captioning sponsed by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff.ou on the newshr tonight, a deep freeze blankets the american midwest. cities like chicago are as cold as the arctic. how climate change drives e aklar vortex. then, protestersto the streets across venezuela amidst a power struggle over that country's presidency. e plus, would you chose to cyborg? we explore the promise and perils of putting microchips in humans. >> i can understand people have very strong view there's big ethical arguments around microchipping people. but currently it's by choice. no one is enforcing you have to be microchipped. if that happens, a cometely different ball game and lots more arguments to be had around it. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more acefulverdant and world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.on and byibutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: this has been a day for the record books. it was colder in parts of the american midwest today than it was at the south pole. the arctic assault claimed at least seven liv and disrupted planes, trains, automobiles, and just about everything else. visions of a frozen world. a wall of steam rose off lake

michigan in chicago thisin mo rivers in the windy city and detroit froze to sheets of ice. and in milwaukee, sub-zero readouts at a landmark clock tower were topped by flags standing at attention in windsls that sent chown to minus- 43. thhuman skin can freeze wiin 15 minutes in minus-25, as michigan's governor warned today. >> it's not just the person who is risking it by getting outside, it is other people, our first responders, who may have show up on the scene. and so it's important that people understand the magnitude of the issue. >> woodruff: all acrs the midwest, wind chills hit record ws today, from 70 below in parts of minnesota to 57 below in northern illinois to 40 below in michigan. hundreds of schools and businesses closed. homeless shelters from minnesota to michigan filled up with

people seeking refuge, including one native of hawaii. >> that wind chill out there is not even a joke. i feel sorry for anybody that has to stay outside. >> woodruff: officials in chicago even turned buses into mobile warming centers. >> if somebody's there that does not want to come to a city facility, again, the city will come to you and they can get on the bus and warm themselves up. >> woodruff: the cold took its toll in other ways, as w more than 1,600 flights from chicago's airports were canceled, and amtrak stopped all trains in and out of the city. minnesota pulled snowplows off the road in some places, saying drivers could freeze to death if their plows broke down. and, the u.s. postal service suspended someinr all delivery tstates. but, some people hbrave the brutal conditions, regardless. firefighters in hammond, indiana, battled a house fire in wind chills of minus-50.

and power crews tended to damaged and downed lines. others got creative, as in this facebook animation from a school superintendent in south dakota. >> i'm not a cold dog, i'm a hot dog. you cannot havschool! it's too cold outside. >> woodruff: but never too cold, apparently, for the arrowheade 135 endurace in northeastern minnesota. 13 hardy souls finished the three-day bike, ski and run today. in the day's other news, the federal reserve kept a key interest rate unchanged, and it and pledged to be patient in ordering future rate hikes. the central bank raised rates four times last year, and drew fire from president trump. but fed chair jerome powell sisted today that the turnabout is a response to economic conditions, not criticism. >> we're always going to do what

we think is the right thing. we're never going topoake tical considerations into account or discuss them as part of our work. you know, we're human. we make mistakes, but we're not going to makarmistakes of ter or integrity. i would want the pub ac to know th i would want them to see that in our actions. >> woodruff: the fed announcement went downon wall street. the dow jones industrial average jumped nearly 435 points to close at 25,014. the nasdaq rose 154 , and the s&p 500 added 41. president trump fired back today at his intelligence chdifs, who conted him before congress. they testified tuesday that north koa is unlikely to dismantle its nuclear arsenalhe and that t iran nuclear deal is still working. but the president tweeted today that the relationship with norto a is "the best it has ever been." he also declared: ahe intelligence people seem to be extremely passi naive when it comes to iran."

and, he suggested: "perhaps intelligence should go back to school." u.s. and chinese officials began high-stakes trade talks today in washington. negotiators do not expect a resolution after this round. instead, they hope for a deal before march 2nd. if there is no deal by then, the u.s. is set to increase tariffs on chinese goods from 10 to 25%. the european union has roundly rejected talk of re-negotiating britain's deal to leave the bloc. british lawmakers voted yesterday to replace a provision at keeps britain in the e.u. customs union.es it'sned to avoid a hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland. nin brussels today, europ commission president jean-claude juncker said the "withdrawal agreent will not be re- negotiated." >> the withdral agreement remains the best and only deal possible. the european union sain

november. we said so in december we said so after the first meaningful vote in the commo in january. the debates and votes in the house of commons yesterday do not change that. >> woodruff: british prime minister theresa may will w try to negotiate better terms, as time grows short. britain is less than two months away from its deadline of aving the e.u. in brazil, the death toll to 99 in the collapse of a mine waste dam last friday. more than 250 people are still missing. the collapse also released a torrent of iron oxide sludge. it's heading downstream toward a river that provides drinking water to hundreds of towns and cities. dangerous levels of air llution in thailand shut down more than 400 schools in bangkok today. officials said heavy traffic and stagnant air are causing aof builduiny particles in the air. bae air may not clear until next

