captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, on the border-- thousands of unaccompanied minors overwhelm migrant holding facilities. our team is on the ground speaking to families who have been denied entry and sent back to mexico. then, getting the vaccine-- another inoculation proves effective but questions remain about distribution in the united states amid a rise of new covid cases. and, crackdown-- foreign journalists face threats and intimidation from the chinese government for doing their job. >> they seem to think that if we're not toeing the government line 100%, then therefore we are the enemy. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> woodruff: new images from migrant facilities on the u.s./mexico border have emerged tonight. that comes as the biden administration dispatches top officials to address the sharp increase in migrants seeking asylum. amna nawaz has been on both sides of the border today and reports from mcallen, texas. >> nawaz: amid an influx of immigrant children coming to the southern border, new images have surfaced from inside the overcrowded border facilities on the u.s. side. these photos provided to pbs newshour by congressman henry cuellar of texas show adults and children bunched together on sleeping mats at a makeshift tent facility in donna, texas operated by u.s. customs and border protection. it comes amid an outcry from a bipartisan group of u.s. senators after they toured a border facility last friday with homeland security secretary

alejandro mayorkas. press was barred from the trip. democratic senator chris murphy of connecticut said he “fought back tears” while touring the facility where he said children republican senator shelley moore capito of west virginia said the facilities were “overrun.” >> the numbers are just continuing to grow and there's no impedance for these children to be coming in. >> nawaz: mayorkas told abc news yesterday the biden administration is working to move children out of temporary bord patrol facilities as quickly as possible. he added one final message for immigrants hoping to journey north now. >> now is not the time to come. do not come. this journey is dangerous. we are building safe, orderly and humane ways to address the needs of vulnerable children, do not come. >> nawaz: the biden administration today sent officials to mexico to meet with mexican officials about efforts to stem migration north. >> woodruff: and amna joins me now from mcallen, texas on the u.s. southern border.

it is very windy there this afternoon. so, hello, amna. tell us, how much difference can those meetings with mexican officials make? >> reporter: well, certainly, judy. i think they're hoping that those meetings can help stem some of the flow making its way up to the u.s. southern border but thtruth is the problem start much further south. i have to tell you the vast majority of people we met with today are coming from those three central american countries of el salvador, guatemala and honduras. we should also mention the numbers of people crossing the u.s. southern roared border has been increasing since may of last year. it increased dramatically in the fall. here we are hitting 20-year highs with over 100,000 people crossing in february. but it's important to note, too, the vast majority of team crossing the border, over 80% are single adults, and the vast majority of people crossing that border are still being almost immediately expelled. that includes families. we in fact crossed over into mexico today to a town called

reknowsa where the migrate families are sheltering after being expelled by the biden administration. they say they crossed, within a matter of hours in some cases, they were fingerprinted, photographed and walked right across the bridge, the border crossing in mexico and in some cases didn't know they were being sent back to mexico till they were dropped off. we worked with a lawyer from lawyers for good government and here's what she told us about migrate families sthelterring in one particular park. >> almost all these are central american families with children including small children who tried to crosdz and were sent back under the covid rules. they were dumped at the not of the bridge and are forced to stay over here close to the foot of the bridge. >> woodruff: amna, as you say, the vast majority of the people are sent back but unaccompanied children are allowed to stay. how much st is that taxing the

system. >> reporter: incredibly, judy. we have been seek this in the reports and reporting this on ourselves. our system is not meant to handle this many unaccompanied children and those numbers have been increasing. we now know according to a source familiar with the information who isn't allowed to speak to the media, we know that that backup, the fact that the shelters who house these children are supposed to be transferred to working under reduced capacity in the pandemic, there's a backup in the boarder patrol facilities where children are not meant to be staying. we now know over 3,000 of the thousands of children in boarder patrol facilities have been held there longer than 72 hours. 72 hours is the legal limit they're supposed to be there. we also know over 800 have been held in those facilities for more than ten days. one to have the things i should point out is with some of the migrate families we have spoken to who were recently expelled feel they have to make a tough choice. they are asking would my chi

have a better chance of making their way into the united states, some as young as eight to ten years old, if i allowed them to go alone. we met a mother who left honduras fleeing unspeakable violence, her 27-year-old son had been murdererred in front of her and her 14-year-old son witnessed a crime but they don't trust the authorities to report it to them, so they made their way to the u.s. to the sonar border, spent their life savings, survived unspeakable scenes and were immediately expelled intake into mexico, here toes what the woman told pus. >> i was looking for protection but they didn't help me. it didn't matter to them that my son was killed. they didn't care that he was killed. they turned me back. i don't have any moeny and i haven't eepten. >> woodruff: so hard to hear that, amna. we know the biden administration has said over and over again don't come now, now is not the time to come, is that message getting across? >> reporter: from the families we spoke to, it is not.

