♪ >> good evening. i am geoff bennett. >> on the news hour tonight, in his first cabinet meeting of this administration president trump previews further slashe s to the federal workforce. >> we speak with the house budget committee chairman. >> the trump administration to ports latin american stopover

regardless of their country of origin. >> there may be violations of u.s. law, especially with respect to people who expressed fear of being returned. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by -- >> on an american cruiselines journey, travelers experience the maritime heritage and culture of the maine coast and new england islands. our fleet of small cruiseships explore american landscapes, seaside villages and historic harbors where you can experience local customs and cuisine. american cruiselines, proud sponsor of "pbs news hour."

>> in 1995, two friends set out to make wireless coverage accessible to all. no long-term contract, nationwide coverage and 100 percent u.s.-based customer support. consumer cellular. freedom calls. >> the judy and peter bloom kovler foundation, strengthening democracies at home and abroad. the walton family foundation. working for solutions to protect water during climate change, so people and nature can thrive together. 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 these 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. >> welcome to the "news hour." our white house at the white house today president donald trump > >> trump did most of the talking and there was one figure whose influence is undeniable. >> at the table some two dozen member of president trump's cabinet. on the side, a special government employee whose work impacts them all, billionaire elon musk. >> i'm going to ask if it is possible to have elon talk about doge. >> musk was effusive about trump. >> president trump has put together the best cabinet ever. >> and pointed about government

employees, defend, directing them to list their actions on the job. >> the email was best interpreted as performance review but it was a pulse check review. do you have a pulse and two neurons? you can reply to an email. >> in a chaotic rollout, some agencies told workers not to respond but even so trump give this warning. >> i would like to add that those million people that have not responded, they are on the bubble. i would not say that we're thrilled about it. they have not responded. >> as a new memo indicates the administration is getting ready to greatly rev up layoffs, directing federal agencies to develop large scale reductions by mid-march. trump turn to -- turned to the epa directed put the scope into perspective. >> he thinks he will be cutting

65% of the people from environmental. we're going to speed up the process at the same time. >> as he slices government, trump addressed a spike in inflation. >> we have to get the prices down, the prices of eggs. eggs are disaster, the secretary of agriculture is going to be showing you a chart that is actually mind-boggling what is happening, how low they were with us and how they are -- how high they are now. >> from there, grab bag of questions from reporters. >> part of your mission -- >> asked about immigration policy, trump pitched his gold card idea. >> it is a green card plus. >> a path to citizenship with the $5 million investment price tag per-person. it would replace the current eb5 immigrant investor visa. >> if we sell will million, right, one million, that's $5 trillion. >> the current program sees 100 times fewer visas for year.

and the offer to sell one million citizenship comes as trump has shut down other legal paths, including asylum is broken and corrupt. on ukraine, trump set president of zelenskyy is headed to washington this friday to sign an agreement over ukraine's natural resources. on the war, he pushed the idea of tough concessions for the country. >> nato, you can forget about. >> but set a peace deal between kyiv and moscow is still on the table while trump all see still -- also said he thinks putin's goal is to take over ukraine. >> i think he wanted the whole thing. >> another hot topic. house republican sweeping budget outline passed last night by a dramatic vote, by the thinnest of margins. trump said the $2 million in cuts will not affect medicaid or social security. >> we're not going to touch up your we are going to look for

fraud. >> trump has set up his cabinet quickly with just three members out of two dozen left to confirm. i'm lisa desjardins. >> elon musk says his campaign to fire tens of thousands of federal workers and cancel government contracts is in the name of rooting out fraud and waste. doge has posted what it calls a wall of receipts on its website. it claims it is saved billions by cutting certain federal contracts, but reports and government documents prove that many of these so-called savings are either misleading or incorrect. our white house correspondent joins us now. what kinds of savings are they claiming and does the math add up? >> elon musk on the wall receipts say that their total cuts equal $65 billion in savings. they base lead on contract cancellations, firings and fraud detection. the new york times first reported five of their biggest

