this is "nightline." >> tonight, immigration showdown. the families caught in the middle of a political firestorm. florida's republican governor flying migrants to an exclusive and popular new england vacation spot. and texas sending buses to the vice president's residene. why some cities say they're at a breaking point. plus serial shocker. >> this is a prepaid call from -- >> a bombshell reversal in the case that launched one of the most popular podcasts ever. >> i'm not at this point declaring that adnan is innocent, be are declaring he's entitled to a new trial. >> and the woman who first got people to care. >> it's basically what we've been hoping for all these years. >> could freedom be within

reach? recess therapy. >> you're bigger so you're worse for the environment. i'm small. >> the social media smash that's made us all corn-tastic. >> look at this, i can't imagine a more beautiful thing. it's corn! >> we go behind the scenes of the viral show asking little kids big questions. >> it is always insane, every time.

♪ thanks for joining us. just tonight, president biden sounding off on republicans as the humanitarian crisis at the border intensifies. now the unlikely battleground in the immigration fight, martha's vineyard, an exclusive island off the coast of massachusetts and summer respite for american presidents from clinton to obama. here's abc's mary bruce. >> reporter: this video shows the surprise arrival. close to 50 migrants, including several children, being dropped off in martha's vineyard. a resort town off the massachusetts coast only accessible by plane or ferry. flown in by florida republican governor and presidential hopeful ron desantis. using these familis to make a political point. reporters asking this man whether he realized he was on an island in massachusetts.

"no," this man says. desantis argues he's simply sending the migrants to sanctuary cities that have promised to welcome them. hours later in washington, d.c., buses send by texas republican governor greg abbott dropped these migrants right in front of the vice president's house. border crossings have soared a record 1.8 million apprehensions since october. abc's mireya villareal in el paso, texas. a lot of people are starting to drop off food and drinks and clothing for migrants waiting to get on buss to head north. >> reporter: we pressed the white house. >> we feel the situation at the border is under control. are you doing enough? >> we are fixing a broken system. it is not like turning the light switch on, it is going to take some time. >> reporter: caught in the middle of thousands of families looking for a better life. >> our thanks to mary. now to the stunning developments in the long-running legal saga of adnan syed, featured in the wildly popular

podcast "serial." the boston prosecutor calling for a new trial, questioning the integrity of his murder conviction. what we're now learning about the other suspects. few stories capture our imagination quite like a deeply complicated, deeply confused murder mystery. but there's been no case like the saga of adnan syed, currently serving life in prison for murdering his ex-girlfriend, the central character in one of the biggest podcasts of all-time. "serial." >> this is a prepaid call from -- >> adnan syed. >> reporter: after a series of appeals and motions, a stunning reversal. evidence of two other possible suspects, asking a judge to toss out the verdict and release adnan syed from prison before a new trial. >> it's very rare for a prosecutor such as yourself to

reverse course on a verdict like this. why file all of this now, and how strongly do you feel about this? >> i mean, i think this is incredibly important. i've been in office eight years. despite how controversial the issue may be, the mission and vision of my office, which is justice over convictions, is to do the right thing. >> reporter: it's here at baltimore's woodlawn high that a young adnan syed, popular and smart, spent many of his formative years. >> he was a 17-year-old kid, no history of violence or crime, honor roll student. >> reporter:ed a man and haman lee was high school sweethearts. she was athletic, funny. >> i played field hockey for two years, i played lacrosse for two years. >> do you have time to have a job while doing this? >> yeah, trying to match my schoolwork. >> reporter: then in january 1999, lee disappears, last seen alive at school a couple miles

away, leakin park. it's here investigators find her body, just 18 years old, buried. cause of death, strangulation. before long, investigators honed in on her ex-boyfriend, adnan, then 17, who they allege was angry after she got a new boyfriend. >> you had an eyewitness who came forward and said, "he showed me a dead body in his car." you had potential motive. it wasn't as if they sort of picked him out of thin air. >> reporter: adnan is arrested for her death. after an initial mistrial, one year after discoverying her body, adnan is convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and robbery. and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years. robby chaudry has known him for decades. she wrote "adnan's story" about her friend's long fight to clear

