y captioning sponsored newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: brexit in the balance. the u.k. parliament rejects prime minister may's lest plan to leave the european union at the end of the month. then, grounding the fleet. the u.s. continues to allow the boeing 787-max jets to fly, as europe and others countries ban them from the skies. and, "varsity blues." dozens of parents and coaches le indicted, after a fede investigation into widespread college admissions fraud at elite universities. plus, we return to the southern ndrder, this time in mexico, to examine the harsh ions and uncertainty faced by migrant families waiting to enter the u.s. legally.

>> ( translated ): until a fewth months agomajority of the mapulation that came to this shelter were menly men. but this started to change drastically when violence and unemployment started t increase. then, entire families started crossing. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs nshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: n on a cruise with american cruise lines, yoexperience historic destinations along the mississippi river, the columbia river and across the united states. american cruise lines' fleet of small ships explore amican landmarks, local cultures and calm waterways. american cruise lines, proud

sponsor of pbs newshour. >> text night and day. >> catch it on replay. >> burning some fat. >> sharing the latest viral cat! >> you can do the things youit like to doa wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> bnsf railway. >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, german, italian, and more. s: and with the ongoing support of these instituti >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. d by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the british parliament has issuea stunning new statement on brexit tonight: it won't buy the prime

minister's plan to leave the europeannion. what it will buy instead, is anything but clear, after rejecting e plan by nearly 150 votes. special correspondent ryan chilcote reports froon. >> if this vote is not passed tonight, if this deal is not passed, then brexit could be lost. >> reporter: the future of britain's exit from the european union was on the line-- in a day-long debate-- as was prime minister theresa may's political career.ok may with a hoarse voice that underscored her exhaustion from a last-ditch effort to push her amended brexit deal through parliament. >> i believe it is absolutely imperative for this house that we meet the decision that was taken by the british people in june 2016, that we deliver on that referendum, and that we deliver brexit for the british people.ep >>ter: her original brexit plan suffered a first resounding defeat by a historic margin back in january.

>> the ayes to the right, 242. the nos tohe left, 391. >> reporter: with that weighing ison her mind, the prime mter made an 11th-hour trip t strasbourg, france last night to seek new concessions from the european commission's presidenth they r "legally binding changes" on one of the deal's main sticking points: the so-called "irish backstop" thahe would ensureorder between e.u. member ireland and the united kingdom's northern ireland remains open after brexit.e the goal: for k. not to be tied to the e.u. and its trade rules indefinitely-- should they be unable to agree on the nare of their future relationship. right now, the border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland is all but govisible. that means cars ans can cross freely. may's original brexit strategy would have kept that border open. >> a joint instrument with comparable legal weight to the withdrawal agreement will guarantee that the e.u. cannot act with the intent of applying

the backstop indefinitely. >> reporter: but that assurance also came with a warning... >> in politics, sometimes you get a second chance. it is what we do with this second chance that counts, because there will be no third chance. there will be no further interpretation of the interpretations, and no further nces of the reassurances >> reporter: then this morning, britain's attorney general, geoffrey cox, took the wind out of may's sails, issuing a legal assement that the changes u.duce-- but do not eliminate-- the risk that the could remain trapped in a trade union with the e.u. >> the question for the house is whether, in e light of these improvements, as antolitical judgthe house should now enter in to those arrangements. however, the matters of law affecting withdrawal can only inform what is essenti political decision that each of us must make.

>> reporter: the magnitude of that political decision fueled passionate debate in the house of commons. >> the honorable gentleman's cheeky, chappyhortling and chuckling away from a sedentary position, but it's been made perfectly clear that the pri minister's not giving way. >> reporter: opposition labour party leader jeremy corbyn was among those who rejected the deal. >> after three months of running down the clock, the prime minister has, despite very extensive delays, achieved not a ngle change to the withdrawal agreement. not one single word has changed. >> reporter: opponents again zeroed in on the so-called irisb kstop." >> if, in december 2020, tternate arrangements are found for the backstop, we'll have a hotel california brexit where we will have checked out, but we won't be leaving. >> reporter: critically, many of may's own allies-- like northern ireland's democratic unionistre party-- sed to support the divorce agreement. with her coalition crumbli around her, the prime minister's brexit strategy failed to win passage. >> the ayes to the right, 242.