i asked a group of the migrate families we spoke to, have any of you heard president biden say the border is closed? not a single person raised their hand. i asked what you have heard, because many began their journeys five or six morpts ago, and they said, we heard, when president biden is in office, there will be no deportations, it will be easierphor young children to enter. quite frankly, the people in the business of moving people, the smugglers and traffickers who are incentivivized to move as many people ag as they can, they have been helping to amplify the message now is the time to come. so the families are spending thousands of dollars and risng their lives. the message the biden administration wants to have is not landing in the communities. >> woodruff: amna nawaz at the u.s. southern border in mcallen, texas and will be reporting from there tomorrow. amna, thank you. >> reporter: thanks, judy.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, astrazeneca announced a u.s. study shows its covid vaccine is 79% effective overall. the company said it will soon seek federal approval for the vaccine. that news came as infections are accelerating again in several states. the head of the c.d.c., dr. rochelle walensky, urged americans today to take heed. >> we must act now and i am worried that if we don't take the right actions now, we will have another avoidable surge just as we are seeinin europe right now and just as we are so aggressively scaling up vaccination. >> woodruff: wolensky also urged caution before traveling. more than 1.5 million people passed through u.s. airport checkpoints on sunday, the most in a year.

and in miami beach, florida, thousands of spring break revelers defied mask-wearing and social distancing over the weekend. officials have now authorized an overnight curfew through april 12th. the u.s. supreme court will consider reinstating the death sentence for dzokhar tsarnaev, the convicted boston marathon bomber. a lower court threw out the sentence last july, citing possible jury bias. president biden has pledged to end the federal death penalty, but has not asked the justice department to intervene in this case. the high court also refused today to hear facebook's attempt at reducing a $15 billion class- action suit. it says the company illegally tracked users' internet activities, even after they logged off facebook. in australia, the worst flooding in 60 years left thousands more people facing possible evactions around sydney.

three days of rain have sent rivers pouring over large swaths of land, and already forced some 18,000 people to flee. others are scrambling to save livestock, and bracing for more downpours. >> you know we're right here on the water and we've had a lot of rain and that obviously led to that huge flow, flood on friday night. it receded and unfortunately we've had a round two of the high tide coming through. so at the moment for us it's a waiting game. >> woodruff: the same region suffered catastrophic wildfires just a year ago. saudi arabia today proposed a cease-fire in yemen between a sunni coalition and shiite rebels aligned with iran. the plan also calls for re- opening a major airport in sanaa, the country's capital city. the saudis are under u.s. pressure to end six years of colict in yemen. back in this country, the u.s.

senate moved late today to nfirm boston mayor marty walsh as secretary of labor. he will be the first head of the labor department in nearly 50 years to have been a union member. on wall street, stocks were broadly higher. the dow jones industrial average gained 103 points to close at 32,731. the sdaq rose 162 points, and the s&p 500 added 27 points. and, pro basketball hall of famer elgin baylor died today in los angeles, of natural causes. he played 14 seasons with the lakers, in minneapolis and los angeles. his high-scoring, acrobatic game made him an all-star 11 times. elgin baylor was 86 years old. still to come on the newshour: another vaccine proves effective but questions remain about its distribution in the u.s. journalists face intimidation as

the chinese government moves to stifle critique. the n.a.a.'s unequal treatment of male and female basketball players sparks outrage. plus much more. >> woodruff: astrazeneca announced today their vaccine is not only safe, but extremely effective at preventing the most serious outcomes from covid-19. in the largest covid vaccine trial yet, astrazeneca was 79% effective in preventing symptomatic infections. the company will soon seek approval in the u.s and as william brangham tells us, the question now is where it fits into the overall distribution plan in the u.s., and internationally.