his name. >> i was shocked, he was one of the sweetest kids i knew. one of my brother's friends. i said, this can't be right. they brought up his religion over and over, basically made it look like it was a muslim honor killing, and he didn't stand a chance. they painted him like some kind of a depraved, violent, muslim man. he was a 17-year-old kid who had no history of violence or crime or anything. >> reporter: it would take another 14 years for the world to know about adnan's story. after rabia brought it to a podcast of all places. >> we're telling the story of hae min lee, killed in baltimore in 1999, and the story of adnan syed, her boyfriend who was contradicted by the crime. >> reporter: the serial became a smash hit, one of the most listened to podcasts ever, with hundreds of millions of downloads. every week diving deep into adnan's story, often questioning the lack of evidence brought up during the trial. >> the things the serial podcast

got right, they were able to locate the alibi witness, who has stood by her statement that she was with adnan syed at the time of the murder or at the time the victim disappeared. >> reporter: with renewed media attention, adnan's team continued their 20-year fight to overturn his sentence. >> he didn't seem to be disturbed or angry with her. >> reporter: one potential piece of evidence left out of the first trial, the testimony of asia mcclain. adnan as classmate who says she was with him at the time of the crime. >> i hope that i was able to provide ■enoughinformation to the judge for him to be able to make a rational decision. >> reporter: but she says his old lawyer never even spoke to her. in 2016, new attorneys pushed for a new trial. by then his original defense lawyer had been disbarred for not introducing mcclain as a key witness. three yealaurt of appeals ruled

adnan syed would not get a new trial, reinstating his conviction. which brings us to yesterday's jaw-dropping announcement from baltimore prosecutors, recommending adnan's conviction be thrown out. marilyn mosby is the state's attorney for baltimore. >> i'm not at this point, at this stage, declaring that adnan syed is innocent. but we are declaring that in the interests of fairness and justice, that he's entitled to a new trial. >> reporter: mosby saying a year-long investigating revealed new evidence about two other suspects, one of whom had threatened to kill haeman, later, one suspect suspected of engaging in rape and public assault. >> one of he suspects had faulty polygraphs. there was faulty cell phone call evidence used against adnan syed that would not stand up in court today. >> reporter: announcing that some evidence that could have

helped adnan's defense team was not shared with them at the time. a practice known as a brady violation. are you suggesting that the prosecutors hid evidence from the defense? >> what i'm saying is, i can't go so far as to say they intentionally hid the evidence. i can say that the information was not revealed and was not disclosed to the defendant. >> reporter: the investigation also identified significant reliability issues regarding the most critical pieces of evidence presented at trial. >> when a prosecutor comes forward and says, we think you should vacate a judgment, a judge is certainly going to take that seriously. but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen. it's going to be very interesting to see what the court does now. and we're just going to have to wait and see. >> our mission as prosecutors is justice. over convictions. that is our mission, right? like, that is -- our success is not measured by the number of convictions that we have.

it's by ensuring justice for the family of that beautiful woman that was killed. and so we have spoken to the police, we intend to ensure that we are going to bring an attempt to pursue justice on her behalf. >> reporter: abc news reached out to hae min lee's family. in 2016 they put out a statement, "for those of us who saw the trials and heard the evidence, it is more clear than ever that adnan is guilty." for adnan's family and friends, a decades-long struggle may now have hope on the horizon. >> he called me last night, and he was in good spirits. he's feeling incredibly grateful and hopeful. i would get asked over and over, are you guys done, have you walked away from it? we never, ever walked away from it. coming up, recess therapy with wisdom from the mouths of babes. >> what do you mean?

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♪ it's the heartwarming social media hit series "recess therapy" which has become a sal of for our pandemic-weary souls, featuring kids providing life answers in their smart and silly ways. >> where do you think money comes from? >> my dad. >> look at this. i can't imagine a more beautiful thing. it's corn! >> reporter: children are honest.

>> are you kidding? >> no. >> reporter: and they don't always hold back. >> did you get the joke about the roof? >> no, i've never heard the joke about the roof. >> never mind, it's over your head! >> oh! >> reporter: welcome to "recess therapy," the hit online show hosted by actor and comedian julian shapiro barn ham, where he asks little kids big questions. >> when did it become recess therapy, and why therapy? >> the idea was even someone as old as me can still learn a great deal and listen to someone that young. initially i would bring kids subjects like happiness, anger, climate change. things that i was like, ew, how do i navigate this as an adult in the world? how do i grapple with these things? let me see if i can get any advice from kids. >> reporter: the series, released through the go doing things media, has been a smash hit, racking up over 12 million views on youtube since it debuted in april last year. with some of julian's segments going mega viral.