contractss that they say have resulted in savings ended up being deleted from the wall receipt after it was point out -- pointed out that there were errors and some of the biggest errors are a usaid $650 million that was listed three times. a social security contract listed as $232 million instead of $560,000, and an i.c.e. contract that was listed as a billion-dollar when it was $8 million. it is important to note the $8 million i.c.e. contract was a credit line, which means they may have never ended up paying out that total $8 million and some of these contracts were on the wall of receipts were already paid or canceled under the biden administration. so, doge is taking a lot of credit for some of these contracts that don't appear to be actually the savings they say they are. >> you were working the phones and talking to vendors who up

here on the wall of receipts. what did they tell you? >> kyle spoke to one of these federal vendors, taylor jones. his company culture point does leadership and management training. his company was listed on their wall of receipts as having a contract for almost $10 million. but taylor jones told news hour that not only was the amount of money wrong, it was actually $100,000, but it was not a guaranteed payment. it was a credit and the agreement with the government was never signed. >> we never had a contract. we've actually never had a contract that with a government that was $10 million. for even $1 million. so not that we are opposed to it, but it has never happened. so, we were a little surprised to start getting calls from reporters about a non-contract that was never executed. >> so, essentially that was not even a contract to delete. and when you look at all of this

across-the-board, the math is not adding up to $65 billion. >> people will say it is still a worthy effort. how much money has a team actually saved? >> the actual savings around $2 billion according to experts we spoke to and again as you noted, musk says these cuts are meant to reduce the deficit and pay for republican tax cuts and we spoke to a senior fellow at the manhattan institute and was also the chief economist for former senator rob portman, a republican, and she put those so-called savings in context and correct the record. >> at this point, the $2 billion in savings identified by elon musk would pay for 1/75th of 1% of the entire national debt. i have not found any legitimate evidence of fraud in the

spending that elon musk has highlighted. i have found expenditures that a lot of people wish the government would engage in, such as dei contracts and political subscriptions but that does not think -- not make them fraudulent. it makes them policies that certain people would not like the government spending money on. >> so far, there appears to be no evidence of fraud despite elon musk's claims and she added that if you did distribute some of that $2 billion or so in savings across taxpayers in america, which is what elon musk has said he would like to do, it would basically come to $2.42 per person, some potentially not enough for a cup of coffee in some cities. >> any time there are new concerns at veterans affairs because doge is set to cancel number of contracts, who stands to be affected? >> the v.a. secretary boasted of $2 billion worth of cuts. that would be across about 875

contracts, that would be canceled and multiple sources told me two of those contracts are with organizations that help implement the pac-dat, and it expanded health care and disability benefits for veterans that had illnesses caused by toxic exposures. so, cutting that, those contracts it would put the onus back on veterans to have to do with their benefits, trying to essentially communicate between the health care side and the benefits side, it can be incredibly detrimental to them. we do not know the status of many of these 875 contracts. we have not gotten clear answers and it appears as though the ones that affect the pact act could very well still be canceled. >> our thanks to you in the team for working through all of this. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> i'm stephanie sy.

here are the latest headlines. officials in texas have announced the first death from a recent measles outbreak. they say the victim was an unvaccinated school aged child who was hospitalized in west texas last week. there are at least 124 confirmed cases of the highly contagious respiratory illness across nine texas counties. they have been mostly reported among children. many of them unvaccinated. there are also nine cases in eastern new mexico. today's fatality is the nation's first reported death from measles since 2015. at today's cabinet meeting, robert f. kennedy, jr. said there were actually two deaths, though the second fatality has not been confirmed. at the supreme court today, justices appears to side with an ohio woman who brought a lawsuit claiming workplace discrimination because she is straight. she said she was passed over for

promotion at the ohio department of youth services in favor of a gay woman. and then demoted in favor of a game man. justice brett kavanaugh said today that workplace discrimination " whether you are gay or straight is prohibited. the rules are the same. that whichever way it goes" if the higher court rules in her favor, it could make it easy for people to pursue such a so discrimination claims. tonight, the trump administration is asking the u.s. supreme court to halt a lower court order requiring u.s. aid to disperse funding promised to foreign aid contractors. also the administration revealed in court filings that would not be able to meet the lower court's deadline tonight to release the funds. they were also reports about an internal memo with the plans for the administration to eliminate more than 90% of usaid foreign aid contracts and $60 billion of overall aid around the world. in the middle east, israel says