>> brangham: judy, we haven't seen the raw data yet, only what the company announced. but astrazeneca's latest trial included more than 32,000 people, and it prevented both hospitalizations and deaths. and this vaccine is a crucial part of an international effort to distribute shots to less wealthy countries. dr. nahid bhadelia is the medical director of the special pathogens unit at boston medical center and an associate professor of infectious diseases at boston university school of medicine. dr. bhadelia, great to have you back on the "newshour". do you share the judgment that this is another piece of very good news, that we now have a fourth vaccine that has proven quite effective against covid 19? >> i do, william. if the f.d.a.'s evaluation holds up the data that we're seeing today, it's good news because it adds a fourth candidate to the u.s. side at the time we're rushing to cover our population

with immunity, but it's been valued the vaccinephor the world because as you said it is making up the lion's share o vaccine distributed by covax the w.h.o.'s utility to get the vaccines out to the rest of the world. it happens to be about $2 to $3 per dose, can be refrigerated in regular refrigerators for about six months. the ability to get out to most to have the isolated parts of the world. for all those reasons and the fact it serves as another datapoint showing efficacy and safety, a big plus for global and u.s. health as well. >> reporter: we could use all the big pluses we could get right now. i know there have been concern recently over some blood clot side effects, this caused several european makes several weeks ago to stop using this vaccine. european regulators looked at it, didn't seem to think there was any real concern about side effects. did this current trial from astrazeneca address any or show

any additional side effects for this vaccine? >> well, william, i think it's good to cover why there was this concern, right? i think what we saw from astrazeneca in the u.k. authorities last sunday was about a week ago was that the numbers of people who developed blood clots was the same among the 17 million people who have gothen it in the u.k. compared to those in the general population. the concern from the e.u. authorities is they're seeing the blood clots often found in younger patients that are just rare diseases that occur among the general populations and what the european medical association has been able to show is there doesn't seem to be a causal link between the two, and what this trial does is at least in this well-controlled setting shows you that, you know, it's unlikely that this is a common side effect, and the fact that it does not occur even in this controlled setting at higher frequency among people who receive the vaccines compared to the placebo. >> reporter: we know, of

course, there are these so-called variants of concern frm several different regions around the world. what is our understanding of how this vaccine does against those variants? >> the most common variant that we're seeing here in the u.s. is the one that was originally discovered in the u.k.. the good news on that front is that particular variant seems to be maintained, you know, that all the ccines on the market including the athastrazeneca seems to maintain good activity against that. the ones we were initially concerned about the ones discovered in south africa, both of which in the laboratory settings already show lwer efficacy for moderna, pfizer and astrazeneca, in prior studies in south africa as well as in latin america have shown a drop in efficacy. the important thing is that their efficacy against severe disease, hospitalizations and death still seems to hold out. so as the companies both

astrazeneca and others work on boosters to address the variants, i think it's still going to be important to get those versions to have the vaccines out because it's going to help us protect the health systems and m more severe disea. >> reporter: right, if it protects against hospitalizations and deaths, in the end, of course, we want to prevent infections, but stopping people from going to the hospital or dying is obviously enormously important. as we were saying before, the f.d.a. has not approved this shot, no one in the u.s. is currently getting the astrazeneca vaccine. they are going to apply for an emergency use authorization. do you think that approval will come and do you think we will start seeing this vaccine deployed here? >> yeah, i think that if the f.d.a. finds that want the data holds up, it is likely to get an emergency authorization. the more important question is how commonly will it be used. so 30 million doses to have the vaccine are already here on u.s. ground, and we know that the biden administration has said that by may 1, even projections

based on existing approved vaccines, there should be enough for all americans. what the white house advisor said today is they're not going because they want to make sure the anufacturing of the existing vaccines hold up, they're not going to make decisions yet about whether or not astrazeneca will be needed or not. likely it may be deployed in those settings if manufacturing for other vaccines don't work out. what thing i hope happens, the surplus doses i hope we sent to the rest of the globe because transmission anywhere will be a threat to all of us getting back to normal. >> reporter: all right, dr. nahid bhadelia of the boston university school of medicine, thank you very much for being here. >> thank you, william. >> woodruff: an alarming new

report accuses authorities in china of stepping up their efforts to harass and intimidate foreign journalists. over the last year, chinese officials, claiming to guard public health, have singled out journalists, denied them access to carry out their work and in some cases, pressured them to leave the country. special correspondent patrick fok reports from beijing. >> this is me, getting cordoned in again. actually a minute ago i was told i wasn't allowed to stand on the pavement here but now we're being ushered back onto it. there's gonna be a bit of a game of cat and mouse all day. we'll be moved from one spot to another because these guys don't want us to be reporting on this story today. >> reporter: reporters in china, getting the sort of treatment they've gotten used to. this was at the trial hearing for michael kovrig, the canadian charged with espionage, today in beijing. security here went to great lengths to frustrate coverage of

the story. but according to the foreign correspondents' club of china's annual survey on media freedoms in the country. it's just the tip of the iceberg, and conditions for journalists in the past year have gotten much worse. >> the restrictions that any journalists face inside china is extraordinarily onerous and it makes it difficult at times to report. >> reporter: the "new york times'" steven lee myers is one of several american correspondents caught in a clamp down on foreign media in the past year. last march he was thrown out of china altogether along with the rest of the times' american staff operating in the country, as ties flared between the trump administration and beijing over the coronavirus pandemic. >> in the middle of a pandemic we were given 10 days to pack up. >> reporter: the move came weeks after the trump white house hit chinese journalists working for fivetate backed organizations deemed as propaganda outlets in the u.s., limiting the number of visas issued to them to 100.