the nos to the left, 391. so the nosave it. the nos have it. gr reporter: it all le >> i profoundly the decision that this house has taken tonight. i continue to bereave that by far the best t outcome ist the united kingdom leave the eupean union in an orderly fashion with a deal. >> as for the european union and its leaders, theye saying, look, there have been months and months of negotiations. leave theecided european union two and a half years ago. they're holding firm and they're toying they're not going renegotiate the terms of the .u..'s exit from the e judy? >> woodruff: so, ryan, what a spectacle. tell us what's nex >> well, tomorrow the parliament is going to vote on whether the u.k. should exit the european union withoua deal with the

e.u. she doesn't think that's a good idea. hat said, there are people who support brexit think it's a good idea, that actually the u.k. would have more autonomy to uursue the kind of trade deals it would like thersue. now, if that didn't get supported, if the parliamentarians is we do have to have a deal, then on thursday they'll have anoer vote where they'll be asked whether the deadline, the march 29 deadline when the u.k. is supposed to leave the e.u., whether that should be extende pushed back. so two more votes coming quite possibly this week. >> woodruff: and so, ryan, i know there are a number of directions this could g but what are the options after this? >> so the two logical options are, one, that the u.k. chooses to push -- pursue a new deal with the european union. right now the e.u. is saying ey're not going to renegotiate the exit term, however, the e.u. would love if the u.k. came back

with a softer brexit, if they wanted to leave the e.u. but have a closer relationship ter this with the european union. that would require the prime minister to reach across party lines to the leader oe opposition, to jeremy corbyn, atd do some kind of deal th they have already said that they would support, a softer brexit. that seems pretty difficult to imine, you know, they really don't like one another. there isn't that kind of bipartisan lov if you will, to see something like that happen. the other option is that th goes back to the british people, a second referendum. they could be askeddo you support the prime minister's deal that sheached with the european union? obviously it's been rejected by the particle, but the people would be asked, or do you think the t k., now tha know what we know, should remain in the european union? those are really the only two options on the table. judy? >> woodruff: the drama continues. ryan chilcote reporting for us from london. thank you, ryan. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: and we contin our look at today's vote and where the u.k. goes from here, with sir peter westmacott. he h a 40-year career in the british diplomatic service and served has his country's ambassador to the united states. sir peter westmacott, welcome back to the newshour. so what does today's parliament vote rejecting this latest plan, at does it mean for the prospects of britain leaving the liu.? is it now morkely or less likely? >> well, we are now in a state of some political meltdown, as your correspondent was just plaining. i think at the moment it means that it is less likely that we leave on the 29th of march as scheduled becausef today's vote, which was resoundingly against trees -- theresa may's package, but also because parliamentarians are very likely to vote heavily against the idea of leaving with no deal some if u haven't got theresa m's

deal and you haven't got no deal, then what have you got on thursday there will be a vote about whether to ask for an extensioof the 29th of march deadline from the european commission. at the moment that is what ismo likely to happen in the near future. so i think leaving on the 29th of march is feeling a tittle less likely than it was before tonight's >> woodruff: so you're saying parliamentarians tomorrow likely to say, okay, we need some kind of deal if we're going the leave, the question is what does itook like? >> well, it's not even as clear as that i'm afraid, judy. parliamentarians will like say, we don't like the idea of crashing out, because it be kay yacht nick a whole will the of different ways. neither the european union or the unit kingdom is ready for that. but what they're not saying is what they would like, and that's part of the prime minister's she rushed off to strasbourg over the weekend to put a few improvements to her parkage, but without checking first that her

own law officer, the attorney general, thought the package would do the trick. he oped and said doesn't give the legal guarantees she had hoped for, so the result was that parliament said this isn't good enough. so we're a bit stuck in that sense. the most likely thintherefore is extending the timetable if the european side will agree, and a lot of the signs this ssening since the vote are that the european comn and the european member states are not giving this away for nothing,l that they whave their own views as to how long the extension might be and there be some conditions that are not to the liking of the united kingdom.i so you could end up crashing out, but it feels to me not so likely that it will happen on the 29th of march because there is liely to be a vote for an extension if the europeans agree to it on thursd p. >> woodrufer westmacott, why has this been so messy and so difficult? what's at the core of what's going on here? >> the core of it, judy, is that

it was always going to be very, very difficult. you know, you can decide if you have a becomes of eggs in front of you whether you want to scramble them, frye thm, poach them, whatever, but once you've scrambled them, unscrambling them is a very difficult thing to do, and many of us said at at the time. fast forward to the results of the referendum, one of the problems is that theresa may decided in order to get a fresh mandate and a bigger majority, she would hold a general election when s ddn't need to 18 months or so ago, and she lost her majority with itso. ow she's totally dependent on getting any business done in the house of commons on ten votes from northern irish meers of parliament. frankly it's clear if the attorney general had said it was okay legally, prtebably thosn democratic unionist party m.p.s would have said we can a live with id probably enough of the conservative brexit supporters would have gone along with it, as well some she's

somewhat held hostage by these ten votes in northern ireland because of the fact she lost her majority earlier on. so that's made the government position politically extremely fragile all the way through. added to that, i thnk the conservatives, never mind the majority or the lack thereof, has had al difficulty working out mention themselves what sort t. brexit they wan they have been indecisive, unable to sort things out, so there has been a great deal of muddle over the last two and a half years to the frustraon of a lot of the british people. >> woodruff: is that any one o person's fauis it the fault of the system? >> well, you can point the finger of blame at lots of. peop you can point the finger of blame if you wish to at david camerofor having called the referendum in the first place thinking he would be able to win it if it happened. you canpoint the figer of blame to the prime minister because she is the head of the vernment which has conducted these negotiations to no avail over the last two three years, or you can point the finger of blame to some very

