captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good wening. i'm judruff. on the "newshour" tonight, president trump doubles down on racist tweets aimessat four congmen, fueling deep divisions in the country then our politics monday team breaks down a busy weekend on the campaign trail, from joe biden's healthcare plan to betor o''s case for reparations. and despite legalization and decriminalization, the black market marijuana industry continues to thrive across the united states. >> the thing that nobody predicted is that normalization, commercialization, would be a magnet for international black market activity. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour."

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation ford public bsting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump tonight has rejected claims that he is fanning the flam of racism. he ignited a storm of criticism on sunday, in attacking four democrats in the u.s. congress-- all of them women of color. today, hstood by his tweets and said again "if you're not, happy heu can leave." on another fnt, the president claimed success in raids to round up some 2,000 mi. there was littan evidence that

major raids had actually begun, but the threat raised fears in migrant communities. meanwhile, the administrationt declared mgrants will now be ineligible for asylum in the u.s. if they pass through another country first. we will explore this and t president's attacks on the congresswomen, after the news summary. in the day's other news, u.s. customs and border patrol confirmed that 70 current d former employees are under investigation for offensive posts about migrants and lawmakers. they belonged to a secret group on facebook. it has been reported that border patrol chief carla provost was also in the group, but it is unclear if she is under investigation. a state judge in virginia today sentenced james fields to life in prison plus 419 years for a fatal attack at a white nationalist rally. the self-declared neo-nazi supporter drove into counter- protesters in charlottesville, in 2017.he heheyer was killed, and

more than two dozen others were hurt.s heyether said today's sentence delivers a powerful warning. >> i want it very clear in t public realm that not only doess e e unittes hold these actions to be qurious, with serious consequences, but also the state of virginia is thnot tolerating them and k that message is sent loud and clear today. >> woodruff: fields is 22-years- old. he hadlready been sentenced to life in prison on federal hate crime charges. forecasters warned today ofue contflood dangers from the remnants of hurricane "barry." the storm dropped 17 incheloof rain acrossiana after making landfall this weekend. still, the state escaped the worst, and recovery began inia iberarish and elsewhere, where some businesses were left ankle-deep in water. much of louisiana and mississippi, along with swaths of arkansas, missouri and texas, faced heavy rainfall tod. financier jeffrey epstein will stay in jail, at least until

thursday, on charges that he sexually abused dozens of underage girls in new york and florida. a federal judge in new york delayed a decision on bail today, as two of epstein's accusers spoke aa hearing. prosecutors said the case against epstein is getting stronger every day. there were closing arguments in oklahoma today in the first state trial against a drug maker er opioid addiction. ede state charged that "johnson & johnson" understhe risks of opioids out of pure greed. the company said it aimed toe help peoth chronic pain. oklahoma is seeking up to $17-billion in damages. the outcome could influence the fate of 1,500 similar lawsuits. in hong kong: chief executive carrie lam condemned violent sunday night clashes. th began after thousands h protested peacefully against an extradition bill and mainland china's influence. storefront windows were smashed, at least six police officers

were hospitalized and more than 20 people were hurt. lam called today for ablend to the tr > ( translated ): we're deeply grateful to the police who put their lives on the lines. they were attacked by th rioters, which is shocking. spm here to call for all hong kong residents to t the rule of law. >> woodruff: pro-democracy lawmakers urged both protesters and police to cut back on the force used during demotrations. economic growth in mainland china slowed to 6.2% over the la26 year, the lowest rate i years. beijing reported that news today u.s. trade tensions with the and on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 27 points to close at 27,359. the nasdaq rose 14 points. and the s&p 500 added a fraction. gain hawaii, construction on a long-disputed telescope project against protests today

the world-renowned site on the celand's highest peak "mauna kea" is a sacred pf worship and prayer for hawaii's native commuutty who has di construction there multiple times. scientists hope the telescope still to come on the "newshour," how president trump is fanning the flames of racial tensions; the climate of fear among immigrants amid call increased ice raids; a top executive from chinese telecom giant huawei on the controversial company's global reach, and much more. >> woodruff: it a political fight that could worsen already deep divisions in our country. president trump escalates his nationalist rhetoric democrats in congress unite around the idea of diversity. yamiche alcindor begins our coverage.