there were about 160 chinese citizens working for those outlets at the time, which means around 60 were forced to leave. american journalists working for the new york times, washington post and wall street journal were all told to leave. china said it was a necessary response to the oppression. its media organizations experienced in the u.s. >> they couched it as being reciprocal but obviously they targeted it at news organizations they particularly didn't like. and you know whether or not it was proportionate, they would argue that it is, but you know the number of inese journalists that are allowed to operate even now is far greater than the number of americans that are allowed to operate in china. >> reporter: according to figures provided by the foreign correspondents' club of china, there are now just 39 american journalists working in the country. but the worsening conditions for reporters here go beyond the diplomatic feud between china and the u.s. and the expulsions. the foreign correspondents club said in its report that all arms of state power were used to

harass and intimidate journalists, and that new surveillance systems and strict controls on movement were implemented to limit journalists. we've all faced increased challenges over the past year because of the pandemic but what's been frustrating for many of us journalists working in china is that a lot of these systems and controls imposed by authorities haven't applied to other people, whether they're chinese or foreign. notably, authorities created pressure for journalists and their news organizations by either refusing or delaying the process for the renewal of press cards, required for them to work here. some journalists surveyed by the fccc said they'd been forced to live and work in china on a series of short term visas valid for between one and three months. >> which is very difficult for journalists because they need to know that they have got some continuity in their jobs. >> reporter: keith richburg is the director of the university of hong kong's journalism and media studies center, and a former china correspondent for the washington post. he says there's a growing sense in beijing, that china doesn't

need foreign media as much as it did in the past when it wanted to highlight to the world it's rapid economic development. and he fears hong kong's become a more difficult place for journalists to work since national security legislation was rolled out in the territory last year. >> it does seem to be moving more in that direction where they do not see us as doing a legitimate job where we are questioning in a legitimate way, but they seem to think that if we're not towing the government line 100% of the time then we are the enemy. >> reporter: the cutting of press credentials and refusal to renew visas resulted in the largest expulsion of foreign journalists from china since the aftermath of the tiananmen square massacre more than three decades ago. many of the restrictions put in place in the last year have been done so in the name of public health, and china's battle with the coronavirus. but several western media reports say beijing is retaliating against negative coverage of the outbreak in wuhan and other sensitive topics. >> in all the big crises china goes through they want to show

that they handle it pretty well so every time we, foreign journalists, but also chinese journalists try to show a different reality or a different truth of course they've been kept from doing what they were doing. >> reporter: justine jankowsky is the china correspondent for french national broadcaster tf1. >> i basically couldn't enter anyway with or without a camera. >> reporter: she says she's frequently encountered roadblocks while covering the pandemic and other stories. but one of the most alarming incidents that occurred over the lastear was when australian journalists bill birtles and mike smith were barred from leaving the country allegedly for national security reasons. they were permitted to go only after a tense diplomatic standoff. another australian, cheng lei, who was a news anchor for state broadcaster cgtn was arrested in september and charged with supplying state secrets overseas. >> of course you feel more at risk because you always believe that's not going to happen to you.

but thenou read that and think, that could actually happen to anyone depending on the diplomatic situation between the two countries. >> reporter: foreign correspondents aren't the only ones in the firing line. chinese staff working for international media faced substantial pressure over their work. journalist for bloomberg news haze fan was detained in december. no details have been provided on where she is or what she's been detained for. people journalists sought to interview have faced threats and intimidation too, raising ethical concerns on reporting. >> i tnk we are definitely not the ones taking the bigger risk. the chinese people are, the ones who talk to us, and what i do, >> reporter: the correspondents' club noted the rapid decline in media freedom in china comes as it gears up to host the beijing winter olympics in 2022. there have been calls in the u.s., and elsewhere, for a boycott of the games over human rights concerns, including the mass detention of uighurs muslims, and beijing's crackdo in hong kong.

