captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivan: on this edition for saturday, august 10: the latest on the death of accused sex trafficker jeffrey epstein; and in our signatureegment, the asylum seekers often lost in the immigration debate. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs wshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the j.p.b. foundation. rosalind p. walter, in memory of george o'neil. rbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is providedua by mof america--

meesigning customized individual and group reti products. that's why we're your .retirement compa additional support has been provided by: and by the corporati for public broadcasting. eo private corporation funded by the americane. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening, and thanks for joining us. jeffrey epstein, the 66-year-old multimillionaire convicted sex offender, died by an apparent suicide this morning. federal authorities were holding him in jail without bail on sex wafficking charges in new york. found unresponsive, and a hospital pronounced him dead shortly after. the bureau of prisons said his death was "an apparent suicide" and that the f.b.i. is investigating. attorney general william barr released a statement saying he was "appalled" to learn of epstein's death in federal custody and that the justice department's inspeor general

is opening an investigation. he was arrested july 6 at teterboro aiort in new jersey as he returned from paris on his private jet. epstein had entered a plea of not guilty. he faced up to 45 years in prison if convicted. in 2008, he agreed to plead guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in a florida case. that deal allowed him to avoid more serious federal charges. federal prosecutors in new york reopened the case after the "miami herald" published an investigative series of reports on the plea deal. two weeks ago, officials moved epstein to a suicide unit after he was found unconscious in his cell with marks on his ck. today, officials said that epstein s being held in a special unit with extra security. r will have more on this story coming up after ws summary. re has been one week since 31 people died and han 50 were wounded in two mass shootings in el paso, texas, a dayton, ohio. outside dayton today, a funeral service was held for 57-year-old derrick fudge, one of the nine

people killed. five other funeral services were also hd today. in el paso, a funeral mass was held for 15-year-old javier rodriguez. >> never forget, never forget. >> sreenivan: and the nation'sis oldestnic civil rights organization, the league of united latin american citizens"- also known as lulac"-- organized a march of more than 100 people through downtown el paso. they also chanted "gun reform now," and, in spanish, "here we are, and we are not leaving." the south korean military said today that north korea fired what they believe to be two short-range ballistic missiles the sea. today's launches were the fifth in less than three weeks.ou the u.s. and korea are currently conducting joint military exercises which north korea calls "war games." um tweets this morning, president said that in a recent letter from north korea, leader kim jong un offered "a small apology for testing the short-range missiles." the president said north korea promised to stop the launches when the joint military exercises end. the u.s. and south korave scaled down combined drills

since the first summit betumen president and kim jong un in 2018. police in hong konanfired tear gascuffled with protesters today as violent demonstrations continued for tenth weekend. today's protestsere at a commuter rail station and a police station on hong kong harbor. authorities did not issuee permits for monstrations, and police used tear gas repeatedly. thousandof people dressed in black also gathered for a second day to hold a sit-in at hong kong's international airport. beijing has labeled the pro- democracy protesters as violent radils who have been influenced by anti-china foreign forces. protesters say they will continue to demonstrate again tomorrow. typhoon lekima made landfall in china today, killing at least 22 people and forcing millions more from their homes. officials said the storm triggered a landslide that killed many of the victims. emergency crews rescued people from floods and seared for others trapped in damaged buildings. the typhoon, with winds more than 116 miles per hour, also

caused widespread power outages and forced the cancen of more than 1,000 flights. sreenivasan: joining me now for more on jeffrey epstein's apparent suicide is "miami herald" investigative reporter julie brown. julie, you and your team's reporting really is credited with what we kno now is the last phase of jeffrey epstein's lifemu given ho you know about him, how much you studied him, yow he was able to negotiate and plea down so mthings, were you surprised that he apparently died by suicide today? >> i think everybody wasretty surprised. i think that we all thouthat because he had allegedly tried this before that he was probably being watched very efully. so i think everybody was pretty stunned when this happened. >>reenivasan: this comes a a day after this massive document cache was released. for people who haven't been following tlys clowhat's

in there. >> these were thousands of documentdocuments th the "miami herald" sued in court for. this was defamation case involving ghislaine maxwell, who allegedly helped him with this sex-trafficking operation. she acted as a sort of madam,on of the people that helped orchestrate and lured some of these women to his various homes in new york and palm beach. and as pt of this lawsuit, which was settled in 2017, there s s a lot of-- i had gotten a tip that there lot of information in this case that sort of provided evidence and pointed finrs at ve important people, wealthy people, politically conne,ted peoho had been somehow on the periphery of this. so we decided that since most of the documents in the case were oealed, that we would go t court and ask the court to unseal these documents. >> sreenasan: so was jeffrey