week. in this country, isectronics giant foxconn is shifting a majornsin project from manufacturing to research. it cited changing market conditionsoday, but said it still wants to create 13,000 jobs. the original plaprwas hailed by ident trump. it called for foxconn to build liquid cryal display panels, and to receive $4 billion in tax incentives. and, the.s. house approved a pay raise for federal civilian workers today, in the wake o the government shutdown.o it amounts6%-- the same given to the military last year. majority democrats argued federal pay needs to keep upth he cost of living. most republicans opposed granting a blanket raise without performance reviews. still to come on the newshour: the connection between climate change andhe deadly cold sweeping the midwest.

protesters take to the streets amid political upheaval in venezuela. congress grapples with border security ahead of another looming deadline, and much more. >> woodruff: more than 80 million americans, about a quarter of the u.s. population, pected to deal with sub- zero temperatures this week. it's especially brutal in places that are long used tdeep freeze of winter. dnnesota, for example, co break temperature records dating back to the 1800s. this blast is tied to a huge pocket of cold air, now known as the lar vortex. there are lots of questions about that and amnnawaz is here to try to get some answers tonight. >> nawaz: judy, wind chis in several states have already dropped, or soon will drop, to e e negative 40s or 50s.

which leaves peoying to understand what is behind this weather phenomenon. is there a connection beeen climate change and this cold front? among those asking questions is president trump, a skepticimot only of cle change, but also the scientific consensus behind it. t as polar vortex set in earlier this week, the president tweeted: "what the hell is going on with global warming? please come back fast, we need you!" let's get a better understanding of what's behind the polar vortex, and any connection to climate change, with jennifer francis. she's a senior scientist at woods hole research center, welo known its work on the impact of climate change. >> jennifer ancis welcome to e newshour and thanks for making the time. the polar vortex is now a trending hashtag on twitter, lots of people have a lot of questions. let's start with that. what exactly is the polar very mperature and why were we dealing with it right now? >> yes. so the polar vortex is a new

word in the lexicon of americans, just starting a few yearago, and it gets used wrongly often. what te polar vy temperature truly is is way up in the atmosphere over the north pole, about 30 miles up is a ring of winds blowing in theun rclockwise direction that keep the cold air bottled up over the arctic, way high up in the atmosphere. so this is called thetrafs, stratospheric polar vortex and what it often gets used wrongly for is to the talk about the jet stream, which is much lower in the atmosphereable, it is really what creates all of our weaer at we feel down here on the surface. it is also a river of wind that flows around the northern hemisphere but at a much lower level. nningere are these two spi rivers of wind up over the northern hemisphere that control our weather and right now the true polar vor atex hasctually split into two, which doesn't happen very often, and one of

those loebs of cold air that is normally bottled up over the north pole has drifted down over l ofh america and brought u bro that cold air with it and that's why this particular 0 cold froni or colmass is just so severe. >> so that's high we are dealing with it right now, but you mentioned it split into two. explain that to me. ihy did that happen? >> what we th is happening that connects back to climate change is that, back in the summer we lost a lot of ice in a region just north of western alaska in the arctic ocean. that allowed a lot of extra heat to get absorbed in the water there and int the ice still s sn't grown back, and that heat then getemitted back to the atmosphere during the fall and winter when the cold air comes back, and it makes kind of a bull j in the atmphere anif that bulge gets big enough it can make the jet stream take a northern swing and if that northern swing is big en will send wave energy up into

the stratosphere where the polar vortex is andn it ca kind of knock it off its rocker, if you will, if you can thinkf a top spinning up there, it can bump into this top and get it to wobble and sometimes it wobbles so much that it acty uaeates this split in the polar vortex. >> so just to summarize you think that heat there, as a result of climate change, is basically causing a disruption in the polar vortex that alrea exists, that's what is calling it to shape shift and move and that's why we are exping it? now that's a link between client change and a this weaphther omenon; is that right. >> that's what we any is going on. it is a very new topic of it is certainly not settled. there are only a handful of papers that have come out so r that are supporting this hypothetical sister but it certainly looks like it, this year is a claxample, last year was too, and we think that this is a robust connection. >>oell let me ask you abut that, though, because if you don't know, if this is what we believe is actually happe then are people right to be

casting doubt on this? >> well, you know, that is how ience works. somebody has a hypothesis or an idea of how something is connected, they do a bunch of experienced, experiments, they look at the real world and analyze the real atmosphere and look at how things are connected to the reahel atmo and then sometimes they use numerical climate moels or sort of like our weather forecast models to try and simulate those connections. and by doing that, that gains eredibility and gives us some confidence that t sorts of cnnections exist. but the problem is the atmosphere is a very complex beast, so there is still lot 00ing -- lot of research to do but i think this concept has o gained a ltraction in the last few years and there is really -- there is really no alternative explanation other than this is just happened by random chce. >> dr. francis i would like you to make another ditincti between us between weather and

