♪ tonight on kqed newsroom, president trump agreed to end p tctice that separated thousands of immigrant children from their families at the border. but big questions and legal remainnges we get reaction from san jo congresswoman zoe lofgren. she's co-authored a bill to protect immiant families. plus a new documentary reveals the toll factory farming takes on the environment andth human he hello and welcome to "kqed newsroom." i'm thuy vu. we begin with immigration. on wednesday president signed an executive order ending the practice of separatingan immi children from their families at the border. the new order would allow families to be detained together. in april attorney general jeff sessions announced a, quote, zero tolerance policy to criminalprosecute all illegal border crossings even for those

sraveling with children and claimingl ing ing asielum. since then more than 2300 immigrant children hbeen separated from their parents a rald in government-run shelters. backlash to theice has been intense among both republicans and democrats. on monday during a press briefing department of homeland security chief kirstjen nielsen pushed back. she blamed congress for the separation and said that detainted children were well taken care of. joining me now is discuss this iswosan jose congrean zoe lofgren. she joins me via skype from washington, d.c. congresswoman, nice to have you with us. >> good to be here. >> e pentagon is now saying it's preparing to house as many as 20,000 migrant children on four american military bases in texas and in arkansas. are you gettiy details on who would be housed thre, for example, would the parents of the children also be there? >> no, they've shared no information with me, which is alarmingince i am theenior democrat on the immigration subcommittee and we have jurisdiction over this issue.

>> what do you think, though, about that prospect, of having these migrant family camps housing lots of people on military bases? >> i think it's a terrible idea and it's completelyunnecessary. if someone com to the united ates and seeks asylum that's permitted under american law, you need to administer the law in an orderly fashion. you'll need you don't need to lock people up in order to have them showmup at theirgration hearing. in fact, we had a program in existence during the obama administration called the family case management program where10 of the families in the case management program showed up to their hearing. and then when they do they either prevail, in which case they get asylum, or they don't prevail, in which case they have to leave. >> what have you you been oueling personally as look at the images of children and

families in detention krecenter? have you had a chance to see the audio tape of children crying? >> it's just so upsetting. you can't look at this and listen to this andth notk about how your own children were that age. and i have grandcldren. how -- i just identify with what would happen to them. it's so --' had members tell me they're having a hard time sleeping and living with really this trauma has been inflicted on thousands of children. this is not the american way. this is not the country that i know and love. i am so ashamed of what ours governmentdoing. >> what do you think is the intent of the trump administration, then, by separating these families in the first place by having this so-called zero tolerance policy on prosecuting people who cross border? >> i take them at their work.

john kelly, the chief of staff, indicated that the intent was to deter others from coming to the united states to seek asylum, which is their right under america immigration law and also their right under that we have ratified. so that's an impermissible reason,ut it is apparently the reason. >> and congresswoman lofgren, there are ao conflicting reports about whether the border patrol will stop sending immigration cases to the justice department for prosecution in order to comply with the president's latest executive corder. can yrify any of that? is there indeed a halt to criminal prosecutions? >> well, wish i could. we ceived the same press reports you did, that the prosecutions would be halted. then the administration stepped forward to say that was incorrect. but we are getting reports from courtrooms acro states that the department of justice is dismissing cases e

masse. so i don't know the answers. i do think it's unprecedented to prosecute a misdemeanor in eh and every case. it's never happened with any president. republican or democrat. and it will overwhelm the system completely. >> some have argued, thouinh, uding president trump, that as heartbreaking as these scenes are of families being separated, the u.s. is a nation of laws and that there should be consequences for those who brea the law by entering this country illegally. what would you say to people who feel that wy? are a nation of laws. and we ought to skrin administer them in an orderly fashion. if youener the united states, make a plea for asylum as the law provides, that should be d reviewed judge will make a decision, and if you prevail you'll get asylum.do if yot, you'll have to leave. if you don't make a claim for asylum and merely enter without rmission, you'reoing to be