but washington can play a part in reducing tensions that skyrocketed under the trump administration so that pressure is taken off journalists. >> beijing authorities want a reset in their relations with the united states. one good place for the biden administration to start would be to kind of call off this war that's seen journalists and reporters caught as cross fire. >> reporter: it's hard to say if, or when, conditions will improve. but many agree that relations between china and the rest of the world won't get better without journalists building a better understanding of this complex and calculating global power. for the pbs newshour, i'm patrick fok, in beijing. >> woodruff: stimulus money from the latest covid relief bill is arriving in bank accounts all over the country. here's a look at how some people

plan to spend their money and how they feel about the president's legislation. my name is lee andrew bell. i am a 59-year-old unemployed black male. i live in baton rouge, louisiana. >> i'm jason, president of felder shine northeast out of denver, pennsylvania. we're a small business for restaurants. we do fire prevention related services. >> i'm nova harper, in georgia, live in kingsland near the florida line. i'm a custodian and elementary school. i had to move once the pandemic hit and the quarantine started. i had a nervous breakdown, i was running out of money and currently living with family, sleeping on a couch and working at an elementary school making $900 and some change a month, trying to save up enough to get my own apartment. i have not received my stimulus check. lib receiving one but have not gotten it yet. i am going to put it in savings until i have more from my tax

returns and others that -- other money that i put away from my paycheck until i can afford to move. >> my name is nahila hendricksen, i love in arizona and am a project specialist for a fortune 500 manufacturing company. i was able to pay off or pay down a lot of my son's hospital bills from his self-harm and his attempted suicide during covid. he is 16, and was out of school due to covid, and he had actually three attempts at committing suicide, and had to be hospitalized and put into a mental hospital. in those three attempts, we have over $10,000 worth of bills, and that's with insurance. >> my name is dr. minipirro, a journalism professor in tennessee at east tennessee state university and i live in north carolina. i have four chiewrn, the oldest

is nine and the youngest is two. so that actually made doing my job very challenging. i think, financially, what's really helped me with the pandemic actually is the student loan payments being deferred because we were really having to make some decisions about how much childcare we were able to use and pay on our student loans from graduate school. >> my personal opinion of this entire relief bill is there's a lot of wasted money. our biggest struggle now and what we're trying to work through is employees, hiring in uh employees, if you will. our labor force is very slim right now. they're now basically being incentivized not to look for employment, to stay at home, you know, on top of the normal unemployment, they're also getting a federal unemployment of an additional $300 a week now, until september. it's time to incentivize workers to get back to work. the only way that we're going to recover as a country is we've got to get our employees back out there dng work and earning the money the right way. we can't incentivize them to

stay at home. >> i was afraid to get out and look for employment because of covid, not knowing, you know, because i have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, i am at risk so i didn't want to risk my seth to get a job. it's going to be a big help, but it's not enough. home racism. i'm also going to catch my bills up, and probably buy myself a pair of shoes. so it could have been more, but i'm grateful that it is the amount that it is. >> woodruff: no question that a number of americans are hurting right now and, as you hear reactions to president biden's covid relief bill vary from family to family and person to person. for a look at the political implications of that relief bill, it's time for politics monday and i'm joined by amy

walter and errin haines of the 19th news. he to to both of you. it's so good to see you. amy, it's tough to listen to some of these stories, and we know there are different views of this covid relief plan and what it's going to mean for american families and for individuals, but the question i have right now is in terms of president biden and what he's able to do going forward. how much can he translate any support he's getting for this into where he goes from here? >> yeah, it's a really important question, judy, because, right now, things are looking pretty good for president biden. you know, he's only been in the job for what is it now, six, seven weeks? his job approval rating is in the mid 50s. certainly a lot better than, say, where president trump was at this point in his first term. approval of the stimulus package, the american rescue plan is somewhere in the 60s. president biden's approval

rating on handling the pandemic also in the 60s. but we're in the first inning here, and we've got a long way to go, both in terms of the economy, the pandemic and also the political realities for the president and for his party and, sometimes, judy, you know, the first inning tells us a lot about how the game is going to go. a lot of times, it tells us absolutely nothing. so i think what was really struck by some of these stories, for example, the number of people who are saying that they're going to put this money into savings, pay down student loans, you know, obviously, this was intended s stimulative. the economy wl come back, they will start hiring. they took a big bet, this administration and the the democrats who voted for it, that, indeed, putting this much