climate, the events we are seeing and taking about and a this overall trend of climate change. >> right.y, so more generalimate is just the long-term average of the weather conditions that happen in a given area, so for example, where i am right now in florida, typically it is a warmer climate than it is up in boston, where i usually live. so that would be climate. but weathers the day to day variations. some days it is colder than anormal, some days it ismer than normal, some days it rains harder tha day fluctuations are the weather. sometimes they are referred toi as theference between your personality, which is kind of how you are most of the time, and your mood on any given day. so it is that kind of aon relaip. but as we know, the climate is grad callly change, gradually changing, actually it is changingiapidly as rd to changes in the past but that is graduated change we are,

gradually change that is happening and we know why, it is because of human activities, including the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that trap a lot moreeat down by thspas. >> that's an important explanation and distinction, dr. jennifer francis, thank you so much for taking the time. >> you're welcome. >> >> woodruff: the showdown over the future of venezuela continued today both in caracas and in washington.to prot answered a call to take to the streets from the man the trump administration cognizes as the country's interim lead nick schifrin reports, today's protests come amid an intense push by the united states to push out venezuelan presidt nicolas maduro. >> libertad! libertad! >> schifrin: on the streets venezuela's capital today, a revitalized opposition demandeds freedom and exd confidence they could change the future. >> si se puede! si se puede!

>> schifrin: thousands of protestors filled caracas, calling for presidennicolas maduro's ouster. they braved physical threats to request new, free elections,thnd e transfer of power to national assembly head juan guaido. today guaido's supporters chanted that when he declared himself interim president last week, he brought back hope, as he was mobbed with cameras. >> ( translated ): i'm protesting because i want my >> schifrin: since the latest round of protests began last week, human rights groups say at least 35 people have been killed at security forces. today's demonstrns were smaller, but spread from areas that were once government strongholds, to elite caracas neighborhoods. "new york times" reporter ana vanessa herrero was there. >> the opposition asked everyon for twurs to stop what they were doing, and for exampleva here, it's a p hospital in the capital city.

in the east side of the captial toty. and we can see d, we can see nurses, stopping their jobs, stopping their day to day lives to protest against nicolas maduro. >> schifrin: maduro relies on the military's supportay in power. as seen on state tv totry, he rallieps, and offered to meet with the opposition. but he also opposes u.s. influence,nd today recorded a video message addressed to the american people. >> ( trslated ): i am appealing to your conscience, i am appealing to your solidarity, i am appealing for youo wake up to the truth. let's not permit a vietnam in latin america. if the united states tries to ttervene here, they will have a vietnam that's worn you can imagine. >> schifrin: but the u.s. is increasing its intervention. today president trump had the first phone conversation with guaido. on monday, national security advisor john bolton spoke to white house reporters while holding a notepad suggesting the

u.s. could deploy 5,000 troops to neighboring colombia. and the u.s. is trying to redirect payments for venezuelan oil, which account for 90% of the country's revenues, to today guaido's self-declared ambassador to the u.s. carlos vecc begun.that process had >> we want to start the processc ofer them, to control them. correct? we need, we want to do this, as i said before, progressively,de y, and following legal procedures. >> schifrin: but madruo has powerful allies. a russian plane was raotted at the s airport. russia could help target maduro enemies, and prop him up financially. today russian foreign minister sergei lavrov urged guaido to accept international mediation. >> ( translated ): we call on the opposition to dilay a similar constructive approach, reject ultimatums and act independently, basing thei decisions only on the interests of the venezuelan people.

>> schifrin: but many venezuelan people argue their country has collapsed. supermarket shelves are empty because there's been a shortage of food. medical patients have protested a shortage of medicine. children play in the dark because of a shortage of power. and inflation is more than one million percent. the economic collapse has sparked the region's largest ever exodus. and now, led by a new, popular position figure, demonstrators say they have nothing else to lose, and vow to keep fighting. so is the u.s. making the rightn decisionenezuela? for more on this we're joined by benjamin gedan. he was the south america director on the nation curity council staff during the obama administration. he's now with the woodrow wilson international center for scholars. anisaias medina, he was a senior diplomat at the united nations under nicolas maduro.cl he pubresigned in 2017 in protest of human rights violations. >> thank you very much to you both. m isaiina, let me start with you. this is one of the most pts by the att

