this is our american story. this is america tonight. on "america tonight" - stranded at home. this construction site filled with dreams, now a fragile sanctuary for a beleg eared people. a report on the yazidi. on a journey to a better future. also ahead a cold world thaw and how it's frozen out humans, seeking a new life in the u.s.

>> the problem is there's no procedure, doesn't seek rhyme or reason, and it's not clear what will happen to those left behind. >> sheila macvicar, with a story on medical professionals and their future thank you for joining us. i'm joie chen. a wave of migration headed towards the united states. it might seem counterintuitive that after the thou in cold war legses between washington. fears that a relationship will change u.s. policy, making it harder to get citizenship in the states triggered the outflow. a group with skill sets found themselves stranded neither in the united states, but in bogota columbia. sheila macvicar met them there. >> in this cramped apartment a

cuban doctor, nurses and a pharmacist await words from the u.s. embassy. they are among 700 personnel that fled to bogota, seeking visas to come to the united states. visas they thought the u.s. promised under a programme designed to undermine the castro regime. with the two countries normalizing relations, whether they make it to the u.s. is uncertainty. this doctor has been waiting four months. >> translation: i think they did break their promise to us. >> the cubans are in limbo. they are here illegally. returning to cuba is not a

one-ishment. there they -- not an option. >> reporter: could you go back and say i made a mistake, i want to be with my family and make this go away. >> translation: i will not return. we'll be accused of counterrevolutionaries, we won't be able to make a living. >> reporter: this doctor and others were part of the castro's government of exporting health care and revolutionary ideals to the developing world. more than 51,000 cuban immediately call personnel work in 67 countries. since the program began in the early 1960s, cuban doctors treated millions of patients. some the poorest in the world. >> i wrote about it. a book was written about medical brigades. >> they live in the community. they go to the furthest corner.

they live in the slums as well and the cities and live with the patients are. cuban doctors provide disaster relief. when ebola ravaged west africa. cuba sent more than 200 medical workers to join in the fight. the work was praised and the u.s. secretary of state john kerry. for all the prays the u.s. government tried to disrupt the cuban programme since 2006. u.s. documents offering the right to live and work in the united states are offered to cuban nurses or doctors or professionals who are working or studying abroad under direction. it's called the cuban meld call parole programme. critics say it's the effect.

>> cubans worked in the surgical center in venezuela. >> translation: it was in our minds before leaving cuba. the idea is to get to the united states this way. rodriguez knew about the programme. his brother-in-law used it a year ago to get to los angeles. >> it's designed to destroy cuba's medical diplomacy. that was one thing. the other is to stop earnings. cuba get a lot more than goodwill. take venezuela, where cuba has 10,000 health care providers, more there than in any other country. in return venezuela sends cuba 100,000 barrels of oil a day. others pay - dash about 8 billion a year. outstripping tourism as a money maker for cuba. the cuban medical personnel see little of that and have no say

over the continues in which they work overseas, conditions that can be dangerous and trying. >> this cell phone video shows cramped quarters and a leaky roof. >> reporter: this pharmacist left venezuela for columbia after 17 days. >> translation: for the first two days i was hungry, they didn't feed me. they took me to a house where i was expected to sleep on the ground. there was no dead, there was a pad on the ground with cockroaches. >> having made the trip to columbia, things have not turned out as bad. between the raising of the flag and the stars and stripes. visas dried up.

what happened or the process took less than three months fell into limbo. >> and for much of the summer no visas were issued. >> translation: i think that there was political pressure from a side that wanted the programme. it was because of what they wanted. >> the u.s. embassy sent an email rejecting her application with no explanation. >> across the border with the idea that it will happen what happened quickly. we are in a limbo here, a migrantory limbo. >> frustrated the cubans staged a protest. why the protest. what did you want to accomplish with the protest? >> we wanted to call attention to the community. the government of the united

states gives us an answer for the situation. following the protests, and pressure from the cuban american lobbyists. some were issued. a little more than a week, rodriguez needed an email. he saved it on his phone. he was told to come to the embassy. his visa is one of more than 150 issued in the last two weeks. >> i cried, i laughed, i thanked god. >> we met him across the street. he showed us our knew visa. >> wow. what do you think. what do you think. >> reporter: happy.