epstein providing young women to these people so that he couler gain le on them? >> well, that's what one of the victims says. and she was in circle of-- for a lon, g tir well over two years. so this particular victim virginia giuffre was part of his circle, closest circle of people right around the time that he was operating his sex pyramid chheme involving underaged girls in palm b >> sreenivasan: are all of the documents public now? are there more on the way where we're goi to learn mo about what was going on? do this is only a fraction of thments that have been released in that case, and we expect that there's-- we understand that there's thousands more that are still sealed. b there's going a hearing on thursday in new york where a judge is going to look at what's left and come up with some kind of a plan to unseal themth. e-- this was a preliminary group of documents that were

connected to the motion for summary judgment in the case. they include a lot ofexhibits. it was pretty-- you kn, it was a huge trove of information. but there's moobe that's ly going to be released. >> sreenivasan: and of what you've read, was it disturbing? >> there were some, you know, awful things, you know. it was difficult to read in places you know, when you have a 15-year-old girl just weeping in one of the documtsa houseman described how he ran across this 15-year-old girl who had just back from epstein's island, and she was completely traumatized by whad happened to her there. you know, it's difficult to read. i'm a parent and, you know, you think of your own children sometimes when things like this happen, and it's inevitable. so it was pretty disturbing, some of the details. >> sreenivasan: all right, browrk thanks to you and your team at the iami herald." >> thank you.

>> for latest on epstein's dea and to access resources on suicide prevention and crisis response visit pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: officials are calling the immigration and customs enforcement raid of several mississippi food processing plants this week one of the largest enforcement acts in recent u.s. history. nationally, raids like this have detained and deported thousands of suspected undocumented immigrants, and ice says they are also stepping up criminal investigations against the individuals and companies that employ them. adolfo flores is national security correspondent for immigration at buzzfeed news. he joins me now from mcallen, texas. bit about the disparity here. we saw the raids. we saw the people being handcuffed and marched away. s.ose were mostly the work what happened to the employers? ic so far, nothing has happened to the employers, is something that immigrant advocates have bn pointing out is 680 people were detf ned, hundredsem are still in

ice custody, and the bosses or the employers who hired them haven't, you know, been detained or really faced any consequences yet. wa sreenivasan: and why is that? >> the law... ththe law around this was written is, employers aren'treaking the law by hiring undocumented rkers. but what happens is, they... if they are found to be in violation of the law, it's because they knowinglhired undocumented workers. it's annoyingly that tough to ove for prosecutors, and so that takes more time. and not only more time, it makes it harder for the prosecutor so, some people would, you know, say that the immigrants are the low-hanging fruit whereas the employers are tougher to get. and more often than not, they don't really face any criminal charge. fines, if anything. >> sreenivasan: but what are the advantages that an employer has to hire undocumented workers? >> i mean, just that they're... they are, you know, they're cheaper.

you don't have to pa as much. but there's also the fact that they may be less inclined to complain. if their, you know, their wages arbeing taken away, an undocumented worker is not going on feel as empowered as so who has papers to go and file a complaint. and so, you know, eap... the cheaper costs, and then the other side of that is what makes them, you know, more appealing to employers. to sreenivasan: yeah, so, there have been databasery to keep track of this gap between how many employees or, you know, undocumented immigrants are... are arrested versus employers. when you gback and look back and forth-- and not just that ppis raid-- what do we find? >> what s is, a lot of the employees, you know, they'll , e documents that aren't theiu know, but they're still valid, you know, numbers. and so, the employer will run them through e-verify, and ytey'll say, "you know, we did evng that we possibly

could to verify that these employees were here and were able to legally work." so, it's hard to prove that. and it's also easy for people to get into the system and not raise any red flags. >> sreenivasan: in the past couple of years, how many employers do you think have beei either ced or, well, arrested or in any way kind ofce brought to jusbout this? >> there was an analysis done by track at syracuse thuniversity that looked a stmber of prosecutions aga employers, and they found that from ail of 2018 to march of 2019, only 11 individuals-- not companies-- were prosecuted for hiring undocumented workers. the same time, during that period, more than 120,000 undocumented immigrare charged for illegal entry or illegal reentry. so, it's pretty stark when you look at those number