united states to change a government in latin america in decades. do you sport it? >> first of all, thank you, for having me in your program and anks, pbs for their interest in the dire situation in my country. i not only i but 30 million people support not only the u.s. circumstance but also the latin-american initiative to restore the rule of law, democracy and freedom in venezuela. >> okay. so benjamin gedan let me ask you about some spcifics about what the u.s. has pursued, as we just discussed trying to divert somew of the moneyy from nicolas maduro on oil, which is about 90 percent of venezuelan revenue and also a lot of discussion from the national secity advisor about possibly using troops or suggestions there could be troopsxtent to columbia, do you support those two moves. ps i think both of those ste are problem ten, i think the sense of urgency the united

states administration has shown is absolutely correct. the situation is tragic. e is heartbreaking, the lack of food and medic venezuela, the question is how can we assist the venezuelan people efomote a pe transition in venezuela without harming the people themselves or fracturing the coalition that we have built .over two administratio >> so isaias medina, let me drill into that a little bit.m there are e fears that diverting the oil revenues will hurt the venezuelan people themselves. you have already got three and f half million ugees, those numbers could go up, and a lot of talk of tops and as ben just said, ben risking the, in, in congress and regional support in the region. the do do you ha those sam fears? >> no, i actually belief that the forced displacement of 3.5 million refpiugees llover into neighboring countries is actually because maguro's ime has been oppressing, and rampant violencethere is a

humanitarian apocalypse that has been caused and inducedy maduro's regime and the targeted oil sanctions have been right on point, coordinated with president guaido and will crush ththe financial boost from maduo to keep harping the venezuelan civilian population. >> benjamin gedan what is wrong with trying to crush maduro's economy? >> that means crushing the venezuelan people, i don't think these people can bear anymoreer sug. the fact these refugees have lyft venezuela and these migrants is certaa sign that the situation is poorly imagined by the authorities to say the least. the question is how can you affect a transition there without worsening the migrar on crisise humanitarian a crisis and i am not sure we pound the right tools by threatening an invasion or cutting off entirely the economic lifeblood of the economy. >> isaias medina, national security advisors reference to 5,000 troops in columbian hi

pad he consistently says all options are on the tale. is that helpful? >> yes. you know why? because there is a proxy failed estate, state with at least 22,000 cuban agents that have infiltrated the armed forces. they are running the show and then we have also the financial clout of chi with $65 billion in loans and we have the military footprintf russia with at least $12 billion in arms and weweesday so if o do not show our strength now we will not be able to either ofer a way out, there either can be a peacefulay out or he will choose with his very violate anti-western rhetoric. but what we have to look at here is that more than half a million venezuelans have been silently exterminated by this humanitarian cris, which has been induced to maintain the regime in power so it is very important that we have a show of strength andhat

we can bring humanitarian aid as soon as posible. it needs to be with military support, so be it. venezuelans will welcome thooe from a coalition that will preserve the humanitaria aid with open arms. >> benjamin gedan, how do you get that humanitarian aid into venezuela if you don't have some kind of military? backi >> i think the first thing you can do is provide humanitarian aiento the ezuelans who left, i think the united states has not been generous in that regard, the millions of venezuelans that fled could use u.s. support, about $100 millioo the u.s.mitted it needs to be more generous and morer protections e venezuelans in the united states seeking asylum. >> to get aidnto the venezuela. i don't see any solution to that other than a peaceful transition of power in venezuela. >> isaias medina, i want to quickly get to you on the future. will the military continue to support nicolas maduro?

quickly. >> well, first of all, we need to separate a distinction ttween what there are militaries, they ags, they are involved in drug trafficking and linsmks to terronational organized crime and wearing a uniform, for example, just look at this. there are 1,000 generals in the armed forces of venezuela for 100,000 troops. so honestly, i believe that right now, progressively and slowly, some soldiers and police and even dissidents have shown the support to presint guaido's government, but it is not enough. people a dying daily on the basis of hundreds of people just from weaponization of starvation and medicines scarcity. so we will see progressive deterioration of the armed forces, but we need fasterso tions to this huge humanitarian crisis. >> benjamin gedan. >> i think for members of the

military have been robbing venezuela for years, i think they will stick to the t government unte absolute last minute. some type of amnesty is nded when they decided they got a bad deck of cards. >> isaias medina, benjamin uedan, thank you both. >> thank yo. >> >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: erthe ethical arguments ovuman microchipping. undocumented employees fired from the trump national golf club. and author sarah smarsh on the false political categories thati de us. but first, today was the first meeting of the bipartisan group in congress tasked with coming up with a border security bill president trump will sign. with just over two weeks until government funding runs out

again, mr. trump said today lawmakers are "wasting their time" if they don't discusa wall. rereblican senator shelley m capito of west virginia is part of the conference committee and joins me now. >> woodruff: senator, welcome back to the newshour. so how did this meeting today go? >> actually, i think it went very wl. we went as a united body ofpu icans and democrats, house and senate expressed our geat desire to reach a conclusion and then we talked, you know, eachon of us about the areas of possible contention, but also the areas of agreement. i felt really good coming out of. there i tend to be an optimist anyway but i think it is importa on a lot of different levels that we solve this issue. >> woodruff: what we heard the democrats saying among others who represented -- of coue who is in house appropriations committee say that democratare prepared to expand on the 1.6ll

