in. >> mr. modi is now a much weaker leader, but weaker prime minister depending on coalition

partners. we will definitely see some of these institutions rediscover their voice and their conscience and start saying things which we have not heard from them for the last week. >> today, the partnership between our countries is as strong as it has ever been. >> but modi has also helped make india indispensable to u.s. plans in asia. as the indian military defense indian territory from chinese soldiers and the u.s. hopes for india's help to confront china. >> the u.s. hopes to continue to work with india because of the china problem. >> and so u.s.-modi cooperation will continue, but the men who described himself as heaven sent faces the ground reality of the voters.

geoff: a key fda advisory committee today rejected the use of a psychedelic drug to help patients struggling with posttraumatic stress disorder, questioning the trials and its effectiveness. the fda must now decide if it will follow suit and reject the use of what is known as ndma. some patients and researchers have long hoped the government would approve it. our science correspondent covered this daylong hearing and joins us now. why did the committee reject it? there is so much interest around this drug. >> it's a complicated one for the fda because we are not talking just about a drug. we are talking about a treatment regime that involves a drug plus a very elaborate set of psychotherapy, and the fda, interestingly, does not regulate psychotherapy. in addition, the psychotherapy which was part of the study was not standardized. the study also had a very fundamental problem, which is to

say it could not be properly blinded. those who receive in, ecstasy, knew it. on a sugar pill, you know you did not, so it was difficult to get objective results because the psychological factor of knowing that you have had it favors a favorable outcome, a favorable response, i should say. in addition to that, the company overlooked problems, or so the committee determined -- overlooked problems in its pursuit of approval of this drug. it really was a surprising decision, particularly given what we have heard over the years from many of the subjects who have described this drug and this therapy as a life-changing experience. >> cj is a former army helicopter mechanic and machine gunner who faced imminent death in iraq and also after he got home.

>> i did not trust myself having a weapon around me because i was suicidal -- very suicidal at that point. >> years of pills and talk therapy failed to help his posttraumatic stress disorder, so he turned to a surprising alternative -- the center of a revolution in neuroscience. >> this is the ndma that we use for the current study. >> he took ndma, more commonly known as ecstasy, under the watchful eyes of therapists, a husband and wife team based in charleston, south carolina. in studies that the food and drug administration is now evaluating, 2/3 of patients reported significant improvement after carefully guided sessions like this. >> i was never feeling comfortable at home. >> it felt like i had opened up a new avenue of thinking. >> cj hartman said the

difference for him was like night and day. >> i would have said a 60% reduction in my symptoms immediately. i felt a mighty change that occurred. >> stories like this have triggered a sea change in thinking about psychedelic drugs, but the doctor who started the research program cautions it takes more than a pill. patients must go through dozens of hours of intense, often painful, therapy. >> there seems to be -- this seems to be a very powerful tool, but it is only a tool, and it is the person's own healing process and their relationships, therapeutic relationships that support that. they are very important. i think there's the danger of people thinking of it as a magic bullet. >> but there are skeptics opposing the treatment. they say the studies are too small and not controlled enough to draw a firm conclusion. they say the company running the

trials and which would sell an approved drug cover was focused on pushing through the treatment no matter what and that some of the therapists downplayed cases where vulnerable patients actually got worse. >> we heard the doctor in your piece say there is danger in thinking about this drug is being a magic bullet. expand on that. help us understand some of the concerns that came forth. >> the committee in the end simply could not trust the results of these studies. it was a relatively small group that was exposed to the ndma and the psychotherapy that went along with it, and there were other flaws that were part of it, so called confounding factors. in the end, it was 9-two, very dramatic about, that the ndma along with the psychotherapy were not proven to be effective.

they voted 10-1 that the safety measures were not enough. there are detailed things, like they did not take proper vital signs in lab work. then the real issue which kept coming up was the idea that patients in these scenarios, people undergoing therapy on ndma, are extremely vulnerable and there was a lot of concern they might be subject to risk in this setting. geoff: there was a public comment today that i'm told was pretty lively. or that have a role in shifting things? >> i think so. three dozen individuals participated in this virtually, and it was like a parallel universe. it was a tale of two cities. on the one hand, we heard these emotional, harrowing tales of individuals like cj who were on the brink of suicide and facing other maladies as a result of ptsd, which cannot be solved by traditional talk therapy and

