captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llcuf >> woo good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally- hawhich should happen-- yo to take the children away. >> woodruff: we are on the ground at the u.s.-mexico border, as president trumphi doubles down opolicy of excluding all immigrants who try to cross without documentation. then, tit-for-tat on trade--at scalating tariffs between the u.s. and china means for amera's economy. and when does pre-kindergarten not work? why some tennessee students who get an early sta on their education don't do as well in school later on. tu the kids who did not go to pre-k ly are doing better than the kids who did go to pre-

k on the state achievement tests. >> woodruf all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> knowledge, it's where innovation begins. it's what leads us to discovery and motivates us to succeed. it's why we ask the tough questions and what leads us to the answers. at leidos, we're standing behind those working to improve the world's health, safety, and efficiency. leidos.

>> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin. >> aice for life. fe well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> consumer cellular. >> and with the on ting support se 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. >> woodruff: the stormver separating migrant children from their parents at the u.s.-mexico border rag on tonight. president trump is insisting his only choices are separating out the children or releasing whole families without penalty. amna nawaz is in el paso, texas and begins our coverage. >> so what i'm asking congress to do is to give us a third

option. >> reporter: in a washington speech this morning, the ieesident defended his pol but he appealed to congress for act. >> we have been requesting sincl last year, tal authority to detain and promptly remove families together as a unit, wea have to e to do this. this is the only solution to the border crisis. >> reporter: his legislative director marc short weighed in at the white house. none of us is pleased with the situation at the border. we've been asking congress to gigive us the resources, t us more judges so that we can adjudicate these cases faster and we've asked for lution on the floor settlement that would give us the ability tod keep children rents together. >> reporter: last night, texas republican senator ted cruz announced emergency legislion last night to do just that. it would keep families together as their cases proceed and increase the number of immigration judges from roughly 335 to 750. >> we can come together, we

ought to all be united and say, "of urse kids should be with their parents." and if we speed up the adjucation, that solves the problem. >> reporr: but today the president appeared today to reject the option of hiring more judges. >> i don't want judges, i want border security. i don't wanna try people, in' want people coming in. do you know if a person comes in and puts one foot on our ground, it's essentially welcome to america, welcome to our country- - you never get 'em out. >> reporter: democrats insisted again that the family separations are of the president's making and within his power to stop. >> even if you believe people immigration should be halted entirely, we all should be able to agree that in the united states of america we will not intentionally separate children from their parents. we will not do that! we are better than that! so reporter: the pressure kept building among republicans, including alaska senator lisai. murkowsk

f legislation, i think that administratively the a secretary, theorney general, the president, they could move on this tomorrow there are multiple individuals in the administration that can isx it and yes, legislatio one avenue, but it is not e onlyvenue. >> reporter: utah senator rin hatch said he was sending a letter to attorney general jeffh sessions, aski to halt family separations at the border until congress does take action. meanwhile, the head of the u.s. faamber of commerce-- thomas donahue-- condemnely separations, saying, "this is not who we are, and it must stop now." and several governors of both parties announced they will no longer send national guard units to help along the border. altold, border patrol officials said today more than 2,300 children have been placed without their parents in makeshift tent cities and warehouses since april. in miami, florida demo senator bill nelson tried to visit one of the deportation centers, but said he'd been turned away.>>

cover up, they don't want us to see it. >> free our children now! >> reporter: in el paso, texas, hundreds of protesters marched in the desert heat. >> i can't imagine a parent bringing their kid to this coun from rape, to come and try to find salvation for their kids.he it b me because i love my children and i would do anythine to protect >> the majority of the people that come across this border come because of grave and serious reasons. you don't leave your family, you don't leave your count, your culture, your language, even tho that you did before just because you, just because you feel like taking advantage of somebody else's system. >> reporte amid the storm over separations, the president met late today with house republicans at the u.s. capitol. the house is set to vote on two immigration bills this week.

and nat republican leaders said all of their minutes would now support legislation to keep migrant amilies together. of course, here in el paso on the border just a couple hundred yards or so from mexico, this a community that has long ben dealing with immigration policy on the front lines. but really when it comes to the family separation policy, this is also a community that waso. ground z this is where the government first test ran the family separation policy for months before officially rolling it ot across the country. and that, judy, was back inmb no of 2017. >> woodruff: so amna, if they have been dealing with this there longer, what do they tell you they've learnut it? >> well, judy, folks who work on the front line say they're still learning. it's a complicated process. it is overwhelming for them and the system, they say, is completely overwhelmed. there are not enougal advocates to make sure that every adulngthat is bei criminally prosecuted has legal representation. there ren't enough beds for the pildren who are now being