money into the economy was going to supercharge it. it may. we only heard a handful of scroises, and experts -- handful of voiceand experts believe it will, but we're still early on in the process. >> woodruff: no question, errin. but it is something we want to know. we want to understand how is the reception to all this going to matter as the administration moves ahead with others things it's trying to do related to the economy, related to immigration climate and so on. >> yeah, judy. and i think that that's why you're seeing, you know, as soon as president biden signed that legislation, he and vice president harris and frankly all hands on deck, the first lady, the second gentleman, everybody hitting the road to explain to americans what was in the package even as the stimulus checks were starting to hit their accounts because i think that money was something americans understood right away. we heard some of them talking about things they were able to

do with some of that money, where it is, you know, paying hospital bills or, you know, being able to stay afloat with food or shelter here in a way that they weren't able to do, frankly, before they got that check. but there are other things that are in that pandemic releafed package that this administration is wanting to make sure that people are aware of, you know, particularly the things that disproportionately could benefit women and other marginalized communities. i'm thinking about, you know, first of all, the $14 billion for inequitable vaccine rollout, as the president is touting the 100 million shots, you know, in the first -- in under the first 100 days, i mean, well ahead of schedule on that, although, you know, in terms of whether or not that's been happening equitably is still at issue, but this pandemic relief package is aimed at making that more equitable. money for school reopening, money for childcare. you heard from mimi who was

talking about how she struggled to stay in the forest fire. wenow how many millions of women dropped out to have the workforce because childcare was an issue. but looking ahead as the infrastructure plan is taking shape, thinking about how that is really going to help americans on a more permanent basis get to a new normal on the other side of this pandemic, that this pandemic relief package, you know, i think is maybe an early indication of the direction the administration plans to go in and what they are trying to sew that they can deliver for voters, frankly, whether they voted for this administration or not. >> woodruff: and, amy, of course, one of the other big headaches right now for the administration, as they try to talk up what they've just done with covid relief, is what's happening at the southern border as we saw with amna's reporting earlier in the program, there is a real problem the administration is dealing with. there are a large number offer

unaccompanied children, trying to figure out what to do with them. republicans are blaming this administration, they're saying this is the biden border crisis. the administration is saying, wait a minute, this all started under president trump. how much does it matter who's labeled or who's tagged with being responsible for this, amy? >> right. well, unfortunately, we know that the issue of immigration has been used as a cudgel, as a wedge for years in political fights and it's part of the reason i would argue there hasn't been sort of a push to solve it because it's a really easy, quick tool to use in a political fight. at the same time, we also know that the biden administration, they campaigned on reversing so much of what donald trump did on immigration and did that immediately right out of the gate, but also sent pretty mixed signals, judy, about what they wanted -- what they were telling the rest of the world, and potential migrants, which is we

don't want you to come, but if you do, if you're a minor, especially, you can stay, and, so, that sort of mixed message is making it really challenges. we also know, judy, the democratic party itself, we saw this during the democratic primary, is pretty divided on what to do on the issue of immigration. joe biden spent a lot of time during the primaries getting attacked from his left for the things that the obama administration did that many on the left thought were punitive to people who came here illegally and, at the same time, we know there are many on the left who not only want to do things differently than what donald trump did but wand to go even further including things like, you know, getting rid of penalties for crossing the border illegally, which joe biden pushed back on. so that divide is also really important between the -- you know, within the party between more activist and progressive forces, and the reality on the

ground and what is actually happening and how challenging it is, even when you are trying to roll back something that you say is inhumane, how challenging it is to make it actually work. >> woodruff: right. and, errin, watching all this very closely because however this is turning out in the early days of the administration is going to affect the administration's ability to get anything done with regard to long-term immigration reform. >> you're right, judy. and, listen, i mean, there were a lot of voters in that coalition that elected president biden and environment harris who wanted to see big systemic change around the issue of immigration, and, you know, obviously, you think back to the 218 returns, and you had former president trump really raising the specter of these migrate caravan hoards, you know, headed for the border as an issue to try to rile up, to galvanize his base then. you can be sure that, as the midterms come back into focus next year, you could see

immigration, you know, with maybe the pandemic a little bit more in the rearview, immigration coming back into focus. people had very strong reactions on both sides to the family separations issue to what they saw happening at the border. you know, a couple of summers ago. so immigration is still very much an issue that people want to see addressed. i mean, they're not so focused on blame as they a, you know, wanting to get some answers and, you know, so the biden administration frankly doesn't get to really have it both ways just as they inherited the pandemic and are responding to that, they've also inherited this immigration crisis and people are also expecting a response there, too. >> woodruff: nothing quiet about these early days for the -- i started to say obama -- biden administration. thank you both, errin haines, amy walter, and we should say tamera keith away tonight. we especially appreciate errin