hard-line brexiteers who promised a number of things which have turned out to be fietser true nor deliverful. and they have hung in thereme making the pinister's life extremely difficult. some people would say the commission istransgent. i don't buy that. it was the british people who asked to leave, and we're te ones who brought this upon ourselves. we asked for this. and then we asked for it to be changed. so i tnk it's a little harsh to say the people in brussels have been inflex >> woodruff: so very quickly, finally, why should the rest of the world pay close attention to this, the united states, the rest of the global economy? >> i think it matters to the united states for two principle reasons. one is the united kingdom is a ry business friendly economy, which is the obvious port of entry, especially fo english-speaking people to the

european marott. we've hadof investment from companies building and investing in the u.k. to get access to the e.u. if that's taken away by the terms of the brexit deal or no blem. that will be a pro sexually, i think the united kingdom in the european union is a force, if you like, for the angelo phone world. to has been a means of trying ensure that some of america's points of view, policies, preferences are trnsmitted to the european union, and i think that could be lost when wee leave, how weve, and certainly i think the european union itself is weakened. of course, i would say this, wouldn't i? but i hear it from my french and german and other friends. if the u.k. is no longer there and the obstacle two big powers are france and germany, who often find it difficult to agr on things, then i think the european union is weaker. the people who are rubbin thei hands are the people in the kremlin. >> woodruff: we are watching it all very closely. peter westmacott, we thank you.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, the european union and aow g list of nations banned flights by boeing's 737 max, after an air disastein ethiopia. sunday's crash killed all 157 people on board. t u.s., boeing defended the plane, and the federal aviation administration maintained it is fit to fly. we will delve into the details, after the news summary. in syria, islamic state fighters are urging supporters to launch vengeance attacks around the world. several hundred diehard fighters are now under siege in eastern syria. they posted a recording on social media today. it tells followers to "rise against the crusaders, and take revenge for your religion." the government of venezuela announced today that it isat investg opposition leader juan guaido over a nationwide power blackout. the outage began thursday, and continued today. president nicolas maduro went on national tv last night to blameh united states and guaido.

the chief prosecutor followed up today. >> what happened last week, thib electricalage, is not a l sual event. what i am telling you is that it is part of a growing number of events, each time larger, to knock out a legitimately elected government. where is the supposed calls to dialogue, agreent, coexistence? ma woodruff: guaido blames corruption and mgement for the blackout. meanwhil u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo announced last night that all remaining american diplomats wl leave venezuela. he said their presence had become a constraint on u.s.li . and, special representative eliot abrams promised today that significant new sanctions are coming soon. the united nations reports at least 535 people were killed in western congo over the course of three days in december. neinvestigators say it hapin yumbi territory, when members of

one group attacked a rival group with guns and gasoline. the report says the campaign may amount to crimes against humanity. back in this country, there is word that apprehensions along the u.s. border with canada are growing. the customs and bord protection agency reports more than 4,300 peo in 2018.etained that is up more than 40% from a ar earlier. during that same time, nearly0 400,ople were apprehended along the u.s. border with mexico. president trump is facing yet another investigation. it is widely reported that the new york state attorney general's office has subpoenaed records from two banks. they involved real estate projects and mr. trump's attempt to buy pro football's buffalo bills in 2014.s rmer lawyer, michael cohen, has told congress that the president routinely overstated his wealth when dealing with banks. and, on wall street, stocks had a mixed day.

the dow jones industrial average lost 96 points to close at 25,554. the nasdaq rose 33 points, and50 the s&added eight. still to come on the newshour: how governments and airlines worldwide are responding to the boeing crash. an on-the-ground report from the mexican side of the southern border. federal investigators charge dozens for widespread college admissions fraud. a chicago activist on ending gun violence. and, much more. >> woodruff: the push to ground the kind of boeing 737 jet thate crashed this w has grown around the world. but here in the u.s., the f.a.a. and the airlines say they still believe in the plane's safety. there's a fair amount of

criticism and questions about that decision. john yang begins with this report. >> yang: dozens of countries, including all european union nations, have grounded the boeing 737-max-8 and banned them from their airspace. that's on top of at least 27ai ines that have voluntarily taken the planes out of service. the actions come twoays after an ethiopian airlines 737-max-8 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board. chinese officials said their bau would last unt. regulators act.. >> the c.a.as clearlyst ed that they will ask chinese aviation companies to lift ban on commercial operation of boeing 737-8-max unless they are assured by the u.s. federal aviation administration and boeing company that they have taken related measures to guarantee safe travel. >> yang: the.a.a. insists the planes are safe. they say they are closely