>> sreenivasan: all right, adolfo flores from buzzfeed news, joining us via skype from mcallen, texas, tonight. thanks so much. thank you. >> sreenivasan: there are currently more than 800,000 migrants applying for asylum in the u.s., and most of the issues surrounding th have been well- documented. but while much attention has been paid to the separation at the border of typical families, some migrant rights advocates are plight of a group they say gets lost in the immigration debate. wshour weekend's ivette feliciano has more. ( singing ) >> reporter: this past may, about 200 people from across the united states and puerto rico gathered in philadelphia for a nference dedicated to migrant rights. >> but guess what?im thgrant rights fight isn't pushing us to the edge. >> reporter: the sentiments th

expressed were a familiar part of america's immigration debate, but the people they were talking about were ls so. >> the queer and trans folks are being impacted in many wayntand in diffeays than, say, straight undocumented immigrants. >> reporter: jorge gutierrez is the executive director of familia: trans queer liberion movement, or t.q.l.m., a volunteer-led group thatca ads for latinx immigrants who identify as l.g.b.t.q. according tohe u.c.l.a. school of law's williams institute, there are at least 267,000 undocumented l.g.b.t.q immigrants living in the u.s. gutierrez says familia t t.q.l.m.'s goal is to pu national spotlight on their unique circumstances, both in b the u.s. ak in their home countres. >> they're facing discrimination, racism, you know, transphobia, homophobia in their own communities, i own families.ey

then, ind themselves being detained for months and months, trying to get asylum, trying to get refuge. >> reporter: tysns migrants, utierrez, face a specific set of obstacles. s take try of 28-year-old victoria castro, a trans migrant from el salvador. a she says slied for asylum in 2017 after being the target of violence bk home. >> ( translated ): we are being puued and attacked. that's what motivates trans women to immigrate into this country and to seek whatever safety we ca >> reporter: castro used to run workshops on tsans health and ty practices in el salvador. rke says one night while doing outreach with sex s in the country's capital, san salvador, she was beaten and shot in the shoulder by a group of gang members. >> ( translat): it's not just the blows they gave me and the gunshot, is the offensive rds they used when they were hitting me. the awful language that people use when they attack a trans person. and then, to think that you have

to go back out onto the streets where it happened? it was so difficult. r orter: castro went to salvadoran authorities and identified the men who attacked her. >> ( translated ): i wanted justice, which i thought would possible because i recognized the men that did this to me, but that was not the outcome. >> reporter: police detained but eventually released the men with no charges. stro said they knew she was the one who had complained, so they began to follow her and threaten her with death. >> ( translated ): i said to myself, if i stay here in el salvador, they will kill me. that's when i decided to take the long trip om el salvador tr the u.s. >> reporter: caswalked and hitchhiked f>> five months. translated ): i suffered through what most immigrants sffer on the journey to t country in search of the american dream and stability. that i going hungry, sleeping on the streets, trying to stay igfe. you're ning this huge country of mexico, and you don't

know anyone, no one to help you fy support you. it was a terg experience. wi reporter: castro says she was sexually assaulted on her journey. she finally crosd into the u.s. at el paso, texas, on january 1, 2017, and shortlyto after was take detention center. >> ( translated ): that was the start of another horrible ordeal, which was going into ice detention. it's difficult when you show up and your appearance is completely feminine but your document says you are a man. they brought me into the famous "ice-boxes" as they call them,th an were full of men. and they knew that, because i was there, that i was trans. they started screaming at me, and i began to panic. but the officer told me, unfortunately, that is where i had to go because they had no other place to put me. but i insisted that i didn't feel safe, so they handcuffed ma x e outside the ice-box

for about urs. >> reporter: two weeks passed before she was sent to a special trans unit that immigration andm customs enfot operated at the time in santa ana, california. in the meantime, she says she hewas transferred to five detention centers, where she was forced to shower in front of men and strip-searched by male officers. >> ( translated ): i was surrounded by men ats and felt constantly under threat. . could barely sleep because i was so worri >> reporter: jorge gutierrez of familia says castro'y is not unique and that the experience of being in detention often re-traumatizes trans migrants already fleeing violence back home. >> these are folks that are already being criminalized, are already being targeted just by the way they look, their presentation, their gender identity, their sexual orientation. and so, we have folks, you know, that are, you know, in our base of members who's like... that were detained years agand are still dealing with the trauma. >> reporter: so far this year, ice housed 300 self-identified

