captioning sponsored by wnet >> thompson: on this edition for sunday, november 25: asylumeekers face unknown policy at the u.s. southern border. in our signature segment, storm- ravaged floridians: homeless for the holidays. and a unique look at earth, through the camera lens of astronaut scott kelly. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> s newshour weekend is ma possible by:d bernard ene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. seton melvin. eryl and philip milstein family. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana to vae p.b. foundation. rosalind p. walter. barbara hope zuckerberg.fu corporating is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual

rend group retirement products. that's why wour retirement company. additional support has been provided by: d by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, megan thompson. >> thompson: good evening and thank you for joining us. several hundred central americ migrants pushed past mexican police guarding the internatiol border crossing between tijuana, mexico and california this afternoon. there are reports that some of the migrants carried hand- painted american and honduran flags and chanted: "we are not criminals! t are international workers!" they did not cro border and the border checkpoint was closed temporarily. mexican officials continue to deny they have reached a deal with the trump administration on the political asylum process at

ern border.u news reports yesterday quoted members of the incoming mexican government, set to take office on december 1, who said there are ongoing talks with the trump administration about a major change in current u.s. immigration policy. the new plan would reportedly require asylum-seekers to stay in mexico while their claims aru processed in t. courts. under the proposal, migrants seeking asylum, like the more than 5,000 central americansin currently wain tijuana, would apply at a u.s. point of entry, but return to mexico while awaiting hearings. we'll have more on the asylum policies and court cases coming up after ourews summary. a brexit deal has finally been reached. european oicials met in brussels earlier today and came to the agreement aft nearly a year and a half of intense negotiations. the plan still faces opposition in the u.k. parliament, where it may be voted on as early as xt month. britain was a member of the european union for 45 years and

is the first country to leave. russia's defense ministry id it carried out air strikes in northern syria today, the first since a truce went into effect on september 17th. syrian offials said more than 100 people were treated at hospitals and blamed militants in the region for firing shells filled with chlorine gas at the city of aleppo. rebel groups denied using chemical weapons. >> no justice, no peace. >> thompson: protestors took to the streets as questionsin cont to be raised about the fatal police shooting of a 21- year-old black man in a mall outside of birmingham, alabama on thanksgiving night. initial statements from the hoover, alabama police department said emantic "e.j." bradford junior was shot and kid ed after police suspecte was responsible for an earlier shooting incident that wounded two people in the shopping center. police later retracted their statement, stating it was unlikely bradford was involved. e president trump plans to mississippi tomorrow to support

republican sate candidate cindy hyde-smith at two campaign rallies ahead of the tecsday run off on with former congressman democrat mike espy. hyde-smith has me a number of controversial comments, including telling voters at a campaign stop recently tt if a key supporter "invited me to a public hanging, i'd be on the front row." she later apologized but said her words we being "twisted." mississippi had the highest number of lynchings of african americans in the united ates. >> thompson: the issue of asylum at the u.s./mexico border has been making a lot of headlines this week, spurring a debate not just over immigration policy, but also about the role and independence of the u.s. judiciary. to help make sense of it all,m ined by attorney and journalist jami floyd. she is a legal analyst for wnyc, the pubic radio station here in

new york.s thar being here. >> thanks for having me. >> thompson: so you heard earlier in the show president trump said hel wants y grants who are seeking asylum to stay i mexico while their-- does he have can he do that. >> he does not. the sigh lum law is made by congress and congress has the authority to either change those laws or leave them in pce. this is what the case last week was all about that raised so much controversy in california, the judge rulinat least temporarily that those laws remain in placend the the asylum law as it currently stands allows migrants to om dm and seek asylum and the president then can't act unilaterally to changehose laws. so no, whatever he may tweet, whatever he may think, he cannot ak unilaterally to en work with the government of mexico, assuming that he has, which we don't know that he has, to mchae ge to our asylum laws as

theyndurrently s >> thompson: president trump had wanted to deny asylum to anyone who crossed the border illegally. >> yes. >> thompson: can you talk about the legal reasoning for that ruling and what is next tor that case. >> right there were two cases. the one that made all the new its was the one in california, the judge in the northern district court, which is actually a trial cou trk hasn't gone to the 9th circuit as the president seems to think. that is anppellate court. this is the first stage. the government asking as you say. essentially to change the asylum laws. and all at he said at thi point is that i'm issuing a temporary restraining order on this policy at the executive branch is trying to impose because it seems to violate the laws of congress. d and inecember come back to me and we will hear arguments on the merits. >> thompson: president trump was not happy with this ruling. >> called the judge an obama judge. ight. >> thompson: which then spurred a very rare rebuttal

