captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: turning away the weary. thousands of migrants who overwhelmed del rio, texas, are now being deported, most back to a chaotic haiti. then, giving kids a shot. pfizer says its vaccine is safe in children as young as five, offering hope to families wanting protection, as they wait for government approval. and, facing uncertainty. as world leaders gather at the united nations, i talk with the president of colombia about leading in this moment of crisis. >> terrorist organizations want

to kill enviromental leaders to leave aside narco trafficking. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> before we talk about your investments-- what's new? >> well, audrey's expecting... >> twins! >> gndparents. >> we want to put money aside for them, so, change in plans. >> all right, let's see what we can adjust. >> we'd be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> okay. >> mom, are you painting again? you could sell these >> let me guess, change in plans? >> at fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway.

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the crisis on the u.s. southern border deepens tonight. thousands of haitian migrants who descended on the town of del rio, texas are now being deported. thousands remain encamped under a bridge in dire conditions. and most of those sent home, return to a chaotic haiti, reeling from one disaster after another. there are also major developments in congress, touching on the fate of u.s. immigration policy more broadly. yamiche alcindor begins with the situation in del rio. >> alcindor: today, in del rio, texas, homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas

saw first-hand the tense situation there, both in terms of immigration enforcement, but also the migrants' humanitarian needs. >> it is extraordinarily challenging. but as i said at the outset, it is very, very heartbreaking. we are surging resources, not only to ensure the security of this area, and the security of the community, but also the wellbeing of the migrants themselves. >> alcindor: in recent days, the crowd of migrants that journeyed to del rio and sheltered under and near this del rio bridge had swelled to more than 10,000. they had been waiting to be processed-- but in squalid and sweltering conditions, and with food and supplies constantly running short. >> ( translated ): there is not enough food to give to everybody who is inside there. we need to get out of the camp to look for food. >> alcindor: many of them are migrants from haiti, who fear returning there right now-- both in the wake of the earthquake this summer that jolted the country, and in the aftermath of the assassination of haiti's president. over the weekend, u.s.

authorities stepped up their efforts to slow the flow of migrants to that part of the border. agents on horseback, with rope in hand, aggressively confronted some migrants who were trying to make their way to the del rio encampment-- tactics that the white house said it would examine more closely. is it the president's stance, or-- or the white house's stance, that whomever, these border agents are, using what seems to be whips on migrants-- that they would be fired, or at least never be able to do that again? >> of course they should never be able to do it again. i don't know what the circumstances would be. it's obviously horrific, the footage. i don't have any more information on it, so let me venture to do that, and we'll see if there's more to convey here. >> alcindor: the u.s. has started deporting many of the migrants en masse back to haiti and other countries-- an effort on sunday, more than 300 deported migrants landed in the haitian capital, port-au-prince. >> ( translated ): i left haiti to go find a better future, because here in haiti, all of us young people,

despite finishing our studies, cannot get any work. we are on the streets with nothing! that is why there are many youngsters on the street. there are many criminals. it is because the authorities do not think about us. >> alcindor: today back in del rio, a d.h.s official said that the encampment there has started to shrink. mayorkas added that the agency is still working to ramp up deportation flights. >> woodruff: and we turn now to yamiche at the white house. and, lisa desjardins is here with me in the studio. so yamiche, to you first, you have been coveri this crisis in haiti. you also have been talking to human rights activists on the ground there in texas. what are they telling you and, about all of this and how is the white house reacting? >> well both human rights activists and the white house describe the situation playing out in texas with these migrants mostly of haitian des ent as heartbreaking, human rights

activists and haitian american activists say this is the biden administration treating thee migrants cruelly an inhumanely, they say people are angry and president biden programsed haitian americans particularly when trying to win their votes but haitian all around the country that he would treat people in a more dignified way than former president trump but a lot are saying tonight these images prove president biden is not doing that and not keeping his word. i should note there are human rights activists who say sending people back into haiti, a country that is facing so many crises from gang violence to the aftermath of assassinations of the president and aftermath of the earthquake, that it is simply not the right thing to do one activist put it this way. she told me sending people back into haiti is like sending children into a burning house. that said, the haitian government officially is saying we can take these folks but the head of the haitian national migration office said he would like to see a as-- deportations a pause in the deportations but