n that had been in the original proposal for border security. >> uh-huh. >> woodruff: but there was no specific mention ofa physical barrier, of a wall. how do you read that? >> well, i tnk, you know, i can congratulate her for keepini an ope here. i think all of us talked about how we need more technology, a smarter technology, but we also need more personnel and then we get to the issue of a physical barrier. as you know it gets into semantics sometimes. is it a wal? is it fence? is it a levy? i think if we look at the exrts, which is the customs and border patrol, they think they need all of the above, which includes a physical barrier. now, remember, on the senate side, 10 democrats voted for 1.6 billion a barrier, a pedestrian fencing, in the bill we voted on j inune. >> woodruff: so let's go to the semantics. i mean you mentioned fencing. you mentioned a le. >> yes. >> woodruff: is that the kind of conversation you are going to

be having aboouut you define something as a physical barrier that would sat the president and that the democrats would be prepared to go along with? >> welwh i think that'ere the sweet spot is here. i think we agree on so mch more humanitarian aid and technologya and all d more border agent as, we have got to find that point at which s it saya physical barrier which is what the cpb is asng for that is effective the in the more populated areas of texas, wheree ee most of the illegal immigration occurring. and i thheink democrats are open to this, and it could be how we phrase it and i think veat is going to be critical, but we have to hhe president's support in order for him to sign it and that is -- that is also critical. >> wiodruff: sove us a sense of how that conversation goes. i mean, do you literally sit a around the tabd look at photographs or artistic renderings of whatme kind of

barrier could look like? >> well, i think that that is where we really need to leave it to the professionals. i mean, some of its i still fencing, some of it is gates for vehicles that can't get through. some of it is access roads int these areas. it is a wholeariety of different things that go into rder security or prevention, and, you know, this is the challenge, i think for us to make sure that we are not hitting any ofhe hotutton words like a concrete wall would be a hot button word, i belhiev, and at we go to fencing, preventative measures, levieshe and things. >> woodruff: do you have something in mind right now that might be that sweet spoatt you just mentioned? >> well, we have a bill that te senators vor that has 1.6 billion, as i mentioned on pedestrian fencing:it also has some technology. the president came back with a greater ask, and expressed his concern about the numbers goinga

the different ways that people are coming across. they are not coming across the single men anymore, it is families that is really putting a crush on the system not to just figure out from a humanitarian way how to take care of it but how to process people. so i think a lot of it is going to bi-- the talk s going to be around what we do about a barrier or fencebut really i think we need to have some of that and have a lot of the other and all of that under the umbrella of border security. >> woodruff: how much is the present himself going to be involved in these talks a? i mean, i assume somebody on the committee going to be briefing him wherever day? can you make a move othi committee without the president being on board? >> well, it isncumbent upon us pe appropriate fors, we are the ones that are theing body that initiates the spending. that is our .. prerogative, and i think that we arell pretty committed in there to follow through on that for a couple of reasons.er nune, it sets a precedent

for the next two years, but people lost a lot of trust in this government over the shutdown. we need to restore that trust and one way we can do it is getting a compromise between u, the president is going to be in the room, i am sure his folks were there tday. i would expect that to be part of the conversation, just like x ct speaker's people to be there and leader mcconnell's people to be there. but really it ro us in thaom that is the most important core. th woodruff: so it sounds like you are saying bot president and the speaker back off, because we are the ones wh are go get this done?. >> well, there were a couple of people that actually expressed that thoughtn their public statements, you know, if we just put, just put us in a room weis can figure tut pretty quickly. testosterontess and i have donea bipartisan bill and ribbed each utother in that directiont the end of the day the speaker is important and so is the president in terms of getisting cross the finish line. >> woodruff: you mentioned of j

course senat tester just then. but finally, senator, you don't -- do you have every confidence now that you can come to an agreement or how worried are you stil >> i am concerned. i am concerned because it has gotten so po i will say that in our opening statements as much as we could we stuck to the will to succeed heren both sides, and that to they is a good signal. in other words, there was no bomb throwing, well, there was minimum bomb throwing. i will put it that way. and i think that is good. i am optimist and a natural optimist anyway, but i think ita is imp to us to make our mark and to make this decision and to 0 convince the president and others that this is -- this is a good, solid move towards border security. >> woodrufyi but you are that you think -- you see good faith there on the part of tort party? >> oh, definitely, definitely. >> woodruff: senator shelley moore capito, working with this

conference committee trying to come up with a solution. thank you very much.>> hank you. in >> woodruff: anse debate is underway over the benefits and drawbacks of human micro chips. they're used to identify ranch animals and petscross the but the practice of implanting chips in people is on the rise. those who are embracinit believe they are taking back control of their personal dare. but othersorried about how that data could be used. special correspondent malcolm brabant reports from southern england as part of our breakthrough series on the leading edge of science technology and medicine.. >> i don't want to lead a normal life. i want to lead an exceptional life. and i want to try things and do things that perhaps others in my situion have never done. >> reporter: meet alex lewis.

