captioni sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening, i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is moderating the senate debate in missouri. on the newshour tonight, the "washington post" publishes jamal khashoggi's final column as investigations continue into his alleged murder by a saudi t squad.e then, desprced family separation here in the u.s. and increased deportations in mexico, migrants froral america continue to flee north. >> these are countries where if you're not getting screwed by gangs you're getting screwed by the government, so ws to the united states to grow and search for a job. >> nawaz: and, inside a new profile of the late football star and convicted murdereran aaron hez, revealing some missed warning signs about his mental heandh. all that aore on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour h been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. ng science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in educatn, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals.

>> this program was ma possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> nawaz: president trump said he's waiting for saudi arabia to finish its investigation into the disappearance of jamalho khi, but acknowledged it appears the saudi journalist is dead. turkey hasccused a saudi hit squad of murdering the abashington post" columnist and critic of saudi , in the kingdom's consulate in istanbul. secretary state mike pompeo briefed the president on the matter this morning, after meeting with officialsn saudi arabia and turkey this week. leaving washington today, mr. trump was asked by reporters if khashoggi was killed, and what consequences the saudithshould

face i're responsible. >> it certainly looks that way to me. it's very sad. it certainly looks that way. well it will have to be very severe. it's bad, bad stuff. but we'll see what happens. a >> nawaz: todaro- government turkish newspaper published images from two weeks ago, showing a man linked to the saudi crown prince entering the saudi consulate, just before khashoggi arrived. thsaudis have denied any involvement. we'll take a closer look at the impact of khashoggi's writing later in the program. meanwhile, u.s. treasu secretary steve mnuchin announced he's pulling out of an divestment conference in s arabia next week. in afghanistan, the taliban conducted what afghan and u.s. officials told pbs newshour was one of the most significant assassinations of the war. it happened in the sn district of kandahar. abdul raziq, kchdahar's police f and one of the most influential men in southern afghanistan, was killed by governor, who was also killed in

the attack. afghannd u.s. officials describe raziq as essential to keeping kandahar secure, and fear some instability ahead of saturday's parliamentary elections. but the u.n. also accused raziq of human rights abuses. the tack just missed the new u.s. commander in afghanistan, army general scott miller, butca wounded an amesoldier, contractor, and civilian. back in is country, white house counsel don mcgahn has left his post after 21 months on the job. mcgahn 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 special counsel robert mueller's 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 at least 20 people there, raising the storm's overall death toll across four states to at least . more than 137,000 homes and

businesses in florida and orgia are still without power more than a week after michael epde landfall. the u.s. justicetment has opened an investigation into enild sex abuse in the roman catholic church inylvania. federal prosecutors subpoenaed dioceses toughout the state last week. that follows a pennsylvania statgrand jury report from t summer, which identified 301 "predator priests" who molested ousand children for decades. the former head of u.s.a. gymnastics was arrested last night for removing evidence related to the sexual abuse casa of dr. larry n steve penny was indicted forki documents from the texas karolyi ranch training facility that would have helped in the investigation. nassar, the gymnastics team doctor, wasentenced 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. that, as brexit talks have stalled over questions about the border between e.u. member ireland and british northern ireland. may wrapped up a two-day summit with e.u. leaders in brussels today, that was once thought to be a deal deadline. still, she remained optimistic. >> these are always going to be tough negotiations and they were always going to get tougherre befoe got to the closing stages of the negotiations. on the withdrawal agreementa there arw, but considerable outstanding issues in relation to the northern. irish backst i am committed to working with the commission and e.u. leaders to resolve these as quickly as possible. >> nawaz: the u.k. is scheduled to leave the bloc on march 29th. military relations between the u.s. and china appeared to be on more solid ground today. u.s. defense secretary james mattis met with his chinese miunterpart on the sidelines of a regional sumin singapore. they discussed the disted south china sea, but didn't reach any new agreements.