watching the probe of the ethiopia crash. u.s. investigators are on the ground where family and friends of the victims are sifting through debris for remains and personal items. sunday's tragedy is the second dead accident in five months where a 737-max-8 crashed just after takeoff. in october, a lion air flight from jakarta crashed, g all 189 on board. the cause is still under investigation. attention has focusen automated flight control feature delegned to avoid what's cal a stall. a stall can happen if a plane's nose points too high and loses the ability toly. the 737-max-8's autopilot is designed to sense wh that is a danger and automatically push the nose down. pilots can override the system by shutting the autopilot off. while insisting the plane is safe as it is now, the f.a.a.

says it expects to order fixes to the system no later than april. the changes have reportedly been delayed by disagreements between boeing and federal regulators about how extensive they should be. about 350 boeing 737-max-8's are in operation worldwide, 58 of them operated by two u.s.-based airlines: southwest and american. both are continuing to operate the jets. on capitol hill, a growing number of lawmakers say the f.a.a. should ground the planes and look into the issue.to connecticut serichard blumenthal: >> these planes are accidents iting to happen, until thereom isassurance that either pilots have been better trained or the problems with the aircraft have been fixed. >> yang: president trump weighed in, saying, "airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. pilots are no longer needed, but rather, computer scientists from m.i.t."

but, he did not publly call on the f.a.a. to act differently. >>oodruff: we are joined b mary schiavo. she is a former transportation department inspector general, who is now a lawyer representing survivors and victims' families in airline accidents. that includes a case against boeing stemming from the 2014 disapprance of malaysian airlines flight 370. mary schiavo, thanks so much for joining us. just a little bit ago the f.a.a. stt out a statement repeating that they find no atic performance issues and no basis at's your reaction to that?his >> we pl, the twolanes have already crashed. we don't know the cause yet of the second oe, and f.a.a.'s own warnings to boeing concerning the repairs that were needed after e lion air crash says there was a irish with -- a rik with impact with terrain. it's impossible to say they're safe when o have already crashed and we don't know why elr a second one. it's compl impossible,

oxymoronic. >> yang: note we asked te a.a. the give us someone to talk to and they turned us down, but they say that's prisely why, the fact that they don't know the answer to what caused these two crashes is precisely why they are not ering the grounding. >> well, ifyou don't know why planes are falling out of the sky, what you're doing is betting th passengers' lives and other lives that it won't hathen again. an's not the purpose of safety regulations. the purpose of safety regulations, remember, an aircraft certification says that the plane is safe to fly. it doesn't say we don't know why it's falling out of the sky, soo we'rg the leave it. there it's completely the opposite of what safety regulators are supposed to do. >> yang: the f.a.a. says it's safe the fly now, b at the same time, they're talking about emdifications to this stall-avoidance sy we're also told that there are discussions between boeing and

the f.a.a. about the parameters of this fix. help us understand the relationship between gulators and the regulated. >> well,nfortunately, you know, in the case of the f.a.a. and boeing and otherct manuers and major carriers, it's a very symbiotic relationship, but the f.a.a. has over the years really come to defer to boeing and ot manufacturers, airbus, et cetera, and to the airlines, and so on issues such as this,the f.a.a. often takes its cues and its direction from boing, not for sinner the reason, not because somebody is on the take, but because boeing ha the greater expertise, and over the pector when i was ins general, we had many investigations, including on thc certion of the 777, that showed that the f.a.a. just did not have therepower, did not have the expertise and the training and the ability to go toe to toe with boeinghnd er issues in manufacturing over

complex computer issues. that's what this is. they put a computer modificatioe on a plane toep it from stalling, didn't tell te pilots and train them, and then after a second one went down, now they' f.a.a. says th going to order boeing to make changes to that computer system by april. so in the meantime, is it safe? well, not according to the f.a.a. it can case impact with terrain. >> yang: impact with terrain, a euphemism for a crash. you asked that question:s it safe. you wrote in a blog today earlier today that you would not be comfortable flying on this model aircraft. why? >> well, because we don't know why, two have fallen out of the sky, and we don't know why, and to me that says you shouldn't be on it until we do know why.ey and ill very soon. in some ways this is just astonishing that people have not those black boxes are the best there are. they're the top of the line models.

