ca ioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woo judy woodruff.ing, i'm on the newshour tonight, the tment of justice sues california over its immigration policy. we get reaction from two of the defendants: governor jerry brown and state attorney general xavier becerra. then, president trump plans to sign off on new tariffs on imported aluminum and steel. how the owner of a company that mas beer kegs sees the economic repercussions. also ahead, parched land and dwindling livestock-- a severe drought in somalia threatens the country's agriculture and many who rely on it. >> as far as the eye can see you would normally see camels, goats and sheep. now however it's completely desolate. and that, is not normal.

>> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 1 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- oundation.org. >> supported by the john d. and cathine t. macarthur undation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.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 vbs station frwers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the trump administration is stepping up its campaign against cities that shelter uncumented immigrants.

the nation's top law enforcement official made his case in california today, after ling suit against the state. william brangham begins our coverage. >> california, we have a problem. >> brangham: attorney general jeff sessions served notice to california, in california: he's going to the mat on sanctuary cities. >> california, it absolutely appears to me, is using every power it has and some it doesn't to frustrate federal law rcement. so you can be sure i'm going to use every power i have to stop them. >> brangham: his law enforcement audience welcomed e pledge of support. but dozens protested today in sacramento afterthat the justice department sued the state in federal court last night. the target: three cali laws passed last year that address how the state interacts with federal ition officials. one statute bars bses from cooperating with those immigration agencies without a

court order, andequires them to alert workers of impending raids. a seimits police communications with federal authorities when immigrants are about to be released fm custody. the third required the state to inspect federal immigrant detention falities. sessions called the laws a violation of the u.s. constitution, and "common sense". >> stop protecting lawbrears and giving all officers more dangerous work to do so that a politicians can score political points on the backs of officer safety. i can't accept that. >> brangham: that last point was aimed at oakland mayor libby schaaf who sounded the alarm last raid in her city by ice-- immigration and customs enforcement. >> residents should know that they do not have an obligation to open their doors if an ice official knocks. >> brangham: ice detaid more than 200 undocumented immigrants in those raids, but it said some 800 others avoided the roundup,

thanks to the mayor's warning. >> here's my message to mayor schaaf: how dare you. how dare you needlessly endanger the lives of law enforcefint cers just to promote a radical open borders a >> brangham: the justice department now says schaaf's "tions are "under review. it had already warned that cities and states with other similar sanctuary-city laws might lose fedal grants. but california governor jerry brown answered today that sessions' new lawsuit amounts to a "political show." >> this is completely unprecedented for the chief law enforcement of the ustates to come out here and engage in a political stunt, make wild accusations, many of which are based on outright lies. that's unual. >> brangham: brown and other political leaders in califorlla warned theight the feds in court. meanwhile, president trump praised immigration agts at a summit of the latino coalition in washington.

>> the border patrol and the ice and the-- all of the different people that are working hard. law enforcement generally. they're working so hard on the drug problem. >>adrangham: the president m no mention of the fight over sanctuary cities. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: we'll heafrom both the governor and the attorney general of california, after the news summary. in the day's other news, the white house signaled that president trump might scale back his plans tounish u.s. trading partners. he's talked of broad new tariffa on steel aminum imports, despite objections by to republicans and business groups. this afternoon, press secretary h sanders said there mig be exemptions after all. >> there are potential carve outs for mexico and canada based on national curity. ibly other countries as well based on that process. >> specifically what would they have to do? >> again, that would be a case

by case and country by country basis bu whether or not there is a national security exemption. >> woodruff: in a series of o rning tweets, the president called for chinaim its trade surplus with the u.s. the senate's top democrat, cck schumer, joined in. >> the trouble is executioof plan didn't do what his instincts said to. they caused far more harm to countries that aren't rapacious in their trading, where we benefit from trading. canada where we have a surplus. western europe. they ought to put together a real plan that works >> woodruff: meanwhile, the commerce department reported that in january, the u.s. trade deficit hit $56 billion, the worst since october of 2008. the chief of the u.s. forest e, tony tooke, announced this evening he's retiring, amid allegations of sexl misconduct. it follows a newshour investigation of widespread complaints of sexual harassment