separated from theents and being proved from el paso to other parts of the coubery or g housed here. that's why you're hearing about tornillo, a temporary tent city that has popped up 20 miles east of here. there are already a few hundred minors housed there, and we're told they could house a few hundred more if ne >> woodruff: and amna, what about people on the ground, people in the community? what are they ling you their reaction to all of this is? >> well, judy, folks here have long been dealing with immigration, and a lot of people here have a very strong opinion on it. there aren't any local polls to tell us how everyone feels specifically about ily separation, but you saw it, there were a few hundred people that showed up at a protest to march to on the detention center earlier today. they w e saying this is nota representation of who we are as a country. i'll also tell yothe advocates who have been navigating this process for a very long time say it is more cowp called it no than ever. lawyers say if we as lawyers don't know how to navate the system, how can we reunify

parents with their children? how are peop who don't speak the language, how are children who are left without any information and stuck in the system supposed to navigate it. and as a journalist, it's incredibly complicated. there is very little transparency. we've all seen the media ur the government has been allowing people on. it's very restricted d very controlled. we have requested access to the four detention centers foril en in el paso. there are no tours scheduled. we're waiting to see if the government can oovide any mre information on those. >> woodruff: certainly is gmplicated. amna nawaz on thound in el paso. thank you, amna. in the day's other news: trade teinions with china spiked a after president trump called for tariffs on another $200 billion worth of chinese goods beijing had matched an earlier round of tariffs, and mr. trump blsed that retaliation for new action. the chinese today called it "blackmail". >> (anslated ): china does not want to fight a trade war

buit is not scared of one. we will continue to take effective steps to resolutely esdefend the country's int. we advise the u.s. side to return to reason, and stop word and actiat harm itself and others. this is the only way. >> woodruff: the president's trade adviser-- peter navarro-- said today the u.s. remains open to talks to resolve the dispute. the trade trouble put wall street on the ropes.ne the dow industrial average lost 287 points to close at 24,700. the nasdaq fell 21 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 11. the u.s. and south korea today rmally called off joint military exercises that had been planned for august. president trump had initially announced the move aft his summit with north korean leader kim jong un. meanwhile, kim traveled to china for a two-day visit. he met with chinese prt xi jinping, reportedly to discuss the results of his talks with president trump. the united states is pulling out of the united nations' human

rights council. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haleannounced it today, alongside secretary of state mike pompeo. haley charged the council has long ignored real abuses while targeting israel-- and she said it's continuing this year. >> the human rights council passed five resolutions against israel. more than the number passed against north korea. syria and iran combined. this disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias not by human rights. >> woodruff: the announcement comes a day after the u.n. human rights chief called the policy of separating children from parents at the u.s.-mexico border "unconscionable." nearly 69 million people around the world were forcelee their homes last year. the u.n. r the figure today in geneva.

it said more than 16 millionref thgees were newly displace in congo, south sudan and myanmar. >> this is becse of protracted conflicts, lack of solutions for those conflicts that continue, continuous pressure on civilians in countries of conflict thathe pushedto leave their homes. >> woodruff: syrians make up the largest displaced group, with some 12.6 miion. in indonesia, rescuers spent the stday searching for at lea28 people missing after a ferry sank last night. the vessel capsized in rough water on lake toba, on the island of sumatra. the lake is 1,500 feet deep. a by this morninhorities had found only 18 survivors, who reunited with loved ones. the transport ministry says the ferry was badly

overloaded. back in this country: joe hagin is stepping down as white house deputy chief of staff for operations. hagin led planning for president trump's summit with north singapore.jong un in he says he plans to leave next month to work in the private sector. and the u.s. labor department has announced a new insurance option for small businesses and the self-pl ed. the plans begin this september. they combinations of small companies to negotiate more affordable rates. they also provide fewer benefits and waive some of the mandatorer coverage und the affordable care act. still to come on the newshour: children at the border-- the view from the white house and from obama's head of homeland security, the president of the koch brothers' political arm on the ongoing trade battle, is a diabetesreatment giving patients false hopes, and much more.

>> woodruff: the outcry over president trump's policy of separating immigrant families has reached a crescendo that extends beyond party lines. earlier this evening i spoke with mercedes schlapp, white house director of strategic communications, and began by asking if mr. trump is hearing the criticism, even from his own party. >> well, absthutely. i meanpresident, as you mentioned before, he hates seeing the separation of families and even though the o separatifamilies is only for a very brief period of time, but the realithere, one of the reasons why president trump is in congress speaking tese house members is coming up with a permanent solution, coming up with a fix to. this only congress can fix this issue that we're dealing with in terms ofin ensthat we're able to secure the border, that we're able to keep families together. because right now, judy, we only

