captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc go >> nawaz evening, i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is moderating the nate debate in missouri. on the newshour tonight, the hoashington post" publishes jamal khi's final column as investigations continue into his alleged murder by a saudi hit squad. then, despite forcedonamily separaere in the u.s. and increased deportations in mexico, migrants from central america continue to flee north. >> these are countries where if you're not etting screwed by gangs you're getting screwed by the government, so we cross to the united states to grow and search for a job. >> nawaz: and, inside a new profile of the late football star and convicted murderer aaron hernandez, realing some missed warning signs about his mental health. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: fr >> and by the p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corprkation of new supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongopport of these institutions:

and individuals. >> this program was made onpossible by the corporaor public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> nawaz: president trump said ti's waiting for saudi arabia to finish its invtion into the disappearance of jamal khashoggi, b acknowledged it pears the saudi journalist is dead. turkey has accused a saudi hit squad of murdering the "washington post" columnist and critic of saudi arabia, inhe kingdom's consulate in istanbul. secretary of state mike pompeo briefed the president on the matter this morning, after meeting with officials in saudi arabia and turkey this week. leaving washington today, mr. ump was asked by reporters if khashoggi was killed, and what

consequences the saudis should face if they're sponsible. >> it certainly looks that way to me. it's very sad. it certainly lllks that way. t will have to be very severe. it's bad, bad stuff. but we'll see what happens. >> nawaz: today, a pro-ki government t newspaper published images from two weeks ago, showing a man linked to the saudcrown prince entering th saudi consulate, just before khashoggi arrived. the saudis have denied any involvement. we'll take a closer look at the impact of khashoggi's writing later in the program. aranwhile, u.s. treasury secrsteve mnuchin announced he's pulling out of an investment conference in saudi arabia next week. ha afghanistan, the taliban conducted what aand u.s. officials told pbs newshour was one of the most significant assassinations of the war. it happened in the southern district of kandahar. abdul raziq, kandahar's police chief d one of the most influential men in southern afghanistan, was killed by

bodyguards of kandahar's governor, who was also killed in the attack. afghan and u.s. officials describe raziq as essential to keeping kandahar secure, a fear some instability ahead of saturday's parliamentary elections. but the u.n. also accused raziq of human rights abuses. the attack just missed the new u.s. commander in afghanistan, army general scott miller, but wounded an american soldier, contractor, and civilian. n ck in this country, white house counsel gahn has left his post after 21 months on mce job. hn was a major figure behind the trump administration's efforts to confirm conservative judges, and eliminate government regulations. he's also a key witness to erecial counsel robert mue investigation. mcgahn will be temporarily replaced by president trump's legal adviser, emmet flood, until his permanent successor, pat cipollone, takes over. florida officials now say hurricane michael killed atth least 20 people, raising the storm's overall death toll across fr states to at least 30.

more than 137,000 homes and businesses iflorida and georgia are still without power more than a week after michael made landfall. the u.s. justice department has opened an investigatx n into child use in the roman catholic church in pennsylvaniar federaecutors subpoenaed dioceses throughout the state last week. that flows a pennsylvania state grand jury report from the hommer, which identified 301 "predator priests"olested more than a thousand children for decades. tee former head of u.s.a. gymnastics was arrlast night for removing evidence related to the sexual abuse case of dr. larry nassar. steteve penny was indfor taking documents from the texas karolyi ranch training facility that would have helped in the investigation. nassar, the gymnastics team doctor, was sentenced last february to up to 125 years in prison for sexually assaulting more than 150 girls and women. british prime minister theresa may says she's open to extending

the transition period for britain's exit from the european union by a few months. b that, xit talks haveov stalled er questions about the bord ireland and british northern ireland. may wrapped up a two-day summit y,th e.u. leaders in brussels todahat was once thought to be a deal deadline. still, she remained optimistic. >>ehese are always going to tough negotiations and they were always going to get tougher before we got to the closing stages of the negotiations. on the withdrawal agreement there are a few, but considerable outstanding issues in relation to the northern irish backstop. i am committed to working with the commission and e.u. leers to resolve these as quickly as possible. >> nawaz: the u.k. is scheduled to leave the bloc on 29th. military relations between the u.s. and china appeared to be on re solid ground today. tts. defense secretary james mais met with his chinese counterpart on the sidelines of a regional summit in singapore. utey discussed the disputed china sea, but didn't

reach any new agreements. the meeting comes amid a tense trade war between the two untries. israel's supreme court today overturned a deportation order foata detained american gra student. 22-year-old lara alqasem had been denied entry to israel, after arriving with a valiud t visa more than two weeks ago. herael's government had accused of supporting an illegal boycott against the country. alqasem will now be able to stay and study in israel. and it was another volday of trading on wall street. the dow jones dustrial average unged 327 points to close at 25,379. the nasdaq fell 157 points, and e s&p 500 slipped 40. to come on the newshour: new evidence suggesting the udi crown prince was involved in the alleged murder of jamal khashoggi. inside the dceperate journey ral americans undertake for a better life in the u.s