>> reporter: do you think your tweets were racist, mr. president? a >> nott all. not at all. >> reporter: president trump doubling down on racist tweets. today at white house event aimed at celebrating american manufacturing, the president defended his targeting of four freshmen congresswomen of color. and he once again questioned their status as americans and suggested leave the states. from their parents in front of an american flag. >> reporter: three of the four lawmakers had testifbod last friday their visits to crowded border detention facilities. on twitter sunday,othe president "why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came?" the four congresswomen: new york representative alexandria ocasio-cortez, minnesota representative illhan omar, massachusetts representative hianna pressley and michigan representative r talib. all four women are american citizens. three of the four were bn in the u.s. >> it doesn't concern me because many people agree with me and they can leave.

>> reporter: today, the four congresswoman pushed back. >> maybe the president just feels comfortable stoking racial divisions in this country. >> reporter: but today, the a president earnharp rebuke from minority leader chuck schumer. >> those who fail to condemn the president are fellow travelers on the president's racist road >> reporter: earlier today, international leaders including british prime minister theresa may spoken out against the president's tweets. and now, a small but growing number of republicans in the u.s. have begun done the same. maine senator susan collins, today called it "way over the line." and south carolina senator tim scott called it "racially offensive" and "aiming forhe lowest common denominator." do you find the president's tweets racist and what do you make of white nationalists t praisise tweets?n' >> again, i find them racist. >> reporter: among the president's defenders today, treasury secretary steve mnuchis and former houaker newt

gingrich. earlier, south carolina senator lylindsey graham, a close f the president, made similar attacks against the four laakers on fox news. >> well we all know that a.o.c. and is crowd are a bunch of communists. they hate israel. they hate our n country. make them the face of the future of the democratic part you will destroy the democratic party. >> reporter: but even graham warned the president against questioning the lawmakers' antizenship. >> they are ameritizens. they won an election. >> reporter: this all comes as the trump administrationy announced todaat it is trying to end asylum protections for nearly everyone who tries to enter the u.s. through the southern border. under the new rule, any immigrant crossing into the u.s. from mexico seeking asylum would need to first apply for asylumas in at one other country that is not their native country.ge the chcomes after vice president pence, senator graham and other members of congressa

visiteowded border detention facility friday. the administration argues that it needs to stem the flow of asylum seekers entering the u.s. in a statement, the a.c.l.u.ll the trump administration move "patently unlawful" and vowed to "sue swiftly." >> the climate in this country led by the president of the united states of america causes fear in the hearts of families >> rorter: communities acros the country had braced sunday for stepped up immigration raids. last week, the president publicly announced he would deport "thousand of people. the raids have so far fallen far short of that scale, but are slated to last into the coming week. i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodrf: we will now hear from two lawmakers-- from both sides of the aisle-- on their reaction to the prident's comments as well as the administration's immigration crackdown. first, democratic congressman ruben gallego of arizona. he is a member of the congressional hispanic caucus.

representative gallego, thank f u very much for joining us, what do you makee president's comments and his tweets and what he's saying in person todelay? >> look, no one should be surprised. this is the president that, for ars, started a rumor about our first brach president being born in africa and snuck ito this country, clearly a very tracist trope he was using the stoke anger and win the conservative base and he started his cam talking about mexicans as rapists and has continued on ant king about a judge, questioning his loyalty to this country, so none of us should be surprised. we should be surprised at the republican party, the part tries to claim they're a big tent and essentially they're advocating their party to this type of white nationalism this president is pushing. >> woodruff: i just want to read just a part of he president said. he talked about congresswoman ocasio-cortez, the other

congresswomen. he talked about theng communist, he said they're ael,-semitic, they hate isr and then he's gone on, on several occasions, to say they hate hr -- hate their own country. he's referring to comments he said they made critical to the united states. >> the president is trying to frame conversation, dialogue people are hving about what needs to be fixed in this country, much about what the prarident often says ther things that need to be fixed in this country, but no one saysen the preshates his country because he wants to fix concern things. though we may have certain points of view, and though i think the women he's questioning haveifferent points of view, they do not hate their country. ohe only reason he tries to use that is they'reen of color, and if they weren't women of color, he wo't be attacking them. he knows attacking them hel his base and distracts from the problems in his admmeistration. yoion you're disappointed

republicans are not speaking outout. how do you know what they believe? ha you talked to them privately? e> doesn't matter, i don't car what they think about privately or not. we're puwhic officials. you wear on your sleeve is what you are. e fact you're note speaking out against the president and his racist rhetoricns you are a coward and you're not representing the republicansid ls. >> woodruff: what do you think about the people in your district? >> the people in my district ve lived through the mot anti-latino rhetoric in this country considering we passed sb1070, had to live under the riewm of jan brewer who used racism and rhetoric to stor. an we all remember during that time, we told you to go back to mexico, and this hurts tht th president is using the same rhetoric that the racists wewe p with are now using and