the white house say there is not going to be a pausek the de for-- deportation flights will continue and people don't have the right to stay in the u.s. even though there are people including activists who say there is due process and that these migrants should be allowed to be able to file for asylum in this country but under title 42 which say trump era rule, people are being sent back under the idea of aw public health crisis and saying the fact the u.s. can't absorb these people at this time. >> woodruff: and meanwhile as all this is going on, lisa, you've been reporting on this development on capitol hill, that could affect millions of undocumented immigrants who came to this country as children, remind us what happened. >> everyone following the dreamer situation, those here on temporary protective status, millions of immigrantsk a major decision in the last day, this surrounds budget reconliation, that big word we have been talking about, democrat's best chance to pass their most controversial, difficult legislation, let me remind people what we are talking about, budget recognize sill are

yaition is the process by which you just need 51 votes to get through the senate, not 60, democrats would like to use that to include immigration. because they don't have 60 votes for immigration reform but they may get 51. now it has to have a budget tear affect is the thing, so who decides whether any piece of legislation has enough of a budget tear affect. you can hear viewers saying it out loud, the senate parliament arian, she issued a ruling to senate leaders last night and in it she said that is the parliament arian, she wrote giving this legal permanent status to these undocumented immigrant was give these persons freedom to work, to live openly in our society, changing the law to clear the way to that status. is tremendous and enduring policy change that dwarfs its budget tear impact. essentially saying you are trying to get around the purpose of budget reconciliation to do large policy changes, and i'm not going to allow that, it does not fit with this process. that is a body blow to what

democrats hope to do. it is a win for conservative was want to block it. >> woodruff: and lisa, what does it mean overall for immigration reform broadly going forward? >> it depends on who you speak with, those activists i talk with still hold out hope that there might be some kind of window, democrats in the senate will try, some other kind of maneuvers that we may talk about in coming days, but this was their main form of attacking this issue. think of it as a political law and now the space, this narrow opening is even smaller. >> woodruff: so back to you, yamiche, you now not only have this crisis on the border, you have what is going on at the capitol, how is the white house looking at all of this? >> well, the white house says that president biden is still very much dedicated to having the sort of humane and fixed immigration process, and that the officials told me today he inherited this broken immigration system and wants to see it fixed, that being said white house officials, a number of them said they were quote

deeply disappointed at the parliament arian's ruling that this immigration, the path to citizenship couldn't go into the reconciliation bill, that being said they are howing senators can find a way to get it into that bill or immigration reform can pass on its own, of course a very hard thing to do, something democrats and republicans have tried to work on for years, the other thing is the white house is saying on a list of other things they want to get done including voting rights, policing reform, abortion rights and protecting them, this is really just another challenge for this white house that is facing a number of challenges. >> challenges just pile up. yamiche alcindor at the white house, lisa desjardins here in the studio, thank you both. and amna nawaz now takes a wider look at the status of immigration reform in this country, and what's at stake. >> nawaz: that's right, judy. well, joining me now to take that bigger look at immigration reform in the u.s. right now is marielena hincapié. she is the executive director of the national immigration law center.

mariel eppa welcome to the househour, you heard secretary mayorkas say in del rio we are in the midst of a pandemic and critical migration challenge. these aive radioing haitians are not going to be treated differently than anybody arriving at any other part of the border that is to say they will be immediately dispeld. broadly speaking what is your reaction to the way the administration has handled ths latest-- latest crisis at the border. >> thank you for the invitation, these images from del rio are horrific it is incredible that the biden-harris administration is using a failed approach of deterrent strategy when these are the very people, when you look at those images, there is no difference between them, except their names, their national origin, and their black skin when you compare them to people coming from afghanistan who we are welcoming, and should be welcoming to the united states. we urge the administration to stop the deportation flaits to haiti. this is a moment when the biden-harris administration must put an end to western hem is feesk bias, peoplcoming from

soh of the border from hatedi, colombia, the northern triangle of central america or mexico, they should also have the legal ability to file for asylum, to see asylum of safety and freedom in our nation. >> whether in del rio or the rio grande valley or another part of the border, it feels like we are seeing and talking about another quote unquote crisis every few months now. and this goes back years, whichever group is arriving and sort of overwhelming the system as it exists. there hasn't been meaningful reform in over 30er kroos. and now we are all looking at this news today ere senate democrats would try to advance immigration reform and were blocked by the senate parliament arian, so what now when it comes to reform? >> a couple of things, what we are witnesses at the border as well as in afghanistan is a global crisis, one that is being fueled by foreign policy, by some of our failed domestic policies, by climate crisis, and then of course by the