hamas handed over the bodies of four israeli hostages, the last scheduled handover under the cease fire's first phase which is due to expire in just days. the men named ranged in age between 50 and 85. they are being swapped for roughly 600 palestinian prisoners. israel had delayed the prisoner release since saturday citing hamas's treatment of hostages during previous exchanges. meantime -- thousands of israelis lines the streets during a funeral for deceased hostages. the bodies of the mother and her two young sons were handed over separately by hamas last week. at the funeral, she said -- he said goodbye to his wife and children. >> i'm sorry i cannot protect

you all. i think about everything we went through together. there are so many beautiful memories. i cannot kiss or hug you. and it is breaking me. and killing me. please watch over me. >> she and her children were killed in israeli air strike but forensic team said that there is evidence that they were killed by hamas. data suggest that a years long decline in the nation's christian population has leveled off. results of a pew research survey found that the 62% of u.s. adults identify as christian, that number has held steady since 2019 after falling from 70 8% in 2007. and 83% of americans say they believe in god, or some kind of universal spirit. washington post owner jeff bezos announced today that the paper's opinion pages will focus on defending personal liberties and free markets. in a social media post, he says

he told employees that " viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others." critics say it is the latest rightward shift under jeff bezos aimed at pleasing president trump. he insists that newspapers these days should not offer a broad paced opinion section saying that job. following today's announcement, the post's opinion editor announced to stepping down. and actress michelle trachtenberg has died. she got her start as a child star most notably on nickelodeon's the adventures of pete and pete. she was just 10 years old when she shot to fame in the 1996 film harriet the spy. she later costarred on hit tv shows like buffy the vampire slayer and gossip girl. media outlets report trachtenberg recently underwent a liver transplant. no criminal involvement is suspected. michelle trachtenberg was only 35 -- 39 years old.

still to advocacy groups react to a court order blocking president trump's ban on refugees. panama city deputy foreign minister discusses his country's role in the u.s. immigration crackdown. in the upcoming met gala show the spotlight on black men's fashion. >> this is the "pbs newshour." from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ >> when the house passed the republican budget framework last night, it was an important step towards implementing president trump's agenda. the house budget plan includes $.45 trillion in tax cuts, spending cuts totaling $2 trillion and will add an estimated $3 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. jodey arrington of texas chairs

the budget committee and he joins me now. welcome to the news. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> the bill passed on a 217 to 215 vote and one republican voted against it. is it fair to say now that the real work begins of trying to figure out exactly where you would get those $2 trillion in cuts? >> yeah, i think you are right. i mean, we had to lay out a framework that i think was fiscally responsible, progrowth, it makes adjustments for supporting tax cuts while reining in the wasteful spending to offset those cuts along with growth or revenue from growth, which is a conservative 2.6 percent annual average growth rate which is lower than we had in the trump and biden administration's, but that will bring another $2.6 trillion. so altogether it is a balanced budget resolution, but as you

mentioned, the real work happens as the policies are developed at the committee level. and it is designed that way to be a bottom up approach. and then we will have to conference with the senate. >> as you know, there has been a lot of concern about cuts to medicaid. the mandate that you set for the energy and commerce committee that oversees medicaid is to for them to cut $880 billion, the largest pot of money that they oversee is medicare what you said that you will not touch. how do you see hitting that $880 billion without touching medicaid? >> well, we're going to make sure we actually eliminate the waste that exists in the federal government, not just in the medicaid program but across the federal government. the government accountability office estimates just within 70 programs in the federal government, a $2.7 trillion in waste fraud and abuse and then fraud, governmentwide, they say on the higher end is $5 trillion