within the forest service, and an ongoing pro of tooke's own havior. s a letter to staff, he s he's been forthright, but that it's best he step down immediately. the secretary of the department of veters affairs, david ulkin, came under new criticism today. the agency's inspe said "failed leadership" during the obama years endangered veterans' health care. shulkin was a deputy secretary then, and the report cited ortcomings in programs under his control. he said he ds not recall being told of the problems. the northeastern u.s. is under assault tonight from its second major winter storm in less than a week blowing snow made for poor visibilidelaware today. pennsylvania and new york even banned big rig trucks from some highways. and, the governor of massachusetts warned residents to be on alert. >> it's expected that at some point, we may have snow falling at a rate of as much as two or

three inches an hour. this could lead to whiteout conditions as far east as boston and potentially across the western and northeastern part of the state. >> woodruff: more than 90,000 customers are still without power across the region, after last friday's nor'easter. the storm has also forced cancella flights.re than 2,700 the accused gunman in the florida school sgs was formally indicted today. nikolas cruz faces 17 counts of first-degree murder, plus 17 of attempted murder. his publender says he'll plead guilty if prosecutors forego the deaalty. in britain, scotland yard confirmed that aerve agent was used to attack a one-time ssian double agent, serg skripal, and his daughter. skripal england after being freed in a spy swap years ago. but, today of directly accusing moscow.

rohit kachroo of independent television news, reports. no>> reporter: tuesday aft in salisbury last week. a local resident goeto buy milk, meat and scratch cards. the scene could hardly be any more mundane. expect this is sgei skripal, the former spy who would later be specifically targeted with his daughter. tonight, investigators confirmed that they were poisoned by a nerve agent. >> in summary it is being treated as a major incident involving attempted murder by administration of a nerve agent. as you know these two people remain critically ill in hospital. sadly in addition, a police officer who was one of the first to attend to the scene and respond incident is now also in a serious condition in a hospital. >> my message to the pis that this event poses a low risk to us the public on the evidence we have.

ter: the investigation is growing. the police cordon expanding. new buildings were included today. there is a sense of extreme urgency among investigators and ministers. the gornment's emergency committee cobra was convened today. >> our thoughts are with everybody affected. particularly the twoe who are still in hospital. this is likely to be a lengthy anoning process. we need to make sure that we respond the evidence that they collect and then we will need to decide what action to take. >> reporter: tonight near mr. skripal's home, a tent was dected as officers collec evidence. he sho visitor from russia, his daughter. instead they're both at the heart of a medical operation, a police investigation and a diplomatic crisis. >> woodruff: that report from

rohit kachroo of independent television news. south korea's president moon jae-in sayants to keep sanctions on north korea, for now, despite a diplomatic thaw. moon spoke to members of his ruling party today in seoul. he said it's important to maintain pressure on the north, to try to make it giveonp nuclear we moon and north korea's leader kim jong-un are to hsummit next month. there's word that vernment forces in syria have cut eastern ghouta in two. war monitors based in london say it happened today in the damascus suburb. plumes of smoke rose above the area under heavy shelling. the u.n. human rights chief decried the bloodshed today, from geneva. >> recent attempts to justify indiscriminate, brutal attacks on hundreds of thousands of civilians by the need to combat a few hundred fighters as in eastern ghta, are legally and morally unsustainable.

claims by the government of syria that it is taking every measure to protect its civilian population are frankly ridiculous. >> woodruff: aleast 800 civilians have been killed in eastern ghouta, in the past three weeks. the u.n. security council has demanded a 30-day cease-fire. it called today for the truce to be implemented. back in this countrytexas' first-in-the-nation mid-term primaries brought a surge in turnout tuesday, for both parties. democrats surpassed a million voters for the first time since 2002. the g.o.p. contests had 1.5 million. that breakcord set in 2010. no democrat has won a statewide race in texas since 1994. the white house today dismissed nearclaims that a porn film had an extra-marital affair with president trump back in 2006. stephanie clifford, as "stormy daniels," had previously denied an affair.

she reversed herself in a lawsuit aimed at throwing out a non-disclosure deal. she signed it just before the 2016 election, and reived $130,000 from the president's lawyer. and, wall street struggled again to make headway amid trade tensions. the dow jones industrial average lost 82 points to close at 24,801. the nasdaq rose 24 points, and the s&p 500 slipped one. still to come on the newshour: i speak to california's governor and attorney general about the immigration lawsuiagainst their state. a view from an industry stakeholder on proposed tariffs. why famine is becoming more frequent in east africa, and much more. >> woodruff: we return to justpartment's case against the state of california