the meeting comes amid a tense trade war between the two countries. israel's supreme court today overturn for a detained american graduate student. 22-year-d lara alqasem had h en denied entry to israel, after arriving wvalid student visa more than two weeks ago. isdel's government had accu her of supporting an illegal boycott against the country. alqasem will now be abstay and study in israel. and it was another volatile day of trading on wall street. the dow jones industrial average plunged 327 points to close at 25,379. the nasdaq fell 157 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 40. still to come on the newshour: new evidence suggesting the saudi crown prince was involved in the alleged murder of jamal khashoggi. inside the desperate journey central americans undertake for a better life in the u.s.bu the federal dget deficit muells as spending increases and

revenues fall, pluch more. >> nawaz: the "washington post" published a new column today, the final column, from jamal diashoggi, the prominent s journalist who turkish officials say was murdered and dismembered by a saudi hit squad. the column was written earlierth this month, anpost's editor said she was hoping to edit it wi khashoggi, but that she "has to accept, that is not going to happen." here's nick schifrin. >> schifrin: jamal khashoggi's editorrote today that "his final column captures his passion for freedom in the arab world-- a freedom he apparently gave his life for." khashoggi writes that because of vernment repression, arabs are "either uninformed or s misinformed...te-run narrative dominates the public psyche, and while many do not

believe it, a majority of the poslation falls victim to t false narrative." his solution? a middle east version of radio free europe. "through the creation of an independent international forum, olated from the influence of nationalist governments spreading hatedahrough propagordinary people in the arab world would be able to address th their societies face." to talk about this i'm joined bl hisham melhem,g time columnist who has worked for saudi-backed al arabd is now a columnist for the lebanese daily newspaper "annahar." he is a fellow at the arab gulf states institute in washington. welcome back to shawrs. >> thank you. i'm back home. >> jamal khashoggi, what was special about his voice? >> he was very rmanent. there are saudi dissidents in london as far away as australia, t he add an incredible platform called "the washington post" which published his

columns in english as well as arabic. he had in contacts in washington and many people knew him as the son of the political syst saudi 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 iatide, s one reason. the other thing, this is the first high profile international journalist to be killed in thes era of masmedia and other mass media, social media, the internet and all that. millions of people, like you and me, saw man walk io his death. millions of people are grieving his last column as you just did --reading his la column as you just did. all of these things. he was very impeachous, flippant and reckless in the way he did s work.

in yemen -- >> you're talking about the nce.n pri >> yes. jamal khashoggi's last column writes a state-run narrative dominates public psyche in the region. is that right? >> ts has been the case fo decades. arab governments used their own control of the media or ey intimidate media that is somewhat indendent, in those few societies where you have a limited space for free expression. we call them partially free votes. the real question is how canu have free media in unfreie soci >> that was one of his solutions, can you have free oudia and can it change if have some kind of international or transnational media likefr radie you were for the middle east. >> in the past, peoplepublished not like the radio but an arab version of the international herald tribune published in euro to have free expression, but these attempts faced

financial and political problems. in 1975, '76, me people moved to london and paris and people said you can be free. but you couldn't be free because we're in the arab wor, always under control of the local authorities. if we had radio free europe like in the past with the soviet union, radio free europe is extremely important because it'o difficult foernments to control it. but today the government is also using the logos sphere intim late the journalists. so with that, internet, social media, we have the limitespace for freedom but governments now are using it to antagonize and to intimidate their critics. >> was he on to? somethi can something like that allow people, allow critics to ve that conversation and get around governments? >> we are not having that kind

of conversation now. most media in the arab world are either controlled by the saudis or qataris. it is extremely 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 medirobut pressure fm the west or the united states? we saw steve mnuchin cancel his hip to the saudi desert. can thatelp? >> that helps. we look to the t, and criticism from the united states tant.tremely imp i heard a detainee when i inquired about the fate of ala scwho was in prison, and he said donald trump is not gog to pick up and inquire with arab leaders about the fate of this scholar. that tell us everything you 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 whateve we have to remember that we have to fight for these things. mal khashoggi is the last in the long, long trail of arab journalists, writers, scholars, artists who were killed by their own govthrnment iir homeland as well as overseas, and the only -- i mean, i lost two of my friends in 2005, my editor was killed. so if there is no pressure frosm the we have to fight our own fight, but there has to be pressure from the west, and the president has unfortunately downplayed jamal's superiors for two weeks. >> we have to leave it there, hisham melhem. thank you very much. >> thank you. ar >> nawaznd 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 thorities don't stop the caravan.