they're the newest ones.ey ave probably downloaded them already. and literally within a week we will know a cause and can pay. at that point we can say whether or not the airplane is safe. at this point it's the whole reason we have a black box, to solve the mysteries so we cansa whether it's safe or not. so for me, no, i would not get on itntil we know. >> yang: what advice would you ve to the traveling public? >> oh, the traveling public, the internet has blownp with this. the traveling public is already searching and make their own decisions. they're being smart consumersng and voith their feet. they're all asking, how do i find out if my plane is one of these and can i rebook, get off, or cancel? >> yan mary sciavo, former inspector general at the transportation, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we continue our

look now at migrants crossing the soutrn u.s. border, and the policy decisions affecting their journey. amna nawaz traveled too, and the san luis port of entry, where families from central america and mexico are facin months-long wait to enter the u.s. legally. >> nawaz: for thousands of migrants on their way in or out of the united states, this is a temporary haven-- the casa del migrante shelter in san luis rio colorado, mexihe. >> we givefood, we give them med need it, and they can spend up to three nights here. me>> nawaz: martin salgado family has run this shelter for decas. >> until a few months ago, the majority of the population that came to these shelters were menm main. 95, 97% were men. the families were in mexico in their homes and the father went to find a job to send money, but this started to change

drastically when violence and unemployment started increase. then, entire families started crossi. >> nawaz: they come mostly from honduras and guatemala, he says. but some are from other parts of mexico, like carmen and her kids: four-year-old alison, and two-year-old edwin, from guerrero, mexico, 1,800 miles away. eer husband, she says, has working in the u.s. for almost a year. she's struggled to provide for the family alone. >> ( translated ): i want to cross to the other side, because they say that you can pass with no problem. nothing happens. so i came so i could pass and be with my husband and work with him. we want to have money and a house. that's what we want. >> nawaz: carmen came to the shelter to feed and bathe her family, and wash their few clothes.ll shhen walk her kids an hour back to the sidewalk camp they've called home for the last seven weeks. >> (anslated ): where i slept before was a tarp and a mat thme they gifte wo's very cold. and yesterday thren came

and gave me a tent that i'm going to sleep in with my kids. >> nawaz: u.s. officials talk often about the increase in illegal border crossings, not the growing back-up of families waiting to enter legally. this is a line of more than 250 families, over 1,000 people long, sheltered under blue tarps during hot days and sleeping on a freezing sidewalk overnight. many have been here for months, st are from mexico. the u.s. port of entry is just a few yards away. more families join the line every day. >> no exacto, three or four families. >> three or four families. >> nawaz: added every day? and how many families get to enter every day? >> on average, one. >> nawaz: one family a day. whoever is first maintains this list. >> the last name of the family, and how many kids. >> nawaz: we make our wn the line, talking to family after family.ho many kids does he have? >> three, and the other family, three. >> nawaz: oh, there's two

families living under here. mario says he and his family fled violence in guerrero. ruolio and josefina are als from guerrero. they want a better education for their four kids. >> como? >> freddie! >> y tu chiquita? >> diana >> nawaz: his two sons were actually born in the u.s. after the family entered illegally years ago. so, wait a second, two of his kids are u.s. citizens? >> yes. >> nawaz: and they're still making them wait? >> yes, because the rest of the family are from mexico. >> nawaz: while we're there, family number 34 is allowed into the u.s. port of entry. , the guys you see in th orange back, they were actually part of a mexican federal agency that does humanitarian work. they go anthey help those families who are waiting in line to get processed and escort them up when it'sheir turn. they're taking a family up right now that's been waiting for weeks possibly months in that line. in response to our queions about the pace of processing families, a u.s. customs and border protection spokespers cited "capacity" issues, saying they "process undocumented persons as expeditiously as possible, without negating the

agency's overall mission" which includes "counter-narcotics, national security, facilitation of lawful trade," all requiring a "careful balce of our resources and space." but immigration advocates, like laura belous of the arizona- baseflorence project, worry the slow pace of legal entry, may push peoe to cross illegally instead. >> when i talk to clients abouth the reasonthey come. the first thing that they talk about is the harm. and the harm that was severe that really coming to the united states was a last terms of having safety. our clients often report that msey've suffered severe harm along the way in tf assaults in terms of robbery. but they make that trip because they're looking for sa >> nawaz: carmen, meanwhile, is stuck. she can't go home. but she also can't afford to wait in the line much longer. >> ( translated ): i only have 200 pesos left, but i'm going to y food soon. i don't have any left, because food is expensive here. and i don't know if i'm going to have enough for tomorrow.

>> nawaz: do you know what you'll do if you run out of money? >> ( translated ): i want to cry. sometimes my kids ask for ings and i keep telling my son that i don't have any money, don't ask me forghnything. my dr, she understands, but my son, he starts crying because alhe wants is his cereal and milk. i am all by myself. >> nawaz: can you tell me about this? at the shelter, martin says all he can do is try to ease their journey, wherever it may ld. >> they stand right here and they pray, and they... >> nawaz: what do they pray for? >> to cross. and for their lives, life. >> woodruff: such a powerful story, amna. you were there at the border. how typical is what you found at this one bortir crossing lo? saw it last summer when wegoft