interior designer, businessman, adventurer and motivat speaker. >> we were just an ordinary family. me, lucy, and our son sam. then just over two years ago, i caught a common cold. it was to change the cours my life overnight. i'm in this condition because of an incredibly rare case of strep a. and it led to toxic shock syndrome, septicaemia and subsequently sepsis. i lost all four limbs within six or seven months.x >> reporter: a a pathfinder for those with serious medical conditions. in the remains of each arm, a micro chip has been implanted. one is to hold medical information. the other for a chore the able bodiedake for granted. >> for me as arosthetic user, one of the fiddliest things is keys. keys are a nightmare for us. and e microchip, when lookin in to it, we realized quite quickly it could save a lot of time. soor me it was going to be

beneficial for that, i could lose 15 nutes trying to get in my front door. i could lose ten minutes trying to get out of my back door. and now all that's been saved. >> reporter: these microchips contain a system known as near field communications. it's exactly the same type of technology used in contactless debit and credit cards. like the bank cards, the chip's information can be scanned. but it cannot transmit. once banking security has been configured, developers believe consumers will soon be free to spend with the implant. a british railway ticket. but it's much different in sweden, a coletry supposedly ading the micro chip revolution.he on tountry's high speed rail lines, for the past 18 months, ntplanted passengers have put their travel payn the chip. >> i think its really good with a chip ticket. i love all companies that use the chip technology. >> reporter: but the rail company is stopping the micro chip emberiment. the of implanted

passengers is relatively small, thand it wants to pursue oke forms of ticng. this is not a setback, insists m swedenro chip pioneer jowan osterlund, a former body piercer, seen here giving a ted talk. >> we can doasier travel. we can do faster and safer payments. we can do something as mundane as opening a door. i mean, the opportunities are endless. >> unfortunately, these innovators often don't think about the political mifications. >> reporter: gus hosein is the executive director of privacy international, a non profit that challenges over reaching state and corporate surveillance. >> in today's worldul partly, we have to imagine how governments and ambitious politicians and even how ambitious corporate executives will try to imagine putting this type of technology into you so they can exploit your data and ultimately exploit you.as >> i'm going tyou to keep

your hand nice and relaxed like it is. >> reporter: i.t. student kieran anderson is being chipped by dr. geoff watson, a consultant i anaesthetist wdriving research into the medical benefits. >> the micro chip is actuallyde inere and there's a sort of an introducer piece of plastic that will push it out once it's in. ay, so this is the implant coming now.t you'll feel a pressure and a bit of a clunk. so you are now a cyborg, welce. >> not to painful, fine. >> kiern has a near field communicion micro chip in his hand. and that can be used to store data, store information, his name address and contact details, anything he chooses to iet on there. blood type, alle drugs, basic medical information. >> the idea of everything being able to communicate together excites me quite a lot. so automatic payments aninthat sort of without you having to do anything. >> the idea of this chip is that it's not transmitting anything. it has to be actively read.

you oose who can read it and when they can read it. i think that gives a lot more control over our personal information than your mole phone is giving away. >> reporter: but privacy international's gus hein is yet to be convinced. >> already governments are keen to capture your fingerprints. they are keen to capture your iris scans and they want to be able to do this at a distance so they can identify you as you walk through areas.g they're docial recognition. these are all fallible technologies. they're hard to do well. but the idea that they couldt actually jbed you. it is the modern form of tattooing bar codes on people and we've seen governments doth thate past. this just the next generation.r: >> reporteut steve northam the co owner of the british implant company believes those fears are exaggerated. >> so i've been compared to hitler before for microchipping people.co it's beeented, but i mean, i can't really see the connection personally. i can understand people have

very strong views. there are big ethical arguments around microchipping people. but currently it's by choice. no one is enforcing you have to be microchipped. if that happens, a cometely different ball game and lots more arguments to be had around it. >> reporter: eddie curry favs using chips to repce keys at his weekly newspaper on england's southern coast. he fears his newspaper iat risk in the changing global media market and wants to attract new income by turning the company into a hub for digital innovators. >> i'm well aware that this technology could be used for sorts of sinister things but for us here, we're an ethical firm, we don't envisage doing anything more than that and we wouldn't force anyone to have one because we understand they may be reticent about it. >> reporter: but the majority of staff have rejected the offer to be chipped. the benefits, you know of just being able to open a door, wouldn't really be sufficient fome to have something implanted in my body. i haven't any concerns because