over immigration. heand are joined by two of named defendants: california governor jerry brown a state's attorney general, xavier be gentlemen, thank you both for joining us. governor brown, to you first. the trump adminisration is saying basically that the state of california is protecting lawbs. is that what you're doing. no. that's absolutely untrue, and as you've seen from the various indictments and the guilty pleas, the white house is full of liars, and, unfortuately, our attorney general, with this political stunt, as to the lies of the white house. we're not protecting criminals. we have a law that says exactly the oms. and jany tif sessions or immigration wants to work to help deport criminals in thise' state, be glad to help him. but that's not what he's doing. he's going after men, women, an childrenme who have worked 10 or 20 years picking our foodo washinur dishers, building

houses. and, yeah, we needmmration reform for the whole nation. we don't need a gestapo-kind of tactic wit vitriole spewing out of jeff sessions' mouth. 's not what our highest law enforcement officer should be doing. >> woodruff: attorney bgerra, i'm goo read something attorney general sessions said in california in y it said, "i can't sid i'dly by when the authof federal officers is being blocked by slative acts by politicians in your state." >> that's not true. as the governor s dd, we't block it. we allow the federal government to do immigration enforcement because that's their role. that's their province. we don't get in the way. but we don't expect them to try to coerce us to do federal immigration enforcement for them. we do public safety, and we do it well, ahat's what we'll continue to do. but they should not try to force us by threatening funds for ow law enforcement officers, our police andanheriffs by

threatening that, they think they're going to get to us coopere with them. that's not cooperation. that's coercion, and we're not going to go there. >> and, by the way, we do cooperate. we cooperate through the state prisons, through jails. ice can comeere and pick up their man or woman whenever they want. they'rgoing way beyond that. they're going to raids, they're picking up kids, mothers, fathers. what we need, jeff sessions, propose an intelligent immigration reform, and we'll work with you. but don't come out with these dined of gutter tactics, bring some of your really discredi ftd politim your background here. it's not right. it's not generous, and is not christian. >> woodruff: governor, how are the people of the country, whot may now the fine print of your state law versus the federal law, to understand this? because today, for example, the attorney general said, "we admit 1.1 million immigrants lawfullyi every yeo this country for immigrant-- for permanent legal status." so he said, the good people of

this country are right to insist that we d-- that we create a rational immigration flow and protect the country from criminal aliens." he is focused on people who he says are break the law, who he says your again, is protecting. >> that is is a lie. i'm choose might go words very carefully. the law explicitly recognizes the supremacy of federal law. we have explicit statutes of cooperation. we don't want to protect any criminals. but we do want to make sure we are a country of law and order, and that's someind of authoritarian coming out here for a 10-minute sech, and then running back to washington, and then sending it out to the trump campaignical wire. i mean, this is a serious problem with many of men and women and children's livest stake here. and i call upon mr. sessions and mr. trump to act like americans, act like the good christians they claim to be, and work with ti to get a good immigra

law, and not to try to just hyperbolically scare the hell out eoe instead of working with the biggest state in our country in a cooperative way. >> woodruff: attorney general becerra, havyou and others in the state of california tried to explain to the u.s. justice department where you're coming from? because the portrait-- the picture being painted here in washington by the trump administration is diametrically differenfrom what i'm hearing you and governor brown say. >> well, we have tried. and in fact, notnlyave we tried, but we've had to file cases in court to try to m our case clear. in fact, 12 times we've had ctories against the trump administration for this very reason. they portray things as they' not. then, when we finally have to challenge them in court because they're not willing to make the change, we win. and so if anyone has to change their ways, it's federal government. and i agree with the goverr that if attorney general sessions would simply sit down

with us, we get this resolved. every day, our law enforcement officers from our local officers to my division of law enforcement personnel, we're working day to day with every federal law enforcement agency you can think of-- whether it's ice, f.b.i., d.e.a. we can contito do that work. but we don't need to have folks trying to make a political statement here. that doesn't give exwus progress. >> i agree wit'r that. threatened by the cartels and the gangs and the dope coming in here and the guns going south. yeah, we need to cooperate toe protect blic, to protect america, and sessions is just dividing. he's sowing discourse at a time when we need to come together. he's building walls instead of bridges. that is the only way we will std tall in a dangerous turbulent world we live in. to>> woodruff: i come bac the word of the attorney general, "it can't be someone who illegally comes e crosses te border, and arrives home freee