weren el paso. u.s. officials were standing at if international boundary keeping people from entering bepuse of caacity issues, and an inspector general report found they're doing what'se calledering, limiting the amount of people who can entertr the ports ofe. and we know there is a trump administtion official policy that asks legal asylum seekers to stay in mexico. they can't come into the u.s. this is in place in two ports of entry and theyaid they will expand it across the border in the coming weeks. >> woodruff: you showed us some scenes of what it's like for these people who are waiting, living in tets. obviously the mother being emotional there. tell us more about what these people are going through. >> you know, this back-up, judy, is basically taking a vulblne population and making them more vulnerable. what we couldn't show you, buti what theyd tell us, is what happens when we're not there. often the kids are sent out to beg more money during the day. at night a lot of the women are forced to prostitute themselves to get money to feed their kids

and make ends meet. they can't afford to live in limbo like that for very, very long. the big takeaway is what we found on bth sides of the border, the system isn't working for anyone, not u.s. officials who are trying to secure the border without enough resources to do so and not the people on the other side, the thousands and thousands of families, the vast majority ofm whoe not a criminal threat to the u.s. who want to cross the border.n so the questght now that both of those groups are asking is what can we do about it with what we have, and what are lawmakers going to do about it to try to change the system tove work forone. >> woodruff: it is a side of tthe story we don't geto see often enough. it's so important to do this reporting. amna, thanks very much. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: high school

students and their parents k all too well just how intense the competition for college admissions c be. but, today's announcement from federal prosecutors was still a shocker. they arrested and charged 50 people across the u.s. for partic cheating scam to get students d to elite schools. the case was calperation varsity blues." as william brangham tells us for our weekly education segment, "making the grade," the scheme allegedly included wealthy parents-- among them, well-known actresses-- college coaches, and a dishonest college admissions counseling program. >> brangham: the scheme revolved r large part around a college prep business, ofterred to as "the key." the government said the company's founder, william singer, helped students cheat on standardized tests, and paid roughly $25 million in bribes to thllege athletic coaches s kids could enter college with fake aletic credentials. in some instances, the students didn't even play the sport. to mask the fraud, some students

faces were actually photoshopped onto another athlete's body. two well-known actrees-- felicity huffman and lori laughlin-- allegedly paid into the scheme for their children. wamong the schools targete yale, georgetown, stanford, and u.c.l.a. here how andrew lelling, the u.s. attorney in massachusetts, characterized the case: >> this case is about the widening corruption of elite hrough thessions steady application of wealth, combined with fraud. every year, hundreds of thousands of hard-working, talented students strive for admission to elite schools. p as eveent knows, these students work harder and harder every year, in a system th appears to grow more and more competitive every year. and that systeis a zero sum game. for evy student admitted through fraud, an honest, genuinely talented student wasct re. >> brangham: for more on this, i'm joined by jeffrey selingo. he's been covering higher ed in

america for 20 years, including for the "chronicle of higherio educ" as well as in three of his own books on the topic. lcome back. >> great to be here. >> brangham: this is a jaw-dropng bribery scandal. i am gob smacked by the comple sty of this. ms the bribery falls into two categories here, cheating on athletics and that role in admissions, d cheating on standardized tests. can you explain how cheating on the testing works? >> they goto dctors notes to allow students to take the tests by tmselves with proctors that were paid off. the proctors hado sbody else take the tests or they corrected the exam so students would get higher scores. the scores were reported to the universities who didn't know who who actually took the test. >> brangham: so obvlyio higher test score helps you get into schools no matter what. so the second pthrt of is the bribing of athletic coaches and the creating of these sorted of phony athletic resumes.

can you explain this? >> this was amazing to me, because many of these students didn't even playhe sports thy were purported to play and they were recruited for.e every year tse coaches, and these are at high-level institution, in some cases at division. on>> one institu they're recruiting athletes starting in steir sophomore and junior year, so for these udents to not have to play these sports and then to get in under thaett se of those sports i think was absolutely shocking and amazing to me. and athletes are given tips in admission. all these colleges have to fu teams, right? they need a starting pitcher on the baseball team. eey need rowers on the w team, so they need to fill these spots. so every year athletes ar gvenad ntages in admissions, and clearly these students were, as well. >> brangham: how significant is that advantage? i mean, for people who are notmi ar with this, the role, if you really are star athlete, you get into a school that would traditionally be out of your league? >> yes, you. can many of these schools are basically the athletic director

or the coaches comeo the admissions team and say, these are the students we really want. now, wthl they accept bottom of the bottom in terms of academics, some schools wll not. other schools will and just basically say, we'll give them academic support while they're here. bupabasically every othert of their application could be pretty minimal, but as long as they have athletics on it, it really does help. >> brangham: one of theyo detailtouched on, i find it so striking, this was the example in yale. is was a young woman in southern california who didn't play soccer. this was -- the guy william singer helped set up a phony athletic profile, sort of pretending that she played on a ve competitive team in southern california. they then bribed the yale soccer coach $400,000 to recruit this student, even though the coach knew the student had never even put her foot on a ball. zing.a i can't imagine what these other athletes on the team thought, but more so, there s probably an athlete or two in the recruiting system for yale that didn get in because ths student or these students got