coirnlg more of it. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about what the president has a been talkiout a number of days and that is his intention to have the government round up undocumented immigrants in a number of cities around the country, by the thousands. we have been told this was comi. it did not materialize over the weekend. whs that all add up to for you? >> this is just him trying to sce two populations, number one, the immigrant population, number two his own population of trump supporters and trying to get them to believe that there's pthis massive amount oople that need to be rounded up. if you're under deportation orders, there is no necessity d for you clare you're going to round up people. while you're under deportation orders, i.c.e. could do this in a very professional manner and goosut and get thpeople. the only thing many of us worry about, to make sue i.c.e. is conducting this everything in

mind concerning everyone still has constitutional duties, alsoo we ka lot of people under deportation orders have not ha chance to speak to a judge. our concern at the end of the day is the president is usingag thisn, to scare people and, you know, to that degree, he hasucceeded. >> woodruff: well, to the extent there are people who are undocumented, who are wherever they are living around the country, is he notaying to them you should be coming forward and, if you don't, we're going to hold you really to your deportation -- to whatever our a deportation la? >> i think the problem the president -- he doesn't understand howeportation or immigration laws work. many of these men and women did not even have their day in court because they received their notice athe wrong address so they should at least have the ability to present themselves to actually make an argument, and what the psident has actually meant to do is turn themselves w ich automatically gives up their opportunity to appeal.

at the end of the day,we do believe democrats needs to have control of who and who doesn't come into this country, but we need to make sure we honor our laws and part of that is due process and these imigrants have due process. >> woodruff: what do you make of the president's efforts to tighten the interpretation of the asylum laws in this country, apply for asylum. >> number one, it's illegal, and we will be taking tho to curt and it will be defeated in court. two, this is him trying to consolidate his base. many of the people on the right that hee him gt elected think he's succeeded when it c mesto "immigration," for example he hasn't gotten the bored weurl been able to bring down illegal border crossings, which tell us a lot about this president, the one campaign promise he's had he ruined, almost like everything else in his career. he's broken the border and attend of the day the way to fix

it is to have mocrats have mission reform but that's his to live with. >> woodruff: congreso,an ruben gallhank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: for a republican j perspectivned by representative james comer from kentucky. congressman comber, wklcome b to the "newshour". what do you make oft presidump's comments today and yesterday about these four men of color who are members of congress? >> i do not believe the president is racist. i believe the president sharesio frustrwith members of congress, particularly those fourmen congressmen who for no other reason constantlyes critiche president and also congress and our country. i think there's a level o frustration that the president has that he unfortunately too out in probably not the best-worded tweet, but i think that the t's been overblown,

and i think that we really need to move on ad talk about the issues in congress that the american people care about. >> woodruff: you said nfortunately," what was it about the tweet that you think the president should not have said? >> well, there's just been the whole term racism has been thrown around in congress a lot more over the last two months than i've ever heard the word used. just last week, you had ocasio-cortez basically call pelosi racist for some of the comments she made about women of color. when you're a member of congress, when you're the president of the uniu d states and t to this level, and the debate is this contentious, and you've got an american electorate that's equally divided, sometimes your emotiony take control au say things that you don't necessarily mean and sometimes things ome out differently than you intended. >> woodruff: you mention yourwh

constituents are they telling you? >> i was in kentucky all weekend, i was at the airport in loyal this morning talking to a lot of people from all across my district and all across kentucky, and i can tell you my people are not offend hde tweet. they've become accustomed toto the president's tweets. i have told the president in conversations that i feel like he would be better served if hee didn't as much, but i think we all know that the president is going to continue to tweet, that's hi way of doing things, it's gotten him this far. i personally would like to see a more civil congress, a more civil tobetween both parties and the national news media, but i don't thinink that's to happen. but as far as the people in the district, they still stryon support the president, they support the president's agenda and they know that he sharesn their frustratth a lot of the policies that those fou members of congress continue to spew. they -- it doesn't seem they can

like they're for securing th border, it doesn't seem like they are for any type of civil debate that the average taxpayer in mic district could sup >> woodruff: you say it's not racist in your view and, yet, each one of these women is a woman of color. >> right. and, you know, it's no different, in my opinion, tan the national media saying, when th talk about the presidential debates, well, the democrat base doesn't wt bernie sanders or joe biden because they're ait male, i don't view that as racist. i don't view the president's tweets as racist. i wish the tone were better. but what we do hehar,en i go back home, and most of my reablican colleagues heark home is why don't you all secure the border? why can't you all balance the budget? why don't county you all fix prescription drug prices? these are the issues that americans care about and i think there are, unfortunately, people