sent back across the border. that's nothing new. i so wh new is the president trying to terrorize small children and create chaos at the border. that is afortunate. >> you asked or will you ask to visit the detention centers where the children are being held or where the mothers are being held? >> absolutely.f a number members of congress are going on monday. other members went last weekend. unfortunately, i think this trump-created crisis is going or be with us a while, and i intend and many other members of congress intend to go and see with our own eyes how these children are being treated. >> house republican leade have delayed until next week a vote on a bill that would not only fund a border wal provide a path to citizenship for dreamers, but also keep migrant families together. where do you stand that bill?we >> l, the bill is really much

worse than you just described. it would repest eng areas of law that allow families to -- erican families to be reunited with their sons and daughters. it would create long-term detentions for immigrant families. and i don't think the solution to the crisis is to throw the mother in the cage with the oddler and to throw away the key. and for the dreamers i provides ch an attenuated process. if you were 27 years old and a dreamer, you'd be 55 years old itfore you were able to get your u.s. enship. i think that's absurd. >> congresswoman zoe k ofgren, thu for joining us from washington, d.c. >> you bet. >> as you just heard congress mom lofgren say, many questions remain about the president's executive order to stop separating families at the border. it's unclear if those separatedd will be reun and if so when.

the president's order also calls for indefinite detention. but that contradicts a 1997 federal court settlement barring children from being detained for more than0 days. meanwhile, advocates have been raising concerns about the damaging effects of forced separation on children. rihe president of the an academy of pediatrics said conditions in detention facilities are, qunge, traumatind that alternatives to detention exist. and joining me now for a deeper look at these issues are julian aguilaimmigration and border security reporter with the "texas tribune." he joins usia skype from texas. also attorney spencer ander with the aclu immigrant rights project. and chandra gauche ippin, childt psycholognd associate director of the child trauma research program at uf. welcome to all of you. chandra, i'd like to begin with you. as a child psychologist, what are your concerns about separating children from their parents in this manner? >> so i want to take us all to that moment when that child is crying on the tape and think about how hard i is --

>> the propublica tape you're talking about. >>ho mm-hmm. anhard it is for us to listen to that. then take those sounds and imagine that they continue. they continue for way longer than seven minutes. and they're inside this child. and you'll feel that child's sense of alarm and desperation. and you'll t see thatre is nobody who is able to comfort this child. and let's all boink the long-term damage that does to that child. there's the short-term damage and th there's the long-ter damage in terms of fears that other people will leave them even after ty're reunited with their loved ones. in terms of symptoms of ptsd, pression, anxiety. as they grow older, even as they're parents worrying that their own children might be separated from this is long-term damage, and this is something that we've caused. we did work with one child sho waarated at the border because when he arrived at the border he had iked a high fever. and so immigration wouldn't let. he was sent -- and this is one of the best possiblethings. his grandmother came to lovingly take care of him. he experienced symptoms forr years afthat. actually, that's why his parents ended up coming.

because he didn't understand why would you leave me? so in this moment when you're so stressed out you most want your parent there. and if you're very little you don' understand why they can't be there. also, if you'veeen scen of people like border police saying no, you can't be there, then they've really kind o i showed yo some ways that your respec is not worthy of that your parent can be damaged. maybe you've seen something even worse. and you're left alone stranded all by themselves to deal with e those ries. >> and do those memories and the trauma cause regression later on? do tstop speaking, for example? >> it can. i think it really depends what follows. so what you would really want ih for thld to have loving adults. right? because children can recover o with the hel loving adults who help them make meaning. if, however, the grown-ups are traumatized, if there are no rown-ups, if nobody really sits with the child and says it makes sense that you're scared, that u've been through this. and what we see is like children coate through play. they'll just play scenes out where they'll put a child out all by themselves, stranded and they're sort of saying why did