never to removed. it can't be the policy of a great nation to up and reward those who unlawful enter its country without documentation." >> well, as he framedgr ti with that. but that's not what he's doing. look, the trump people have a record-- i think it's 1-- what is it 11,014 lies and misrepresentations coming out of the white house. sessions is in a cesspool of deception and mendacity. don't believe him. we'll work with him to deport criminals. our prison system does that every day. let's work togethe, pull america together, and not divide and throw out this red meat for the most extreme elements of theipolitical base. >> woodruff: attorney general becerra, what do you say to at general sessions' charge that california has, in his words, enacted a number of laws desigd to intentionally oeb struck the the work of our sworn immigration enforcemt

officers, to intentionally undermine their abilities tor o thbs. >> well, it's an intentional misrepresentation. if you just simplyead the laws, most of those statutes say from the very beginni, "except as required by federal law, we will do this." or they ly point out the statute that the trump administration has tried to sue col, where we actually cithe words of the statute in those provisions of law that we have inalifornia that essentially protect the federal government's right to enforce immigra law. and so they continue to say these things. but the statutes that they point to, that restrict the ability of ice to do its work are the very statutes that say we exempt federal law, or we allow federal law to take precedent over anything that the ste law says. so it's a clear misrepresentation by tem. >> and by way, the attorney general got a very tepid response. i think out of 200 people, 10 people stood up after he gavehi speech. and the most important police

chiefs support these bills. they don't support jeff sessions. >> woodruff: very quickly, governor, president trump is going be in california next week. do you have plans to meet with him? >> well, he hasn't let me know. way, we called sessions' ce, the attorney general's office "are you coming out?" they wouldn't even take the but they notified the press. shis is press-release polit pii don't know whether trump-- he can call me on the phone. i talked to him befe about disaster relief. we had a very fine conversation. looko i want tmplaint, but i'm not going to be complicit with lie denigrating the great ate of california. >> woodruff: governor jerry brown, attorney general xavier becerra, gentlemen, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: president trump's avomised tariffs on steel and aluminum importsdrawn

mixed reaction in washington, incl congressional republicans. american businesses are also divided. hari sreenivasan spoke to one business owner about how the tariffs might effect his coany. >> sreenivasan: paul czachor is c.e.o. of the amican keg company. it's the only domestic manufacturer of steel beer kegs in the country. panks for joining us. first, we hear thesident is about to sign off on these taifers as early as tomorrow, perhaps. are you a fan of it? >> thks for having me on. i would say that we are very concerned with theariffs. i think when we first started discussing this, we wereio caly optimistic. and now that's turned to a concern. >> sreenivasan: how come? >> well, today, our domestic-made kegs are prid higher than several imports, mainly from china. and if these tariffs go through, domestic steel will continue to increase price, but all of the import kegs will still use

the low-costeel from offshore, and those prices will stay e same. therefore, the delta will be even higher to purchase an american-made keg. >> sreenivasan: so how do you live through that? do you end up absorbing the cost to ride this out? >> i don't think we could live through that. i mean, the cost would be significant. if steel goes up by 25%, that's going to be a significant increase to a stainless steel keg that's me domestically. >> sreenivasan: you know, the administranon's core reasog for this is that it's been unfair for a long time, and we're just trying to fix it. have you felt that kind of pressure when you've been running this business? >>nk wit what the administration is trying to do is fix aroem in the steel and aluminum industry, and not to deep-- i don't hav a deep enough understanding to tell you how i feel about that, but i'm su they're trying to fix a problem. but the concern we have is for the downstream products, such at

nless steel beer cegz, that's not going to help any downstream products. aise said ea, those import kegs will still come in using the low-cost steel.as >> sreen: so what i'm hearing is is if this is bad for your busines, what happens to your employees? >> well, unfortunately, if it's-- if it's the worst-casc ario that we're looking at, we would be forced to shut down, just because we couldn't compete using high-priced domestic steel. you know, the hope from thest admition is, you know, it's got to be a multistep process, and somehow, we have td ess the downstream products that are coming into this country with low-cdot steel. t know how we can get that done, and i don't know if it can happen quickly enough. >> sreenivasan: i was going to say how do you do is that thatll would meanhe different products that are made with low-cost steel that come in, thate are consuming right now. >> we certainly will try to, you know, petition for some tariffs on stainless steel kegs, but, again, there are several industries that use steel for their domestic-made products, and i don't know how the

administration will address the multiple industries that will be impacted with this. >> sreenivasan: how many employees do you have now? >> approximately 20 please. and, unfortunately, we had to let approximately 10 employees-- let them go. we were at 30 employees a couple of weeks ago. but we're already starting to see the steel prices domestically go up and we're starting to lose some business ivready. >> srean, you know, for somebody who doesn't understand this business, kind of break that down for us. how do the cost of steel going up into your kegs impact your business shao profoundlyyou have to start making quds cutts? >> well, when we go out, our customers-- we hav proximately-- in the u.s. there are approximately 7,000 craft brewers, winies, nd ciderries that will purchase those kegs. en we talk to our customers, they're certainly willing to pay a small price, orce higher p for an american-made keg with american steel, american workers, et cetera.