from chief justice john roberts who came out and said no, there is no such thing as trump judges there is no such thing as obama judges. trump has made statementeds in the past about jijs. roberts hasn't said anything. why do you think he said something now? >> right, the reason, megan, i don't know, right? i dink that he certainly wouldn't have wanted to weigh in deurgt mid-term cycle, so maybe that was on his mind. but he is an institutionalist. he is the chief stice not just of the united states supreme court but of the federal judicial -- judiciary of the court. and he wants toroct, again not wanting to get inside his anychology, but just having read a lot about him knowing what he very much wants to protect the institution of thets cohe is moving toward to protect his agency in a way so many others have not in the trump years, in the trump administration. and we see an attack not just on judges but on the instutions of justice in this country.

and we also saw thisruises baght el over kavanaugh, jaws tis now justice kavanaugh which flaid the institution of the court, the supreme court and the courts in generalh and i tink chief justice roberts wants to tighten the weave of the fabric of the court at this moment in time this critical moment in time tien the courts are going to need lecy to protect our laws and our constitution going forked as we may be hding o a constitutional crisis. >> all right, jami floyd, thank eru so much for beine us. >> thank you for having me. >> thompson: many americans accustomed to celebrating thanksgiving in their own homes foround themselves homeless the holiday this year. we're not just talking about victims of california's calamitous wildfires. there are also those in the florida panhandle, devastated

last month by hurricane michael, who spent thanksgiving wondering if and when help would be on the way. newshour weekend special correspondent simon ostrovsky has our story. >> reporter: f the boutcher mily, this year, this is what thanksgiving looked like. >> dad's turk is way better. dad's tastes way better. >> reporter: the reason they didn't celebrate around the dining room table? they no longer have on turkey, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, everything you need for the perfect thanksgiving except for the most important thing: a home. like thousands of others in this area, the boutchers lost everythi in october in the most powerful storm to hit the florida panhandle in history: hurricane michl. michael pounded the gulf shore with 155-mile-per-hour winds that laid waste to entire cities doing billions of dollars worthd

age. at least 52 people across the s. southeast were killed and up to 20,000 more were left homeless. amx weeks after the storm, james boutcher and hisy are among the thousands of people county officials told us were still without equate housing. they've been living in this shelter with over 100 others. >> none of my children got hurt, nobody got hurt. i'm very thankful for that. >> reporter: and do you think you're going to be able to find a place in the near future? >> they want us to relocate but this iswhere we liv our home. there's homes out there, they're just too expensive for us because the area that it hit was all the affordable homes for families. so there's no available units for us at all.ep >>ter: and therein lies the crux of the problem. fema has handed out over $91 million in housing assistance to hurricane survivors in frida so far. that may sounds like a lot. but with so much devon, rentals here are in short supply and those who don't want to

e the area because of jo and schools are left with limited options: tents, lyelters or ideema trailers. but officis in bay county, where the hardest hit cities of mexico beach and panama city are located, complain e federal emergency management agency has been slow to provide its residents with fema rs. >> people feel like fema doesn't help them. they estimate around 2,000 people have qualified for some sort of housing assistance. right now there's less than probably a dozen what we nsider fema trailers in bay county. they tell us they're going to ramp those numbers up to 25 daily. i'd love to see that. it's hard to believe at the rate they're going right now. >> reporter: although almost 1700 people have been approv for trailers in the five worst- hit counties, fema has supplied just 40 in the month-and-a-half since rricane. that means many floridians are spending the holidays out in the elements. michael cannon weathered the hurricane in his mobile home.

this is all that's left. >> it's total devastation. the two bedrooms are gone.ki the tchen, the walls. i watched the walls ripple like a rippling like this as thesh floor waing. it was scary. >> reporte these two tents with his family ter since. >> we're hoping to get a fema trailer. it's a slow process of getting any answers though. you're not reallsure what you're eligible to get. >> reporr: it's something we heard from many of the people we spoke with.e they cmplicated, cumbersome bureaucracy and officials who, they claim, don't seem to be in much of a hurry. >> you got your fema registration number? >> they explained to us that it's only been weeks since the disaster but that's hard to s explain ebody who is homeless right now. there are thousands of people that don't have a home they're either living with their friends or family or in other some sort of housing. the fema trailer, the fema housing units are st not in