the u.n. estimates that over y 0,000 migrants illegally cross into mexico evar in order to come to the u.s. mexico is pushing a plad that has aldeported more than half a million central americans. mbut migrants say they feh more than just deportation on their journey. for a closer look, special correspondent danny gold embedded wh a police team in chiapas, mexico's southernmost state. >> reporter: just nortof the guatemalan border, mexican police patrol a desolate area popular with undocumented migrants. but they're not here to detain illel border crossers. >> ( translated ): the purse of these patrols are to stop gangs who are out to rob migrants. >>deporter: you're fully ar out here, you guys are on high alert. is there a lot of danger on these trails? >> ( translated ): the criminals sometimes carry machetes, sometimes they have pistols or even shotguns. we've had a few close calls, thank god everything has turned out okay so far. >> reporter: this area, known

la arrocera, is off the beaten path, which makes it attractive to mrants trying to avoid detention by the increased number of immigration patrols.ke we walong a railroad track that runs next to a roadway dotted with checkpoints.gs criminalften prey on migrants here, the isolation makes them easy targets. s nrado espinoza villalobo a prosecutor in the crimes against migrants unit in chiapas state. he sayfore these patrols started, migrants were robbed, raped - even murdered here what sort of stuff do you see out here, have you guys come across armed groups on these patrols? >> ( translated ): this is a hostile area, we've found gangs of armed robbers. most of knives or machetes. why machetes? that's theirm.o., the criminals pretend they are working in the fields. sometimes they even fool us. >> reporter: migrants heading north cross the suchiate riverat eparates guatemala from mexico, and they often carry large sums of money for the long trip ahead.

yet even if they fall victim to crime, they don't want to draw attention by contactinlaw 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 united states. >> reporter: alejandro vila avez is the assistant attorney general for the state of chiapas. his office is tasked with protecting migrants who cross into his state from centralic am can you describe what sort of situations they are fleeing? >> ( translated ): many factors encourage migration from central america. one is therecarious 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 safety to migrants crossing though chiapas.er how das is it out here for central americans crossing into mexico?

>> (he translated ): since creation of this office we've dismantled 149 criminal gangs that contained about 1600 people. there used to be muggings, rapes, extorti, 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 have found migrants to be easy prey. law enforcement have also targeted them. >> ( translated ): we've detained over 60 members of law enforcement that have, unfortunately strayed from obeying the law and respecting human rights. >> reporr: all of this leads to a pretty desperate situation for undocumented migrants in mexico. many now attempt to get special mexican visas that will allow them to travel legally to the us border. >> ( translated ): i'm waiting to get a visa to leave mexo, but the visa will only allow me to travel to the northern border. i can't a u.s. visa here. right now i don't havervoney and i'm ing with my son on the streets. >> reporter: migrants like juana

de jesus are staying at this shelter, waiting to see if they will be granted permiso travel through mexico legally. from honduras, she left the country to seek treatment for her sick son, and because her nesband was violent. why do you feel yo 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 can't buy an airline ticket or anything, i'm not allowed. without a humanitarian visa it would be very hard to travel through mexico, s cause the gae killing people and near the borders they also kidnap people.so migrants suffeuch to get to the u.s. >> reporter: some at the slter complained of mistreatment by locals, but while we were there, a local business owner stopped by to donate food. >> ( translated ): when we have some bread left at the bakery we share it with these people who are fighting for a dream, faghting to provide for their milies, so we like to share what we are able to give. >> reporter: have you seen a lot more migrants from central america coming through the last

few years?ed >> ( transl ): yes, 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 joined increasingly by nicaraguans fleeing the political instability and violence that has gripped the country. adrian lopez, a supporter of an opposition party there staying at this shelter on his way to the united st ses in hopes uring political asylum. >> ( translated ): you can't speak out, the police retaliate ainst you because they are the government, the police belong to the president, the 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 my