the federal budget defspit swells as ending increases and revenues fall, plus much more. >> nawaz: th"washington post" published a new column today, the final column, from jamal khashoggi, the prominent saudi journalist who turkish officialu say waered and dismembered by a saudi hit squad. the column was written earlier this month, and the post's editor said she was hoping to edit it with khashoggi, but that she "has to accept, that is not going to happen." here's nick schifrin. >> schifrin: jamal khashoggi's editor wrote today that "his final column ctures his ssion for freedom in the arab world-- a freedom he apparently gave his life for."as hoggi writes that because of ment repression, arabs a "either uninformed or misinformed... a statemiun narrative tes the public

psyche, and while many do not eve it, a majority of th population falls victim to this false narrative." his solution? a middle east version of radio free trope. "throu creation of an independent international forum, isolat from the influence of nationalist governments spreading hate through propaganda, ordiry people in the arab world would be able to address the structural problems their cieties face." to talk about this i'm joined by hisham melhem, a long ti columnist who has worked for saudi-backed al arabiya and isfo now a columnisthe lebanese daily newspaper "annahar." he is a fellow at the arab gulf onates institute in washin elcome back to shawrs. >> thank you. i'm back home. >> jamal khashoggi, what was special about his voice? >> he was very permanent. there are udi dissidents in london as far away as australia, but headd n incredible platform called "the washington

shst" which published his columns in engs well as arabic. he had in contacts in washington and many people knew m as the son of the political system sai arabia, and the representative or the spokesperson of the saudi ambassador in washington ten years ago. >> and then became a critic. yes. and because he knows the inside, that is one reason. the other thing, this is the first high profile international journalist to be killed in the era of mass media andther mass media, social media, the inrnet and all that. millions of people, like you and me, saw a man walk into his death. millions of people are grieving st column as you just did -- reading his lastcolumn as you just did. all of these things. he was very impeaous, flippant and reckless in the way he did

his work. in yemen -- >> you're talking about the crown prince. >> yes. jamal khashoggi's last column writes a state-run narratives dominablic psyche in the region. is that right? >> this has been the case for decades. arab governments used their own control of the media or they intimidate media that is e mewhat independent, in those few societies whyou have a limited space for free expression. we call them partially free votes. the real question is how can you have free media in unfree ocieties. >> that was one os solutions, can you have free media and can it change if you have some kind of international or transnational media like radio free you were for the middle east. >> in the past, people published not like the radio but an arab version of the international herald trine published in europe to have free expression,

but these attempts faced financial and political problems. in 1975, '76, some people dmo to london and paris and people said you can be free. but you couldn't be free because we're in the arab world, always under control of the local authorities. if we had radio free europe like in the past wth the soviet union, radio free europe is extremely important because it's difficult for governments to control it. but today the government is also using the logos sphere to intim late the journalists. so with that, internet, socia media, we have the limited space for freedom but governments now are using it to antagonize andth to intimidateir critics. t was he on to something? can something liat allow anople, allow critics to have that conversatioget around governments?

>> we are not having that kindve of cation now. most media in the arab world are either controlled by the saudis me qataris. it is ext difficult to have a serious public debate. everyone who passes by who are journalists are either in jail or assassinated. >> is the solution perhaps not free media but pressure fror m e weste united states? we saw steve mnuchin cancel his trip to the saudi desert. can that help? >> that helps. we look to the west, and criticism from the united states is extremely important. i heard a detainee when i inquired about the fate of a scholar who as in prison, and he said donald trump is not going to pick up and inquire with arab leaders about the fate of this scholar. that tell us everything y want to know. if there's no pressure from the

west, they will do things with impunity the way president putin does or kim jong un or whatever. we have to remembet we have to fight for these things. jamal khashoggi is the last in the long, long trail of arab journalists, writers, scholars, artists who were killed by their own government in theirhomeland as well as overseas, and the only -- i mean, i lost two of my friends in 2005, editor was killed. so if there is no pressure from the west, we ve to fight our own fight, but there has to be pressure from the west, and the president has unfortunately downplayed jamal's superio for two weeks. >> we have to leave it there, hisham melhem. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> nawaz: around 3,000 hondurans are traveling through guatemala to the united states, and today, president trump threatened to close the u.s.-mexico border if mexican authorities don't stop

the caravan. the u.n. estimates that er 500,000 migrants illegally cross into mexico every year in tder to come u.s. mexico is pushing a plan that has already deported more than half a million central ericans. but migrants say they fear much more than just deportation on eir journey. for a closer look, special correspondent danny gold embedded with a police team in chiapas, mexico's southernmost state. >> reporter: just north of the guatemalan border, mexican police patrol a desolate area popular with undocumented migrants. but they're not here to detain illegal border crossers. >> ( translated ): the purpose of these patrols are to stop gangs who are out to rob migrants. >> reporter: you're fully armedo out hereguys are on high alert. is there a lot of danger on these trails? >> ( translated ): the criminals sometimes carry mechetes, somethey have pistols or even shotguns. we've had a few close calls, thank god everythingas turned out okay so far.