our community yet for these people and it's been very slow, as i've said the bureaucracy is very impressive. >> reporter: fema officials point out that surveying damage and assessing eligibility when aer 98,000 have asked for help and information isime consuming process. they also told us there were other ways to house survivors besides the trailers. more than 18,000 have been approved for rental assistance, for example. tammy nichols was one of those approved. >> good morning everybody. now we're ready to start our day. >> reporter: but she told us there's nowhere to spend thene with so much of the housing stock damaged. iinstead, she's been livi this tent city with her disabled daughter. ne>> even though you have and a check there's not that many apartments even though g ey have this ng list there's not that many you know you have children you have disabled you

have specific needs. >> reporter: one iss we've heard county officials bring up with us is thathere is rental assistance but there isn't necessarily places to rent from. there's no vacancies because so much of the houseng stock has estroyed. >> we're keenly aware of the housing situation. tion.t a one size fits alles there are multiple approaches to this: rent and repair, there's also transitional shelters assistance, there's also the travel trailers as part of the direct housing package so it's a multi-pronged approach providing housg to people in this area >> everything is destroyed so this is home. but more importantly is we have our family and we're safe and we're starting over and that's ok. vi>> reporter: for those b the elements this holiday weekend, help can't come soon enough. it's starting to get old now. want to get a roof over our head. it's been some cold nights.

i would like to receive help just like anepne would. >>ter: did you ever expect that six weeks later by thanksgi of home? still be out >> never. i'm thankful we're all together. you have to hang your hat on something. that's what i'm thankful for. >> thompson: despite political divisions, we asked on thanksgiving day what unites americans. watch theiresponses on our facebook page at facebook.com/newshour. >> thompson: in 2016, scott kelly set a record for the longest space mission by an american astronaut. during his 340 days on the international space statio kelly conducted science experiments, maintained equipment and ok pictures-- thousands of them. his new book, "infinite wonder"" showcases his photography. he spoke with me recently from washington, d.c. about his book and how he's feeling after spending nearly a year in space.

scott kelly, thank you so much for joning us >> oh, you're very welcome. >> thompso so most people probablynow you as a record-setting astronaut. fewer probably know that you are also a photographer. i mean is ptooaphy something that you have always been interested in. ays.ou know, not alw i became an astronaut in 1996 and that was, you know,a few years before everyone had a camera in their pocket atall times. so you know, i think before then, photography wasme thing i maybe did on vacation a little bit. but as an astronaut, photography is a rlly big part of your job because we take f pictur scientific reasons. we take pictures for eneiing reasons. and then we take photos to, you know, share with the plic what we're doing in space.t so you know,came part of my job and i became interested in it but really as a result of flying in space.

>> the book is called infinite wonder. i mean what were youg to capture, what story are you trying to tell in. >> wl, you know, i think the book has three sections. it talks about the mission of flying in space. and there is a section called the natural world which is cectures of the earth or spa that you can kind of recognize what they are. and then the last section is a section that we call earth art. how you can take photos of the earth and really make it lok like a wall-worthy piece of artwork. >> thompson: you write in the book about the first time you launched into space and you looked down on earth. i mean you are one of the few human beings who will ever be able to s earth from this vantage point. can you describe in words how is feels the earth from there. >> yes where, so you know, my first flight we launched at night. aneing my first mission, even on my second mission when i

was the commander of the space shuttle, i didn't look out the window during ascent really one me because i was kind of focused on my job which was being either the pilot or commander of the space shuttle. and on my first flight it wasn't until we were in space for about 20 minutes that i just noticed something on the outside that caught my attention. i didn't even know what it is. i asked the commander of the crew, kurt brown, this was his 6th flight. i said what's that he aid that's the sun rise. and as, you know, the sun came up i just saw how incredibly breathe takingly beautiful our planet earth. is i knew rigthen and there i would never see anything like earth again from space, just, it is almost like someone took the most bri aiant blue paint just peanted it on a mirror right in front of my eyes. 57bd it was absolutely spectacular. >> thompson: as you said, some of the photos in the book are of life on the international space station. tell us a little bit more about your time up there.