here and we have to put the program integrity measures in place. to make sure those who are legally eligible are those receiving the benefits that the taxpayers on lawmakers intended. but, for example, if you just review for eligibility, not once but twice a year, going back to the trump administration policy, you will actually not only prevent the fraudulent spending of tax dollars but you will save $160 billion that you can put towards reducing the deficit and making not just medicaid but all of these program sustainable. today they are not sustainable. so program integrity, state accountability, personal responsibility. snap has requirements for able-bodied adults who are able to work, to work to receive the benefit. and we think that it's responsible to do that across the government, medicaid does not have that. these are some of the things

that will be needed at the committee level. >> if i made to double check the math, that $3 trillion is the accumulative of estimated overpayments from gao dating back to 2003. that is not quite apples to apples. you mentioned the $160 billion that would come from reversing biden era policies. hhs estimates only totaled about $31 billion prude i am pointing this out to $880 that number without touching medicaid? >> yeah, actually let me correct that statement. the government accountability office $2.7 trillion in improper payments, that is a 10 year number. that is a 10 year number, not since 2003. that is going forward. in fact, there is $50 billion in medicaid and over $500 billion over the 10 year window. when we say we want to save $1.5

trillion in reducing wasteful spending, that is over the 10 year budget window. it is apples to apples. i would also suggest, in their outside groups that have measured this, one that comes to mind is numbers usa and they say we are spending $150 billions for social services for people who are in this country illegally, about 9000 -- $9,000 per illegal immigrants, more that we spend on u.s. citizens who are the most vulnerable among us and eligible for medicaid. it is also more than we spent for our veterans on military benefits. so there is a lot of cleaning up , a lot of waste and fraud. >> if i may, chairman. i know our time is limited. is it possible for you to guarantee that none of the 70 million people who rely on medicaid will have their benefits cut, can you make that guarantee? >> i can tell you this, these programs are not sustainable for the most vulnerable people. i can also tell you that the obamacare expansion population, they get a 90% federal match and

the blind, disabled, the sickest and poorest among us, they get 65% on average. so, the entire health system is oriented around giving better care and better access to able-bodied obamacare expansion populations. >> chairman, i will point out i'm not here to get i'm not hearing to guarantee but i think our conversation will continue. i do want to ask you about the federal worker filings we have seen from elon musk's dog. e. the latest figures show that 130,000 employees in texas in your district, 8000, do you know if any of those workers have lost their jobs as a result of this teams cuts? >> i don't know any person who have. >> do you know of any interdistrict? >> do i know of anybody who have been cut? >> yes or, any federal employees who have lost their jobs as a result of the doge cuts? >> i don't know with any but

there may be people who have had their jobs terminated. and i can tell you after having worked in the administration of president bush, being in the administration, there is a lot of unnecessary jobs. there is a lot of waste. we had about half the workforce not even going to work the last four or five years. look, where there is value added, where there are people who are being productive and advancing the federal government's mission in serving the american people, i don't think there is a problem there, but i think we have a lot of bloat and a lot of waste. so i support the efforts that our being taken on the president trump i elon musk and by-- by elon musk. >> among the team listing of because they list a dhs office closure in abilene, texas for this the savings of $340,000. not sure money -- how many people were cut but are you concerned of hundreds of people

in your district lose their jobs it will impact your community? >> i'm concerns that our father budget went from $4.5 trillion before covid to $7 trillion, during the biden administration, $8 trilling was added to the national debt. >> what are you concerned about people losing their jobs? >> i am concerned about bankrupting the country. and i'm also trusting this president to make sure that we're we need the human resources, where they are productive and can justify the value added to the federal government's mission, that will happen. but we are long overdue for an audit from top to bottom and we need to make sure that the taxpayers are getting a return on their investment and that we're -- [indiscernible] their money. i support the president and elon musk are doing 100%. >> that is a house budget chairman, jodey arrington. thank you for your time. >> you, too. bye-bye.