being with us. good to have you both. thank you. >> you're welcome, judy. thanks, judy. >> woodruff: the n.c.a.a. women's basketball tournament is under way. but even before the opening tip off, new anger and frustration erupted over the differences in how the n.c.a.a. approaches the men's and women's teams. john yang has a closer look. i got something to show y'al. >> yang: on tiktok, the inequities between men's and women's tournaments laid bare. >> this is our weight room. let me show y'all the men's weight room. >> yang: it began thursday when the university of oregon's sedona prince posted a video from a tournament site in san antonio. university of south carolina head coach dawn staley, a member of the basketball hall of fame, slammed the n.c.a.a. >> at the highest level of the

n.c.a.a., either it's miscommunication, no communication or just not downright caring that people know what's happening on our side of things. that must stop. >> yang: the n.c.a.a. initially blamed limited space in san antonio. later, dan gavitt, the n.c.a.a.'s top basketball executive, acknowledged that wasn't the case. >> when we don't meet the expectations of that support, that's on me and i apologize to the women's basketball student athletes, coaches, to the women's basketball committee for dropping the ball, frankly. >> we got a weight room, yeah! >> yang: by saturday: a new weight room. but the uproar highlighted other differences between the men's and women's tournaments, including less reliable covid testing and less on-line promotion for the women. today, the "wall street journal" reported that the n.c.a.a. has withheld the iconic brand "march madness" from the women's tournament, reserving it for the

men's championship. sally jenkins is an award- winning sportswriter for the "washington post," and the first woman inducted into the national sportswriters and sportscasters hall of fame. sally, thank you so much for joining us. so the ncaa was fast to address the weight room issue. i've read they're also doing something about the meals at the women's tournament, but that really is small■ potatoes compared to some of the issues you wrote in your column about over the weekend, including money. >> well, and primarily promotion. you know, this is a potential flagship event for ncaa, and if you look at a lot of the games, the floor, you can't even tell they're playing a championship. literay, there's not a lot of decalling on the floor to tell you that you're watching a championship event. you might think you were watching a high school tournament, you might think you were watching a junior college tournament. the difference in presentation is really striking at times.

so that's one thing that's been bothering some of the coaches i've talked to and then, of course, there's just a pervasive sort of lesser than. it's everything from meals to, you know, really petty details that don't mean very much but they are a sign of a lack of respect that the women feel. >> reporter: some people would argue, while the men's tournament brings in so much more money than the women's tournament, but the popularity of the women's tournament has been gaining. espn, which knows how to make money, has been expanding its covera. >> right. >> reporter: and if they did have that marketing support, do you know that disparity in themony, in the revenue would get smaller? >> the women's tournament only looks small in comparison to the gar gasp wan $1 million in rev that the men's brings in. but by any other standard it's a very large, successful event. i'll give you an example. just in the last two years, they've acquired the nber of

advertisers on the women's tournament has leaped from 70 to 87. they've brght in 17 more large title sponsors, large corporate sponsors, everybody from verizon to at&t is pouring a lot more money into the women's tournament. you know, it's a growth event. but the other thing they command is 4 million viewers, when it comes to the championship game. again, that may look small compared to 10 million for a men's final four game in viewership, but 4 million is not small. it's only small compared to this massive other event. it's bigger than a wimbledon final. it's about on par with a national league pennant series. there's lots of very, very large american sports events that it's in the same ballpark with. and, so, the idea that it's somehow constantly has to be diminished in the eyes of the ncaa is really silly, number one, and, number two, it's really counterproductive in terms of building the event. >> reporter: and it's not just

that the men's -- the schools that win the men's championship get a bigger share of the revenue than the schools that wen the women's championship, the schools that win the women's chimp get no share of the revenue. is that right? >> they get zip. zero. not one cent. not one cent. now, there's going to be all kinds of revenue generated by the women's tournament, and for some reason, all of the revenue seems to be factored on to the men's side. the women get counted as cost and burden as opposed to revenue production. you know, it doesn't add up. the math here is a little funny, for one thing. i mean, ts is clearly a revenue-producing event and, yet, we're told that the women are simply an inconvenient cost em for the ncaa. >> reporter: what's it going to take to change this? >> well, it would help if congress would tell the ncaa to crack open the books. you know, it would be nice to see someone like katy porter do one of her numbers with a board

and a magic marker because the math, again, is not adding up. there's huge audience, there's huge sponsorship numbers, there's huge ad dollars. the women deserve to knw what kind of revenue they are generating and what kind of revenue their programs are entitled to. >> reporter: sally jenkins of "the washington post," thank you very much. >> my pleasure. >> woodruff: we continue now our look at the alchemy of health and art, with jeffrey brown's profile of a physician-poet, or perhaps a poet-physician. all part of our arts and culture series, canvas. >> i haven't seen you in a while! >> brown: morning rounds at baylor st. luke's medical center in houston, where dr. fady joudah practices internal