transgender detainees in its custody among 32 facilities, according to the agency. there is only one detention center with a special unit dedicated to trans migrants, which can hold up to 60 people. in 2015, the u.s. government announced a new set of guidelines intended to improve detention conditions for trans migrants, making it a priority to place them in units that exclusively house trans women or men, and ensuring that trans detainees on hormone therapy receive continued treatment. there's also guidance on the appropriate language that should be used during intake and subsequent interviews. but a 2016 study by human rights watch und there is little oversight to ensure the guidelines a followed. it also showed that more than half of transgender women interviewed were helin men's facilities at some point in their detention. and it listed trans women and

men as among those who are often placed in solitary confinement for weeks or months at a time, as an alleged form of protection that is often imposed against their wishes. >> we have a client right now that's been in solitary confinement for 17 months. >> reporter: lynly egyes is legal director at the transgender law center, the largest trans-led organization doing policy and lal representation work in the u.s. they've partnered with familia: t.q.l.m. in holding press conferences and protests rerding the deaths of two trans women who died after being within the last year, and others who have attempted suicide while in solitary confinement. >> we see this over and overn, aghether it's reports of sexual and physical violence, whether it's actual deaths in detention, or whether it's just access to medical care. trans people cannot be safely housed in detention centers. >> reporter: in an email to pbs newshour weekend, ice said

decisions regarding the s willons where individu be detained are made on a case- by-case basis and that it "is committed to upholding an immigration detention system that prioritizes the health, safety, and welfare of all those in our care and custody." still, the t.l.cwants ice to end all detention of trafo migrants, anthe department of homeland security to use a spectrum of alternatives at s disposal in order to ensure individuals make their court dates. the organization also connects itqueer and trans migrants pro-bono lawyers who understand the nuances of representing them in immigration proceedings, like looking at immigrationptions outside of asylum, such as visas that exist for immigrant victims of human trafficking. >> and that's a really big deal because human trafficking is ra.ant in the trans communi criminalization is rampant in the trans community.we aneed to be addressing these other issues, especially when we're trying to help people

get immigration status. >> reporter: after three and a half months in detention, victoria castro was released and is currently waiting for a decision on her asylum case. in the meantime, she's sharing her story at events coordinated by familia: t.q.l.m. in february, a trans woman was murdered in el salvador shortly after she was denied asylum in the u.s. and deported back. castro worries if she is , the same might happen to her. >> ( translated ): if i'm not aproved for asylum, the dan is that i'm sent back to my country and am assassieyted because e already tried to assassinate me. the police repor did not help. i know that if i'm sent back, they'll kill me. it could happen to me, and it could happen to others likme who've come here to escape violence. if they send us back to our countries, they're sending us to our deaths.

>> this is pbs newshour weekend, saturday. >> sreenivasan: off the coast of jordan, in the gulf of aqaba, there is an underwater military museum. not only is it drawing tourists who want to dive to see the tanks, helicopters and even an airplane already submerged, it's also designed to help coral reefs form and grow. megan thompson has the story. t reporter: after surveying the seabbe sure the placement of military equipment would not harm natural marine life,ci jordanian ofs placed 19 military vehicles and machines in the waters near the city of aqaba. >> ( translated ): marine placing these military vehicles in this location will allow coral reefs-- corals as well as - rine life, including fis find a safe sanctuary enabling them to live and procreate in. also, corals will grow othese military pieces. we predict that in about a year or so, we will see a beaiful site. >> reporter: the new underwater museum may also take pressure

off other popular coral reefs where divers can damage the fragile ecosystems. >> ( translated ): this is a great initiative. it will attract more tourists to e area. we currently have 23 diving sites, including the plane ty submerged around a year and a half ago. there is also a tank. and th is a new location. it will bring us more work for aqaba and for divers. >> reporter: except for it's 16 miles of coastline along the gulf of aqaba, jordan is a landlocked country. it makes the waters here one of the region's most popular tourist destinations, and local residents say th are excited to join the visitors in the new underwater museum. >> ( translated ): as soon as they hear about this, they are going to grab their masks and come to see the beautiful views. now, after a short period of time, this will be filled with colorful fish. there is a tank out there that looks beautiful. we often go see it. also, there is the helicopter that they lowered. it looks great. it looks like a military plane. my dad, my sisters and i areg go go in and watch it.

>> sreenivasan: join us again tomorrow. we'll have an interview with musician carlos santana as he reflects on his legendary performance at woodstock 50 years later. ♪ that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by:

bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the j.p.b. foundation. rosalind p. walter, in memory of george o'neil. barbara hope zuckerberg. funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: by anhe corporation for public broadcasting. a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. be more. pbs.

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