recent-- in haiti the a sat-- assassination of their president. we need to take a step back. president biden was elected by a historic number of a multigenerational, multiracial coalition of voters who rejected, yut right rejected the devicive and anti-immigrant agenda of the previous administration because president biden talked about having a vision for a 2 1s century immigration system that recognizes immigrants are a strength to our nation and that centers the dig net and humanity of immigrants, that is not what we are seeing at the border right now. that is the fst thing. the second is the reconciliation process that lisa just reported on really shows us that we have a person, the senate parliament arian who was not elected to office saying that the legalization, the path to citizenship that democrats put forth does not belong there despite the fact it does have a budgetary impact, a profound budget tear impact.

we are encouraging by senate champion hoss are saying that they will keep trying to get that path to citizenship. there are alternatives, options they are looking at and working closely with our senate champions, we believe that democrats were elected both in the senate and house and the white house, they have a governing trifecta and must deliver. >> what is it you want them to do? do you want them to ignore the parliament arian? what are some of these alternative proposals. >> we believe there are a number of options including with the parliament arian-- oping that if there is a way to use existing law, for example, updating te registry date, d the immigration-- it is so outdated and disfunctional, the registry data, the last time it was updated was in 19716789 i wasn't even in this country yet. so the registry, there are a number of different changes that could be made to existing law that would provide that path to citizenship. i will say this as well, if for

whatever reason the senate democrats are not successful at getting the parliament arians to include a path to citizenship, to include immigration for residents we are urging them to use their political power and tools at their disposal because they have been elected by voter, not the senate parliament arian, so is it necessary to neglect ate the parliament arian, that is what they should do. >> that is marielena, hincapie, joining us tonight, thank you so much for your time. >> thank yo. >> woodruff: a sell-off hit the financial markets today, over worries about chinese real estate and u.s. federal reserve policy. the dow jones industrial average gave up 614 points to close at 33,970. the loss of 1.8% was the worst since july. the nasdaq fell 330 points--

that's more than 2%. the s&p 500 lost 75 points-- or 1.7%. for both the nasdaq and the s&p, those were the biggest percentage drops since may. we're joined now by diane swonk of grant thornton to explain what was driving this. this, diane, tell us what was behind it? >> well, it's really a reality check, what we saw is that the markets had gotten very complacent about the risks out there, what we call black swans, rare events are now the norm. everything from china slowing and what happens in dhiena especially in the real estate-- china slowing especially in the real estate marketan wash up on our own shoars, the second largest economy in the world, slowing has an effect on the global economy, the federal reserve talking about reducing their asset purchases, taking their foot off the gas a bit, no longer providing quite as much support for the economy and for

financial markets and the shenanigans we're seeing in washington over the lifting of the debt ceiling. remember, we had a failure to lift the debt sealing in 2011 which triggered a downgrade in our actual debt status and the federal reserve had to intervene and say the treasury bonds were still investment grade when that happened. so all of this together and the fact that this is the time of year when people come back may actually start looking at financial markets and figuring out what is going on. the world is now got a little more black swans out there blocking instead of just a rare event. >> woodruff: good to hear the comparison. but diane, i see some analysts are saying tay this shouldn't have been a total surprise, that it was due in some way sp. >> absolutely, i mean we've known about this for over a month now and the payment by this one fund in china is due on thursday and t question is what will the chinese goernment do in terms of restructuring it

so it doesn't become a more contagious event which we have already dealt with from china. but i think the larger issue is you have also got the delta variant out there, that has been a game changer, here we are going into the fall with the same kind of number of cases we had in january. that is disturbing as well. we know fatalities lag cases and they are now ticking up. all of this together i think has come to sort of focus the financial markets at the same tie the federal reserve is meeting and looking a little more hawkish with an economy that might be hotter in terms of inflation but cooler in terms of growth. and that's not a combination anyone wants. >> woodruff: we are all trying to understand it. and we thank you for giving us this smart look, diane swonk, thank you vech. and in the day's other news, the number of covid-19 deaths in the united states topped 675,000. that equals the total killed nationwide in the so-called spanisflu pandemic of 1918.