ve two options. the two options are when adlts oss the border illegally, they will be prosecuted. the second option is the prosecution, the second option is releasing these family units into the u.s. interior, which in essence equates to open borders. so we want that third option. we want the option that congress is going to come and fix this, and ensure that they're able to keeper families togeo that they could be detained and then swiftly removed back to the country unless they qualify for asylum. >> woodruff: but it wa change in approach to this policy, a change in policy by the trump administration when this started happening. it was six weeks ago thera adminion said, we're no longer going to keep these families together. we'll prosecute the parents. that's the change, isn't it?ll >> wethe change is because we're enforcing the the law wasn't being enforced beforehand. it was more of a subjective case

of prosecutorial discretion. it was cleared by the department of justice, those individuals crossing the border illegally. we have toemember there are ports of entry where these individuals can come in through a legal process and apply for asylum. and when they go though those ports of entry, and there are 26 of those along the 2,000-mile border, that's an area where you won't be separated from themi . but as we know, in american law, when you are... when you commit a crime, you can can be an american citizen, you will separated from your family. this is the case in this situation, which mea you commit a crime, meaning you cross the border illegally, not through these ports of entry, you will be prosuted. yes, you are separated from they faor a brief period of time during the hearing itself and then reunited. but that is where we are at this point, and wh we need iswe need congress to take action to fix this problem. .is is very simp

this is about ending a legal loophole. this is something that the president has pushed forward. it's ending catch and release where you're able to keep these families togetd be able to hear their cases or remove them from the country. >> woodruf but you're saying it's the administration's decision to enforce something, but it sounds like yore sayi the president, the only thing he'll accept now is having the entire family sent back across the border. >> well, again, if they gth througe ports of entry and they are able to... we talkab t credible fear an apply for asylum, their cases will be heard. we have a verry lage backlog of cases based on our limited resource, but their casbees will eard some you have these ports of entry where these families can go through in essence. what we are seeing, though, is these individuals who are coming ttween these ports of ery. what you're also seeing is that smugglers and human traffickers are exploiting these children. you're having parents who are basically sending their children alone, many in the hands of

smuggler, to get through into our country that's not acceptable. >> woodruff: let me just ask you this. you know that wh is goion in these countries is there is g ous situation. these families are coming because they are being set upon, they have seen violence inflicted on them and family members and loved ones by gangs. there's a lawlessness. they're coming here seeking safety. >> right. so let me ask you. is it your safe to put yr child in the hands of a smuggler? >> well, is it safe to stay in a place in guatemala or honduras or el saador where you're will living with those conditions? >> what is amazing about america is we sve the most gener immigration laws. there is a legal way to apply to come into our country. in addition to that, if those individuals are doing thidas erous trek into the united states, they need to go through the ports of entry, which then they won't be separaom their family. >> woodruff: and there is a backlog.

>> eactly, because of the fact diat we've had such limited resources and fu coming from congress. >> woodruff: let me quickly ask you two other things. one is a numr of people ae saying the president chose to do this to enforce this policy six weeks ago in order basically to leverage this in order to get more money for a border wall is that whaing on? >> this is the only political play that's being made right now is the democrats showing up to these detention centers and mang this into this bi political issue. we want to have solutions. we want to work wi congress. we want to work with both parties to ensure, as the president did back in october of last year, when he came up wih a comprehensive and generous bill on immigraon. >> woodruff: finally, mercedes schlapp, as a mother of young chilouen yourself, what's r reaction when you see these pictures and hear the sounds of these children crying? >> look, as i have mentione before, as the president and first lady, is sad, i's tragic, it's so tragic

especially when you have smugglers exploiting and taking advantage of these childre it's absolutely heartbreaking. this is the type of what we need to stop in terms of ensuring that indivuals who want to come to america apply safely. if they're going through ports of entry, which is legal way where you don't separate families, but breaking the law h a country,at in and of itself is harmful. it's harul to them, and it's harmful ton.heir childre >> woodruff: mercedes schlapp at the white house thank you. ank you so much. >> woodruff: and for an ope sing view on migration crisis: janet napolitano was secretary of homeland security under president obama and instrumental in immigration decisions, including signing the policy that created the deferred action for childhood arrivals program-- better known as daca. she's now the presidt of the university of california. janet napolitano, welcome back to the program. you hear what the trump administration is ar, that they have no choice, that once people come across the border

without documentation and theyt do so at a port of entry, the administration has no choice prt to enfce the l, take the parents, begin tecute them, and take their children away. >> of course the administration has a choice. the choice is not to do it and not to do it this way. dern somebody crosses the bor illegally between a port of entry and is apprehended, that demeanor.ral mis under the obama administration, because of all of the consequences that occur, we would keep those individuals in the civil immigration courts. they would be gen a deportation hearing and perhapse rted, but they would be kept together with their children. these are not cases of children beought across by smugglers. those are unaccompanied ch'sdren. and thow we treated them as unaccompanied children. these are children coming acs