this is obviously quite a small company and i don't think it will be abused here. >> i supposed somebody has got to be the trailblazer so other people can see how it works, but i don't want that to be me. >> reporter: geoff watson seesot hugetial, especially in the medical field for those with illnesses such as diabetes. >> take a diabetic who collapses in the street. and people don't know what to do. by the time the ambulance has arrived and works things out, it make take hours beforeare properly treated, whereas a simple instrtion read from the phone, my name is joe bloggs, please contact this number for my next of kin, i'm diabic, please give me some sugar and it should make me feel better. those kind of things could mak life changing advances for individuals. >> reporte the chips can be read by scanners installed in the latest mobile phones. so how easy is it would it be for a hacker to steal the informatiofrom the implants used by alex and others?

ul any technology is open to abuse and anybody be able to hack it. in order to hack these devices it has to be held still for a period of time.it at the moment akes about three to four hours to hack it. >> reporter: alex's wife lucy is not troubled by security concerns and is looking forward to the second generation of chips. >> alex travels overseas an awful lot. before he goes overseas i have to do this whole packaging of what medication he's on.po and passrts. i'm always worried about who's got his passport. and so all of those gs it e ll eventually come into its own he'll be ablto use all of that information without me worrying about where it is or who it's with. >> reporter: at the mo alexwi lerelies on a driver. but he hopes the next breed of implants will put him behind the wheel. >> to be able to get into the car, to be able to start it without any kind of key, with the microchito start the car would be fantastic. but it just opens up a bit more freedom for me.

>> reporter: privacy international's gus hose insists he is not a luddite, a person opposed to new technology. >> every technology that comes along has to be treated with complete suspicion untre able to sort out the ethical barriers around our actions. >> i live an incredible life, a life i'm incredibly happy to be living. >> reporter: as this technology improves, the debate will intensify as to whether implants generate or diminish freedom, al s the many shades of grey in between. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolbrabant in southern england. >> woodruff: president trump'srd ine stance on immigration has been a central tenet through his candidacy and presidency. but what happens when that clashes with his financial interests? recent reports suggest his business empire may have

employed undocumented workers, some of them for years.ch yaalcindor begins there. >> alcindor: last night, the president's son eric trump announced that the trump inorganization will begin e- verify. the system is used to check employment documents and weeed out undocumemmigrants. over the weekend, the "washington post" reportednehat a trump gulf club in new york fired about a dozen undocumented workers. david fahrentholis one of the reporters who broke that story. he joins me now. >> thanks so much for being here. you reported some of these undocumented workers had been working for trump owned properties for years. tell me a little bit more about these workers and how did they under the radar for so long? >> well, these are folks that were originally maiy from mexico, some from other countries in latin america and have come to the u.ss. motly on e ot, crossed the warden on foot and the were at tlf course in new york city. >> some have been there since 2000, 2001, but all have been there at least three years and they were sort of the about a backbola of the blue col

staff of this club, we are not talk tact wintertime club.ec itases from a few dozen down to only about 20 in the winter, d these folks, there were 12 of them kept on so that is at least half of the entire wintertime staff of the club that turned out upon further review to be undocumgrted imts. >> i want to play a video of a woman named marguerite cruz, she at a golf club in new york for eight a years, housekeeping sthof. let's just people what she was talking about. >> for them to tell you from one day to another, you know what? this is er and that is it, they change your life from one day to another without thinking. how can they beso cruel to simply say it is over after s many years of employment? >> she is talking about cruelty and she sounds ditraught. how is she and other workers at have been laid off or fired now, how are they coping with this and what do they want to >> well they feel sort of discarred, so clearly these pembroke the law as well, they

brought fraudulent documents and submitted them to the trump organization 0 and in is a bargain that a lot of employers have, undocunted employees, they work very hard and accept fie lack of advancement and not as many be as legal employees do but in return they get steady work and they get, employers who don't ask questions and that had been the way the trump club worked forny many years and felt very safe there and then all of 0 a sudden the trump club says wait we didn't know these people were undocumented. they thought that was hypocrisy so now they are hoping bygi br more attention to themselves by raising awareness about their case bloat the media and capitol hill where they have been this week they can sort of protect themselves through publicity and maybe they won be deported now because ice will fear the publicity of taking them away, they are also hopthig e are special categories of visas for folks who have been the victim of crimes or o are material witnesses in important investigations. they are hoping perhaps that they can be deemed to be one of those two categories by somebody as a result of coming forward ord then they might get legal status, at leasthe course of the investigation. >> i want to tak take a step ba.