over a century ago. the u.s. population then was just over 100 million-- less than a third of what it is now. also today, the biden administration lifted restrictions on foreigners flying to the u.s., as of november. they will need proof of vaccination and a negative covid test. and, pfizer announced its vaccine works in children five to 11 years old. we'll have more on this after the news summary. the world's largest vaccine producer, india, says it will resume exports and donations of covid vaccines to nations in need, next month. new delhi had halted shipments after a devastating wave of infections swept the country last april. today, in a government video message, the health minister said it's now possible to restart vaccine exports. >> ( translated ): vaccine production is increasing. the vaccination program is

moving ahead in a fast pace. next month, in october, we are expected to get more than 300 million doses. going forward the production will increase. >> woodruff: india did not specify how many doses might be shipped abroad. in rwanda, the man who inspired the film "hotel rwda" has been convicted on terrorism-related charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison. paul rusesabagina saved ethnic tutsis during the 1994 genocide. he is also a critic of the rwandan government. he had branded the trial a sham, and said he did not expect justice. supporters called it part of a crackdown on dissidents. a student with a hunting rifle opened fire at a russian university today, killing at least six people. 28 others were hurt. it happened in the city of perm, 700 miles east of moscow. there was no word on a motive. police rushed to the university

to confront the gunman. he was shot and wounded, and taken into custody. russia's ruling party has won parliamentary elections, after barring most opposition candidates. there were also widespread repos of voting fraud. in a video conference today, president vladimir putin welcomed the outcome that reinrced his long-running grip on power. >> ( translated ): i'd like to address the russian citizens, and thank you for your trust and for your proactive approach to life, dear friends. it means that people take a responsible approach in electing the state parliament. >> woodruff: putin's united russia party won nearly 50% of the vote-- down from 54% in the last election. canadians voted today in a tight race on who will run the country. prime minister justin trudeau and his liberal party faced a strong challenge from the rival conservatives. they rallied against trudeau's handling of the pandemic and his

support for vaccine mandates. and back in this country, two wildfires have burned into sequoia national park in california, home to some of the world's largest trees. four giant sequoias, known as "the four guardsmen," were unharmed. other trees did burn in a separate fire, but the extent of the damage was not clear. some of the sequoias are 2,000 years old. still to come on the newshour: what you need to know about a potential covid vaccine for young children. one-on-one with the president of colombia in this moment of crisis. president biden's point-person on combating climate change. and, much more.

>> woodruff: let's dig into the promising news about a covid vaccine for children. kids now account for more than one in five new covid cases. and, the highly contagious delta variant has put more children in the hospital than at any other point in the pandemic. while there is no vaccine available yet for children below the age of 12, that might be changing soon. stephanie sy looks at the prospects ahead, and the larger problems right now. >> sy: judy, pfizer and bio-n-tech said their coronavirus vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective in children aged five to 11. it's the result of a study of over 2,000 children who were administered two small doses, 21 days apart. the doses are about a third of the amount given to adults. the data have yet to be peer- reviewed or published. but the companies say they plan to seek emergency use authorization from the f.d.a. before the end of the month.

some experts say if all goes smoothly, the vaccine could be authorized in a matter of weeks. dr. rhea boyd is a pediatrician and public health advocate, and she joins me now. joining the newhour, what is your reaction to this news out of pfizer biontech that it is safe and effective for childrens 5-1 1-rbgs are you relieved. >> yes, i think pediatricians across the country are we reassured with the data we have been anticipated. the emergency thorgsization of a vaccine for kid 5s-11 and that their data is ready is so reassuring but we are going to wait until it is publicly available and reviewed by the fda before making clear recommendations that kid 5s-11 receive it. >> and with all the caveats there has been talk to the fda could approve a vaccine for childrens ages 5-11 possibly by next month. talk about the urgency of

getting these shots into children's arms based on the rate of infections and hospitalizations we've been seeing across the country. >> with the delta variant being more than twice as contagious than earlier strains of covid it is so important that as kids return to school that we have a way to keep them safe. one of the best ways for us to keep kids safe is to make sure they are vaccinated and all of the caregivers, staff and teachers who work at the school are also vaccinated. so having this vaccine receive emergency use authorization right now cannot come a day too soon. >> you have been very involved in educating your community about the safety of vaccines. what are the risks of covid infection weighed against the risk from the vaccine z. >> again because pfizer hasn't publicly released the data we only have what they said in their statement today. based on their statement they acknowledged that the safety profile for 5-11 year olds is very similar to what they saw in teens and young adults which means we can expect that kids