in america who were probably somewhat offended by the tweet but, at the ed of the day, i don't think that the tweet deserveshe amount of press coverage it's gotten. >> woodruff: one otheri thng, congressman, what do you make of the president's conversation, statements over the last number of weeks that he intends for this to be massive roundups overundocumented immignts in this country? now, we haven't seen that happen, but the president has talked about it adoo deal. what do you make of that?e >> well, what esident is experiencing right now as witnessed by his tweets andh statements is frustrated congress won't support his agenda that he feels like is the same agendampaigned on, the same promises he made during the campaign, and he's also frustrated that the tone, especially by the four female congresswomen who we're talk about today who werreferenced the president's tweet, their constant trashing of i.c.e., you know, the border agent are

trying to do their job to secure the border. these facilities where we have all the migras, they weren't build to house the number of reople they're housing. they certainly wen't built to house children. so those four female members of congress are constantlyin criticthe president over things that really aren't his fault. u know, he was elected to secure the bored. yoalknow, build the wl was one of the main talking points in his campaign, t yet we havan open border and we have people coming into the united states. it's a drain on the treasury, it's a drain on law enforcement, and, you know, i think that, because of the democrats i congress and their inaction on doing anything about border security, the president is very frustrated and, when he get frustrated, we know he goes twitter. >> woodruff: congressman james comer, thank you very much. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: let's take a few minutes to lk more closely at how the prospect of mass raids by immigration and customsre enforcemenrberate in immigrant communities. e after postponilier raids in june, the president said last reweek that major arrests expected in a number of cities, starting yesterday. but so f, the number of people detained appears to be small. government officials are said to be pursuing about 2,000 dundocumented immigrants migrants who are no longer eligible to remain in the country after a court ordered them to be removed and deported. today, the president claimed there were more arrests over thl weekend than prealize. and more could come later this week, in at least ten cities. for a sense of how targeted communities are reacting, we turn to shannon camacho. e is a coordinator with the coalition for humane immigrant rights, a group that counsels immigrants on their legal rights.

shannon camacho, welcome to the "newshour". what is your sense of how mu -- how many raids there were over the weekend? do you know of immigrants who were rounded up andrrested? >> first of all, thank you very much for havmein. so about this weekend, ite coordiur l.a. raids rapid response network which is a coalit attorneys and community members that go out to the community to verify i.c.e. informant, and our staff also does the same. so over the weekend, we had not heard of these tes of large-scale, mass operations that trump had been threatening our community. with we had not heard of those large-scale operations,. thankful ever since june, we have been doing the "know your rights" ation, we have been givi that information to community members so that they understand their funmental constitutional rights, regardless of whether the operations happen in june, they haorppen tomorro they happen into the next month,

we're preparing our community. as of right now, we have not heard of tho massive operations, but we're still keeping our community informed and our ears t the ground. n at effect are the president's comments havinge people in these communities? >> so th effect, obviously, people are afraid and, obviously, people are worried and feel like this administration and this government is attacking them rather than protecting thet m. i wonder what -- but i think what we've seen espially in los angeles and the organizing we have been doing for yearand even june when the threats first came in places, we'veeen people come to us with a thirst for knowledge and information on how to protecthemselves and their families and trying to understand that this is something that is an attack ainst them and, so, how can they best guard themselves? so we have seen community members come to our office to learn more about theirfu amental constitutional rights, like the fact they have the right to remain silent, that

ey have the right not to open their door if i.c.e. comes to them. that. can only have permission to enter a individual's home if they hae a judicial arrest warrant signed by a judge, they are coming with thatnformation and we are equipping them with that. we are seeing the community on high alert but be galvanized as well. >> woodruff: you're saying they're not going into hiding or attempting to placeel thes in a place where they wouldn't be found? n mm-hmm. soe city of los angeles and the surrounding areas, i car imagine there probably many, many families who are afraid, and that's something veryte normal, but inms of what we've seen, especially through our community members, through the rapid respoe networks, we have seen people really step up to the challenge, with fear,but reminding themselves they do have these constitutional rights. so we do see people prepared. we have had know yourights workshops all throughout s angeles and others haago