but that price, the delta, is continuing to go highe higher. so maybe at $5 a keg, a customer is willing to do that to support american-made products but at $15 or $20, they're not willing to do that. >> sreenivasan: paul, what hearing is these workers that you have are exactly who the administration wants to save and want to see their lives improved, but you're describing a scenario where this is actuwoly making it e. >> yes and, you know, i believe the administration wants to fix several items, but t going to have to, certainly, look at the downstream products as i mentioned earlier. and i'm sure there are manyes industimilar to us that use domestic steel where it's going to increase, and not by a ivial amount but by a significant amount in the case of stainless steel kegs. >> sreenivasan: how do you resolve this? wh do you hope happens? >> well, i'd hope that we'd reconsider some of tariffs, at least delay thernlg or look at the holistic view of how do we fix the downstream

issues. >> sreenivasan: paul czachor, c.e.o. of the american keg company, thank you very much. >> i appreciate it, thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: a documentary series exploring the nation's opioid crisis. but first, somalia has long had a forbidding climate: g heat and dry desert conditions. relentless droughts hav stripped millions of rural herders of their anitheir only real wealth, and driven humans closer to the scarce water supplies. it is a living example of the effects of climate changin from puntlanortheastern somalia, special correspondent jane ferguson and videographer alessaro pavone report part of our weekly look athe leading edge of science. >> reporter:dusty, parched: desert sand is slowly

taking over somalia, devastating the lands. >> this is the channels that the water flows. >> reporter: so water should be flowing along here, when it rains? >> yes, it has two or three water channels and then it becomes full or half full, depending on the quantity of rain. >> reporter: ahmed alishire runs the regional government's ministry of ock. he showed us how people here in the puntland area used to store precious rainwater, in the days before the rains stopped coming. how long have water tanks like these been empty? >> in this location it has been empty for three years. >> reporter: three years? >> yes, three year >> reporter: a crippling drought in somalia shows no sign of easing. and it keeps happening: just six years after the last major drought emergency, the rains

have failed again. temperatures have ri east africa over the last three xfcades, and a report by the u.k.-based charity says there is growing evidence dclimate change is makingught more frequent and more severe. this hays been an unforgiving and harsh environment for people, yet they have survived here for tusands of years by living as nomads, herding their animals to the best grazing place around 80% of somalis make their living on the la. without enough rainwater, that way of life is fast becoming impossible. this part of the country is really famous for its livestock. as far as the eye can see you d normally see camels, goats and sheep. now however it's completely desolate. and that, it not normal. mahmoud al had 500 sheep and goats. now, only 100 remain after most of them withered and died in the last two years.

if the rest of them e, what will you do? >>translated ): the only things we own are these sheep and goats. don't have anything else. no or businesses in the town and if the rest of these animals die in the drought we will only survive by god's will. >> reporter: the newshour travelled deep into rural areas of somalia worst-hit by the drought. on our journey we spotted this 20-year-old camel herder, also named mahmoud. tired and hungry, he was driving his animals to find water in a village nearby. he told us quarter of them.st a for many, it is much worse. in a remote spot we met with nomads who have lost 80% of their camels, goats and sheep. without animals to herd, they have settled in makeshift tents. their leader moussa ahmed

farrah, said in his 85 years, he's never seen shifting weather patterns this unforgiving. >> ( translated ): definitely there is a change. we used to count on the rainy season and dry seasons. now it's not normal. it has changed. we hear the west and in industrialized countries there is a lot of pollution into the atmosphere. >> reporter: thosetants are greenhouse gases, that trap heat close to the earth's surface, raising global mperatures. what would you say to the leof countries that are the main pollutants to the environment, the main causes of climate change? >> ( translated ): i don't know how my voice would reach those people, but i would say to them you should manage your life and economy in a better way.