country, you can't grow economally or mentally in a country like nicaragua, or el salvador, or honduras, e atemala. because the countries where if you're not getting grewed by gangs you're getting screwed by theernment, so we cross to the united states to grow and search for a job, gather money and send it to the poor relatives we have left in at he. >> reporter: has it gotten much worse here in chiapas for people from central america heading north than it was years ago? >> ( translated ): well, compared to back then today itmo is muc dangerous to cross without papers. much, much, more dangerous. >> reporter: now behind me is the shelter where central american migrants and asylum seekers are staying. and just to give you an idea of the kind of dangers they face here in chiapas state, rightid outhe front door, ms-13 graffiti marking the gangs territory in 2014, mexico opted its southern border program after a firm push and millions of dollars from the united states. after the plan went into effect,

detentions and deportations shot up, due to increased police and military presence at mico's southern border. we're only a few miles north of the guatemala border and already we've hit a checkpoint of federal police and migration officials trying to catchcu undomented central american immigrants going nor checkpoints like these can now be seen across mexico's southern region. but the southern border program has proven itself controversial in mexico's political sphere. >> ( translated ): our neighbors to the north would want us to continue doing the dirty work of detaining thcentral american migrants that leave their homes looking for a better life, those fleeing violence and mery. no. >> reporter:igration was a fiery topic in mexico's recent presidential election. presidenelect andres manuel lopez obrador expressed compassion for migrants. >> ( translated ): we're talking r out the lives of migrants who leave thme looking for new lives. and we must protect their security. >> repor 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 stes. in 2016 and 2017, it's deported twice as many. but e numbers flowing into t united states have held steady. and while ump's zero tolerance policy may have had a temporary impact on migrants trying to make it north, the most vulnerable, like entire families and children, feel desperate enough to still make the journey. and it is thunpolicy in the ed states that worries juana de jesus, traveling north with her developmentally disabled son. are you worried about the us border, about situations of dethers and children being separated at the b >> ( translated ): kids don't deserve to be separated from their parents. it's wrong because a mother suffers for her children, and chilen suffer for their parents. all i want is the best for my son. >> reporter: and she's willing to take a big risk for a better life for her sick son. foythe pbs newshour, i'm da gold in chiapas, mexico.

>> nawaz: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: the presly republican votes in a key senate race. how a little-known provision cokes staying in the u.s. tougher for low legal immigrants. us, a new report about the late football star aaron hernandez and the missed warnin siout his mental health. itmbers out this week show the federal budget defaking a big jump in the 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 fiscal year with a deficit of $779 billion. that's a 17% jump from 2017. bat number is getting close scrutiause most of

president trump's $1.5 trillion tax cut took effect in january, three months into the spending year. here to walk us through this: newshour capitol hill correspondent lisa desjardins, and 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 nuormber 2018 fiscal year, how does that fit in to hitrtorical 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. look at thmo. this is a double what it was then. and it's going to continue ton rise, s. many people know in just two years it's going to be right around one dollar trillion, according to congressie,al budget offnd 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, those were

historic highs in recent terms. however, those were years in which we had a recession. we're talking about thesen deficits nowmes of growth and a good economy, and that is different. >> of course, the projections are if current law stays into effect if nothing changed. what's driving the 2018 deficit? >> if you look deep into the numbs the treasury department put out you find interesting things. in this year, talking about tacks, you see actual tax revenue stayed about flat, it rose about ha percent, a little bit less. but spending is what has changed most dramatically. so you have fl revenueand more spending, not much coming in, a lot going out, you get at. defi what were the bigger increases? defense spending, $6 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 off this debt.

cedefense is the only pl we saw an increase, but congress spent more and we have ag larer deficit. >> lisa says the revenues arein reg flat. so what does that tell us about the effect of president trump's nox cuts? >> well, the eco, as lisa ,aid, is very strong, so, without a tax c we would have seen increasing revenues. we also see, if you look at the numbers, corporate tax receipts fell 30%, and that's largely the result of the president's tax cut. what we're seeing, you would expect at a time like this,s revenues g faster than spending because the economy is strong, more people workin paying taxes, fewer people collecting unemployment benefito anh, and a deficit would shrink. we see the opposite and that's largely because of the tax cut. >> senate majy orleader mitch mcconnell says it's entitlements, social security, medicare, medicaid, that's what's driving the deficit forecasts. is he right? >> well, look. if you look at what happened last yea'sr, not social

security, medicare, medicaid, it's taxes. the size to have the tax cut wa about $165 billion. the deficit increased by do$113 billion. he arithmetic. if you look ahead, though, and you look at the projections, the reason the deficit is rising is because we are spenng more on social security, medicare and medicaid, largely because the population is aging. if you look a cbo's ten-year projections,pending on benefits, particularly for elderly people, are going up. interest on the debt is going up, and everything else is goino . >> lisa, the deficit had stopped being a hot button issue for a long time. now it's sort of back on the front pages. is congress going to do anything about this? >> no. short answer. irno. you have an encaucus of freedom conservatives who have led on the isspaue in thet but they ended up voting and passing the larger spending bil.