particularly after their second dose of the scraks nation-- vaccination will have mild side effects but they are thought to be mild and easily treatable with common overthe counter medication like tylenol and advilk things like fever, aches and pains or pain at injeion site are things they also saw in kids, one thing pediatricians arek looking for is to make sure we don't see signs of more serious side effects. and pfizer in the statement said they did not see's sipg el case of myocarditis which is that heart inflammation that was seen in teenagers who received the pfizer doses before, and soe want to nake sure we don't see that in kids 5-11. so far we haven't. >> and we should say that the cdc says no children, even those that have gotten myocarditis have died from it, most of them have been addressed by eibu

profen, besides a pediatrician, you study the structural health, what are your hopes and concerns. >> yes, so what we have seen with the vaccine rollout across the country is that access to the covid vaccine have not opinion evenly distributed. and so if you look at biraiseia and ethnic group we see black and latinx communities are the least likely to have received the covid vaccine. so we as a part of the public health community and myself as a pediatrician are working really diligently to make sure we get the vaccine to the communities who have been disproportionately impacted by covid, what that means as we expect emergency authorization to become available for kids 5-11 we have to continue to use opportunities to vaccinate children, as opportunities to vaccinate families and communities, so every site that offers vaccination to kids like pediatricians offices should also offer it to their parents, to their siblings and other caregivers without go to their visits with them, to make sure we are surrounding kids with

caregivers who are also equally protected. >> how much of that lag in vaccination especially among black adults and your concern that it might be among black children is due to access to vaccines versus vaccine skepticism or even misinformation within communities, and dr. boyd, how do you combat that as you look to persuade parents to vaccinate their children? >> this is a critical question. we know that what the main barriers are to communities of color, particularly black communities receiving a covid vaccine is absolutely access, for example kaiser family foundation did a poll of parents across the country and what they found is parents who go to high income schools, parents who go to schools that have a wealthy styed population were more likely to have the vaccine recommended by their teacher. they were more likely to receive information about the covid vaccine through their school which made those students and

families more likely to get vaccinated. so all of our kids who are in low income schools which we know are have a history of residential segregation, communities of color and black kids in particular are more likely to go to low income schools, don't have equal access to information about the covid vaccine, so what we have been doing is making sure we go directly to our communities of color, particularly black and spanish speaking communities to share the cedable information, to share the science, to say these vaccines are safe, they are incredibly effective and the best way our communies can protect ourselves from the devastation that covid has reached. >> dr. rhea boyd, a lot of parents hopeful that those vaccines are coming to their children, thank you soch for joining the newshour. >> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: the united nations general assembly gathers this week in new york. chief among the topics?

the pandemic, climate change, and migration-- as more than 80 million people are displaced across the planet. one leader attending the discussions has to contend with many of these problems all at once. president ivan duque of colombia has been in office three years, at a crossroads of south and central america. we spoke a short time ago. >> president duque, thank you very much for joining us. we appreciate it. your office says the main focus of this trip has to do with climate change and migration. so let me start with climate and ask you what steps is your government taking right now to address the climate goals. and in connection with that, to stop the killing of environmental activists. we know that 65 of them were killed in colombia last year, that is the most of any country in the world. >> well, judy, thank you so much

for having me here in your program. an i should mention this, that we're going to the summit this year in glasgow on climate change and kol om ima is committed to reduce by 51% the co2 emissions by 2030 and becoming a carbon neutral country by 2050. and you wellpoint out the challengthat we have. because terrorist organizations want to kill the environmental leaders that a making the case for the people to leave aside narcotrafficking because narcotraffic is an ecosite in colombia, nofer in order to plant one hectare of coco plants two hectares of jungle are destroyed so we are protecting this move. and that is why we are so committed to dismant elevatorring terrorist organizations. >> woodruff: so much to ask you about that, but also with regard to migration, as you know you are visiting the united states at a moment of great stress on our southern border with thusands of migrants from haiti who have gathered there. this is in addition to the

existing migrants coming from central america, south america, you have said there should be more u.s. investment in the region. right now the biden administration is investing in the so called northern triangle countries of central america. is that the right focus? what more, what difference should the biden administration be doing? >> well, first of all, i should mention, judy, that a country like colombia is embracing right now a very strong pattern migration policy, we are granting temporary protective stat us to 1.8 million venezualaan brothers and sisters in our country, now you mentioned the situation in the u.s. southern border. i think the approach that has been taken by the united states in order to promote near-shoring which means let's bring u.s. factories that were deployed in asia also to be installed in latin america, be close to market. i think that can generate a lot of opportunities and job opportunities especially in central america, and in