in. that's not only true at yale but at these other institutions. the u.s.ttorney talked about it at a zero sum game. in admissions,o be honest, i think many more students are not admitted who are qualified cause, you know, the admissions rate at some of these places ts like 8%o 10%, but in athletics, you're reallyns competing agone or two other people, so in those cases i think they probably took a >> brangham: at its core really, this is about wealthy parents who are trying to buy in so ways evemore influence for their wealthy children, right? >> what's amazing to me is tha in some cases it wouldn't really matter where these kids went to college, right? they have the means, the financial means, but also the connections to live a great lif because of their parents no matter where they go. so it's kind of shocking that they really wanted that piece of paper from an elite college, because in many cases it wouldn't matter where they wnt. and what was interesting to me about the act and the sat is that at many elite colleges --

>>rangham: the standardize tests. >> the standardized tests, at many elite college, including the university of chicago last year, they're diminishing the use. they went test-optional, where students don't have to submit test scores. o many colleges i havelowed over the years, they use the standardized tests as a check-in. they're more interested in highd schotrict lum and high school grades and other parts of the application. so the fact that ey spent so much money on standardized tests thinking that would get them into college, in many ways they istaken. >> brangham: criminality aside, and we can't emphasize how much this is breaking the law with theescribes that -- the bribes that were pai doesn't this strike you this is also an indictment of the cut-throat nature of college applications. >> we' seeing this more. the seats are scarce at selective lleges and universities. more people every year try to get into them. they represent about one-thi of application every year, even though they only represent 18% of students most of these

colleges some the competition to get into them is great yet we know from research that in many ways it doesn't matter where you go the college, it matters how you go to college.ng and beieally engaged in your studies and extra ext activity, getting internships and other types of activities matter more, but yet we want to get into these colleges because we know the seats are scarce. we're worried about the future of the economy and the future of our children. we want to make re that they have all the same privileges that we had. so every year more andore people are trying to get into these colleges. we see this in our application total. everyone is up like 8%, 10% every year, and they're getting tens of thousds of applications and admitting in many cases fewer than 10% new york some case wer tha5% of applicants. >> brangham: as we see, people are erning to deviouss to try to get in. >> exactly. >> brangham: jeffrey selingo, thank you so omuch. >> it was great to be with you

>> woodruff: and we'll be back shortly, with the story of a black, jewish woman fighting to save lives on the streets of chicago. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep aiprograms like ours on th >> woodruf for those stations staying with us, a look at a servinghat has bee rural communities in eastern kentucky for nearly half a century. now, in face of many leaving the area, it is giving residents new reasons to stay. jeffrey brown brings us this encore story. >> brown: a cold winter day in the tiny coal town of mphill,y, in letcher couentucky, hard hit by the closing of nearby mines. but on this friday, residents have gathered in the basement of

a shuttered school turned communy center for free food, music, dancing... and a celebration-- of a tiny but empowering catering business run by gwen johnson, whose ning family has lived here for generations. >> i was raised in a coal mine family, where the pride was in the job, but you didn't really own what you made. but with hemphill catering company, we own what we make. the community will. >> brown: the business was madeu possible t the support of appalshop, based in nearby whitesburg, an arts and culture institution that, from its very mibeginnings, has made eco development part of its mission. >> we have bwin so inundated "this is the way your life is, these are the options, this is what yore going to do if you stay here." >> brown: ada smith is a proapam director alshop, and grew up in whitesburg. >> we can tell you, day in and

day out, how many young artists have been told, if you really want to be an artist, you've got to leave. i mean, you name it. if you want to be an engineer, you have to leave. so you know, on that level, i feel like appalshop has provenng that other tcan happen here. >> brown: appalshop dates back almost 50 years, created with the help of federal funds during the so-called "war on poverty" of the 1960s. it was a time when appalachia was thrust into the national spotlight. appalshop had two big goals: to foster new skills and jobs, and to give local people a way to tell their own stories. >> so we began filming our community. you know, just what was going on. >> brown: herb e. smith, ada's father, then just 18, was a founding member of appalshop.