republicans wand more money for defense, democts wanted more for non-defense. they all came together. i spoke to senator mitch mcconnell about thisst day, he agreed looks like the spending increases are on the rise. but they have problems -- they have to keep government funded starting indecember, and new budget caps to work around. now all the momentum is toward spending. >> david, you mentioned the economy is in good shape, the unemployment rate is low, grwth is pretty strong. is there reason for concern about these deficits if t everything seebe going so well? >> well, there's clearly no reason to ourry abtoday's deficits, as you 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 aner is not much pressure from the public. the problem is in the fute. if something is unsustainable, it can't go on forever. every year we're boruswing more bewe promised to pay

benefits to people the current tax code won't cover. at some point we'll have to do something. some people 'link have a crisis. i'm not sympathetic to that view because we have been predicting crisis sncthe early '90s and it doesn't arrive. t this will ere the amount of growth and we'll have lower living standards and spending more tax money to pay interest on the debt a good chunk of which goes to foreigners. >> you and i ve been covering this almost 30 years now, and we've sand reported all those 30 years something has to be done eventually. what's going to be the pressure point? you say you don't think it will be a crisis, but what will it take to get the polintcal ine to do something? >> that's the four dollars trillion question, john. look, i think the politics willn when people think the deficit is hurting them. one reaheson in tast congress has had to deal with this is because interest rates have gon up a lot.

so if the fed keeps raising interest rates, if mortgage rates go up, the fed chair does, as alan greenspan used to, lecture congress it's your fault because you're not dealing with the deficit, that could change things. the second thing is, we could, i don't see it on the horizon, leve some kind of ership where some president would say, look, this isn't a problemob today, it's a em for your kids, i want to do something about it and would be able to sell the american people on a little belt tightening now for a nctter future. >> what are the ch. e have a presidential election coming up and so far no democrats are running on the deficit. president trump occasionally talks about it but made to indication he's interested changing it so hard political choices and we have leadership questions for manyissues, maybe toward the bottom of that very difficult stack. >> lisa desjardins, david wessel, thank you very much. >> you're welcome.

>> nawaz: from fiscal policy to the politics of tariffs and agriculture. a key issue for at least one major senate contest on election day. in montana, the clash betwn democratic incumbent, jon tester, and his republican challenger, matt rosendale. this report comes from anna rau of "montana pbs." >> reporter: the folksy conversation and casual food masked the rising stakes of montana's senate race. montana's lone democrat in congress faces atrump-backed republican.s >> i jon tester say such nice things about me but never votes for me! >> reporter: trump is doinghi ever to rally his base against tester, visiting the state three times inthree months and sending mike pence

and don, jr. to montana. >> to vve the e president to stand on stage and invite me up and say i need this guy to help me because the current senate is posing everything i do, that is an honor >> well, since the president got elected and every president, as far as that goes, will work wih him, when we can, hold him accountable when we must. >> reporter: critical to thes state'onomy is the agriculture industry, farming andch rg, 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 of tractors. many weekends tester flies back from d.c. to farm the same h proper parents and grandparents farmed. >> i'm a businessman, i'm a rancher. >> reporter: rosendale's office also include pictures of his ranch near gleniv d >> we did the kitchen and we're very happy there.