>> a federal judge in seattle has blocked president trump's executive order halting the administration of refugees into the u.s.. the judge said the ministration will comply while lawsuit challenging the ban filed by some of the country's largest resettlement organizations works its way through the courts. we are joined by mark hatfield, the president of the country's oldest refugee resettlement agency and the organization is a plaintiff in that lawsuit. thanks for being with us. >> thank you jeff. >>. >> help us understand what the program is. how does the program work and

who does it, to assist? >> the program was started by the refugee act of 1980 to provide a safe and legal pathway for people fleeing persecution or war or conflict to come to the united states to either join with family or to meet foreign policy humanitarian policy priorities of the united states. >> so what was the material impact of this suspension. how are the refugees affected and your employees as well pick >> it was devastating. and this was not just a mere suspension, like it was in the first trump term. this was a complete dismantlement of the refugee program. because not only did our refugees, where they stop from arriving, but also the processing offices. were shut down. everything was defunded. so it is going to be almost impossible to start a backup. in terms of the actual impact. my agency.

had 621 refugees that with plane tickets and approved by homeland security but they are not coming. the plane tickets were snatched out of their hands. >> when you say it is nearly impossible to restart this work, tell me more back that -- about that. >> teresa refugees will have to have people that prepare their applications. that is system overseas. that gives them orientation. that book their plane tickets, that receive them here in the united states which is what my agency does along with the other non-resettlement agencies. all of those things were completely defunded. >> your organization is a jewish power organization. many of the organizations orphic -- our faith organizations. how does faith inform the work that you do? >> in the torah, 36 times it is said to love the stranger as

ourselves. it is a fundamental part of our values and not just going back to the holy books but also our recent experience with the 21st-century, the jewish power people are a people who know displacement and so we are naturally empathetic. >> vice president jd vance accused the u.s. conference of catholic bishops are profiting off its work resettling refugees. do you any of the organizations profit off of this work, is that emotive? -- a motive? >> no, this is a labor of love. this is something we have to raise money for because we cannot do it on the funding the federal government gives us. it is a public-private partnership. so now we have raised lots of funding to welcome refugees and none of them are coming. including refugees themselves who are fleeing religious persecution like irani and religious minorities. they cannot. come people supported u.s. veterans

and risk their lives in afghanistan to work for the embassy, they cannot come. people whose families that were separated by war, those parents and children will remain separated and those kids are essentially being orphaned by this trump administration policy. >> the administration and it is executive order argue that the united states lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants in a particular refugees into his communities in the manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for americans. this is an argument the administration makes fairly often. that resources are finite. what is your reaction to that? >> that's an argument the trump administration made in 2017 and they themselves proved was fallacious. in 2017 in the muslim refugee ban presidential commission to study to demonstrate how much resettled refugees cost the american taxpayer. but they looked at both sides of the ledger when they did that study and they found that over a 10 year period, resettled

refugees contributed $63 billion more in federal state and local taxes than they took in's and assistance. it just also happens to be to the benefit of the economy, to the benefit of the country. refugees are a blessing. they are not a burden. >> you were in seattle yesterday when the judge issued that ruling. what comes next? >> a good question because on my way to the studio tonight i got 10 termination notices that the state department was terminating a number of our programs, including refugee resettlement in spite of the fact that yesterday the judge issued a preliminary injunction saying that it was authorized by congress and could not be dismantled. >> mark hatfield. thanks for coming in. >> thank you, geoff.

>> president trump made carrying out the largest mass deportation in u.s. history a cornerstone of his 2024 campaign. but there are reports he is unhappy with the pace of that effort so far. >> a new controversial tactic to carry out the administration's crackdown on illegal migration. >> this plane landed in san jose, costa rica last week, descending through a cloud of uncertainty. on board were 135 people to for -- deported on a journey back to their home country or somewhere else. none are costa rica citizens. >> there are 65 children and 70 adults. there are families. costa rica is committed to returning the deportees to their country of origin and up to 30 days. >> the group hailing from as far

away as china, vietnam, and ghana were bussed to a rural holding facility paid for by the u.s. costa rica became the second central american country after panama to serve as a stopover for unauthorized migrants being removed from the u.s. by the trump administration. panama accepted almost 300 deportees who were initially held under armed guard in this panama city hotel. images of that group stuck inside, unable to leave, made headlines last week. >> we are providing them with all the necessary medical, food and comfort services and will continue to do so until the last one is left our country. which is what was agreed with the united states government. >> more than half agreed to be returned to their home country. 97 were sent to facility in the - a treasurer's point of passage at the southern border with