this happen, why di you leave one? and to the degree that a grownup can help them to understand then they can recover. but otherwise, it would be really noral for them to have sleep problems, for them to have difficultr ating. and they often would say oh, this child can't focus. butat wwe'd say really is they're focusing on danger. right? they're focusing on the fact that this could happen. they're worried that you could leave them at any moment. so we'd see heightened separation anxiety. and the long term without help we'd sre deion, we would see continued symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, recurrent fears. and weee could ee -- we could imagine as they're aging, as they're growing, and one day they become parents, loving parents tie child. well, it would make sense that ev parents they would worry bad things could happen. they would think wow, when s ws tchild's age i was not with my parents. >> spencer, take us through what happens at these ports of entry at the border. what is the process that kids go through when they're separated from their parents? >> yeah. k

so whens have been separated over the last few weeks and months they' typically shipped eeross the country very quickly. so we'reg parents who come in. they sit in a detention center for aday, two days, three days with their child. and then border guards come in sometimes in the mddle of the night. ometimes they'll tell the parent i'm justing to take your kid to get a bath, they'll be right back. andthen only hours later does it become clear that the child actually isn't comic they've left. and so children are being taken, you know, to chicago, to washington state, to new york state, and they're put in detention centers specifically for children. >> and the parents have no idea where they are. are they told wherey're going? >> they often aren't. we're hearing thatnd there are eds and hundreds of parents who have no idea where their children are. i tnk that's reallymportant ve emphasize now that we're in a place where we hese 2,000 children to reunite with their

arents is that the trump administration separated these children so carelessly that the parenthave no idea where they are but sometimes the government doesn't even have any idea where the kid is and who their parent is. >> julian, i want to bring you in at this point. you've interviewed families who have beenre separated. here some commonalities you're seeing as to why they're leaving their home countries and theirxperiences once they're separated? >> the majority of them tell us that they're leaving because ofi ence, whether they're from michoacan in mexico, whether from hondas or el salvador. that's the common theme, that kingss were tib ho, they didn't feel like police were able to protect them, so theyo camehe united states. >> we're now getting into this legal realm where president trump is trying to get a judge to modify an order that says basically children who are kept in detention cannot be kept for more than 20 days. the obama administration challenged that, tried to get it

modified, 2016. the judge said no. what are the chances the judge would take a differstand this time around? >> i think what's important to underscore first of all is that there'sla no that actually compels family separation. so even when is was litigated under the a obamaministration parents weren't being routinely separated from their kids. and that's because there's a very easy way to comply with this pre-existing court order when family comes together, which is to let them apply f asylum from the outside. they don't have to be detained while they pursue their asylum applications. and in fact, it's perfectly legalto come here and apply for asylum. so that's one thing to say. the other thing to say is that nothing about the court's order forces the government toisnflict errible trauma on children. the whole point of the flores settlement to protect children from bad contions of confinement and to make sure

that they can be with their families and they can safe. and so in a situation where for whatever reason they absolutely can't be released or they can't be released yet nothing about the floresme sett compels family separation. >> and so chandra, i'm also curious. there have been reports that as these families are detained, children are detained, border patrol agents andother personnel are apparently being told not to try to console the children. uld that be the case? >> i think what they can think about is people are worried of being accused perhaps of molesting the children. and that unfortunately what we all know is what children need, especially young children,s physical comfort. in particular fromesheir loved so having a stranger comfort you may actually not be comforting. but if you do gain thef trust the children and you can be in a place where you're in public, where it makes sense, being able toust touch someone simply being age to say that we're looking for your parent, to provide some reassurance, vocal

tone, a little hug, that's really what'sgoing to help the children to feel like we care, to feel safe again. and also to help them at a neurobiologicallevel. what we're hearing is some children are being medicated. and to think about is that an alternative to human touch? which one is really more damaging? and again, though, what we would say is reallyhe numberne intervention would be to connect them to their parents. >> and ljulian, i'm curious, on the texas border towns that you've been visiting what has been the reaction? is there sympathy for the migrant families? or are people simply saying you neow, what they broke the law and this is whads to happen? ? you bring up a question that i think has been passed around for years, and i think it's not an even split. you have a lot of folks that say hey, there's a legal process and i'm sorry but look at what mexico does to central americans and they use examples of what happens in other countries when if gration laws, even they're just civil infractions, are violated. but i think in this case there'j