>> repoterter: tesis critical of rosendale for calling himlf 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 his ranch. an i rise to talk about tariffs impacts. >> reporter: the two are add outs over tariffs. tester agrees china and other countries need to be held accountable but not sure this is the best way to do it. >> we're already seeing the rmpacts in agriculture where we export so much of products, those tariffs can have incredibly negative impacts on farm good prices. >> the president is out there t tryimake sure we get fair trade agreements in place so that the nsumers and the producers of the united states benefit from it. >> reporter: rosesays the tough tactics are working with mexico and canada recently signing a new trade deal.

china,onhowever, cnues to escalate the trade war. agriculture is one of montana's largest industries. these issues are sure to play a role when voters head to the polls next month. for "pbs newshour," i'm anna rau in missoula, montana. >> nawaz: now, let's return to immigration and a debate that's heating up once again. last week, the trump administration proposed a major change in the waimmigration 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 hahington post" columnist, catherine rampell s the story for our weekly series, "making sense." >> reporter: maria, she doesn't want her face shown, or lastam

name used, cto northern california from mexico seven years ago, following a man she'd met back home. >> i was in love. 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 the time her first chil now five, was born, the marriage was crumblg, and she was having trouble feeding her baby. her only support w a lactation consultant at wic, the federally-funded nutrition program for low-income women, infants and chilen. >> i was alone. no family, 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 otherra feprograms to which her u.s.-citizen child was entitled. >> i took food stamps and i took medicafor my daughter. >> reporter: medi-cal is california's medicaid program. >> they are great programs. they support a lot.

>> reporter: by now, you may be wondering if maria wan her identity hidden because she's undocumented.no she't: she's here legally, now remarried to a u.s. citizen who sponsored her for a green s rd. >> reporter: plushe's a doctor, and though her mexican credenals don't let her practice medicine ine he u.s., shplans to train for a new healthcare job in the future. just the kind of highly skilled immigrant the trumpti administraon says it prefers. aunetheless, she fears deportation, bec the administration is now going after legal immigrantse her. they want to reinterpret a vague bit of immigration law that'sen supposed to schether immigrants are likely to be self-supporting, or end up on e dole. .t's called the "public charge" ru >> 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 ssions was adjudicated when they showed up at ellis island. >> reporter: francis cissna is the director of u.s. citizenship d immigration services. he declined an interview, but

has spoken publicly about the rule. >> we're not saying that they can't receive public benefits, we're just saying that there comes a point when someone has become so dependent or reliant o public benefits that we have- - we now deem them a public charge, and accordingly inadmissible. that's something that has to be done. >> reporter: right now, cash welfare benefits are a strike against green card application. but says marielena hincapie, head of the national immigration law center, the adnistration wants to greatly expand the list of potential no-nos. >> programs like food stamps, housing assistance, like housin sectvouchers. it also includes the low income subsidy for medicare part d. >> reporter: and it includes medicaid, earning below 125% of the poverty line and failing to work if authorized to do so.mp >> the tdministration is thnding a message to people, to the world, thaunited states is only open for wealthy people. >> reporter: or, at wealthy enough says francis cissna.

>> federal law generally ekquires that a foreign national g to come to or remain in the united states be able to support themselves financially and not be dependent on the public to meet their needs. >> reporr: so is the administration simply looking out for u.s. taxpayers? well, according to a rort from the national academy of sciences, federal taxpayers are already coming out ahead. u.c. davis economist giovanni peri. >> all the recent esmates show that in net immigrants are a surplus, a plus for the u.s. >> reporter: meaning what? >> meaning that they pay more taxes into the system than they receive in terms of publice spending, welfd benefits. >> reporter: of course, the more educated and highly skilled the immigrant, like professor peri himself. >> i am italian from italy. >> reporter: the larger the fiscal surplus. ann immigrants can be a drai state and local budgets, primarily due to the cost of educating their kids. but when it comes to federal budgeting, immigrants, both legal and undocumented, compare favorably to similar native-born