there what mr. you doing and what was it lier to be up e for almost a year in the small space? >> in those photos i tried to capture a little bit of what people don't generally, you know, see on the space station. inlittle bit more of the money tain stuff of l and working in space, watching tv, having meal. you know, when you are there, ot the spacion for a long time, or our days ae, you know, filled with, without. we do a lot of work on board the space station. a lot of science experiments.f over the coursyear i was there we had over 400 science experiments going on. so most 6 your time is spent doing science, repairing the hardware that fails, the spce station just had its 20th birthday, the first piece was launched in 19989. souo i know,ave to do a lot of maintenance and then just the

taking care of theopace stan stuff. but do you have a few hours every day for, you know, doing things that are just for yo own enjoyment. one of the things i did was take a lot of pho ttos. mpson: a lot of 9 photos are abstract. are you almost not quite sur what you are looking at. what inspired you to take those. >> well, my mother was an amateur artisk and i thgot part of her artistic brain. eloped, youime dev know, a technique where i could take, you know, a closeup picture of the earth with a really long lens which is challenging when are you moving that five miles a second. so the camera has to move at a very fast but also steady rate to get an image that is in focus. and then using a software program i would enhance the colors a i wouldn't a colors but just enhance them to you know, brg out the natural colors.

>> thompson: can you talk a little bit more ooout how you these pictures. were there challenges to taking photos in outer space? >> well,here is a lot of-- there is alot of challenges. not only are you moving reall really fast, so you know, it takes a long time to develop, to get comfortable enough space where you have you know a steady enough hand to get pictures in focus. especially when you take pictures at night and you use cameraettings that are-- you are more likely to get bluriness due to your ability to track the earth's surface in a very steady and controlled way. >> thompson: part of the reason why you were up there r as long as you were so that researchers could study the effects of being in space that long on your body. you ve bn back now for a little over two years. how are you feeling well, i fee fine. i mean i don't have any symptoms

e being in sp for that long. i still have sphruk teurl-- structural changes in my eyes. me astronauts that have spent less time in space have that as well. it is a fairly common thing that we are trying to understand. i have had some genetic changes in gene expression, my understanding is 7 percentf my genes are expressing theming alves differently. but those arenthing that i can feel or are symptomatic. so to anser your question, i f feeline. >> thompson: retired astronaut scott kelly's new book is called "infinite wonder." thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you for having me. #r >> thompson: and finally tonight, there is something else to do online tomorrow during the cyber monday shopping frenzy. you can watch nasa's mars mission live as the "in sight" spacecraft attempts touch downed

on thelanet at approximately 3:00 p.m. eastern time. that's all for this edition of i'm megan thompson. thanks for watching. have a good night. captioning sponsed by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. iisue and edgar wachenheim seton melvin. the cheryl and philip milstein family. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundion. rosalind p. walter. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual rend group retirement products. that's why wour retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for blic broadcasting, and b contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.

thank you.

steves: while neighboring croatia is famous for its coastline, slovenia enjoytcits own 29-mile streof adriatic seafront. that's about one inch per resident. its best stop -- the town of piran.

many adriatic towns are ovcowhelmed by tourists anrete, but piran has kept itself charming and in remarkably good repai while holding the tourist sprawl at bay. crowded onto the tip of its peninsula, piran can't grow. the main square was once a protected harbor until it began to stink so badly they had to fill it in. a colorful mix of work and pleasure boats fill today's harbor. these days, pi, n's walls are invitingther than defensive, and the town is simply an enjoyable place in which to relax.pl exe the evocative back lanes. hike up to the cathedral. scale the vetian-style bell tower on top, catch your bs ath by enjoying view piran and nearly the entire slovenian coastline.

the traffic-free harbor front, lined with slovenes enjoying fresh seafood, is made to order for a stroll. swimmers frolic while sunbathers claim more than their share of the national coastline. piran clusters around its showpiece square, piazza tartini. as with most towns on the adriatic, it was long ruled by nearby venices and retas venetian flavor. in fact, the town is officially bilingual -- slovene and italian. today the square e isnjoyed by visitors and locals of all generations, savoring the good life where the slavic world, the alps, and the mediterranean all come together.

-explore new w worlds through programs like th. made available for everyone through contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. -all right, let me just check. is it -- is it vercrisp in the center, or should the mics be closer together? one, two. one, two. one, two. -for peter, paul and mary the folk festival at newport, rhode island, was the pinnacle of the folk renaissance of the early 1960s. for us, we could all feel the great sweep of the change that was going on around us, and music was driving it. [ cheers and applause ] -♪ if i had a hammer ♪ i'd hammer in the morning ♪ i'd hammer in the evening all over this land ♪ ♪ i'd hammer out danger