the president still ows s business, which includes 11 hotels around the world and 16 golf courses. what is ur sense of how much the president and managers knew about these people's statuses? and how widespread do you think these firings have been? >> so in terms of the questio e of whese is this happened? we don't know. we know about two clubs, westchester where illegal immigrants have been identified and fired a in last few weeks ananother trump golf cbs that share similar characteristics and not enrolled in he he verify and on the east coast it seems possible there could be undocumented migrants in those places as well but we haven't been able to manage any ose folks so far. >> and one of most striking things about the reporting that you did is that you have workers describing the president as giving them hundreds of dollars in tips, as being nice to them, even helping them clean windows when they can't reach at a times, that was in other reporting but also have a president who just shut down the government for 35 days because of border wallfunding and border security. how do you reconcile what the president really bieves about

immigration? >> you are right about that contrast, these folks, i mentioned earlier there were definitely down sides to working as i immigrant. trump club felt like they had no chance to advance, to a management positions or better positions. they felt like they weren't p, d as muuldn't get as many benefits and when president trump got into the prsidential race and they saw loo that like the rest of us they starting calling mexicans rapists and brought crime and drugs when they s that, well, yow, how could he think that about us? we worked for him forso long 0 and they said one interesting aftereffectffect of at was nothing changed at that club, they were worried he is staying that in public as a political figure he is going to crk down onus the club and things will exchange for us and they said they said that people at the club considered it sort of a matter for the outside world, inside their world, nothing changed until right now. >> and we have abut 30 sends left i want to ask you about the change you mentioned to he he verify, what impact might that change to he verify have and are

there any consequences that you think the trump organization might face because they employe so many undocumented immigrants? >> it is hard to know if they will face legncal conseq for what they have already done. g the attorneral is investigating and somebody may come out of that, he verify and to go to all legal workers could be tremendously costly for the trump organization. there is a reason people don't do he verify is leal workers usually cost more, and if they are going to go to he verify d use legal workers, new legal workers in many cases for a housekeepi grounds keeping it will raise their labor costs tremendously at these clubs and it will be interesting to see how that affects the business. >> thank you so much for joi us, david farenthold of the "washington post". >> and a postscript late today >> woodruff: late today, one of the workers fired from the trump tional golf club has bee invited to attend the state of the union address. democratic congresswoman bonnie watson colemanw jersey asked victorina morales be her guest at the capitol.

>> woodruff: political labs can be convenient, but are they helpful. d we ait-- in the media, around the dinner table, with our friends and colleagues. trying to understand our country politically, we reach for shorthand: red versus blue. rich versus poor. what if we put an end to binary thinking? tonight, author and journalist sarah smarsh offins her humble n, on why we need to drop the labels. >> i grew up on a wheat farm in kansas as the fifth generation of my family to work that same patch of land. i'm the first woman in my direct naternal line, back to w women wore corsets, to not have a baby as a teenager. most of the brilliant people ind grew up aridn't finish high school, let alone college. their life outcomes, i assure

you, had far more to do with powerful forces like policy and culture than with inal merit. on my professional path, i've entered spaces no one i knew had ever neared: an ivy league university, the "new york times," the national book awards. i now have a foot in two different worlds, allowing me to gll b.s. on stories claim they contain two innately diff my work as a journalist and my day-to-day le in kansas tell me that most folks, not all, but most, want a fair and decent society. but they have different influences, some with daerous intentions, telling them how to make it so. my own ideas changed when i wa in my early 20s. was i a less moral and decent person before then? no. what changed was my environmentn anrmation sources, from a conservative small town to a liberal college campus with peers from liberal households. with such different experiences, we don't even share a common set of definitions.

some women, for instance, have been taught to reject the word "feminist" even as they exemplify feminism every day: taking no flak, being the breadwinners of their households. that's where we're divided-- our social influences and media streams-- not in our hearts and humanity. and those divisions aren't predicted by location or identity. judging by state election outcomes, about 40% of americans vote for the party that usually loere they live. they are erased by reductive political headlines, as areho millionsefy prevailingei stories about race or class, the conservative christian or my dad and my partner, both of whom are white construction workers who vote for democratic socialists. let's keep refusing to compromise with those who would harm our country, our communities, our children. but let's drop the bogus frameworks of red vs. blue, urban vs. rural-- misl categories that drive tv ratingd up but shut n to one another.

and let's resist the temptation to view our political affiliation as a mark of inner superiority. moreikely, it's a mark of ou experiences, and many we perceive as our enemies aren't so different at their core. a >> woodruf that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: er >> og takeout. >> finding the west route. >> talking for hours. >> planning for showers. ou can do the things you like to do with a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from vwers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. tension in venezuela, waiting to see which way the army goes after the u.s. and allies recognize thenterim president, democratic senator bob menendez joins me as welley as a ally of new leader juan guaido. then, nancy pelosi one, donald trump zero. how the speaker of the house ou layed the president in this round. former republican congresswoman mia love, and one-time vice prident of the trump organization barbara res join me., plnancial guru andrew ross sorkin tells us 're overdue for a financial crisis.