kids like dylan. >> i really like komodo dragons. i would just say "i love you." >> and? >> i love you, you're so nice. >> reporter: the 6-year-old generating a cult following that had everyone appreciating komodo dragons. >> whatited about? he was like, "i like drinking blood." >> do you drink blood? >> yeah, i drink it sometimes. >> stay away from me. >> reporter: 7-year-old tariq who really loves corn. >> i really like corn. the clipg on a life of its own. heralding the summer of corn kid. spawning musical aparodies -- ♪ it's corn ♪ >> reporter: and even a chipotle ad. >> mild? >> no. >> sour cream? >> no. >> any corn? >> it's corn! >> reporter: we met up with

julian as he headed to prospect park in brooklyn to film an episode. he was actually raised not too far from here. this is where you grew up? >> this is my oovs. i grew up coming to these parks, these playgrounds, and they've become the set for where i film "recess therapy" which is really cool. because i feel very connected to the space. >> reporter: that ability to connect with everyone, anywhere, helping propel "recess therapy" beyond brooklyn. this summer, the hype so big, julian launched "recess therapy's" first national tour. >> we have a very special "recess therapy" episode because i am in toronto, canada, currently in austin, texas, los angeles, california -- >> reporter: using the opportunity to try out new styles and formats. >> this is the first time there's been music in recess therapy. ♪ la la la ♪ ♪ la la la ♪ ♪ la la la la la la law ♪

>> reporter: it's not all about being silly. these kids have a lot to teach us. on topics like our planet. >> you're bigger so you're worse for the environment. i'm small. >> reporter: love. >> is there anything that you love that's not a human? >> bacon. >> do you love bake condition more than your mom? >> i can't choose. >> reporter: even our time left on earth. >> you've got a long, long and amazing life ahead of you. >> i know, longer than yours. >> really? how much longer do you think i have? >> 20 weeks. >> reporter: what's the secret? because it feels like so many people our age and older have a really hard time talking to kids. >> yeah. be interested in what they're interested in. follow their excitement. i find a lot of kids don't get a space to really work through their ideas. >> reporter: at prospect park, julian is about to bring "recess

therapy" to life. when you go out there today, tell me a little bit about the game plan. what are you going to ask about? >> we're actually going to be finishing an episode that i started last week about icky feelings. talking to kids about being eliminate baresed and getting grossed out. how do you feel when there's a yucky thing near you? >> i -- i -- i -- i -- i just walk away, that's it. >> all right. so you're going to walk away? >> yeah. >> let me see. so here's some worms. >> thank you. >> i thought you were going to walk away. is it embarrassing that you're doing this interview? >> kind of. >> what do you want to say to people that feel confused about why they get embarrassed? >> it's normal to get embarrassed. and -- that's it. >> well, everyone seems to be wondering how julian is allowed to talk to these kids on camera. the savvy host has a waiver for that. did you ever get surprised by the kids' answers, do you still get surprised? >> i have never expected what

they have said. it is always the insane every time. i did an interview right there, like a month ago, have you seen it? the one where the little girl is talking about, like, meditating? she's like, place your hands on the earth. >> i want you right now just to put your hands on the ground. and just close your eyes. it's like you connected to the earth. it's like you're connected to mother nature. >> reporter: the idea is simple enough. asking kids about life and the world around them. but "recess therapy" is different. julian's secret sauce? prescribing childhood curiosity to cure the anxiety of adulthood. and it seems to be working. >> i think it is really important and really powerful and really necessary to give children a voice and to hear what they have to say. especially because so often the responses are laced with such positivity. >> cool!

>> our thanks to ashan. up next, roger federer. fans honor the tennis legend after he announces his retirement. moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it's one pill, once a day, that's effective without topical steroids. many taking rinvoq saw clear or almost-clear skin while some saw up to 100% clear skin. plus, they felt fast itch relief some as early as 2 days. that's rinvoq relief. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal, cancers including lymphoma and skin cancer, death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older with at least one heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq, as serious reactions can occur.

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yes on 30. pouring in as roger federer prepares to leave the court. the 20-time grand slam champion posting on instagram that his body, at 41, told him it was time to quit. fans and competitors thanking him. rafael nadal tweeting, it's been a pleasure but also an honor and privilege to share all these

years with you. and tennis legend and activist billie jean king writing, he has the most complete game of his generation. federer's final professional appearance is the laver cup next week in london. and that's "nightline." watch all our full episodes on hulu. see you back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.