>> reporter: this area, known as la arrocera, is off the beaten path, which makes it attractive to migrants trying to avoid t detention increased number of immigration patrols. we walked alg a railroad track that runs next to a roadway dotted with checkpoints. criminal gangs often prey on migrants here, the isolation makes them easy targets. crnrado espinoza villalobos is a prosecutor in the es against migrants unit in chiapas state. he says before these patrols started, migrants were robbed, raped - even murdered here sewhat sort of stuff do yo out here, have you guys come across armed groups on these patrols? >> ( translated ): this is aea hostile arwe've found gangs of armed robbers. most of the robbing is done a knives or machetes. why machetes? that's their, m.o., the recriminals pretend they a working in the fields. sometimes they even fool us. >> reporter: migrants heading north cross the suchiate rer that separates guatemala from mexico, and they often carry large su of money for the long

trip ahead. yet even if they fall victim to crime, they don't want to draw attention by contacting law enforcement. >> ( translated ): the state of chiapas represents 68% of mexico's border with central america, this makes this state the biggest immigration gate from central america to the red states. >>orter: alejandro vila the assistant attorney general for the state of chiapas. his office is tasked with osprotecting migrants who into his state from central america. can you describe what sort of situations they are fleeing? >> ( translated ): many factors encourage migration from central america. one is the precarious economic situation, the lack of opportunities. but there is also danger that gangs present, from ms-13 to the 18th street gang. reporter: his agency has worked hard to bring a level of oufety to migrants crossing chiapas. how dangerous is it out here for central americans crossing into mexico?

>> ( translated ): since the edeation of this office we've disman49 criminal gangs that contained about 1600 people. there used to be muggings, rapes, extortion, even homicides almost on a daily basis. we've managed to reduce crimes by almost 95%. >> reporter: but it's not just the criminal gangs that havegr found ts to be easy prey. law enforcement have also targeted them. >> ( translated ): we've detained over 60 members of law enforcemat have, unfortunately strayed from obeying the law and respecting human rights. >> reporter: all of this leads p totty desperate situation for undocumented migrants in mexico. many now attempt to get special mexican visas that will allowav them to legally to the us border. w ( translated ): iting to get a visa to leave mexico, but the visa will only allow me to travel to the northern carder. t a u.s. visa here. right now i don't have money and i'm surviving with my son on the streets. >> reporter: mignts like juana

de jesus are staying at this shelter, waiting to see if they will be granted permission to travel through mexico legally. from honduras, she left the country to seek treatment for her si son, and because her husband was violent. why do you feel you need this humanitarian visa? >> ( translated ): if i had money, i would have applied for a u.s. visa from honduras, but since i don't have the money, i lon't buy an airline ticket or anything, i'm not d. without a humanitarian visa it would be very hard to travel through mexico, because the gangs are killing people and near the borders they also kidnap people. migrants suffer so much to get t u.s. >> reporter: some at the shelter complained of mistreatment by locals, but while we were theree a local bu owner stopped by to donate food. >> ( translated ): when we have some bread left at the bakery wt share itthese people who are fighting for a dream, fighting to provide for their families, we like to share what we are able to give. re reporter: have you seen a lot

igrants from central america coming through the last few years? >> ( translated ):es, it won't slow down. they sometimes want to stay in chiapas but in chiapas there's not much to do. >> reporter: since april, migrants from el salvador, guatemala and honduras have been join increasingly by nicaraguans fleeing the political instability and violence that has gripped the country. adrian lopez, a supporter of an opposition party there, was staying at this shelter on his way to the united states in hopes of securylg political . >> ( translated ): you can't spek out, the police retali against you because they are the government, the police belong to the president, t army belongs to the president. the tv channels belong to the president. who am i going to complain to? all you can do is flee the country. >> reporter: adrian had been the shelter for two weeks awaiting his visa to cross mexico when we met him. >> ( translated ): we go north because the reality is there is no possibility for growth in myo

try, you can't grow economically or mentally in a , untry like nicaragua, or el salvad honduras, guatemala. because these are untries where if you're not getting screwed by gangs you're getting screwed by the governmtot, so we croshe united states to grow and search for a job, and send it to the poor relatives we have left in at home. >> rorter: has it gotten muc worse here in chiapas for people from central america heading north an it was years ago? >> ( translated ): well, compared to back then today it is much more dgerous to cross without papers. much, much, more dangerous. >> reporter: now behind me is s e shelter where central american migrad asylum seekers are staying. and just to give you an idea of the kind of dangers they face here in chiapas state, right outside the ont door, ms-13 graffiti marking the gangs territory in 2014, mexico adopted its southern border program after a firm push and millions of t llars from the united states.