them throughout the states so people are coming to these.ei we're people come and ask really good questions, so that's encouraging, that people are taking the know your rights information and using it.>> oodruff: i think this is important you're saying this, shannon camacho, because i think many people have the impression that if people overstay what is their legal right to stay, if they have exceeded an order or if they are disobey ago deportation order, many people would look at that and say well, they're violating the law. but you're saying, despite these orders, they have rights? >> mm-hmm, yes, and even one of the populations that trump said he was going to target were people witnfinal deportat orders. so it sounds like it's the end-all, be-all of thse people's case bus that is not the case. even people with final deportation orderse till hav go through the appeal process and immigration court, and ao it is very important they speak to an immigration attorney before anything happens so they can get a legalonsultation to see if there's any immigration

lief for them. so that's something that can be done at any stage. we have leysal defense attor that provide that service to the community members and ever since june we have been teling fol come speak with us. >> woodruff: so when you are asked to give at vice to individuals who have -- who are subject to a deportation order, what is your basic advice to them? arhyou saying don't opene door? what do you say to them? >> yes, we say remn silent. when i.c.e. asks you questions, whether it be outside your doorr n the street, don't give any additional information to them. closyour door, don't open te door if they come to your house. again, i.c.e. needs to have judicial arrest warrant signed by a judge with accurate information on the dument, and very, very rainfall do they actually have those documents. it's very rare, so most of the ople they don't have permission to enter an individual's homes. so we tell peope close th door. the last thing we stress is ceate family plans. mav sure you hae designated

people in your family or friends that are ready to activate, to either get you an attorney or meet with your childreif they need to be picked up from daycare, those are something community members can do befor hand so they're prepared in case of an arrest. >> woodruff: shannon camacho, with colation for humane immigrant rights, thank you very much. >> tnk you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the "newshour," despite legalization, why the black market marijuana industry continues to thrive. plus, our politics monday team breaks down a busy weekend on the campaign trail but first, for months the trump ministration has accused chinese telecom giant huawei of being a threat to u.s. national security. the fear: that if huawei equipment is used by the u.s. or by its allies, data could be

channeled to china's intelligence services. e trump administration has effectively banned huawei from n u.works and restricted the sale of u.s. parts to huawei. with the support of the pulitzer center, nick schifrin is in china reporting a series of stories, and he traveled to e awei headquarters where he sat down with senior vesident vincent pang, who leads theco any's western european work, and its corporate communications. >> vice president pence called waw whey a wholly owned subsidiary of the chinese communist party and said alhowing huawei to operate 5g could fundamentally compromise u.s. national security. does huawei compromise u.s. or national sece ity? >>lfill all the local laws in every single country. we're running operations in 170 countries for the last 30 yea

there is no single accident or evidence means huawei have done something wrong in any countries. second, we state very clearly huawei is 100% private company owned by employees. i don't know why there's so mann rumorsd suspicions and huawei's ownership. we've taken data back to china.h is a small industry. even such kind of things, it must be disclosed, already. >> reporter: the founder and c.e.o., some u.s. officials believesuawei has to respond to party requests. do they?>> hat's many u.s. companies run by the former, you know, army or generals, it's --

>> reporter: it's the same? he's just a normal technical engineer in the army. you cannot judge a person, you know, being just by part of his working experience. i don't feel that any influence from central government or from the army has bn influenced in our daily business. >> reporter: this is a country, of course, where the communist party oversees the legal system and the ability for bunesses to be businesses. does that mean that private companies, as you describe huawei, need to turn over any data for the chinese government to ask for it? >> the chinese government has been many times to repeat the sae message, thy never asked any company to give the data back to china, and in the future, they want these as well. secondly, from our records from

the las, t 30 yea have been never been asked -- ifou remember then the c.e.o. and founder being asked about this question, he said very clearly he will refuse. if he cannot do, he would shut down the company. >> reporten the other conc from the u.s. is there's a back door, that there wilbe information from huawei siphoned off by the chinese government or chinese intelligence services. can you guarantee that the information won't be siphoned off? >> if you listen carefully what the frisht government has said in the last year, from the last eight years, the corporation is huawei, we can be sure there is no backdn huawei's system. after working eleven years in the european region, i'm glad to see they have their own judgments from tex persons andn the cooperatey had with huawei. we're happy to work with any partners, doesn't matter if it's

u.s. or chinese or europeanne pa, if that is all back to a technical discussion rather an a political. >> reporter: and, so, you think the u.s. government is not willing have that technical discussion, it's only having a political discussion. >> up to now what see is all politicanodiscussionsthing real being put into place for a technical debate or technicalon discus the trust that we have with 170 countries, the journey took us almost 30 years. but it looks like t u.s. not willing to give huawei such kind of anty opportu >> reporter: has the u.s. efforts against huawei had any impact on that momentum that you see aroundohe wrld? >> there is no major impact. firstly, all our major cus choose to still stay with huawei. we don't see any customers not