with their family members. >> woodruff: well, the oministration again, andu heard what mercedes schlapp, we aard it today from the president, what th saying is that the law as it's written now reuires them either to accept the whole family and just let them come into the country and become, you know, not be followed, or to prosecute the parents. where is the misunderstanding or the disconnect here in understanding what the law says? >> well, you know, the disconnect is in how the law is enforced. in the obama administration,e enforced the law, but we enforced it using the immigration courts and the deportation process. what the trump administration has decided do is to charge each of these adults as criminals, to prosecute them as criminals, trefore you have assistant u.s. attorney, federal

prosecutors along the border being takeny from drug-smuggling cases and gun-running cases and humang traffickses to handle these misdemeanors, and once the adult is in the ciminal justice system and because then they go into the jurdiction of the u.s. marshal, they don't have the capacity to keep childrenr and ts together. and that's where the separation occurs. >> woodruff: thas where that rationale comes from. the president is saying there have been so many illegal immigrants coming into this country, he says the numbers are off the charts. he cited some numbers again today about how many hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people have come rein over cent administrations. he said at some point we've got to dw the line. >> well, all i would say is that in the previous administration illegal migration across the u.s.-mexico border was driven to 40-year lows, and as far as i can tell, that was the product

of enforcement policy that made sense asell as a strategy of working with the countries of origin to try to deter the source of the illegal migration to begin with. >> woodruff: so when theta presidens about smuggler, and you mentioned this a moment ago, he said they a exploiting the law as it's written now. he said there has been a 435% increase in smuggling or attempted smuggling of not justi rs but families, as well as minors. >> i don't know where he gets those statistics. frankly, i don't know where the president gets many of his statistics, and i'd ve to look, and i would have to verify those, but what i will tell you is that this is a humanitarian crisis on the border. when you see several thousand children now inx si weeks taken from their parents, housed in an old wal-mart, housed in tents,

no system established before they started this policy to figure out, well, how will parents get reunited with their children, thereby opening the door to lengthy accept rations, that is just wrong. that's just not how the border needs to work and it's not how our immigration pocy and law actually works. >> woodruff: let me quote one of the things the president said today. he said, "democrats love open borders. let the whole world come inch they view them as potti voters who are going to go on and vote for democrats for office." >> that's so cynical. i think what e prsident's statement overlooks is that so many of these migrants are indeed fleeing desperate circumstances. ey have made a treacherous journey to get to the united states in the hopes of achieving a better life for themselves and for their children. and as a nation who likes to say

repeatedly, we are nation of immigrants, sometimes that meano that, yes, se who cross illegally are not criminally prosecuted, they're handled through the administrative migration process. >> woodruff: just very quickly, janet napolitano, you had meetings on capitol hill day act daca, the minors issues, immignt minors, any progress on that front? >> not that i could see,ut this is yet another decision that the president coulred rects with a stroke of his pen, and withdraw hiserrd rescinding the daca program, and therefore allow the 70,000 or so dreamers in this country, student#ylwq university of california, to remain here safely and securely. >> woodruff: janet napolitano, former secretary of homeland security, thank you. >> thank you.

nd woodruff: the trade battle between the u.s.hina-- the world's two largest economies-- is escalating to new levels today. president trump has directed his administration to prepare major new tariffs on chinese imports. nick schifrin looks at the potential consequences of thiscl move, ing how china may retaliate. >> reporter: for months, the u.s. and china have traded tit- for-tat trade threats, and they've escalated again in the past few days. on friday, president trump authorized tariffs on $50 llion of chinese goods such as industrial machinery. those are set to take effect next month. in response, chinese officialset vowed toiate with $50 billion of its own tariffs on .merican goods such as beef, cars, and soybea that response prompted president trump to threaten andditional $200 billion of tariffs. and he warned the u.s. may imse tariffs on a total of