after the plan wto effect, detentions and deportations shot up, due to increased police and military presence at mexico's southern border. we're only a few miles north of the guatemala border and already we've hit a checkpoi federal police and migration officials trying to catch undocumented central american immigrants going north. checkpoints like these can now be seen across mexico's southern region. rat the southern border pr has proven itself controversial in mexico's political sphere. >> ( translated ): our neighbors to the north would want us to ntinue doing the dirty work of detaining the central american ergrants that leave their homes looking for a bettife, those fleeing violence and misery. no. >> reporter: migration was a fiery topic in mexico's recent presidential election. president-elect andres manuel lopez obrador expressed compsion for migrants. >> ( translated we're talking about the lives of migrants who leave their home looking for new lives. and we must protect their

security. >> reporter: but other than this debate, lopez obrador has been vague about his actual plan for migrants in mexico. since 2015, mexico has deported more central americans than the united states. in 2016 and 2017, it's deported twice as many. elt the numbers flowing into the united states havesteady. and while trump's zero tolerance policy may have had a temporary impact on migrants trying to make it north, the most vulnerable, like entire familiel and en, feel desperate enough to still make the journey. and it is the policy in the united stes that worries juana de jesus, traveling north with her developmentally disabled son. are you worried about the us border, about situations of mothers and children being separated at the border? >> ( translated ): kids don't deserve to be sepated from their parents. it's wrong because a mother suffers for her children, and children suffer for their parents. all i want is the best for my son.ep >>ter: and she's willing to take a big risk for a better life for her sick son. for the pbs newshour, i'm danny gold in chiapas, mexico.

>> nawaz: stay with usng up on the newshour: the president heads to montana to rally republin votes in a key senate race. how a little-known provision makes staying in the u.s. tougher for low income legal immigrants.pl , a new report about the late football star aaron hernandez and the missed warninb signt his mental health. numbers out this week show the federal budget deficit taking a big jump ithe spending year just ended despite significant economic growth. john yang takes a look behind the data. >> yang: amna, the government reported it just ended the fisc year with a deficit of $779 billion. that's a 17% jump from 2017. ecat number is getting close

scrutinyse most of president trump's $1.5 trillion tax cut took effect in january, three months into the spending year.he to walk us through this: newshour capitol hill anrrespondent lisa desjardins, david wessel, director of the hutchins center on fiscal and monetary policy at the brookings institution. lisa, let me start with you. how does this number f 2018 fiscal year, how does that fit in to hitorical nds? >> this is a dramatic increase in recent years. let's look at some numbers. you go back just three years ago, 2015, the number of the deficit that year was $439 billion. ouok at that. this is almoste what it was then. and it's going to continue to rise, sean. many people know in just two years it's going to be right around one dollar trillion, according to congressional budget office, and that curve, john, continues to get steeper as we continue to go forward. what's interesting here is this is not as high as the deficits

in 2009 and 2010, tho were historic highs in recent terms. however, those were years in which we had sia rec. we're talking about these deficits now in times of growth and a good economy, and that is different. >> of course, the projections are if cuenlaw stays into effect if nothing changed. what's driving the 2018 defiit? >> if you look dep into th numbers the treasury departmente put out you find interesting things. in thils year, taking about tacks, you see actual tax revenue stayed about flat, it rose about half a percent, a little bit less. but spending iwhat haschanged most dramatically. so you have flat revenues and more spending, not much coming in, a lot going ou you get a deficit. what were the bigger increases? defensspending, $65 billion increase in the past year, and look at the interest on the debt. we saw an increase of $62 billion in what we're spending to pay off this debt.

sefense is the only place we saw an incrbut congress spent more and we have a larger deficit. >> lisa says the revenues are remaining flat. so what does that tell us aboctt the eff president trump's tax cuts? >> well, the economy, as lisa said, is very strong, so, without a tax cut, we would have seen increasing revenues. we also see, if yolook at the numbers, corporate tax receipts fell 30%, and that's largelyth result of the president's tax cut. so what we're seeing, you ldu expect at a time like this, revenues rising faster than spendi because the economy is strong, more people working, paying taxe fewer people collecting unemployment benefits and touch, and a deficit would shrink. we see the opposite and that's largely because of the tax cut. >> senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says it's entitlements, social secity, dicare, medicaid, that's what's driving the deficit forecasts. is he right?l, >> wlook. if you look at what happened last year, it's not social

security, medicare, medicaid, it's taxes. the size to have the tax cut was about $165 billion. the deficiincreased by $113 billion. do the arithmetic. if you look ahead, though, and you lo at the projections, the reason the deficit is rising is because we are spending morone social security, medicare and medicaid, largely because the population is aging. if you look at cbo's ten-year projections, spending on benefits, particularly for elderly people, are goinup. interest on the debt is going up, and everything else is going down. >> lisa, the deficit had stopped being a hot button issue for a. long ti now it's sort of back on the front page cs. gress going to do anything about this? >> no. short answer. , no. you have an entire caucus of freedom conservatives who have led on the issue in the past but ey ended up voting and passing the larger spending bill.