americans, because they're less likely to be eligible for benefits, and more likely to work. >> so if they are low educated,m grants work at rate of 70, 75% versus low educated natives who work at rate of 50, 55%. but also there is a little bit of a stigma in applying for, fo welfare becausthey have come here to work to support thr families. >> reporter: and if immigrants were reluctant to apply for benefits before the hange, they're terrified now. you ve a baby girl now. >> yes, she's two months old. >> reporter: did you think about enrollg in wic again? >> at the beginning i didn't have a lot omilk. i couldn't breastfeed her. so the doctor told me that it will be great if i get wic because they will be providing me with formula. but we decided we didn't want to try it because it will problem for my residency. >> reporter: even though wic is not even targed in the 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 taking the programs anymore. >> reporter: her fear seems reasonable. even before the trump administration officially proposed the rule change this month, multiple, evolving drafts of it had leaked, and 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. >> reporter: sherry hirota is c.e.o. of ian health services, a bay-area network of clinics. >> we have patients that have asked to be taken off of our electronic health records. we have people who are afraid to sign up for food stamps.ts legal immigran are now in the crosshairs. >> this is about people who tle legally en to these benefit programs but 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, a exempted. they may choose to forego aid anyway. it's happened before. >> the closest analog we have wh might happen from this proposed rule is what happen after the welfare reform of the 1990s with changes in immigrant s igibility for many eleme the social safety net. >> reporter: u.c.-berkeley economist hilary hoynes says the chilling effects were due to misinformation and fear. >> so a policy changed food stamps, but we see people dropping out of wic for example. so that'dimension 1. dimension number 2 is that there are groups who were unaffected by the policy ange, for example citizen children, who nonetheless dropped out of participation in programs that were affected. >> reporter: but what'big deal if fewer immigrants, or their families, claim benefits? for one thing, says asian health rvices dr. kimberly chang, if immigrants are afraid to get

health care, that could pose a public health risk. >> if you think about infectious disease, if you think about e flu season that's coming up, if you think about measles, if people don't come in and get n ose vaccines they put the american populat risk. >> reporter: more broadly, pushing migrants 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. and so they' essentially coming to the labor market as more productive workers generating more taxes and generating more income for their families in adulthood. >> all of these different programs are antipoverty programs for a reason. they're actually helping people make ends meet when times are hard. 10 own personal story is that i'm the youngest o we immigrated from colombia in the 1970s, we used foops when my father and my mother were in between jobs, when they were laid off from their factory

jobs. d today my nine brothers and sisters and i are all professionals. >> reporter: meanwhile, even though no one in her family receives any benefits now, maria is still at risk of losing her right to stay here, because as a new mom, she's not currently working; plus, her american husband's low income level might rise a red flag. >> who is going se 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?'d >>o with her actually. i guess weould be immigrants to mexico. >> reporter: 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 career of the former new england patriots star, aaron hernandez, aue what those ions say about the game itself.

hernandez was an all-americaat the university of florida who became a dominating tight end for the patriots. he played for two coaching greats: urban meyer at florida and bill belichik in new england. but hernandez had a history of instability and volatility, and later became criminally violent. he was convicted of the 2013 murder of odin lloyd, a man ting his fiancee's siste and he was linked to other violent cases, including a 2012 double homicide in which he was acquitd. last year, hernandez killed himself in jair his spectacuise and dramatic fall is now the subject of a major investigation by the "boston globe's" spotlight team, uncovering n details about his troubled childhood, devastatingi damage, and a number of warning signs missed or ignored 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 on an incredible series. i know the last one comes out tonight. spotlight team is the story franchise. what sit about the sty's aaron hernandez that led you to want to turn your time, energy and resources toward his story? y> well, this is a huge stor that broke in our very own backyard on our turf, and w thought there were so 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 at many ball players suffer, how did that affect his life. >> nawaz: many americans came to knoaaron hernandez in his public life, a football star, charismatic, handme 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,

hrticularly about his early life? lived a double life. 'su know, after he died, there a myth that his father died when 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 brutallyim beats a child. by was sexually molested as a child. he time he was in middle school, he was exploring his sexuality and wa involved with boys, which would have been an incredible offense to his father, who was extremely homophobic, according to his 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 how a those forces came together to reveal sort of troublin behavior over the years, a pattern, when you look back on it now, and, yet, stll, this was a young man basically fast tracked through high sool,

through college, into the pros. how did that happen? >> well, it's a big business of football. this is football, inc., and these guys are commodities.o if they're they're very valuable. the university of florida, where heent at age 17, they pulled him out of high school six months early, they got him down there and enabled him. he was inrun-ins with the law there. no serious consequences. on he went. they won a national championship. great player. they sent him off to the n.f.l.k with ands of problems including heavy, chronic marijuanuse they wer aware of. >> nawaz: even in his professional career, you've uncovered a real disconnect between what was happening publicly and privately. i actually nt to playlittle bit of an audio recording, this is one of his former temmates testifying to what he saw going on behind the scenes. take a listen. >> there would be scenes where with he would be the most hyper masculine, aggressive indivual in the room, where he would be