$450 billion of chinese goods. that's 90% of everything china exports to the u.s.-- electronics, clothing, toys, tools, you name it. edward alden watches all this closely for the council on foreign relations and joins me now. edward alden, thank you very much. aie administration says that china is trying toain a permanent and unfair advantage. china protects its companies in many sectors, especially high tech, china forces the u.s. companies to give some of its formation to china. so doesn't the administration have a point? >> no que, stion. i me you look at a doment that the u.s. trde representative office put together, the heart of this investigation, it makes a compelling case on all of these. u.s. companies that are trying ko invest in china have to wor with joint venture partners. they are often forced to transfer their best technologies to their partners. the chinese use licensing and other regulatory discrimination to make it ha.d for u.s companies to operate freely in

the chinese market. china has a very restrictive investment regime, which is intended to help its companiese get thext leg up in terms of the technologies of the future. >> schifrin: is your notion that the means by which the u.s. is addressing that is lesefs ctive than it could be? >> i think it's much less effective. ntthe united states has sphe last 75 years building a system of global trade rules, culminating in the creation of the world health organization. there are a lot of tools available through the w.t.o. that the u.s. hasn't used fully in trying to go after some of these chinese practices ad we're not working with our allies to put pressure on china. these are problems that face not just u.s. companies, but japanese, rman, british and french companies, but instead hresident trump has been picking trade fights withse countries, as well some tactically, this is highly questionable and undermiengs a lot of the credibility ofhe united states as a leader inse ing and maintaining global trade rules. >> schifrin: this isn't only

about china. the administtrtion says it's ng to rebalance trade deficits and also trying to seize advantages that it says the u.s. has given up. so what's wrong with trying to seize those advantages as the straight puts it? >> well, i don't think there is anything wrongbut you have to pick your battles. so president trump doesn't like the large trade deficits. fair enough. there are things that can be done to correct that. the china issues 've been talking about are kind of very real and very front and center, but if you're ging to deal with those, you need allies. if what you get into is fights with all your trading partners because some of them run trade surpluses with the united states, then you'll have no coherent strategy to getting anything done. you can see this in the talks with united states. -- with china. the united states is lurching f back arth saying we need a real response to the technology transfer issue, to the intellectual property theft issue to, cyber espionage to, regulatory discrimination. it lurches back and forth between that position and saying, well, if china wouu just more soybeans and

natural gas and reduce the tra deficit, the united states will be fine. that's not a coherent strategy and it will not be effective. >> schifrin: theed from's trade adviser peter navarro said that china has more to lose than the u.s. because china exports four times more than th u.s. is that true? >> that's a simthple aritic that says because we buy more from em, they're mo vulnerable. china has a lot of ways to hurt the u.s. they hold a huge amount of our treasury holdings. they could reduce those and cause u.s. interest rates to rise. they can manipulate the currency as they did in the 2000s to hold down the value, which would increase their export value in the united states, and they can tart their retaliation, as they're already planning to do, against sectors that are going to hurt the president. go after farmers, go after, you know indtries in swing states. both sides will hurt, but i think china can actually in many

ways do more damage to the united states than vice versa. >> schifrin: edward alden, thank you very much. >> good to be wit >> woodruff: the rising u.s. trade tensions, not only with onina, but also those with time u.s. allies, canada, mexico and the european union hehave sent ripples across political landscape in this country. john yang gets reaction about all of this from one of the biggest and most influential forces in republican politics as the midterm elections approach. >> yang: americaat for pros op a conservative/libertarian political advocacy group funded by david and charles koch is undertaking a multimillion dollar campaign opposing president trump's trade policies. tim phillips is the group's president. he joins me now.th mr. phillipsnks so much for joining us. >> absolutely. >> yang: you supported the president on his tax cuts. you were full of praise for what he's done with the economy. >> right. >> yang: what's the message on trade to the president? >> the president rightly deserves a lot of credit for th economy takingff.

the data clearly indicates it's doing much better. but his trade or his protectionist policies, hisff tarisk undermining the economic recovery that the tax cuts and tax reform and the a elimination ot of job-killing regulation and red tape, it risks undermining that. we're urging him to drop these tariffs,mbrace free trade, and keep this economic recovery going that's helping a lot.e americans imprheir lives. b>> yang: have you heak from the white house? you talk a lot of people within the trump admation. >> we do. we have consistent discussions. obviously they disagree so far. they were initially saying,th e potential tariffs are more of a negotiating tool, but now they've begun taking it back. now we're seeing retaliati from other folks, including ally, like the canadiens. they're allies of ours, and obviously with the chinese. these tariffs sound good. h lot of politicians like them.

they sound toughn yourself doing tariffs, but they're being tough on american businesses and consumers. a lot of american companiesike american-made lockers, steel is the number-one ingredient the price of steel is going up. that threatens american jobs. >> schifrin: there seems to be some disagreement within the administration, as well, that there's some factions in the administration that apparently would agree with you. have you been hearing from those voices? >> yang: larry kudlow, th president's chief economic adviser, jst a few short weeks ago was very much in agreement with us that tariffs are a badr idea, thate trade, embracing free trade is better. once he entered the white house, he still talked about how thee tariffs negotiating tool. so we do think there's a lot of disagreement within the ntministration, and we're hopeful the presiyou know, he said at the g-7 summit thatou he love to see all the tariffs gotten rid of. we take him at his word.rg wehim to embrace that,