republicans wand more money fors defense, democanted more for non-defense. they all came together. i oke to senator mitch mcconnell about this yesterday, he agreed looks like the spending increases are on the rise. but they have problems -- they have to keep government funded starting in december, and new budget caps to work around. now all the momentum is toward spending. >> david, you mentioneomthe ecis in good shape, the unemployment rate is low, growth is pretty strong. is there reason for cornn about these deficits if everything seems to be going so well? >> well, there's clearly no reason to worry about today's deficits, ou say, 50 or lower on unemployment, inflation stable, i think that's why the politicians don't seem to feel the need to deal with this and there is not much pressure from the public. the prlem is in the fut. if something is unsustainable, it can't go on forever. every year we're borrowing more because we promised to pbeay

fits to people the current tax code won't cover. at some point we'll have do something. some people think we'll have isa s. i'm not sympathetic to that view because we have been predicting crisis since the early '90s and it doesn't arrivt is will erode the amount of growth and we'll have lower livi standards and spending more tax money to pay interest on the debt a good chunk of which goes to foreigners. >> you and i have been covering this alm years now, and we've said and reported al those 30 years something has to be done eventually.ng what's go be the pressure point? you say you don't think it will be a crisis, but what will it take to get thecapoli incentive to do something? >> that's the four dollars triolion que john. look, i think the politics will change when people think the deficit is hurting them. one reason in the past congress has had to deisl with t is

because interest rates have gone up a lot. so if the fed keeps raising interest rates, if mortgage rates go up, if the fed chair does, as alan greenspan used to, lecture congress it's your faul cause you're not dealing with the deficit, that could change , ings. the second thing could, i don't see it on the horizon, have some kind of leadership where some president would say, look, this isn't a problem today, it's a problem for your kids, i want to do something about it and would be able to sell the amerin people on a little belt tightening now for a better future. >> what are the chances. e have a presidential election coming up and so far no democrats are running on the deficit. president trump occasionally talks about it bu made to indication he's interested in changing it. so hard political choices and we have leadership questions for many issues, maybe toward the ttom of that very difficult stack. >> lisa desjardins, d wessel, thank you very much. >> you're welcome.

>> nawazfrom fiscal policy to the politics of tariffs and agriculture. a key issue fojoat least one senate contest on election day. in montana, the clash between democratic incumbent, jon tester, and his republican frallenger, matt rosendale. this report come anna rau of "montana pbs." >> reporter: the folksy conversation and casual food masked the rising stas of montana's senate race. montana's lone democrat in congress faces a ump-backed republican. >> i see jon tester say suc nice things about me but never votes for me! >> reporter: trump is doing everything to rally his base against tes visiting the state three times in three months and sending mike pence

and don, jr. to montana.th >> to have vice president to stand on stage and invite me up and say i need thel guy top me because the current senate is opposing everything i do, that is an honor. >> well, since the president got elected and every president, as far as that goes, willork wih him, when we can, hold him accotable when we must. >> reporter: critical to the state's economy is the agriculture industry, farming and ranching, something both candidates have connection to. >> i should be home farming. tester displayed photos of his big farm in his office and on his desk photos tractors. back weekends tester flies from d.c. to farm the same property his parents and f grandparentsmed. >> i'm a businessman, i'm ara her. >> reporter: rosendale's office also include pictures of his ranch near glendive. >> we did the kitchen and we're very happy there.

>> reporter: tester is critical of rosendale for calling himself a rancher when he does not farm or raise cattle. >> he scrubbed cat from his ranch site. >> no cows. >> reporter: tester helps neighbors herd and brand cattle and while he does not own them, cattle are on hranch. >> i rise to talk about tariffs and impacts. >> reporter: the reo aadd outs over tariffs. tester agrees china and other ountries need to be held accountable but t sure this is the best way to do it. >> we're already seeing thect imin agriculture where we export so much of our products,n those tariffshave incredibly negative impacts on farm good prices. >> the president is out there trying to make sure we get fair trade agreements in place so that the consumers and the proders of the united stes benefit from it. >> reporter: rosendale says the tough tactics are working with mexico and canada resiently

ing a new trade deal. china, hover, continues to eslate the trade war. agriculture is one of montana's largest industries. these issues are sure p tlay a role when voters head to the polls next month. for "pbs newshour," i'm uanna ra in missoula, montana. l >> nawaz: no's return to immigration and a debate that's heating up once again. last week, the trump administration proposed a major change in the way immigration officials decide who gets to come to or stay in this country. the proposal, which had been rumored for over a year and a half, is now undergoing public comment, and could take effect as soon as early next year. special correspondent, and "washington post" columnist, catherine rampell has the story for our weekly series, "making nse." >> reporter: maria, she doesn't