colombia used by many migrants. susanna is a panamanian lawyer representing a taiwanese family including a child under five who were sent to this facility. do you have any understanding as to what the conditions are like in that facility? >> no. i haven't seen the conditions with my own eyes. but i've spoken to reporters who have. and they said the conditions were not pleasant. >we have to keep in mind the children who are the future of humanity. if they are experiencing this type of trauma in her t-- in a refugee camp, i want to know that they have good care. >> if we can get them out of our country, we have other countries that would take them. >> this new process, using latin american countries as a temporary bridge for deportees helps the administration because the u.s. does not always have diplomatic relationships with some of the migrants countries of origin. so by transferring them to other

nations, it transfers the diplomatic labor of repatriation to them as well. >> this is a significant or even mammoth departure from the practices of the past. >> he's a senior fellow at the migration policy institute. >> the president has made no secret of the fact that he believes that he won this election using immigration as a calling card. and that message has not been lost on every single agency head and cabinet member of this administration. they have decided that deportation machinery is now number one paragraph of their job description. what we have now seen is that we are enlisting nationstates in t hat enterprise. >> earlier this month secretary of state marco rubio visited central america including stops in both panama and costa rica. amid threats of u.s. tariffs sanctions and even re-taking of the panama canal, the country

has agreed to serve as aid stopover for deportees. >> we do a lot of other things with panama. they have been a great partner in slowing down migration. so, i think it was a good visit. >> the department of homeland security, which is central to the administration's deportation policy, did not respond to news hour's request for comment. but he says the process raises many questions. as does the administration's overall approach to migrants so far. >> there may be violations of u.s. law especially with respect to people who have expressed fear of being returned. the fact that they were not given assisted counsel, they were not provided due process, the second most important -- is that this is being done with militaristic imagery, not ju st objects, an orchestra of

military machinery that i think is deeply un-american. >> in the meantime, lawyer -- this lawyer is trying to figure out what comes next. and she has a plea. >> we are asking our president of panama and his counterpart in the united states to have a little compassion and that they give each case the opportunity to be review before sending these families to the ring of death because at some point, this is going to be scrutinized by some international body. and that is where we will go to see the consequences. >> i'm william brangham. >> for more on panama's role in receiving hundreds of migrants, the trump administration has deported, we turn now to carlos hernandez, the vice minister for foreign affairs and panama. welcome to the news are. >> thank you for having me. >> i want to ask you to respond to the report from william brangham. especially the conditions under which some of those migrants say they are being held in panama

reportedly in hotel rooms but they say they have their cell phones and passports taken away. there are armed guards at the doors. explain to us why that was necessary. >> i mean, it is, thank you so much. i think it is the right question to ask but i think the mischaracterization of how these migrants are being treated is very unfortunate. the reporting that these migrants are not being treated with the best conditions and with the respect of human rights or due process is absolutely inaccurate. because they have access to actually everything they need. iom is there, we are there, they are being provided with absolutely food, water, this is a four-star hotel. they are not being detained. they are being protected, which we are processing, helping them going through this transition to head back home. we are absolutely giving them absolutely everything they need in terms of getting back home. >> i hear you saying that they

are free to leave but they don't seem to be saying that it all. we saw those images of people holding up signs in the windows saying please help us. they have their passports and cell phones taken away. where is the mischaracterization? >> the mischaracterization is that they are being held,. >> are they free to leave? >> they are illegal migrants, going to the process of repatriation which is something we are working with united states government and previous administrations working, we have done it for years, and we are, the name of the policy is -- repatriation works for us. this is a policy our government is pursuing in terms of deterring migrants and bad nonstate actors and other countries facilitating migration and any condition, so we are trying to protect them and we are receiving them and we are facilitating and providing them with all the assistance that they need to just go back home, because they are not an panama because they want to be in panama. they want to be somewhere else.