drugs, and on the other hand, you had individuals who had a really strong critique of the company behind all of this, a company they said that was hell on getting this approved. almost had a cult-like -- and the term "cult" but many times -- a cult-like approach to treatment. one woman in fact was abused by one of her therapists and spoke to a spokesman in order to maintain her anonymity, and she felt that the company did not respond properly to the abuse she received during therapy. the company claims it did, however, so there were a lot of factors at play. geoff: a question about cj harden, the better in your profile. can he and patients who are using this treatment

successfully -- can they continue to use it even if this committee has rejected it? >> know, ultimately this has to be approved if you want to use it in a therapeutic setting. the interesting thing about cj and many of those we spoke to is he is fine. he went to the treatment, and he at this point does not need to go back, and that is the remarkable thing about what we have been hearing. the committee has said the proof is not there, but the anecdotal comments and anecdotal stories of people like cj are quite profound. geoff: what are the next steps? the advisory committee rejects it, does the fda follow suit? >> it does not have to. the fda will still make a decision. this will come on or about august 11. there was a recent analysis on how this shakes out. 88% of the time, the fda does not follow its advisory committee. they tend, when they reject what the advisory committee says, too

biased toward approval, and what is interesting about this one is there is a lot of congressional support here. this affects veterans, and it is a bipartisan issue. republicans and democrats have been pressuring and sending letters to the veterans administration, encouraging it to do what it can to further these studies. it is a frustrating thing. ptsd affects 13 million americans and there are not a lot of tools in the toolbox. geoff: miles o'brien, thank you for walking us through this important story. we appreciate it. >> you're welcome. ♪ amna: headlines around higher education this year have

centered on protests, free speech, and student safety, but some important changes on the academic and admissions front have gotten less attention, including some schools turning back to standardized testing after deciding they would no longer require it. paul solomon has that story for our latest series on rethinking college. >> i was terrible in math. >> meet the president of texas state university in san marcos. quick site andy up going to community college and got 2.54 gpa. >> when he made it through a 4-your school, he was the first of his family. so you are sympathetic to the idea? >> well, yeah. if i had had to take the test, i probably would not have gotten into college. quickset test, the sat or act, which, for years, most colleges required for admission, research having shown that test scores correlated with college gpa's, but during the pandemic, many dropped the requirement. post-pandemic, texas state remains test-optional, and yet,

retention rates are still rising while more than ever -- >> we look exactly like the most diverse university in texas state. we are creating an opportunity for people to access and get a four-year college degree, something we know is a life-changing experience for these people. >> 40 minutes away, the university of texas at austin, 42,000 undergrads, average sat, 1355 out of 1600. ut also went test optional during covid but has no reinstated test scores, joining a host of other schools. why? it is already selective, says the ut president. >> anyone who applies from big texas high school in the top 6% of their class is admitted. >> but he emphasizes -- quickset does not mean they are admitted to business and finance, for example, or liberal science. we used test scores historically to put them in the right schools and colleges.

put them in the right spots to ultimately succeed. >> and reroute some of the automatic admits, though they might have had low test scores, and perhaps others, from difficult majors that might frustrate them, he says, even to the point of giving up. he thinks testing can be used compassionately and should even improve a crucial objective, graduation rates, now at about 75%. kendra strange, who helps low income students prepare for college, begs to differ. >> this so much that goes into deciding what you want to study in college. the test score alone does not necessarily indicate if a student is going to be successful in one particular career or major. for many students, we find they are picking majors around their passion. >> to strange, passion inspires grid, which she says is the real key to success. >> maybe the student did not test well. maybe the student is not good at timed tests. it should not equate to if they are going to be successful as an

engineer. >> requiring testing can close doors for those students who do not have access to resources. when test scores are required, my students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were much less likely to apply because they would see what colleges were publishing on their websites as their average sat score, and they were scoring well below that and did not understand that that was ok for them because of the schools they went to, because they did not have access to resources. >> i'm a first-generation student. my mom did not graduate high school. >> head of admissions and ut alum, miguel. >> my dad did not go to college. >> kids like he was are those he cares most about, and not only can the test help them from being overmatched in tough courses, but worse, for a school as rich in resources as ut

austin, with test optional -- >> we are not putting someone into a program that could have benefited from those resources. if we reinstitute those scores, we will be able to provide that support to them. >> who is not getting in now because of test scores being required? >> i would say there is not a higher likelihood or unlikelihood of that scenario. it is just another variable we have. >> in fact, and this is an argument you here at other universities like m.i.t., more students from poor schools may now get in when compared to similar students from similar backgrounds in their region. >> people have in their head things like 1500, 1600 sat scores. a student that does not achieve that level and maybe has a 1200 sat may say, i'm not going to submit the information to the university, but when we go in and contextually evaluate that student and see that they are in the 99th percentile of their high school with that score,