>> reporter: with their anims dying off, families like these are ose to giving up. do you think there is going to come a point where all of the people will have to leave to go to the cities? >> ( translated ): yes, it's is happening now. people are gradually going to if this drought continues, that will continue to happen-- people leaving the nomadic lifestyle and going to the towns. >> reporter: michael keating heads up the united nations mission in somalia. people are leaving the countryside. does that mean parts of the country side are not uninhabitable but uninhabited? >> i think a bit of both really. i mean the doomsters would say they areing uninhabitable because you just can't sustain your livestock on them and you can't sustain your way of life. >> reporter: most of those who leave e cities end up in ramshackle camps like this one in the capital mogadishu. a winding collection of tents

and sheds, filled with families who once roamed as nomads, herding their gos, camels and sheep. makke mahmoud arrived from the countryside nths ago. she once had 100 goats, she told now, these precious few are all that remain of her herd. one of them gave birth just moments before we arrived but she has nothing to feed the mother. with the drought comesonflict. in a country awash with guns and very little security, some animal herders carry weans, and fight over precious, fertile land. >> ( translated ): we farmers and the herders used to live amongst each other, but when the drought became severe the herdvaded our farms and made it into grassland. there was fighting and the herders burned our houses, so we left and came here. >> reporter: haleem saeed used

to feed her family from the vegetables she grew on her small plot of land in centrasomalia. now she washes clothes in the camp to make a little money, but mostly relies on hand-outs. in the last year alone, over a million somalis have been forced from their homes because of th drought. climate change, says keating, means many people in the camps will never be able to k to their old lives. a way of life that sustained unities in this part of africa for thousands of years is no longer working. >> this is a global phenomenon is hitting the horn of africa particularly badly. i think it's going to mean that the numberf people who are ing to be able to sustain themselves through nomadic pastoralism is going to be reduced. i mean some notion that everyone to go back to what they were doing before i don't think is the case. i think, you know somalia already one of the most rapidly urbanizing countri in the

world. that will continue. i think what we need to do is plan for bigger urban centers. >> reporter: leaving the traditional way of life is no easy decisio nomadic animal-herding is not simply how people here make money. it's who they are. as the weathnges, they will have no choice but to change too. for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson, in mogadishu, somalia. >> woodruff: now, a new documentary series spawcases the and the many effects of the nation's opioids crisis. roe centers for disease co and prevention reported yesterday that emergency room visits for suspected opioid overdoses were up 30% compared with the year be the series puts a human face on this crisis. rey brown has that story,

part of our ongoing corage of this issueica addicted. >> brown: the series is called "the trade" and explhe opioid crisis in five parts ande from multiple pectives: the cartels growing poppies and producing heroin in the mexican highlands. american drug enforcement agents trying to stem the flow of heroin and synthetic opioids into ohio. and active users and their families struging with addiction in georgia.

>> drugs not in my neighborhood. >> this stuff is everywhere. you know, access is everything. ccess is everything and the way to get access is to developing you know deep, deep trust with our subjects, and that happens through a number of >> brown: matthew heineman directed "the trade" and recently spoke to me from new york. >> this issue of the over the epidemic has always been well covered and in traditional media. and you know i felt like with my job and as i've done with previous projects to really put a human face to this. >> brown: heineman is best known for his 2015 oscarinated documentary "cartel land," which

provided an inside look at life along the u.s.-mexico border for those on both sides of the war on drugs. >> you know the conditions are that you don't get high, and we know you're high, so. with "the trade" he wanted to expand that project to show just far the drug war reaches, as with this atlanta family, the waltons, whose two sons struggle with heroin addiction. >> that's exactly what i'm here for. he's not staying here, scierl. >> (bleep) try to get her home. >> well, how do you try to her home. >> i can just give him gas money to get him out of >> you know when people think of addiction now ink of what it does to the individual adequate so often ravages not just the md the body of that person but the family. you know cties and that storyline with the waltons is really seen through the eyes of his mother jen who tries desperately to help her son and

has been doi so for many years despite his continued attempts of getting clean and then relapsing and attempts of getting clean. and you know this drug is so hard to kick no matter how much love you have noatter how much support you have. it's just it's really, really difficult to get out of it. >> brown: according to the centers for disease control and prevention, the drug addiction crisis in 2016 killed more than 64,000 americans-- more th aids, gun deaths or car crashes at their own respective peaks. "the trade," available now on showtime, explores the consequences on both sides of the border: in mexico tens of thousands of people killed or disappeared, mounting police corruption, a security state.