using huwei anymore. we continue to support our customers and deliver our a equipment our customers. we signed atract with our major customers already, and this year we will deliver 150,000 stations outside of china. i think that is the fact. >> reporter: sir, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as more states consider the legalization of cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use, opponents are warning that such moves actually open the door to criminal groups in a burgeoning black market. as correspondent john ferrugiaom ocky mountain pbs reports, many are looking to what happened in colorado after legalization of marijuana it's the latest in our series on "the green rush." >> reporter: it is becoming almost routine across much of

the country. law enforcement intercepting marijuana products being exported to other states from colorado. in this case, a traffic stop in tennessee netted 100 pounds ofoc sed pot, worth tens-of- thousands of dollars. in indiana, it was a lettuce truck headed from colorado to florida with a load of marijuana. in south carolina, it came through the mail. and across colorado, raids onil gal marijuana grow operations have increased in both rural and metropolitan areas as law enforcement tries to keep up with the burgeoning black market. when colorado voters approved legalization of marijuana, no one imagined such an opportunity to cash in on illegally grown pot. t every plant here has an r.f.i.d. tag ands is logged, seed to sale. >> reporter: chris woods is president of terrapin station, a company that cultivates and dispenses marijuana and t.h.c. products for both medical and recreational use. and this is what a legal pot business looks like, complete with special grow lighting. >> so, there is a perpetual cultivation cycle that is

happening throughout this facility. meticulous: h legal grow operations are scrutinized, tracked, and regulated by the colorado department of revenue and the state majuana enforcement division. >> i think one of the mistakes th was made in colorado an some other states is allowing for your home cultivation. and what we're seeing right now is a lot of cleanup from the mistakes that have been made. >> i had never been in an indoor marijuana grow. i have heard about them. >> reporte kevin merrill, the former agent in charge of colorado's office of the federal drug enforcement administration agrees. when he first arrived in denver as a federal drug enforcement agent in 2001, large illegal mariana grows weren't on the radar. >> most of those that i even heard aboureally involved, you know, a couple of individuals trying to make some product for themselves and then se whatever extra they had to fund their operation. it was a very small, m and pop operation. >> reporter: but when it became legal for dividuals to grow both medical and recreational marijuana in colorado, federal law enforcement officials sayin cr organizations saw an opportunity to illegally growan

marijuin plain sight in residential neighborhoodsha >> the thing tnobody predicted, that normalization, commercialization, would be a magnet for international black market activity. >> reporter: bob troyer stepped down last year as colorado's u.s.ttorney. >> they have plumbers, they have electricians, they have front people who rent buy houses they have money people, they have an underground banking. >> reporter: so it's a lot like a corporation? >> exactly just like a corporation. >> what is this?d! oh my go >> reporter: perched at the frt window of her mom's firestone, colorado home last year, angie wright and herth mo witnessed a raid in this denver. >> it was just-- holy cow! something major is going on. >> reporter: law enforcement officers rolled in and started banging on doors. >> oh my god! >> i thought maybe it was just the house next door, but to find out it was many homes neither one of us had any idea. >> reporter: our investigationds

revealed the in firestone, colorado in march of 2018 are part of a federal case that started a year elier and is linked to a web of other suburban properties across the denver metro area and beyond. our investigation documented that the d.e.a. has seized m than 78,000 plants so far, as well as more than 2,300 poundsro ofssed marijuana, serving almost 200 search warrants, making dozens of arrests. this is colorado's most complex federal black market case since the state legalized recreational cannabis in 2014. rocky mountain pbs obtained records showing every federalij black-market mna search warrant between 2014 and november of 2018 in which the d.e.a. seized marijuana. and there are hundreds. we plotted each address on a map, and found an increasing w number of searrants every year through 2018. and it wasn't only federal and state law enforcement and prosecutors who were taken by surprise by the booming illegal market.th