because this trade war that is already happening, it's not being discussed, it's now happening, it risks undermining ie very good work thats administration is doing with the tax cuts and tax reforms and the other steps they've taken that have helped get the economy moving again. we don't want to see that. >> yang: you differed with the president. your organization has differed with president on other policies, particularly on immigration. what's your view or your group's view of the current debate ovr separating children at the board i? >> this current situation we'se ng is not good. and frankly, both parties deserve blame. it's been kicked around like a political football for well over a decade. i remember george w. bush aspr ident putting forward a serious immigration proposal that congress rejected. president obama had democrat majorities his first two years, he did nothing on immigration to really fix this. president trump ear on made some moves toward the democrats. we applauded tho. this is something, john, that both parties deserve blame for.

>> yang: this campaign focuses on trade and tariff issues as we go into the mid-term eleions, es this represent a shift in the sort of strategy of the koch brothers moving from talking about specific cadidates,he koch brothers contributions were very influential in cementing the house majority for the republicans turning more to issue-oryengtded campaign? >> we want to work with foks across the board to pass policies that will help improve people's lives. immigration, we mentioned, that 's one example of that. we believe that trade is another one. a lot of folks on the fareft, like bernie sanders, theypr embracectionism and tariffs. we want to work with folks across the board. just did that on an issue, right to try, which you covered that allows terminally ill patients to access new treatments that. was a bipartisan effort. we thanked democrats openly,he senatokamp, who is in an

election this year, we thanked her for her work she to roll back sections of dodd-frank, which was harming community banks and loaning to small businesses some we're not an appendage of any pol party. we've made that clear. we're not going to be. we're going to thank demubrats or rcans when they do the right thing, and frankly, we're going to hold them accountable when we think they're going the wrong thing. 's the best way to do it. that's the process we're going to follow. ism w active wilthe organization be in the mid-term? >> we have said we're going to be very active across the board. that includes at the state level el. the federal lev but we will be active, and we want to look at every individual candidate as just that, an individual candidate. we try not to lk at party and other things like that. we look at who are genuinely putting forward policies, championing pocies that will help improve people's lives. >> yang: owscourse, the ne within the last week about david koch stepping back from both his businesses and his political activities for health reason,

will that make any change in your organization? >> it's a blow. david koch has provide steripng leaderrom the very beginning as the chairman of the americans for prosperity foundation. and you on't replace a david koch. you work together, you do the best you can, but we wish caved and julia and his family all the best, but it's absolutely a blow to lose a leader of h example and capability. >> yang: tim phillips, president of americans for prosperity, thanks for joining us. >> you bet. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: what is the sucl recipe for giving students an early leg up on their education? but first, around 30 million americans-- one-tenth of the country's population-- live with diabetes.in medical guid for treatments include a healthy diet, exercise and regg blood sugar levels.

as with many diseases, there are also unproven treatments that have produced anecdotal success stories. from inewsource, an independently fundedoronprofit medinization, cheryl clark reports. >> reporter: dillon is a small, rural town of about 4,000 people in southwestern montana's beerhead valley. here, everyone knows everyone, includinron and julie briggs. four years ago, ron, the county coroner, was ready to p on his longtime fight with diabetes. we spoke with them in december. >> i've been a diabetic for 55 years, and i've heard from everybody under the sun. everybody's got a cure for diabetes. >> reporter: his diabetes was so severe, he oft landed in the local hospital in a diabetic coma. but ron's wife, julie, would not give up hope.

>> i thought, we've worked really hard, i don't want my husband to die now.ep >>ter: at a particulraly low point in 2014, julie immediately started searching online for diabetes treatments and found a national network of clinics called trina health. g. ford gilbert, a sacramento er, founded the company 2006. gilbert says his treatment sts, even reverses, the complications of diabetes. y >> you gr brain functionality back, you get eye tynctionality back, you get kidney functionaack, you resolve unhealing wounds that had been unhealing a weeping for years. >> reporter: the four-hour procedure involves inf insulin into a patient's bloodstream through an i.v. gilbert says the infusions, as shown in this trina video, help patients better metabolize rbohydrates and that restores their health.