countries like colombia. >> woodruff: one of the paths north as these migrants are taking as you know well through colombia is the so called derrian gap, a very trech eschous journey these migrants have made, we have had reporting on the newshour on this. what obligation does your government have to ease the terrible conditions that these migrants are facing? >> well, judy, i think it is not that they are coming through colombia, because they already are coming to colombia from other countries. this is a situation that we have seen for many years and colombia has made interventions in the darian gap, we have regular controls with panama, but what has happened in haiti, not only well pandemic but also the economic disrumses, the earthquake and the political crisis is putting more pressure on people to mei grate, so they are going through eck what dar-- ecuador, through chile, then pass through colombia and

continue to move north. i think that's why we need to have a more coordinated migration policy because what we need to develop in haiti are sustainable working opportunities sthe people can have a way of living there. >> woodruff: i also want to ask you, mr. president, again, a number of issues, particularly challenging right now, according to human rights watch, and you know about this, the death of 25 demonstrators at the hands of colombian police officers. no one has been sentenced or imprisoned, jailed, as a result of this. why not? >> well, judy, we have said since day one of the my administration that there is zero tolerance to any wrongdoing of members of the police force or the army. and we have been acting with investigations, general-- is doing the work, the attorney general is doing the work and i think we have tried to move forward very fast. but we have to move through the

judiciary system and also with a guarantees that have to be part of a fair trial in colombia. >> woodruff: president duque, you have been critical of the historic deal that a previous president of colombia cut with the so called farks rebels, the guerilla group that had the decades long insurrection against the government. hour five years after that deal, progress according to the critics is slowing on implementing the reforms that had been agreed to. one oversite group, american-based oversight group says quote there's been a persistent stand still on commitments that would allow for progress toward reforms directed at the expansion and strengthening of democracy. how do you answer? >> well, you know, in the united states, there was a very important phrase that was used by many politicians that said that in politics you are entitled to your own opinions but not to your own facts t and

it throh facts that we respond to this question. and i think the most important thing to say is a few days ago the ombudsperson of colombia published a report about the implementation of the peace accords. and it was clear in a statement where he said in the last three years of the duque administration, there has been been more advancements on the implementation than on the previous 20 months ofism plementation during the government that signed the agreement. we are committed not only to have all the investments in the rural areas, we're committed to having reintegration but we're also committed that the principles of truth, justice, reparation and nonrepetition are the ones that lead this process in order to be successful. >> woodruff: and one other area i do want to ask you about, president duque has to do with refugees from afghanistan. right now your country, colombia has agreed to accept around

4,000. are you confident that there will be a home for these refugees somewhere else in the united states. and if they want to stay in colombia are you prepared for them tho do that? >> judy, what is important is that since day one when when we saw what was happening in afghanistan, we expressed to the united states that we were ready to participate in t process of having them temporarily in our country before they get the migration status in the united states. and i think so far the united states has mentioned that maybe due too logistical procedures and logistic costs it might be easier for them to be recusing the united states. we have made our commit thament we are ready to support, so i think if the united states decides that they will come to colombia, we are prepared to help in this migration policy. otherwise i think they will be here in the united states. but what matters here is that we

share the value that purpose and humanitarian migration ask something that is much needed in cases of turmoil and distress like the ones we saw in afghanistan. >> woodruff: president yvonne duque of colombia, thank you very much. we apprecie your joining us. >> thank you so much, judy, all the best to you. and thank you for having me on your show. >> woodruff: this is an important week for the president's efforts to tackle climate change-- a central pledge of his campaign. tomorrow, the president will further his call for other nations to act. and, democrats are trying to walk a careful line, in order to pass major legislation as part of a much larger bill. but today, the biden administration focused on the problem of extreme heat. as william brangham tes us, it aims to hp americans and workplaces better adapt to

new realities. >> brangham: judy, this was one of the hottest summers ever on record. july was the hottest single month since records have been kept. and, brutal streaks of triple- digit temperatures claimed hundreds of lives this year. extreme heat is only expected to get worse with climate change. the biden administration today announced a plan to develop new workplace standards for people who work outside. the labor department would prioritize heat-related inspections, and more funding would be made available for cooling centers anfor home air conditioni. gina mccarthy is the white house national climate adviser, and she joins me from the white house. ms. mccarthy, so good to you have back on the newshour, this move is obviously part of this growing recognition that heat waves are becoming more intense, lasting longer and are more freak. you can tell a little bit more about what administration's plans are?