>>ght that the black market would disappear. >> reporter: former colorado governor hickenlooper says the state was indeed caught off guard. he is now running for president. >> evidently it contracted and then began to expand again. and that's counter intuitive right? it is not what you would expect. >> reporter: but some in the marijuana industry argue that if cannabis is legalized nationally, it would tre of the black market for good. >> if there's no demand for majuana from other states then, you know, that there will not be the supply to meet as you know a function of business. >> reporter: but former d.e.a. agent in charge kevin merrill disagrees. would national legalization of marijuana stop the black market? >> no. you would always be able to go out there and probably find it cheaper than what you can through a state regulatedsi buness. >> reporter: local sheriffs say rural areas of colorado have also become a destination for out-of-state marijuanarowers. law enforcement has more ground to cover with fewer officers to find the illegal grows. and they are uncovering connections to other states,

particularly florida. >> this is a trend that we've been seeing since about early 2014. >> reporter: justin miller is the intelligence chief for the d.e.a. field office in miami. >> cuban drug traffickin organizations relocating to places such as colorado, setting up operations, leang their proxies back here in the state of florida, and producing large- scale marijuana for distribution, diversion out of colorado. reporter: colorado state data shows police have seized colorado marijuana in at least 34 states.n and,orida, at least 70 times between 2013 and 2017-- more than every other state on the east coast combined. in douglas county, colorado, investigators caught this woman who said she had flown in from florida to drive a load of marijuana east. >> reporter: miller says florida once ranked near thef the nation in indoor seizures at grow houses, but now it is more often imported.>>

believe it's just the widespread perception that growing marijuana up there is less scrutinized.>> eporter: so authorities keep knocking down doors... destroying plants... and, says former u.s. attorney bob troyer, putting pressu on the criminal groups. a there are costs of doing this business that thept and they calculate. if you are constantly increasing those costs, and incre those risks, you do change their behavior.>> eporter: former governor john hickenlooper agrees. >> certainly if we don't push back on it aggressively it will get worse. >> we never know at any moment real time is if we've passed a tipping point.'v made a dent and now we've deterred the behavior. w reporter: but troyer and d.e.a. officials sle enforcement may slow down the illegal business, colorado will continue to be a major exporter of higquality cannabis for the foreseeable future. for the pbs newshour, i'm john ferrugia in denver.

>> woodruff: it was another busy weekend on the campaign trail for e more than 20 candidate vying for the democratic presidenti nomination. and as lisa desjardins reports, the debate on healthcare >> reporter: the 2020 democratic candidates are trying to run on thn terms. >> starting over makes no sense at all. eporter: for former vice president joe biden, today that meant releasing his health care plan.dd it would so-called public- option, allowing all americans to buy into a medicare-like program run by the government. he previewed the plan this weekend in new hampshire >> i admire the rest of the field, from bernie to elizabeth to kamala, who want me- for-all. and i would build on the

affordable care act and i would make sure there was a public option. >> reporter: tt drew ire from vermont senator bernie sanders. in a tweet today, sanders knocked the former v.p., pointing to his former boss, presipodent obamating out how obama called sanders' "medicare for all" a good idea. he trail, this weekend a tale of key states. ten 2020 hopefuls addressed a friendly crowd in iowa sunday >> we can do better america when it comes to infrastructure! >> reporter: more than 1,000 caucus-goers turned out in balm weather for nual iowa progress corn feed. with just over six months until the caucuses, candidates strove to appeal to widely. >> i want to make sure that no matter who you are, whether you yve in a big city or a small town, no matter whr background is you can have those kind oopportunities, too. >> reporter: in the next state to vote, new hampshire, no big stage. instead, backyards, as candidates worked retail politics. former texas congressman beto o'rourke pitched his universal

early education plan at a house in manchester:e' >> ensure that school doesn't start when you're four or five years old in kindergarten, but three or four years old in pre-k, universal across the united states of america. ( applause ) >> reporter: and in g stateof ennsylvania, in philadelphia the activist left met for the annual "netroots conference." masshusetts senator elizabet warren was met with cheers ahead of a wide-ranging panel. >> we love you, liz! >> i love you, too! >> reporter: also confronting candidates, increased challenges from president trump-- calling democrats socialists or communists, weak on security. in iowa, south bend mayor pete buttigieg pointed to that as a reason for democrats to standth eir ground. >> if we embrace a left wing agenda, the president is goingay toe're socialists and we're for open borders; if we adopt a conservative agenda, the president is going to say we're socialists and we're for open m borders, so weight as well just s nd up for what we believe in and take it from pere. >> reporter: for t

newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. re>> woodruff: and here to down the day's political news, our politics monday team. that'smy walter of the "cook political report" and host of "politics with amy walter" on w- nyc radio. and tamara keith from npr. she also co-hosts the "npr potics podcast." welcome to you both. good to see you, happy monday. tam, i want to ytart wiu. let's pick up where lisa started her report, joe bien's healthcare plan. we heard him there sum uphis plan to presidentil contenders. this is a total shift? what do you make of him hittinge at other contenders? >> bernie sanders has been hitting at some of his opponents as well, and tere's something else going on -- bernie sanders and joe bide no longer have a lock on the top of the democratic rac it would be difficult now to call them either of them