>> any person who truly understands what we do is wildly impressed and enamed with the outcomes we achieve. >> reporter: many in the medical community are not convinced. dr. john buse, a former president of the american diabetes association, is blunt in his criticism of trina. >> the pitch was pretty slick and compelling, whereas the evidence that i could find was pretty much non-existent. >> reporter: in 2016, at the request of a potential trina investor, the north carolinaor dopent hours reviewing articles gilbert provided. >> so you know i would characterize it more on the scam end of the spectrum rt business opities. >> reporter: medicare and at least one major insuranceco mpany have found no sufficient actually benefit patients. so they won't pay for them. but gilbert had a workaround.of insteailling the trina

oreatments directly, his company submitted claimsach of the services separatel ron briggs began receiving trina treatments in 2014et >> i found sng that would help with my situation, and it wasn't that i thought it would help, i knew it would help. >> it's keeping him alive. >> reporter: ron was traveling every week to a clinic in scottsdale, arizona, to get the infusions. >> after the fourth time, ron called me up on the phone and't said, "i dnow what we're going to do, but i have to do this the rest of my life." >> reporter: ron and julie rallied support in dillon to open their own clinic. theyaid they paid ford gilbe about $300,000 for fees and equipment. the couple begged dillon's local hospital and its doctors to oversee it, including dr. sandra mcintyre. >> and part of that conversation was, would one of you in this organization be the medical director if the briggses chose to move forward? and we pretty much said the samh

g, which is: why would we be medical directors over a service that we don't think has scientific merit? >> reporter: the doctors recommended the hospital not get involved. mcintyre says when patients, like ron, have a chronicok disease, they or anything that will make them feel better. >> so when someone offers something that really is essentially inless and cost- ee to you, with this promiseit of a miracleooks patients, it hooks them. up>> reporter: without thert of hospital doctors, ron and julie opened their clinic in 2015. they hired nurses to perform the insulin infusions and treated as many as 15 patients. two of those pients said trina was miraculous, and even extended their lives but not all saw their health improve. some, like ruby montie, suffered severe side effects.

>> it was more than severe diarrhea, and i just couldn't handle it. i was getting dehydrated, andd i'd come home husband would tell me that i just looked washed out.>> eporter: investors and clinicians have opened more than two dozen trina clinics in 17 ecates. in early 2017, bss blueshield of montana was questioning the dillon clinic's reimbursement claims.ri now, thete insurer and federal authorities are investigating gilbert's billing practices. gilbert told us he did nothing wrong. >> there's no fraud, there's no bad actor here. >> reporter: but ron and julie's clinic wasn't the first to have billing issues. bluecross blueshield was already innying claims from clinic alabama. reimbursements for the dillon clinic ended in april 2017. d julie say that's why their clinic closed. >> i've invested $750,

this whole thing. we were told the insurance coanies were in line. >> you see on tv, all of these things: if you take this ngdication your legs are g to fall off, and your arms are going to fall off, and your nose is going to turn blue. and it's going to kill you. the insurance companies are t covering at. but for something that helps and that saved my husband's life, they don't even want to look at it. >> reporter: but ron's life wasn't saved. on december 22nd, he told his wife he didn't think he'last the night. he wound up in a hospital with kidney failure, heart disease and a blood clot. later, ron died. when we spoke with gilbert in february, he had no dot he would continue to expand his network of clinics. >> we will achieve remedial treatment for hundreds of millions of people and i say that without a worry in this world.

>> reporter: but in april, ford gilbert was arrested this month on federal pubrruption charges in alabama. he is accused of fraud and bribery in a failed scheme prosecutors say was intended to get a state law passed to force covege of trina infusions. >> they pleaded not guilty. >> reporter: a state legislature and lobbyists were also arrested. all three have denied the charges and ait trial. the clinic in dillon remains closed. some clinics continue to offere eatment and to advertise that insurance and medicare are covering it. how long that will continue is unknown. for the pbs newshour, i'm cheryl clark in dylan, montana.

>> woodruff: roughly 1.5 million american children atte state and federally funded pre- kindergarten in 43 states and washington, d.c. but research shows quality and access vary across states, even from one classroom to the next a number of states want to improve the quality of pre-k classes and that's been playing k t in tennessee. john yang is bth this report he filed from memphis for our weekly segment, making the grade.de >> reporter: ina raynor's pre-k classroom in memphis, the lessons go beyond just the a-b- c's. >> c. >> i reallwant them to know how to get along, socialize well, you know, starting at this level. learn how to problem-sve and, you know, learning how to stand control, understanding themselves, understanding how other people have feelingsdoust like the >> reporter: for raynor's studentsthat means learning to