and that somewhere else is a close ally of panama. in the migration secretary rubio was mentioning this, the previous secretary would've said the same. >> they were held there in hotel rooms, there is also this camp we understand in the jungle. why is that necessary and how many migrants are held there? >> this is exactly how we handle irregular and illegal migrants that come to our country. right now we have last year, we had half a million migrants, irregular migrants coming through the stretcher's jungle, going through panama and what we have done, we have set up shelters, set up facilities to help them, can to give them water and provide them for access, to information, biometrics. we help them just to continue their voyage. >> their voyage, not to the u.s., you are working to deport them back to their countries of origin, correct? >> well, that is an important question here it's right now the south to north migration is exactly what we have been receiving for all these years. now we are seeing a different

pattern. it is brand-new, which is the reverse migration because of the new policies the united states, assuming. >> to be clear, these are people who are forced to be deported from the u.s. to panama, correct? >> what is going on here in the u.s., if i've heard the word due process, that due process is not my position to opine on, we are providing the precise -- precisely that, due process. 299 migrants is exactly what the operation we just did. 200 of them are voluntary wanted to go home. there are number of migrants that actually paying for their own cost to go back home. >> is the u.s. covering the additional costs and hotels and repatriation fees? >> absolutely, through iom and through international organizations that we have been working three years, are covering all the costs, including if they want refuge or asylum in our country. they have to go through our due process and that is exactly what we are doing.

>> big picture, why is this something panama would agree to? why is this beneficial for panama to accept people deported from the u.s. as a layover and work to repatriate other countries? >> thank you, because is deterrence. our president, we came into power six or seven months ago. the first day our president came, these migration policy center on deterrents. we were getting 1000 migrants in our. -- an hour. 93% of those migrants coming in is reduced and we attribute that to the cooperation we have with united states to let the migrants know and the nine state actors who are helping them to start that voyage, dont' come because it is dangerous. we have young girls,sexually abused these angles -- these jungles. it sends a message. repatriation is something that

it has, a lot of benefits for us because we are seeing the numbers going down. therefore, the numbers of catastrophe and human disasters is reduced. >> what about the people who cannot be repatriated? are you deporting people to iran, back to china, if you're worried about human rights abuses? >> we are very much worried. that is what we are talking to them, talking to their families and talking to the different medical channels, providing everything they need. the international standards are being very very clear. the united nations is there, working hand-in-hand with us. that is something we have done for a long time. >> but there is no answer for them right now. >> they have to go through a process. this happened, i think, it was february 12 or 13. we received three flights with a specific number. it is not meant to be institutionalized at this point. in terms of receiving migrants, because we have been receiving irregular migrants for a long time. so at this stage, we want to continue working with united

states. there has been no pressure from the u.s. government to receive them. or process them. this is something we have been trying to do and again, the mischaracterization is very unfortunate that this picture with the sign of help us, because the help is the, i think that they want and you have in it -- i have not interviewed them myself is the one thing that we cannot give them which is a green card. that is the one thing, that is the help we cannot give. >> if i may, because i know our time is limited, you mentioned there is no pressure. i'm sure you are well aware, we heard from president trump many times before he came back into office about this plan to retake control of the panama canal, he posted about and spoke about it, he mentioned it in his inauguration. i know you've said, your president has said there was no quid pro quo here, but he has stopped talking about it since panama began accepting migrants pretty looks like there was a deal cut. >> there was no deal. in fact, two days ago, three

days ago on friday, he mentioned it again. in terms of, i think he said something at the republican governors dinner. >> reclaiming the panama canal? >> the point is there was no deal. this is the policy we are pursuing -- we were pursuing before the new president was elected. we have been collaborating with united states and absolutely everything we can because again, this is about the terms, this about treating these poor people humanitarianly, reducing the risk of death in lot of cases. we provided them with psychological help. medical help. absolutely everything they need, it is a four-star hotel for example in which they have everything they need in terms of assistance. again, our government is providing them the opportunity toget asylum, refugee, but they, 99 point 99% of the people that come to panama illegally, they do not stay in panama, they do not want to stay in my country.