that's a very meaningful figure. >> moreover, the average high school grade has risen over time, shrinking the grade range. as a result, grades can mean a lot less than they used to. >> while they may have had that 4.0 gpa but are on the lower end of standardized scores, that helps us be able to understand that maybe this student is going to benefit from some resources we have available here. >> like what? quick things like being able to get place into programs that place you with mentors, being able to sit down with other students and get assistance. assistance with writing, assistance with tutoring for classes they are attending. >> at the outreach nonprofit breakthrough central texas, they provide such help to low income students with college dreams early on. >> fifth-graders going to school across central texas, we say are you the first in your family to go to college? are you from a traditionally underserved background? we want to help you on your journey.

we recognize that food insecurity, housing and security, mental health support, students cannot think about performing well in school if they are not eating, so we support our students with wraparound services. >> students like high school senior samuel battista zamora. >> my parents, i think they barely graduated middle school. they were like, we really cannot help you with this. >> he worried about taking the sat because -- >> the sat puts everyone in the same field, but some might have the resources. some might pay for private tutors and others might not have that luxury. from my own research, spent time balancing a job to be able to get the the schools without these sat scores. >> but he took the test, got a 1060 the first time, 1160, then 1310. the last one was too late, so he

submitted no scores, figuring -- >> my extracurriculars and my grades reflected me better. >> and he got in to ut austin. high school junior terrence taylor johnson is looking at ut, two. >> need to focus on my test scores more. i averaged 1060 on the first run . >> how did you feel during the test? were you nervous? were you not nervous? >> on a psat, i had got a 830, but as soon as i saw my test score, it had a higher jump. >> just above the national average of 1050. back on campus at ut, freshman anaya matthews arrived here with a relatively low score for austin. 1090. >> some of my peers have thousand dollar tutors for their s.a.t.'s. i come from a low income back on, so there was no help with the sat.

i wanted to be medical sciences, but thank god i did not get into that because i realized i do not like stan. >> the fact that -- i do not like stem. >> the fact that they discourage you from going into what you wanted maybe on the basis of an sat was a good thing. >> but i feel like when it comes to some students who have maybe a lower score who have a passion , i do feel as though they definitely don't have that shot sometimes. >> that's the question colleges face with requiring tests. are they more or less likely to discourage the disadvantaged from pursuing their passion or even applying, where to get signals that could help with admission leading to savvier placement and more resources to succeed? ♪

amna: we will be back shortly with a brief but spectacular take on painting the people who feed america. geoff: first, take a moment to hear fromour local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support which helps keep programs like "the newshour" on the air. amna: for those stations staying with us, my conversation with wnba star brittney griner two years after she was first detained in russia. she showed me details about her time in prison and the fight to free her in her new book, "coming home." i met up with her at the wmc i actually -- the wmca of greater new york. >> for basketball superstar brittney griner, the court has

always been a safe space. born and raised in houston, texas, she was a breakout star at baylor university, dunking her way to fame and a pro career with the phoenix mercury, six wnba all-star appearances, and two olympic gold medals, but standing tall at 6'8" meant standing out. you talk so openly, so honestly in your book about what it took to get you comfortable in your own skin. he wrote, when you are born in a body like mine, a part of you dies every day. every new comment and lingering stare. you are the biggest person in the room but you are also the lowliest. >> festival definitely helped. he gave me a purpose. it gave me an outlook -- an outlet when i'm frustrated. he gave me a place to go and channel that in a positive way. my teammates, my coaches, that

sense of feeling wanted from the fans. all that helped me. once i started playing basketball, it really changed my life. amna: basketball took her overseas, like many wnba players, for a second job on the international circuit. she played in russia. >> you love playing in much of >> i did. one, the pay gap is pretty big from here to overseas. just feeling valued like that and just how they treated us, our safety, the way we flew, where we stayed at. we stayed at the best hotels. we flew on private jets, and we really felt like professional athletes. >> state department says it is aware of the arrest of an american citizen in moscow. >> everything changed in 2022.