beest a tremendous outpouring of support that o so rwhelmed the negative. we set up a little story that had links here people can go and donate whatever it is that they can. legal services. and that's been the most viewed or clicked on site for the last three or four days. you have people e-mailing rsporters, calling repor saying i read this, i want to help, i'll get down to texas as soon as i can. so i think that is, for the people that have been really affected bye this in a negat way, that's sort of the glass half full situation there. >> and spencer, i know the aclu has filed a lawsuit judge to bar the trump administration from separating famises. how d this new executive order affect your lawsuit? >>o the lawsuit is stilloing forward because there are now over 2,000 children who are stranded in detention centers by themselves away from their parents. what we've asked the judge to

do is to expand the lawsuit to a nationwide class action and to order the government to reunify all these parents with their children. the judge hasn't ruled on that request yet. but he did rule about twoek ago that to separate children from theirarents in t circumstances of our clients i sea said it tears at the sacred bond between parent and child. he madehi clearis legal and we actually have a conference with him later today in which we're going t discuss what the next stage in the case is now that the ex come down.er has >> chandra, i know you have written books for kids to help them cope with traumatic disasters such as earthquakes, wildfires. if you were now to write another children's book for these children in these migrantde ention centers, what would

you say to the children? >> i have started a ok. it's called "we have one world." and it would be a free coloring book for kids. and it's really the idea of our world and countries, what's a border, why people cross it, ea kind of they of their story. and really helping parents and childt.n to conn i think the challenge that i'm having is when i've written the other disaster books i've been able to say things like the grown-upsare there the grown-ups are protective, the grownps are coming together, we're all pulling for you, that we believe thear childrenthe most important special thing, that it's our responsibility. and right now i haven't been able to ite the ending because i can't say that. and that's the hardest thing-s tha a natural disaster we pull together and we support all the children. and this is a manmade disaster. and we haven't done that yet. and that's what i t we're all here fighting for. >> okay. i see the heartbreak on your face as you talk about this. i wanted to thank you all for your time. julian aguilar with the "texas tribune," thank you for joining and aso spencer ander with the us.

aclu and chandra ghosh-ippin, child psychologist. it's been nice to have all of you here. thank you. >> thank you. aoc new dumentary offers a sobering look at factory farming, where animals live in cramped conditions and are pumped with antibiotics to grow quigley and uniformly. a group of farmers is fighting this trend to raise livestock nor sustainably and y.human reviving so-called herltage breeds of chickens and pigs. joining me now are director and producer c the g founder ofd chef or foultry ranch. good to have you both. >> thank dou. >>o you have a problem with eating meat or is it just where that meat comes from als how the animre raised? >> well, one of the things i learnedth making film is that commodity birds, or birds that come from factory fming are hybridized in such a way that their growth is so accelerated that they ultimately, you know,

are ready to go to market in 30 short days o so. so they're bio-engineered from the time they are born to the time they go to market, it's ? just 30 da >> yeah. sought issue i have is also that inthese animals from the w moment that they're born, they're suffering mightily because they've be hibernized to grow at such an accelerated rate. >> frank, what are are your thoughts on that? >> this isel the realre issue to me. to me 90% of all suffering, turkeys, chickens, hogs, whatever, has to do with not so much how they're raised, that is important, but it's what we have done to these animals to increase productivity. we have increased the rate of growth so much that we have hanged their skeletal structure, that we have changed their muscle structure, to the point when you select for these certain characteristics it affects other things. and so i just can't support that type of farming. >> what are your thoughts on how the mat and poultry industry