frontrunners because there areat footstepheir heels and, in some cases, in fact, there pulling behind kamala harris or elizabeth warren. so part of what's happening here is these candidates needto fight. they are now fighting for their place. joe biden can't sit back and say, well, i'm in t lead. i can't touch these other -- yo kncan't get my hands dirty. no, he has to get his hands dirty. >> reporter: he's got to get in it? >> he's got to get in it anwe saw it from the debates, he was literally a bunching bag where others were coming at him. he was on the defensive the entire tim now he's saying i'm going on the offensive and direct this debate on the issue where he thinks he strongest. >> and that was on healthcare. we saw him right there, but not just those issues. i want tint you towards a

recent "wall street journal" call ask democratic primary voters what kind odidate are they looking for, large ale change or incremental change? there's a bit more looking for the large-scale change. what does that mean on what the candidates are pushing? >> and the other issue is who are the candidates in each ndidate. a lot of the candidates are fighting for e 54% t the 41%. you have kamalharris, senator warren, senator sanders. to a certain degree pete buttigieg in that 54%. biden is kind of by himself in that 41%. t others aring to do a more moderate, inc.mentum change, not the big, bold, more expensive progressive change -- amy klobuchar, michael bennett, governor john hickenlooper, none of those folks are polling near the top, they're in the single

digits. i think the challenge is not just who the voters are but who are the candidates in those lanes and who fights to be at the top and howany voters are left once you split the folks up. >> reporr: speaking of divisions within the democratic party, tam, a few days agowahere a big story we were talking about the division between speaker pelosi and some of the younger freshmen members of congress, the women of four who likes to call themselves the squad. where are we now? >> so president trumphouse an incredible ability to unit democrats against him. that said, in the press concerns that "the quad" helhed, t were some veiled comirments ected towards nancy pelosi, i think it sawas ayanna pressley whid something to the effect that our squad is bigger than four people. so there were little subtle jabs there, too. but, you know, president used racist language in a treat tweet and then has continued to follow up.

he's sort of modifying the message a bit, butn terms of his campaign, if he could run against the squad instead of alp the other running for president, he would be glad to and, in some ways, on many days, seems like he is running against those house members rather than any of the candidates actuallysi running for prnt. that's what the 54-41 number you put up, that's not just about the presidential campaign, that's also happening at the congress do we do figure big bold things, that's what the squad wou argue, even though they might not never get past, we need to set a marker and push for big change, instead of nancy pelosi and others in leadership ying we need to pass what we can get done and make real movement on issues. t i think even more fundamental than that is part of the reason trp loves playing on this issue of immigration and ce and cultural ises is he pushes extreme this way, and many of the democrats, we saw this in the debate, came out on

the other extreme, whether it was on isss f healthcare for people in the country illegally, almost all the candidates said they would allow governmen health insurance to cover those folks, and then decriminalizing illegal boer crossings. this is where the president likes to play, which is to say you mit not love my positions on these issues, but look at what's democratsre doing, they're going to have open borders, everyone's going to get free stuff, to make it a eo about the other side rather than a referendum on what his administraon is actually doing >> that's the turf the preident wants toght on. take a look at this gallup poll from last month, they were asking people what they consider to be the top problem for the country. immigration is now ranking higher than it ever has befork i tht's up 1 percentage point from the highest point it's ever measured, measuring back t 1993. this is a bipartisan issue now, tam. what do those numbers say to

you? >> what the numbers say is it is a bipartisan issue. the numbers coer up at republicans and democrats have very different ideas when they say immigration is an issue. democrats will say it's family t separation, itrible conditions in some of these at the tension facilities for human righc, -- faities for migrants. republicans will say it'pesople pouring across the borders and ms-13. it is a top concern about both parties. >> a lot of democrats i talk to sai wish the campaigns, candidates and democrats in congressould talk a lot more about healthcare. it's a top issue and where democrats have a tremendous advantage, like they did in 2018, but instead they're getting pulled over to talk about the issues donald trump wants them to talk about on his terrain and his turf. make him, is what democrats ell me, play on the terrain more suitable to democrats. >> the democrats stick more to

the issues where they canin? >> yeah, but that's really tough to do, the president will bring the attention e media and how democrats respond to him and go forward for the next step. >> we'll be tracking it there. amy walter, tamera keith, "politics monday," good to see you guys. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line 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 provid by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more.15 babbel's 1inute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com.

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