>> you know as l there's a demand for drugs in the u.s., the supply of drugs coming from mexico and s america. and with that will come violence with that will come heartbreak. and with that will cu know criminal enterprises that are taking advantage of it. >> the u.s. is fighting back with more border security and raids on drug runners. >> it tears people apart. >> but in the trade, it's a never-ending whack-a-mole game drug agents must play, and there's always another drugde aler out there. for heineman, that's one of the key takeaways. >> i don't this crisis is going to be fixed with walls or barriers. i think we need to stop thinking of it as something that we can please stop thinking somhing

that we should continue to spend billions of dollars on to trying to fight it. i thinave to really start to think of it more and more as a health care crisis and start to you know really pour more and more money into treatment as opposed to just policing iss. >> brown: for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in washington. >> woo all five episodes of "the trade" are now available to watch for free on youtube or showtime.com. >> woodruff: and we'll be back shortly with something you won't whnt to miss: what happene an injured baby beluga whale was found off the coast of alaska. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support,hich helps keep ograms like ours on the air.

>> woodruff: for those stations still with us, we head to cuba, where scientists are working to protect the island's rich diversit growing pressures, both human and wild. here is a reprise of miles o'brien's report that originally aired last fall. >> reporter: if you wa to see a rare cuban crocodile, you best get to know this man first. toby ramos is cuba's croc whisperer. for more than four decades, he has lived in cuba's zapata swamp, hoping to bring the reptiles bk from the brink of extinction. they are feisty, ferocious, and able to jump-- as we saw at a nearby breeding center. >> ( translated ): the cuban croc is very bold and unafraid of hum they come right up to investigate any diurbance in e water.

they stand their ground even if you trto capture them. this makes them easier to catch thar their american counterp >> reporter: which is one big reason they are in strouble. the crocs were hunted relentlessly in the first half of the 20th century. 13,000 were killed in one hear alone, for skins and meat. today, the poaching continues relentssly. right now, the wild cuban crocodile population is estimated at only about 3,000. they are critically endangered. they are not extinct, thanks in large part to toby ramos. he works closely with natalia rossi of the wildlife conservation society. >> he's not only profeionally a person that has a body of work for 40 years, but he is a brave person to work in the field. he's still a crocodile. to grab >> reporter: they offered no guarantees that we would even lay eyes on one, but

nevertheless, we came to this remote warden's outpost to try our luck. and long after we arrived... >> it seems there is a crocodile. >> reporter: oh, is there a crocodile? let's see. where? where? curious croc surfaced nearby. toby ramos is a total pro. in all these years, he has captured thousands of animals d yet only been bitten twice. we were eager to watch-- from a safetance. thhe is not in it for the ll, but rather to protect the species. poaching is only part of the proble the other threat comes from another species has flourished here: american crocodiles. they thrive here, crowding out their cuban cousins, and also crossbreeding with them, creating a hybrid specs. >> ( translated ): we have only seen this hybridization happening in two very specific areas.

plus other areas where only american crocs are present. >> we are working hard to protect what we have today, because we might lose one of these unique populations. >> reporter: cuba is replete with unique populations of rare and endanger species. scientists say the country is a crownjewel of bio-diversity i the caribbean; its mangrove swamps, coral reefs and its populations of unique amphibians, reptiles and birds are all unsurpassed. >> now, we are heading onto an open area with palm trees, which is seally flooded right now. >> reporter: biologist maydiel morera gave me an eye-openingf tourme rare birds in another corner of the zapata swamp. >> that floodingement or cycle keeps this area clear, and irit's very, very good for mainly. >> reporter:is home to

370 species of birds; 27 found ding this one. what is that? what is that called? >> cuban trogan, it's d e national b cuba, and it's my perfect bird in cuba, also. >> reporter: beautplumage. we also saw a great lizard cua cuban pygmy owl, a west indian woodpecker, a cuban green woodpecker and a cuban screech owl. >> you see my dot here. >> reporter: yeah, ieah. i see hiee him. >> that is it. >> reporter: beautiful bird. look at that bird. >> i think the most fitting english word for this is "cute." >> reporter: cuba's ecological bounty is a consequence of some deliberate planning by the cuban , which protected about 20% of the nation's land and territorial waters and also years of geopolitical and economic isolation. >> the political situation kept cuba isolated from fast development.