the past ed over several decades in this country? >> well, i'm old enough to have seen it happen. i've watched it move from being an indnt farm situation in which hundreds and thousands of individual farmers raise chickens and turkeys and sold pigs and brought them to their local o'market where now just two companies in the whole world control it all. >> your documentary spends quite a bit of time talking about t impacts on the environment. can you talk about that? >> sure. yeah, raisingour food it's one of the leading causes of greenhouse gases and you know, the methane that comes from raising cattle and it's enormous and it's one of the top two contributors to global warming. that's another reason i've scaled back on eating meat too. is when you start to see the impact on the environment, which is enormously significant, and in 50 years we'll be up to 9 billion people on the planet, and if we continue to consume

meet on theevel and if south asia and east asia start to adopt the so-called western diet we're going tors find oves in real trouble. >> how are your practices different from factory farming? >>ac i tually own all my own genetics. i own the parents, the grandparents. i llect the eggs. i set the eggs. and i hatch the eggs. and i raise the turkeys. same way with the chickens. so this is very dferent than the industrial model. >> and do they taste different from the mss produced turkey? >> yes. i've heard this from everybody. even some of the food scientists from the university of arkansas or from kansas university that have done research who have actually said there's a direct taste difference. and is a combination of the biggest thing to me of coursenes the gcs and how that meat is laid down genetically and slow a i natural animal. the other is the environment. my birds can run, jum. and fly and are free to do so.

>> so given the system is what it is, is it realistic to expect that a lot of people can give up that cheaper meats are factory farmed? because you willet into this issue of poorer communities can't afford to pay more for their food. >>ou know, when you actually look at a burger, for instance, a so-calledeensive meat that anybody can afford, that 99-cent burger actually when you thxternalize the cost w subsidies and health care because this is a diet that's not very good for you, that burger just lands south of $100. in a way we're all paying for it. >> theean it costs more is i don't own the whole system. i don't own the processing plant. i don't own the he'd comnies. i don't own the shipping and the trucking and refrigeration. that's here all the cost is. >> and christopher, early in your film you focus a lot colonel sanders and kentucky fried chicken. what role did kfs play in

trans rming the meat indust in this country? >> this is really the beginning of us wanting cheap and fficient food. and that really took hold in the '60s and really took shape the '70s.an that came with a price. and we slowly changed our food system to a place where we have mass-produced chicken that might be inexpensive but in a lot of ways it's really a costly endeavor for all of us.>> so why do you think this film is needed now? what has changed that you think is citical for this film to be out now? >> people are donating die western. fast food is becoming more readily available in india and china. end this is a big concern when you think of illions of people that live there. and this is ging to have a real effect on our environment. it's really up to us to make the decision of how we're going to eat and w we're going to man our way the future. and scaling back on cheap

commodity meat seems to be a solution that we all have to start to address. >> and frank, what would you like people to know about the meat andoultry that they do consume? >> you know, it's really hard for me because i hate to tell anybodyhat they can do or can't do. but if you do care about certain things and you wish to try to buy withoutry that is higher in nutrition or that is better for the environment or better for the animal, then seek out the y besu can. preferably that which has been iortified by the american poultry associa as being truly heritage or standard bred poultry. then you'll know you're getting the be all of these things. but this -- you know, it's so new and it's just getting started and we're hoping to grow that it's not available for a lot of places. uc all right. thank you very for that. frank reese with good shepherd turkey ranch in kansas and also filmmaker christopher quinn. nice to have you both here. ank you very much. >> thank you. eating animals ons in bay

area theaters this weekend. and that will do it for us. as always, you can findmore of our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. i'm thuy vu. thank you for joining us. ♪

captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, june 24: thstrump administration iss a plan to reunite separated migranfamilies. violence and protests in nicaragua amid claims of human rights violations. and in our sigture segment, tony hawk at 50... still skating. next on "pbs newshour weekend." >> "pbs newshour weekend" is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein mily. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. the anderson family fund.