want her face shown, or last name used, came to northern california from mexico seven hears ago, following a man met back home. >> i was in i was thinking it was the right time to get married, have kids, start a family. that's why i came here. >> reporter: she did marry. but by the time her first child, now five, was born, the marriage was crumbling, and she was having trouble feeding her baby. her only support was a lactation consultant at wic, the federally-funded nutrition program for low-income women, infants and children >> i was alone. no famy, no friends. so to receive that call every week and tell me, "oh, just keep trying. you can do this. if you have another question you can call us." it was a lot of help. >> reporter: as were other federal programs to which her u.s.-citizen child was entitled. >> i took food stamps and i took medical for my daughter. >> reporter: medi-cal is california's medicaid program. >> they are great ppograms. they t a lot.

>> reporter: by now, you may be wondering if maria w identity hidden because she's undocumented. she's not: she's here legally, now remarried to a u.s. citizen who sponsored her for a green card. >> reporter: plus she's a doctor, and though her mexicdo credentials n't let her practice medicine in the u.s., she plans to train for a new healthcare job in the future. just the kind of highlskilled immigrant the trump administration says it prefers. nonetheless, she fears deportation, because the administration is now going after legal immigrants like her. they want to reinterpret a vague bit of immigration law that's supposed to screen whether immigrants are likely to be self-supporting, or end upn the dole. it's called the "public charge" rule. >> like it or not, that's been on the books for-- since the 1880s. it was one of the three bases upon which people's admissions was adjudicated when they showed nc at ellis island. >> reporter: frais cissna is the director of u.s. cmiizenship and ation services.

he declined an interview, but has spoken publicly about the thle. >> we're not sayin they can't receive public benefits, we're just saying that there comes a point when someone has become so dependent or reliant on public benefits that we have- - we now deem them to be a public charge, and accordinglymi inadssible. that's something that has to be done. >> reporter: right now, cash welfare benefits are a strike against a green card applicatio but says marielena hincapie, head of the national immigration law center, the administration wants to greatly expand the list of potential no-nos. >> programs like food stamps, housing assistance, like housing section 8 vouchers. it also includes the low income subsidy fomedicare part d. >> reporter: and it includes medicaid, eaing below 125% of the poverty line and failing to work if authorized to do so. >> the trump administration is sending a message to people, to the world, that the united states is only open for wealthy people. reporter: or, at least wealthy enough says francis

edssna. >>al law generally requires that a foreign national seeking to come to or remain in the united states be able toth supporselves financially and not be dependent on the public to meet their needso >> reporter: the administration simply looking out for u.s. taxpayers? frll, according to a repor the national academy of sciences, federal taxpayers are already coming out ahead u.c. davis economist giovanni tiri. >> all the recent tes show that in net immigrants are a fiscal surplus, a plus for the u.s. >> reporter: meaning what? >> meaning that they pay more xes into the system than they receive in terms of public spending, welfare and benefits. >> reporter: of course, the morh educated ahly skilled the immigrant, like professor peri himself.m >> i aalian from italy. >> reporter: the larger the fiscal surplus.mi and ants can be a drain on state and local budgets, .rimarily due to the cost of educating their ki but when it comes to federal budgeting, immigrants, both legal and undocumented, compare

favorably to similar native-born americans, because they're lesse likely tligible for benefits, and more likely to work. >> so if they are low educated, immigrants work at rate of 70, 75% versus low eduted natives who work at rate of 50, 55%. but also there is a little bit of a stigma in applying for, for welfare because they have come her to work to support thei families. >> reporter: and if immigrants were reluctant to apply for nefits before the rule change, aey're terrified now. you haaby girl now. >> yes, she's two months old. >> reporter: did you think aboun enrollinic again? >> at the beginning i didn'tlk have a lot of i couldn't breastfeed her. so the doctor told me that it will be great if i get wic because they will be providing meith formula. but we decided we didn't want to try it because it will be a problem for myesidency. in reporter: even though wic is not even targeted he proposed rule. >> since everything is changing

and this year it's okay but maybe next year is not okay, i don't feel really safe takingth programs anymore. >> reporter: her fear seems reasonable. even before the trp administration officially proposed the rule change this month, multiple, evolving draft of it had leakd were widely covered by foreign- language media. >> the rule is so massive and confusing that it's going to make people fearful across the country. >> reporte sherry hirota is c.e.o. of asian health services, ntbay-area network of clinics. >> we have patthat have asked to be taken off of our electronic health record we have people who are afraid to gn up for food stamps. legal immigrants are now in the crosshairs. >> this is about people who are legally entitled to thesems benefit progut now are being told if you use them you will be denied a green card. >> reporter: millions of