with plans to take a plane to miami in a few days. he is one of the lucky one. hundreds of workers remain in bogota. back at the apartment, for those waiting for a visa, and those denied, the strain was taking a toll. this woman has been waiting in bogota for four months. she's ran out of money. back in cuba, her son has been forced out of his job because his mother defected. officials will examine her case, it sent her into floods of nervous tears. the doctor says the situation is hard.

there's no procedure. there's no rhyme or reason, some people have been here for months, some since february, some since spring. other people don't seem to be getting visas, and don't know why it's happening or why it's happening the way it's happening. there's some suggestion that there's congressional pressure helping some cases move along. then it's not clear that those people are getting help since 2006 when the programme started this has never happened. it levers us helpless. pharmacists are desperate to consider this dangerous matter. going by land to central america and the united states. as a cuban, she would qualify for asylum. for that dangerous journey, she would need the help of an arizona coyotes, a smuggler.

>> they could rape you, they could kill you. we showed up with the hope that everything would be all right, with confidence in the programme and at the end it was like in a day, in a moment, in a second everything goes away. >> no way back home. and without a u.s. visa, no good way forward to america "america tonight"s sheila macvicar back with us. explain how this happened. the people had expectations that they were going to find a safe haven, that they'd make it to the united states. what happened. >> well, based on previous experience, they had reason to believe they as cuban officials working under the conditions would be granted a visa to come to the united states. what happened? we know the cubans think this has to do with the negotiations and dealings between cuba and

the united states. the beginning of normalization of relations. >> that there might be a side deal here? >> it's striking that at the point in time when these discussions were most intense between the u.s. and cuba, that's when the visas stopped. the state department is on record saying "no, no, no connection, no connection, no connection." just a coincidence. >> backlog, unexplained. they have not said the programme is over. they have not said the programme is on. they have not explained why there was a backlog and they have not explained what they'll do in the future, going forward. there's 700 plus doctors waiting in bogota. they tell us that through their contacts, with the doctor and other medical colleagues, there are 1,000 more waiting in venezuela to be sure of what the status of the programme is in order to cross to columbia and

apply. >> the particular individuals that you met in your reporting, what happened with them? >> we know that the nurse arrived in miami, arrived as a happy man, on his way to las vegas, where his brother-in-law is. some of the others that we saw who br in the process have been told that they'll get the visa soon or they need to supply more documents. others that we met heard nothing. absolutely nothing. there does seem to be - you know, the congressional pressure from southern florida, congress men and women seems to have had an impact. they, along with the cuban american lobby have been working in washington to try to get the visas moving forward. whether that had an impact. whether there has been a break in the backlog. nobody knows. >> quick thought here. in terms of skills, if they were to come to the states, would

they be valuable as medical professionals in the united states ready to practice. >> first off, you have to learn to speak english, speak, read and write english fluently enough that you can re take the medical boards. that is a lot of work. many of the cuban medical professionals in this country will never get to that stage. they have a need to work that is so accrued they can't take the time out to study. people who were nurses may end i'm as order lis. doctors may work at such a level. this is not about the united states seeing an attractive soght of assistance. this is about a u.s. government

effort begun to disrupt the programme, it offers no guarantees that they'll be able to practice their professions next, technology would if the attacker, but victims find themselves under investigation. >> a lot of law enforcement response was worse than the rape what kept thousands of rape cases moving forward, and how the backlog might be eased now. >> later, desperate journeys ending before they got away. a community under attack and how an unfished shelter became their home. and hot on the website. rebuilding baltimore, the city battered by the most violent year in decade. a look at what might work to open a new chapter in the city's future.

>> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on tart weeknights 10:30p et

in our fast-forward segment a look atized about crimes not fully vetted. rape kits are a key to justice. hundreds of thousands gather dust in police stations across the nation over years, as a backlog of evidence stacked up. leaving survivors in fear that

attackers may strike again, and criminals on the streets. lori jane gliha investigated why that may have happened. >> honestly, the law enforcement response was worse than the rape. >> it would be a decade after megan was raped before she would be fan seriously. >> i was -- before she was taken seriously. >> i was interrogated. they say you can go to gaol for making this up. >> in 2003 a stranger attacked her in a tennessee home. she was 16 years old. >> so you are sitting there. you are 16, and they are telling you are you sure you were raped? how frustrating was it. >> it was confusing. despite the skepticism that handled the case and the threat by the attacker that turned and killed her, they decided to

undergo an examine. it is an important tool in prosecuting sex crimes. the body of a rape victim is app crime scene. fluid can be tested for d.n.a., leading to the attacker's identification. >> he came from behind and knocked me down. the only chance i had was the d.n.a. they could collect from my body. >> she assumed her kit would beanalysed quickly. instead it sat on a shelf in a police evidence room for nine years. officials can't explain why. the kit in 2012 was tested. this man was identified as her rapist. he would admit to raping six more women. he was sentenced to 178 years in prison. had the rape kit been tested right away, there was a chance

he could have been identified long before he raped other women. that's where a law enforcement database called c.o.d.i.s. comes into play. once an attackers d.n.a. is extracted from a rape kit, police look for a match in c.o.d.i.s. if one is not found, having the d.n.a. on file is important. >> it will cult. >> if an attacker's d.n.a. turns up on a crime scene, that person would be caught. natasha is a rape survivor. 1993. new york city raped by a stranger at gunpoint. he had an organization working to clear the backlog. some are sent here, this lab in washington d.c., which is the biggest private processor of rape kits. new york city has a policy where they test every rape kit.

according to the fbi, new york city has a 70% arrest rate. they test every kit. the rest of the nation has a 24% arrest rate. >> fast-forward to a new solution. in a first, the justice department and the manhattan da joined together to offer funds to other jurisdiction that will pay to have the kids analysed. it will be used to grant awards to dozens of police departments that should clear the backlog of 70,000 kids. >> next, a refuge that is not much shelter. >> they escaped attack on mt sinjar, but the yazidi are trapped in refugee towers. the second deluge, friday on "america tonight". four years after japan's nuclear disaster, the same region hit by flooding.

friday on "america tonight".

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many that got away find themselves in kurdish northern iraq. where jane arraf saw the latest attempts at finding shelter. >> it had a name. it was built bit private investors to be sold. it's known as refugee towers. the families living here are survivors of a campaign of genocide by i.s.i.l. they are yazidi, a small and ain cement minority attacked and slaved by the group, as it raided towns and villages and northern iraq. they escape to the mountains, to syria and here to the iraqi kurdish region. >> 4,000 of them ended up in a construction site. half of them stayed. they walk the path over the leaking sewerage over stairs leading to unfinished floors.

in each of the rooms, people have gathered together. they are surviving family members. there's no i.s.i.l. here. this place has its own place for children. open fires. open windows. there are nine floors here, and families living in every one of them. in this urban environment people recreated village life. planks and a chair has been turned into a barber stop. he puts the finishing touches on a customer, using threat to pull out stray hairs on the face - painful but effective. he said it's important to keep clean, especially here. everything here is difficult, from getting water to keeping warm. the survivors turned the brick towers into villages, and a few

square feet of concrete into a home. >> between the concrete floors, there's layers of tragedy. this person and her family were on sinjar mountain for a week, and she buried the baby daughter there. >> on the second day she felt ill and died on the third. >> i didn't have anything to give her, apart from water. she dug a hole in the ground and put her there. it's the first way, lost her 14-year-old son ally. >> ally was with my grandparents. when i spoke to them. there was no work, i believe he was killed. she was lucky not to lose any

children. her son was born with one hand. the medical care is not available. he has a special talent. he sings. and he remembers almost everything he has heard, including the songs of heart break on sinjar mountain. sinjar my homeland they hurt you, where is your mother, your sister, your brother. at the refugee towers, the children find diversion from the bleak surroundings. not just a kite, but a favourite soccer team. from the roof, they lift their spirits with it, high above the reality of life and refugee

towers young people still looking for a reason to hope. that is "america tonight". tell us what you think at aljazeera.com/americatonight. talk to us on twitter and facebook and come back. we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. i'm ali velshi "on target." the deal with iran has jewish americans taking sides. i go into a jewish community that insists on the last thing in the world that you might expect. senate democrats handed president obama a huge victory, probably the biggest in a battle