>> this extreme heat challenge is the silent killer. it is one of the biggest chal engs that we face in climate, and yet people don't recognize it untilled's too late. so we need to start preparing. and what this plan is is a multiagency effort to make sure that we're preventing impacts from heat stress, we're recognizing that they are happening and it is getting hot are and hotter. so the time is you no for us to invest. first of a you mentioned that the department of labor is going after an ability to actually establish a heat standard. we need our workers to be protected whether they are the ones indoors or the yut door labors-- labourers like our ag comument and construction community and in advance of having that completed, they are going to look at their whole response to compliance and enforcement. so they can be more aware of this challenge and start developing the kind of education for industry and the kind much response that they can take

under the existing law. we're also looking at programs like-- live heat which many know are actually focused on low income energy assistance. and those programs now have been basically providing more flexibility from the federal government about how states use those dollars. and we're doing it because it's now the time to recognize that maybe seniors would benefit most from being able to have access to an air conditioner. so we want to provide really new ideas and ways that we can work with states and local governments, including as you mentioned, cooling centers in our schools. but we have a brathe of agencies working on this, including even the department of homeland security whose putting out a challenge looking to actually ask people to tell them at they and other agencies across the federal government can do to protect our communities moving forward.

from this really sigh leapt but deadly killer. >> brangham: as you well know addressing these types of heat deaths require a whole slew of additional strategies. how we build cities, how we build homes, how we strengthen the electrical grid. we know that hurricane ida killed more people because of lack of power to run their air coitioners than the flooding did. do you think this plan does enough to address this silent killer that you are describing? >> not in and of itself. it st an effort to make sure we are working with states and communities diligently on the areas in which we have direct funding to offer right away and strategies that we know the federal government can initiate. but as you know, president biden has been working with congress to actually provide significant resources to make our future more resilient we're talking about resilient infrastructure. part of this is about that effort. it's about looking at our cities where we know we have heat stress and capturing of that

through impervious surfaces that impacts our urban communities the most. we're talking about those most impacted by heat stress being the black and brown community, the indigenous community, our outdoor workers. >> brangham: i want to pivot to climate change more broadly. we know president biden is going to the u.n., urging other world leaders to steup their green house gas emission cuts. but the president's own agenda on climate is still here in flux in washington. and a good deal of that climate agenda is being writt by a senator with very strong ties politically and financially to the fossil fuel industry. how does that formula yeet the bold agenda that you are talking about? >> well, i think the president's agenda is actually quite clear. he has already articulated on day one that he is joining paris and we established a commitment internationally that is a strong

commitment to get half to 52 percent of our emissions down by 2030. we're talking about achieving net zero by 2050. but this has to be a multifaceted strategy. we know we need resources, we know we need investment, they are not the only tools we have in our toolbox but they will be the best way for us to accelerate in this most important decade. now senator manchin has raised concerns. many others in congress have intl about we have been working all along with the senator as a stroj parter in trying new ideas, looking at being flexible, looking to get where we both know we need to do which is towards the clean energy future and one that recognizes the impacts of climate. and the fact that if we don't invest now we are risking our lives, our health and the future of our kids. and if we invest now, for every dollar we invest, we're going it to save $6 in future expenses. so this is going to be an

important step forward but it is by no means confining the president's aggressive agenda nor is it it going to dictate our ability to succeed. >> all right, that is white house climate advisor gina mccarthy, thank you very much for being here. >> thank you. >> woodruff: back to the top political issue of the day: immigration. with president ben confronting a growing crisis at the border, and a legislative loss on the issue here in washington, our politics monday team is here to unpack this and more. that's amy walter of the "cook political report with amy walter," and tamara keith of npr. and hello to both of you on this monday. it's very good to see you. and tam, as yamiche was reporting at the top of the program, this border crisis that president biden is facing, it is

just one of another, it seems like every day there is another challenge in front of him. at this point giv these pictures that we are seeing of haitian refugees on top of what we already know, what does it mean? >> this white house has been trying to thread a needle. and it is not an easy one to thread and they keep discovering this again and again as every new border crisis breaks out or new variety of border crisis, you know, in this case they are leaning very heavily on a trump-era policy, this title 42 that allows them to immediately expel people, even people seeking asylum and who are legally seeking asylum am they are leaning heavily on that law, or that rule which is a pandemic covid public health rule. they are leaning heavily on that. at the same time that they are trying to say no, we are more humane than the trump administering, but when you have images like the ones that have been coming out of the del rio area and actually images of