"settle my glitter." settle my glitter. what does thatean? >> that's just like i'm just all out of whack and i'm just like, "oh my goodness." and so you know. so when you're settling your glitter is just calming down. in order for the cldren to really do well in school, in society, at home as a whole, that you know, we need to be root and grounded socially a emotionally. >> reporter: porter-leath, a n-profit group, designed this state-of-the art early childhood academy to not only teach children but also teach teachers hoping to improve pre-k education across the area. >> how do you feel today?>> eporter: here, social- emotional skills are an esseial part of learning-- skills, educators say, that will help children in kindergarten, and throughoutoo life. in tennessee, debate over pre-k has been sparked by y that suggests the benefits may not be lasting.ma lipsey, a professor at

vanderbilt university's peabodyu college oftion, studied children in the state's voluntary pre-k program, which targets low-income fam >> the kids who did not go to pre-k actually are detter than the kids who did go to pre- k on the state achievement tests, for example. in third grade there are significant differences favoring the group that didn'o pre- k on the math and science measures. >> reporter: lipsey says more research is needed to figure out grwhy that is: are pre-k ps lacking or are elementary schools not reinforcing the benefits of pre-k? experts say the expectations for long-term effects from pre-k programs come from two model programs in the 1960s and ¡70s. studies fod that as adults, participants had higher graduation rates, better wages and more stable marriages. but lipsey says those programs-- served a small number of children beginning at infancy.

he says nine months of pre-k today for children about to enter kindergarten are unlikel to have similar results. >> i frankly don't think we'rego g to see the life-changing kinds of long-term outcomes. there's just no real evidenceea of, noconvincing evidence of that for contemporary pre-k programs. >> one, two, three, four. >> reporter: early educationvo tes say that doesn't mean pre-k programs have no value. >> we don't havee eachers who st babysitting children. >> reporter: karen harrell is vice president of early childhood serves at porter leath, which educates children from low-income families who are headg to first grade in shel county public schools. it is not part of the state pre- k ogram. >> they're actually teaching children and they're challenging children. they're helping to grow our children so that they can in earn be productive citizens. >> reporter:a mcclendon is director of early childhood programs for public schools in shelby county, where 47% of the children live in poverty. she says in r district,

students who had pre-k outperform those who didn't througthe third grade. >> without the nine months in pre-k i think that our children and our famili in this community almost never catch up. and so nine months can be a al breaker for the children and families in our community. they can either make you or break you. >> reporter: tennessee's voluntary pre-k program began in 2005. now almost every school district in the state has at least one full-day pre-k classroom. enrollment is more than 18,000. according to rutgerser unty's national institute tennessee ranks in the middle or statk programs on most measures, including per child spending and access. proposals for state-funded universal pre-k are an issue in this year's tennessee governor's race. opponents are citing the vanderbilt study. >> reporter: as at this candidates' forum earlier this year. >> the pre-k does have mixed

results. >> reporter: improving quality is t idea behind porter- leath's teacher training projtet-- the first in the sta for pre-k instructors. some classrooms are set up for monitoring. playgrounds aren't just for children to play, they're places for teachers to observe. porter-lea, which is funded by federal head start money and private donations, not only trains its own teachers and classroom assistants, it offers training for others, iluding those in public schools-- free of charge. and porter-leath takes a holistic approach: family case workers help parents with housing, jobs and their own education. >> this is a way for single parents, working moms, families who are trying to get themselves established, and they're young families, i think this is a way of supporting them as a family. >> did he wait for his turn? no.

>> reporter: the vanderbilt looked at standardized test scores as the measure of math and language skills. but what about the kind ofon social-emo skills that deanna raynor teaches?re is tn easy way to measure the other part, the getting along, the behaving, the sort of knowing how to interd all work together? >> absolutely. absotely. as far as measuring it, just from when the child first comes in to the class, like we've had children who first came in whore ery feisty, you know, i'm with my hands you know, i'm using my hands inappropriately, my words inappropriately. to now when i'm getting upset, you know, i feel, you know, i'm keeping myself together. i'm not reaching out. >> seven days in th >> reporter: you talk about helping the whole child. ardized test scores miss something? >> i think it absolutely misses

something. we need to be in a position to whereas we're educing our children on how do i self- regulate, how do i calm myself down when i have a situationr conflict comes up. if children cannot listen, if they cannot follow instructions, then they're not going to be able to learn. >> reporter: all important skills, early education advocate say, for a child's long term education. >> what goes up? >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in memphis. >> woodruff: so important to folles these education sto and this is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online ad again hee tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, an we'll e you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been pvided by: >> consumer cellular.

>> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the ngfrontlines of social chae worldwide. c negie corporation of new 9york. supporting innovatio d in educatioocratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possle by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbt ion from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions,

captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org eduardo: this week on history detectives:

wes: how did this metal blade spark violent tension between the north and the south? this is a very controvestial event in u.s. hiory. it was an attack on a federal arsenal. eduardo: what canrehis brass bullet veal about the ofdden agenda merican forces in the earliest fight against soviet communism? elyse: and is this the costume e that helped serv a billion happy meals? we'll have lots of fun! lo elvis cost: ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ i g t so angry when teardrops start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he' got no heart ♪ angry when teardrops start ♪ ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ it's just like ♪watchin' the detectives in ♪ wat' the detectives