immigrants receive benefits targeted by the rule, though some, like refugees, are exempted. they may choose to forego aid anyway.ne it's hapbefore. >> the closest analog we have to what might happen from this proposed rule is what happened after the welfare reform of the 1990s with changes in immigrant eligibility for many elements of the social safety ne >> reporter: u.c.-berkeley economist hilary hoynes says the chilling effects were large, duo isinformation and fear. >> so a policy changed food stamps, but we see people diopping out of wic for example. so that'nsion 1. dimension number 2 is that there are groups who were unaffected by the policy change, for example citizen children, who nonetheless dropped out of participation in programs that were affected. >> reporter: but what's the big deal if fewer immigranes, or their fa, claim benefits? for one thing, says asian health services dr. kimberly chang, if

immigrants are afraid to get health care, that could pose a public health risk. >> if you think about infectious if you think about the flu season that's coming up, if you think about measles, if people don't come in and get those vaccines they put the american population at risk. >> reporter: more broadly,gr pushing imts off benefits might save taxpayers money in the short-run, but it could cost money in the long-run. >> kids who get more access to medicaid or food stamps have higher earnings and are more economically self-sufficient in adulthood.ss and so they'retially coming to the labor market as mo productive workers generating more taxes and generating more income for their familiesn adulthood. >> all of these different tyograms are antipov programs for a reason. they're actually helping people make ends meet when times are hard. my own personal story is that i'm the youngest of 10. we immigrated from colombia in e 1970s, we used food stamps when my father and my mother were in between jobs, when they

were laid f from their factory jobs. and today my nine brothers and professionals.e all >> reporter: meanwhile, even though no one in her family receives any benefits now, maria is still at risk of loer right to stay here, because as a new m, she's not currently working; plus, her american husband's low income level might raise a red flag. >> who is going to raise my kids right? that is hard to think of. >> reporter: what are you going to do if maria can't get a permanent green card >> i'd go with her actually.ou i guess we wld be immigrants r: mexico. >> repor some irony to that. >> yes. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm catherine rampell, reporting from california. >> nawaz: now, troubling questions about the life and football careeof the former new england patriots star, aaron hernandez, and what those questions say about the game

itself. hernandez was an all-american at the university of florida who became a dominating tight end for the patriots. he played for two coaching greats: urban yer at florida and bill belichik in new england. but hernandez had a history of indability and volatility, later became criminally violent. heas convicted of the 2013 murder of odin lloyd, a man dating his fiancee's sister. and he was linked to other violent cases, including a 2012 double homicide in which he was acquitted. last year, hernandez killed his spectacular rise and dramatic fall is now the subject of a major investigation by the "boston globe's" spotlight team, uncovering new details about his troubled childhood, devastating brain damage, and a number of warning signs missed or ignore by teammates, friends and coaches over the years. bob hohler is one of the lead reporters and joins me now. bob, thank you for making the

time. congratulations an incredible series. i know the lasone comes out tonight. spotlight team is the story franchise. y'what sit about the st aaron hernandez that led you to want to turn your time, energy d resources toward his story? >> well, this is a huge story that broke in our o vewn backyard on our turf, and we thought there wereso many unanswered questions about every aspect of his life we wanted to dig into. we wanted to know if he was just an outlier or if we could learn broader lessons. and what was the role of the cte that many ball players suffer, how did that affect his >> nawaz: many americans came to know aaron hernandez in his public life, a football star, arismatic, handsome man. in one of your reports you say the public persona proved to be much less important than what we

kept hidden. what did you uncover, particularly about his early life? >> he lived a douyoe life. know, after he died, there's a myth that his father diwh he was 16 and the myth was that he suddenly fell apart, that he had come up in this ozzy and harriet life and suddenly everything went awry in his life. in fact, his father brutally beat him as a child. he was sexually molested as a child. by the time he was in middle school, he was exploring his sexuality and was involvewith boys, which would have been an incredible offense to his father, who was extlyre homophobic, according to his brother. so he was living this double secret life even as a child and carried that through with him into high school and college and later in life. >> nawaz: you document w all those forces came together to reveal sort of troubling behavior over the years, a pattn, when you look backn it now, and, yet, still, this was a young mani bascally fast

tracked through high school, through college, into the pros. how did that happen? >> well, it's a big business of football. this is football, inc., and these guys if they're good, they're very valuable. the university of florida, where he went at age 17, they pulled him out of high school six mo hs early, they gotm down there and enabled him. he was in run-ins with the law there. no serious consequences. h went. they won a national championship. great player.se theyt him off to the n.f.l. with all kinds of problems including heavy, chronice marijuana ey were aware of. >> nawaz: even in his professional careeryou've uncovered a real disconnect between what was happening publicly and privately. i tually wa play a little bit of an audio recording, this is one of his former teammates testifying to at he saw going on behind the scenes. take a listen. be scenes where with he would be the most hyper masculin aggressive individua