so in a way, there was not a like a strong competing interest of money versus conservation. >> reporter: for scientists, cuba is a tantalizing mystery. >> it's kind of a black box in rms of knowledge because there has been a lot of csearch done a, but the connection of that research to the research done in america and other countries in the continent has not been yet ited. >> reporter: cuban scientists ann't have the funding to swer some complex questions on their own, like, can pure cuban crocodiles survive? and does habitat loss, poaching and cross breeding make it likely the heartier cuban- americ cross breeds will ail? on the front lines in the zapata swamp, toby ramos is also trying to find the answer, studyi animals that he understands perhaps better than anyone. how many times have you done that before, toby? ( speaking spanish )

>> thousands. >> reporter: can i touch? >> yes. ( speaking spanish ) >> reporter: much dryer than you think. once we let our crocodile swim free, we got back in the boat and gunned it. a big thunderstorm was brewing. keeping these crocodile alive is not easy already, but add to the mix the growing pressure as tourism increases here in cuba. as more people come here, s more pressure on these animals, and it makes it much harder to keep them alive. in cuba's zapata swamp, i'm mio'brien for the pbs newshour. this guy's good! >> woodruff: now to a newshour shares, a story that caught our eye. it's very rare for a beluga whale calf to become separated

from its mother. so, when a team of veterinarians discovered one oa rocky, alaska beach, they went into overdrive to save the endangered whale, whose numbers have been declining in cook inlet. from alaska public media, valerie kern sent this profile of the woman who led the rare rescue. >> i was actually out in the cook inlet doing a necropsy of another beluga whale and a part of the team were leaving the area when they spotted what they at first thought was another carcass, so they went to check it out, but behold it was a live calf. their first response was to try and see if it would go back into the water but unfortunately it wouldn't. my name is carrie goertz, i'm the director of animal health here at the alaska sealife center. we primarily care for seals and rs as well as walrus, so it's very unusual for us thave a beluga here.

and there have only been a few beluga calves in north america th have come in for rehabilitation. initially, just like wy sick person, he was rather punky and didn't have a wht of energy. he obviously did damage to some of his muscles, just bruising and what-not from laying on a beach instead of floating in the watea.and he did have pneumoni fortunately for this calf, we felt he had been with mom for a little while so got that initial burst of antibodies and good stuff from mom. he also had learned so behaviors. he knew how to suckle and heve quickly learned how to suckle from a bottle so that helped him out in particular. the aquaria in the lower 48, have been extremely generous. sending staff and helping in numerous ways. >> yes, made it all the way

over. we had to check him out! my name is jessie. i'm from mystic aquarium in cstic connecticut. i'm a trainer aceans and pinnipeds there. it's definitely a on-in-a- lifetime opportunity. this is my first day in the water with him and it's amazing. the trust that he has for us and the willingness for him to come over not only for his bottle but also for the tactile and interaction is just awesome. >> over time, we've been able to let him spend more time on his own and we can tell alt when he's moving his head he's working on his echolocation and exploring and he certainly likes spending time with people and playing with them. caring for strded animals, it an opportunity to learn about the species and the pressures going on in the pulation in the wild.

this is the first beluga fro cook inlet we've been able to do a hearing test on. but it's also imt for the greater population for scientists andesource managers because one of the concerns of what might be a pressure for cook inlet beluga whales is their ability to hear in what's a very noisy environment. so having that information will help scientists better undetand potential impacts to the population. there has been interest across the nation and we will probably be talking about him for a very long time. >> woodruff: when the young calf is healthy enough, he will be moved to a new facility, but will not return to the ocean since he's become dependent on humans for survival. n >> we haves update before we go. "the new york times" is reporting that president trump's lawyer secretly tained a restraining order last week to prevent a pornographic film star from speaking out about her alleged affair with mr. trump.

and that's the newshour for tonight. am judy woodruff. join us online ain here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text f d data that you use. we offer a variety- contract wireless plans for people who use their phone a little, a lot, or anything in to learn more, go to consumercellularv >> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promotg the wellbeing of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. more at rockefellerfoundation.org >> and with the on ting support se institutions and individuals.

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elyse: we're the history detectives, and we're going to investigate some untold storie p from americat. tukufu: this week, does this bar of sid silver hold a secret from one of spaie s most valuaipwrecks? elyse: does this book bear the fingerprints once accompany ernie pyle onto the battlefields of world war ii? elvis costello: ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ i get so angry when the tearops start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart ♪