russian customs officials claimed they detected cannabis oil in her luggage. she returned to russia to rejoin her team, put criner was detained outside of muska at the airport with vague cartridges with less than a gram of hashish oil, illegal in russia, found in her luggage. she has a prescription for marijuana in the u.s. but forgot to remove the cartridges while packing in a rush. >> he almost did not make that flight. you were running late. you lost your phone, missed your connection. did any part of you look back on that day and think, gosh, if only i had done x, if only i had done y? >> every single part of it. >> you worry about what your mom and dad went through when you were away, what your teammates were going through. has that guilt gone away? >> it's on me. as much as everything was an

accident and not intended, it's on me. it was my fault. there were so many signs, and i really wanted to stay back, honestly, but my densest you finish what you start. we were going to win the russian league, so i wanted to finish that chapter completely. amna: instead, a new, surreal chapter in her life began. the tension in russian prison. her face and story splashed across russian headlines and robbed of the one safe space she always had. when you were not able to play, what did that feel like? >> that was hard. it was really hard not being able to play, not knowing what was to come, if i would ever pick up a basketball professionally again. it was devastating to me to think about. >> you took the time to write

president biden back home. amna: her devastated wife led the charge to free her. we told her teammates, her agent, and an army rallying behind the wearebg hashtag. >> in a world where you are judged by the appearance or maybe what a certain group has done or someone has wronged them so they condemn everyone that looks like the, i was definitely worried about public opinion and how people would react. amna: meanwhile, she could do nothing but wait and survive. >> it makes you kind of give up hope. i'm sitting in court trying to plead, but i'm already locked up. i'm already in a cage. i talked about feeling like a zoo animal, especially how guards would come and open this little peephole and see me and i hear them snickering going down

the hallway. i was a spectacle. amna: that feeling of feeling like they were all watching you, like you were a spectacle, was that something you have felt before? >> definitely. i remember a girl in high school coming up to me talking to someone else and just reached over and touched my chest, like, see, she's not a real girl. >> where you go in your head in those moments? what do you tell yourself? what do you do? >> i did a lot of gazing out of the windows to the point where i could make the bars disappear and see land. because that is my sanctuary. i love land and nature. once i got to the penal colony to go outside, right outside the cell, walking to the workstation , just admiring the distance

behind the walls, behind everything, did a lot of looking up at the birds. >> what did you think when you saw those birds outside the cell? >> it must be nice to be able to fly away. geoff: narcisso martinez is an artist whose work celebrates the vital work of laborers. tonight in this encore broadcast, he gives his brief but spectacular take on painting the people who feed america. >> anywhere in the world, farmworkers are always at the bottom of the social strata. in my part, i hope to shine a light on these people. they are not machines. they are human beings with goals

and dreams. i grew up in a small town on the outskirts of oaxaca city. it was a poor community. i came to the united states when i was 20 years old. my first memories in the united states had to do with education. i wanted to understand the culture. i wanted to know what the movies were about, so my brother took me to hollywood high within the first week of arrival, and that is where i enrolled to learn english, and i got my high school degree in 2006, but by that time, i was already 29. i took a night class and fell in love with art. i was in academia and learning all these fancy words and at the same time, i was speaking slang to my coworkers. i started meeting other farmworkers, and we started sharing our stories, and i

realized that it was not fair the way they were being treated. most of these people, including myself, had a very difficult time growing up. i feel like when we come to a country where there is a bed for us to sleep on, with her is a kitchen come over there is even a -- where there is a kitchen, where there is even a fridge, we are so grateful that sometimes we don't say anything, and companies take advantage of that. drawing a simple portrait on these boxes, i thought i could create that connection or think about the disconnections within our society. the conversations during my critiques were more about the economy. nobody was talking about farmworkers. at one point, i was frustrated and stopped painting and i went back to what i was doing when working in the fields which was painting and sketching on cardboard. i drew a banana man on this been in a box, and that is what --

that is where i would introduce my experiences. i have had a few exhibitions where the subject is farmworkers themselves. i'm happy to see the positive response, the smiles on their faces, being included. that is something that makes me happy. i don't feel the art if i don't speak for the community. this is my brief but spectacular take on painting the people who feed america. geoff: some incredible artwork. you can watch more online at pbs -- four -- pbs.org/newshour. amna: join us back here tomorrow night when we travel to france to meet d-day veterans as they prepare to mark the 80th anniversary of the allied invasion of normandy. that is "the newshour" for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. from all of us here at "the

newshour," thank you for spending your evening with us. quest major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular. but i would let you know that you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ carnegie corporation of new york, working to reduce political polarization from

philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> "the pbs newshour" has a rich legacy of in-depth reporting, strong storytelling. >> only 4 people have sat in that chair before us. the enormity of this moment is not lost on me. people turn to us because they know they can hear from trusted sources of information and news. >> have not changed a bit even as the faces behind the desk change. >> good evening. i'm geoff bennett. >> and i'm amna nawaz.

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