medicine... >> how was the pain? you're breathing better? >> yes breathing better. >> well i've got good news, your kidneys are doing better. >> brown: ...in a time of pandemic, the hospital itself is eerily quiet; doctors and nurses likely to be the only people a patient sees. >> it's a little cruel. there's almost a panic if you fall ill these days because you feel like you're being sent into solitary confinement, whether it's from covid or not. and that really is painful to carry around as a physician and internalize. >> brown: joudah was born in nearby austin, but spent most of his youth in the middle east, in libya and saudi arabia, the child of palestinian refugees. the impulse to healing, he says, stems from a sense of displacement. >> as a young boy i remember feeling i needed to become a doctor because the world, or my immediate family needed compassion and support.

i remember this moment very well actually, in the kitchen, we were living at the time in benghazi, libya. and i broke out and said: don't worry, when i'm older i'll be a doctor and i'll have a big house. we'll all live there together and if anyone falls ill, i'll take care of you. >> brown: later he would work in emergency rooms and on missions for doctors without borders. and always, alongside medicine, another passion: poetry. >> the storm funneled through town with destructive intent. fractured tree limbs, toppled fences, ripped shingles like tufts of hair. >> brown: his first collection was chosen in 2008 for the prestigious ¡yale series of younger poets' by louise gluck, the 2020 nobel prize winner. a later volume, “textu," features short poems the length of texts. his most recent book reaches for the heavens, with allusions to astronomy and even astrological

signs, while remaining grounded in the everyday. it's titled, “tethered to stars.” >> some of the themes, whether they are about my relationship to being a physician or being a palestinian-american or bilingual or whatnot. they maybe free themselves into time a little bit, away from this notion that everything we speak in america has to be, so to speak, on the census form. >> brown: here, even disasters play out in everyday human terms: the poem “house of mercury” describes the aftermath of a recent hurricane that blew through a partf houston where joudah's parents live. subtly, in the background: the pandemic. >> on the second day, i cut up the rest of the branches, deepened the earth for the fig, enjoyed a long lazy lunch with m parents, and on the way home heard a radio report on whether

the sky is bluer during a pandemic. this was earlier last year. the highways are empty and the city seemed affected by the pandemic lockdown. it just struck me that in the end we cannot escape how beautiful we want to feel life is. >> brown: joudah and his wife hana el-sahly have two children. and the pandemic changed life at home in another way: hana is an infectious disease doctor and researcher who served as a lead investigator for the moderna vaccine. literally the whole world is watching and waiting. >> yes, that part is the stressful part, right? sometimes it felt like if we can be just left alone so we can do what we need to do and then we'll figure it out, figure out how we sort of present it.

that was actually part of the challenge, being constantly in a fishbowl. >> brown: i asked hana which¡ hat' she sees her husband most at home in now, doctor or poet. >> that answer is easy. he is definitely more in his element when he's reading and writing. he appears more content, more on a mission kind of thing, when he's reading and writing. >> brown: both partners in this two-doctor household say both science and art, medicine and poetry, require an imaginative mind that sees beyond research data or life's routine moments. and for fady joudah, there's an added benefit to loving and caring about language. >> being a poet and a writer and hopefully a better listener, i've learned to use a language of faith or hope or support or terseness sometimes to

communicate with my patients better. >> brown: “house of mercury” ends with a lunch at his parents' house, and a lesson in >> hummus, falafel, shakshuka followed by tea and stories about fear. that comes to nothing. the kids said it was the best falafel they'd ever had. and mom said that going forward her morning glories will get the light they deserve. >> brown: a lesson in what even fallen trees can bring. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and on the pbs newshour online, for years, lawmakers have debated how to fight poverty. we explore how the pandemic is changing america's approach, including small success stories across the country. that's on our website, pbs.org/newshour. and that the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff.

join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation.

>> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of tse institutions >> 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.org

hello, everyone. and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. today, the femalgauge on politics, science and the victims of misogynistic violence. i speak first to israel's labour party leader merav michaeli about breathing new life into liberals as the nation goes to elections again. and -- >> none of us should ever be silent in any form of hate. >> from atlanta and london and beyond, men attacking women. i asked a turkish write and activist about gender-based violence and the controversial trial in her country. then -- >> she showed that the impossible is possible. >> gloria beherbski joining bus iranian women defying