nd he began here in 1952 about when i was born, ae worked here until '73. 20, 21 years athis particular cation. >> i graduated from whitesburg high school in 1970. there were 170 of us graduated. by the end of the summer, less than 50 of us were here, with no hopes of ever returning. it's difficult. generations of people, thousands >> brown: trained at appalshop and armed with cameras, smith and others got to a new kind of work. >> it was a way to be a partf the solution and to kind of understand the place that we were a part of. >> brown: they produced scores of films, documenting in frank detail the region thalled home.e >> i lik say, it is, we make films about the things we e ke here and wke films about the things that are challenging. >> then, wwant to make films that hold out people like ralph stanley, people who have drawn

frre the wealth of the cultu of the region and ma a living from it. >> brown: and appalshop expanded well beyond filmmaking. ♪ ♪ its roadside theater, captured19 in thi newshour report, continues to present plays about life in the region its radio station, wffers a range of music and news, with the help of some 50 volunteer j.s. the fimaking continues with a new generation. 24-year-old kley fugate grew up in a nearby town with a population of just 20. without appalshop,e says, his options were limited. >> when it comes to artistic dreams and stuff, like mine, they're just kind of like, "no, you need to do something rious." like, they don't, they don't even consider the possibility of

you actually doing it. >> brown: but after a training program, he's produced several documentaries, including a recent film spotlighting a transgender student in whitesburg. >> i'm not scared. or ashamed. >> repter: most important, says ada smith, there's a renewed focus on how art and culture can stimulate a local economy. >> if people want to come downtown for things, if there's music, if there's events, if there's things to do, alof a sudden, there's more businesses. >> brown: appalshop relies onnc federal funds,ding the n.e.a., along with private philanthropy, which only go so far. >> i just really believe that there's been a long history of only seeing rural communits and economies as places to take from, and not places to invest in. >> brown: and appalshop says otherwise. >> yeah, we feel like therlts a lot of wand talent and

ideas that need to be given a chan. >> brown: like those of gwen johnson at the community center in hemphill. her site faced closu when funds from coal taxes dried up. but with encouragement and support from appalshop, cluding $5,000 in seed money, johnson was able to start a catering company to help pay the bills. she now employs local residents, including recovering addicts from the letcher county drug court. >> and our applications, when they see our background, it just goes right to the bottom. and gwen overlooks that and gives us a chance to prove ourselves. and i really appreciate the opportunity. >> brown: and now, with another $15,000 from appalshop, johnson plans to build a brick oven and open a bakery to serve healthier breads to the community.

she's calling it "blacksheep bakery." ♪ ♪ for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in letcher county. kentuc >> woodruff: this week, newshour's facebook wah show, "that moment when," features tamar manasseh, the founder of "mask"-- mothers and men against senseless killing. manasseh tells us how she is able to win people over to her cause using her background growing up as a jewish woman of color on chicago's south side. >> what does it feel like to have the internationaledia storm chicago on its worst days with the high number of shootings and killings? >> i don't feel anything. i think the mayor should feel something. i think the superintendent of police should feel something., people like o are out here every day, who are trying to make theifference, who are

making the difference, who do the work, we see that our efforts are actually doing something, even if the international media doesn't recognize it. it not about that. it's about the lives that you save. when i leave here, i'm going to go home, i'm going to put on some warm clothes, and i'm goinb to head to tck, because tonight we're having a sukkah soiree.th there' idea. if we could find a way where bad things are going to happen, if we knothat bad things are happening between these two warring factions, you send some moms over there, and you send some moms over there, and we just sit there. and we have, hands down, thebe sukkah on the south side of chicago. no one would ever expect to see jews of all colors dancing to "hava nagila" played by a jazz band on a street corner, in the middle of the 'hood, but that's what you're going to see tonight. being around a barbecue grill, it's going to give us some time to talk, to get to know each other. it takes time for food to get

ready, so while we're talking, food's going to be cooking. you're going to get to know me and i'm going to get to know you, and then once the food comes off the grill, wmire going to bconversation. so you aren't going to just walk away, because we're having a good conrsation. and then, you know what? tomorrow you're going to come back and we're going to do it again. and then you're going to come back the day after, and we're going to do it again.'s and thhat built community around that barbecue grill and around that corner. that's what did it. en was food and good conversation andne concern. it is the way that i b people together. it is the way that i bridge the gap. the most jewish thing that i can t is sit on a corner and make sure that people aated justly. and make sure that they have food. and make sure that everybody is treated with respect and dignity. it is part of tikkun olam, it is a crack in the world, and if you see the crack, you have to try to repair the crack. it's up to you to try air the flaw. that's what it is. everybody else sees problems. i see cracks.

>> woodruff: you can watch allou episodes oseries on facebook @thatmomentwhenshow. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again righto here tomevening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> mor funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> consumer cellular. >> american cruise lines. b f railway. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york.

supporting innovations in e ucation, democratic engagement, and vancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> 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 viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.g >> you're watchin

to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming u >> a devastating crash in ethiopia kills all on board, among the more than 20 united nations workers. david beasley, head of the un worldood program joins us at the capital. plus, is the second boeing o crash in fivhs, should passengers be nervous. >> and the complicated morality ofel international dment in war torn countries. i speak with the novelest dave eggers about his new book, the . ra plus >> count down for apollo 11. >> this isn't hollywood f i, directore stunning