in the room, where he would be ready to fight somebody in fits of rage, or he would be the most seitive person in the room, talking about cuddling with hisr motherhe would ask me, do you think i'm good enough to play? >> nawaz: so, bob, this wasaa not aon that most of us got to see, but your team went o through hundretext messages, audio recordings. that was going on in his life at time? >> his teammates knew about his volatile behavior and erratic behavior and potentially violent behavior and, yet, didn't reach the higher leve. on top of that, the patriots have never been forthcoming about what happened there. allenhernandez told coh belichick just months before he killed himself that his wife and

daughters lives were in danger. robert kraft said he was duped by aaron hernandez, that he didn't know about the activo y. ows if lives could have been saved, but if the patriots were aware of what was going onh life and we're learning about it through this report. >> nawaz: you document two documentedn cocussions aaron hernandez suffered as a result of playing football, one earlier in his career and on ter. obviously, there's a lot more work done now about ct, thei lnk between football and that traumatic brain injury. what do we know aboutrole that cte played in aaron hernandez's ife? >> well, we know that all football players don't get cte but some do, and those who do,ve their can be ravaged. i've met men younger than i who plpeed in bowls for the patriots who their brains are so badly damagy can't find their way home. this guy, only 27 years old, and head the worst case of cte that had ever been discovered in so we do know that cte can cause

problems with rage control and d pulsive behavior, lack of impulse control icidal thoughts. so all of those factored in his lia . how much ole they played in the destruction that he caused including to himself, may never know, but it certainly is a factor that needs to be considered. >> nawaz: bob hohler, an incredible ries. the last one published tonight. thank you for taking your time to walk us thugh it. >> thank you so much. take care. >> awaz: now another episode of our brief but spectacular series. phil kaye is japanese-american poet and filmmaker. v is also co-director of "projece," an organization that partners with schools to poing poetry to the classroom. the title of thi: "surplus." >> my grandfather was not a strong man but he knew what it meant to

ndild. in 1947, after he,y great uncles ret world war, they opened up union surplus store, the store slogan, from a battleship to a hunting knife, we have it, or we'll get it. my grandfather was not a strong man but he kept his word. the place was half store, half encyclopedia. packed all the way to the basement with people that somebody somewhere else might rget about but not here. like richard. richard who did not work there, but showed up every sunday afternoon in his full military uniform.t never once bousingle hing. but once broug little idrl, held her hand. his, is what it smelled like when daddy was a hero. my grandfather was not a strong man but he kept us safe. we walked together in the park one night, and a jagged man wit more tatan skin walked up directly to my grandfather, said

hey old man, my mom took me to your store once when i was a kid and you shook my hand like i was a man. i still remember that. they cled my grandfather cheerful al, which his big belly, bald head, long gray little kids would see h r d go santa claus. six years afion war surplus store opened its doors, my grandfather had a son. my dad. he is not a strong man butt e knows whatans to build. one summer when he was a teenager, built a door in the back. it's still there. y rs after union war surplus store opened its doors, my father had a son. i'm not a strong boy, but i'm trying to learn what it means to build. one summer when i was a teenager, i worked at the store. built this display that went all the way up to the ceiling. shran up to my grandfathered him what i had done.

odvery good, philip, very when i asked him what to do next, he handed me an old piece of paper, a beat-up pen, when i asked him what to do with it, he shrugged his shoulders and laughed, and i began to build. the only way i know how. i wrote this when my grandfather passed away. i think traditional masculinity can be somewhat of a trap, and so to have my grandfather who was not particularly strong or tough, pillar of his community in thesw wa really inspiring and important to me to see as a model.th the thin makes me happiest, the thing that makes me happiest after this piece is when is when people sa you know my grandparent is still around and i'm gonna call them. my name is phil kaye, and this is my brief but spectalar take on my grandfather, cheerful al.

>> nawaz: you can watch more in our brief but spectacular series at pbs.o/newshour/brief. an interior dertment watchdog nds secretary ryan zinke violated the department's travel rules costing taxpayers thousands of dollars. zinke is the latest member of president trump's cabinet to be found to violate travelrules. on the newshour online right now, missouri democric sen. claire mccaskill and republican state attorney general josh hawley face off tonight in a debate moderated by our own anchor and managing editor judy woodruff. watch itn our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that'she newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin. >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more araymondjames.com. >> and with e ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs statio thank you.rs like you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org hello, evere

to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. as evidence mounts tying the disappearance of saudi journalist jal khashoggi to at country's crown prince, will republican senators stand firm for a moral american policy?r senan sasse joins me. then, from ankara, turkey, a former adviser to the prime minister joins me. end a prominent saudi diss scholar madawi al rasheed here in london says she now feels threatened by the long arm of the regime. plusin prison for 15 years f her boyfriend's crimes, cindy shank and her brother, the r filmmady valdez, talk to our hari sreenivasan about the compulsory sentence that tore