ready to fight somebody in fits of rage, or he would be the most sensitive person in the room, talking out cuddling with his mother, or he would ask me, do you think i'm good enugh to play? >> nawaz: so, bob, this was not an aaron that most of us gou to see, but yor team went through hundreds of text messages, audio recordings. what was going on n his life at ?that time >> his teammates knew about his volatile behavior and erratic behavior and potentially violent behavior and, yet, didn't reach the higher levels. on top that, the patriots have never been forthcoming about what happened there. allen hernandez told coach belichick just months before he killed himsf that his wife and daughters lives were in danger.

robert kraft said he was dued by aaron hernandez, that he didn't know about the activity. who knows if lives could have been saved, but if the patriots were aware of what was going on in his life and we're learning t about ough this report. >> nawaz: you document two documented concussions aaron hernandez suffered as a result of playing football,one earlier in his career and one later. obviously, there's a lot more work done now about ct, the link between football and that traumatic brain injury. what do we know about the role that cte playeda in aron hernandez's life? >> well, we know that allll footlayers don't get cte but some do, and those who do, their ves can be ravaged. i've met men younger than i who played in super bowls for the patriots who theirains are so badly damaged they can't find their way home. this guy, only 27 years old, and he had the worst case of cte that had ever n ediscovered in somebody that age. so we do know that cte can cause

problems with rage control and impulsive behavior, lack of impulse control thoughts.l so all of those factored in his life. how much of a role they played in the destruction that h caused including to himself, we may never know, but it certainly is a factor that needs to be considered. nawaz: bob hohler, an incredible series. the last one published tonight. thank you for taking your time to walk us through it. >> thank you so much. take care. >> nawaz: now another episode of our brief but spectacular series. phil kaye is a japanese-american poet and filmmaker. he is also co-director of "ponject voice," an organiza that partners with schools to bring poetry to the classroom. the title ofhis poem: "surplus." >> my grandfather was not a strong man. but he knew what it meant to

build. in 1947, after he, and my great uncles returned from the second world war, they opened up union war surplus store, the store's 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.wa the plachalf store, half encyclopedia. packed all the way to the basement with people that somebody somewhere else might forget about but not here. like richard. chard who did not work there, but showed up every sunday afternoon in his full military uniform. never once bought a single thing. but once brought his little girl, held her hand. said this, is what it smelled like when daddy was a hero. g ndfather was not a strong man but he kept us safe. we walked together in thpark one night, and a jagged man with ctre tattoo than skin walked up di to my grandfather, said

hey old man, my mom took me to your once when i was a kid and you shook my hand like i was a man. i still remember tha they called my grandfather cheerful al, which hg belly, bald head, long gray beard, little kids would see him and go santa claus. six years after union war su,lus store opened its doo my grandfather had a son. my dad. he is not a strong man but he knows what it means to build. one summer when he was a teenager, he built a door in the back. it's still there. pl years after union war s store opened its doors, my father had a son. i'm not a strong boy, but i'm trying to learn at 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. ran up to my grandfather, showed him what i had done. very good, philip, very good.

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 i wrote this when my grandfather passed away. t think traditional masculinity can be somew a trap, and so to have my grandfather who was not particularly strong or tough, or even cool being the pillar of his community in these ways was really inspiring and important to me to see as a model. the thing that makes me isppiest, the thing that makes me happiest after iece is when is when people say, you know my grandparent is still around and i'm gonna call them. my name is phil kaye, and this is my brief but spectacular take on my grandfather, cheerful al.

>> nawaz: you can watch more in our brief but spectacular series at pbs.org/newshour/brief. an interior department watchdog finds secretary ryan zinke violated the depart travel rules costing taxpayers thousands of dollars. zinke is the latest ember of president trump's cabinet to be found to violate travel rules. on the newshour online right now, missouri democratic 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 it on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the 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 at raymondjames.com. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation car public broing. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ca inewshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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