enforcement happening, it is not pretty. and they know it's not pretty. and it is a real challenge. >> woodruff: and what if it-- president, we're only eight months into this presidency. but this, amy, follows the situation in afghanistan. what, what are the options that are left for the president? >> right, so you know, this is a president who ran as a candidate saying if you elect me, we're going to get back to normal. we're going to bring competency back, we're going to bring common sisencee, i'm going to bring people in with me who are experienced. we can handle crisis, there is not going to be any drama. and that was working until, well, it wasn't. starting with the delta variant and the react to that crisis. of course afghanistan and now the border. and so the bigger challenge right now is that is one of competent tense, that this is much less about immigration than

it is about management. which is how about an administration when things go wrong, which they do, every administration deals with that, handle this. and tam is right about threading the needle, you know, this has always been a challenging topic for democrats because on the one hand they want to keep their advocates on the left happy. be the other they know that? is an issue here democrats are seen by even independent voters as being not strong on the border. and certainly this president from very early on has gotten low marks on his handling of the border and what is seen as more lenient. and tam, you have with this snalt particle am arian decision be the fact that imgaition, the immigration language which would help the dreamers, cannot, should not, cannot stay in that piece of legislation. it's a reminder of just how tough it is to get any kind of immigration reform done.

>> when amy said that biden ran on returning to some semblance of normal, i was thinking normal, the norm in the american immigration system that hasn't had any major reform and has been sort of could be eled together over the last many years with executive action, the u.s. immigration system is broken. everyone on all sides of the political spectrum agrees it is broken. they can't seem to find a way to fiksz it. in terms of the parliament arian ruling, advocates at least and the white house and their allies in congress are hoping that this isn't the final word. certainly it is a blow and one thathey are hoping they can get around to try to find some other way to include immigration in this reconciliation bill strks noclear what that path is but they aren't giving up, e president hasn't throne it overboard yet. >> woodruff: and as you point

out t is just tough. >> it's just tough. and to go back to this needle threading, which is when things are going badly at the border, even success on something like daca isn't going to make up for what people are saying on the left and the right. i mean on this program tonight you heard criticism from both about how mishandled this has been. and so while the issue of daca is in a poll very popular. it would get tremendous support among the american population-- . >> woodruf there is sympathy there is empathy. >> there is. but that is not what people are focusing on right now. and this is where you get a credibility problem, right. voters give you a little bit of time as preside. they don't get the honeymoons they used to but thy get a little bit of a all right, we'll give you a ltle benefit of the doubt. that starts to go away if you are not living up to the exepgs that they had for you or that you set. and again we talked about this earlier.

but setting up we're going to be competent. we're going to be 180 degree different from this is the last person who sat in this office and while there is no tweeting and there is no berating. >> woodruff: right. >> the other pieces are not coming together. >> woodruff: and the clock is ticking, what have you done for us lately. >> right. >> woodruff: but i mean tam, we are reminded speking of what the parliament arian was dealing with, so called reconciliation measure. it is supposed it to be about people coming together. there is not a lot of coming together over this. but what is at stake here, if this doesn't come, show get over the finish line for president biden, what is at stake. >> i don't think that we would be on solid ground declaring it doomed a this point. there are lots of people, lots of democrats in congress who have very different ideas about what must be in it or what must not be in it. it is going to be up to the president and the speaker and

the majority leader to figure out how to balance those equities, and it seems like a mighty challenge. but this is the key to the biden agenda. this is the biden presidency. so much is resting on this piece of legislation and the smaller infrastructure only roads and bridges broadband. >> woodruff: 20 seconds of business doom. >> 20 seconds? i completely agree with that, it will be very hard to come back, which is why i think will you see democrats at the end of the day come together, the one big challenge, republicans are defining it now while democrats are fighting mongs themselves, so democrats, the quicker they get it done, the more time they have to message it on their own. >> woodruff: we haven't en talked about the calender. >> correct. >> woodruff: all right, we'll save that. >> so many things. >> woodruff: amy walter, tamara keith, thank you both. >> you're welcom >> welcome.

>> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, number of muslim and arab americans are on the november mayoral ballot in the metro detroit area. this is a significant change for that area, even though it is home to the oldest, largest and most diverse muslim and arab communities in the u.s. you can find this and more our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that is 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 we'll see you soon >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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