they are always somewhere else -- that is why my president is determined to reduce the number of refugees. >> carlos bre hernandez. thank you for being here. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> this spring the annual met gala in new york city, one of the bigger fashion events of the year will highlight the indelible style of black men. in an exhibition titled superfine, tailoring black style opens in may and explores the black dandy. we looked into the rich and complicated style and its relevance today as part of our ongoing series race matters. > as you may have noticed, i always have not one but two were drum in this office. >> dandy wellington started paying special attention to his

appearance at an early stage. his style inspired by the harlem renaissance. in the name fits his persona. he is a dandy attitude refined. >> it is a worldwide>> community. so i will be inspired by people who are in paris, four in los angeles. people in the congo. there is such a connection to style and also a connection to culture. you know the history of black dandism is complicated. it is wrapped up in migration, and civil rights. >> danism was first introduced during the trans atlantic slave trade, well-dressed enslaved men were seen as fixtures of wealth for their slavers but tailored to tired and wit also offered a path for black men to imagine the possibility of power. from the 18th century of england to today, it is a way of being that has evolved with the times. >> the black dandy is a

complicated figure throughout history. >> we spoke with the senior critic at large robin -- who has long covered the fashion industry. >> there was, you know, the early idea of enslaved black men who were often dressed in fine clothing in order to reflect the status of the enslaver. and you also have black dandies who played with the idea of gender and really tapped into feminine trops, taking ownership of their body and of their presence. but embellishing it in a way that signifies its value and its-- >> tell me more about that, the idea that the black dandy aesthetic is a form of resistance and that it challenges stereotypes about black identity and black masculinity. >> for a lot of dandies part of

their way of dressing is quite emotive and sensual and that breaks definitely from some of the cultural expectations of black men. during the civil rights movement, the way that activists dressed was to reflect the degree of respect that they not only had for themselves but also the respect that they were demanding from society at large. > for some leaders in the fight for civil rights, how they dressed was a critical part of achieving their agenda. >> frederick douglass was the most photographed man among his contemporaries, in the 19th century. he dressedu up. any time you saw frederick douglass. >> this curator is the author of the black dandy and street style. >> w.e.b. bdubois was fixated on fighting racism and fighting oppression.

through aesthetics. at a time post trayvon martin, post many different incidents of police violence in the u.s. there was like a large mass movement of young black people in urban areas whether in the u.s., in the u.k., and south africa that began really dressing up for themselves and for their own sense of cultural pride and dignity. >> throughout history, black style movements have been closely linked to individual identity. with a style that is moved across the globe, every dandy is unique each with a swagger of his own. >> you can have someone like me who is very much connected to the jazz age. vintage is the inspiration. but then of course there is black dandies that wear ankara prints, and the u street where is their mode of expression. >> there is a generation of black men as you know, who take such pride in dressing to the

nines in a suit with alligator shoes, they would probably describe themselves as having swagger, they would not describe themselves as being a dandy. how do you draw that line between exuding old school cool and being a black dandy? >> i grew up in detroit and i think about, you know, some of the men who firmly believe that if your shoes were not matching your suit, you were not properly dressed. and, for some black men, just being seen in sort of full technicolor is an incredible victory. >> in the u.s. the bold fashion is seen coast-to-coast from hollywood red carpets to the nba and the metropolitan museum of art. this year's theme, superfine tailoring black style will explore the history of the black dandy and while historically a dandy's traditionally referred to men, the movement has grown. >> one of the first contemporary

black dandies to get a lot of attention was janelle moae. nae. and it was a nod to her grandmother who clean for a living. >> secondhand, thrifty. >> for younger generations, the ethical stylist advises her clients not to break the bank. >> you go to the thrift store, you see in the menswear section, there is always so many suits and blazers and slacks and things like that. that is where you start. >> and every outing brings a new opportunity to add to the wardrobe. >> this is a straw bowler that i found -- in a vintage shop. it is a big part of how i find some of the things. of course, there are modern designers who make incredible things, but there is something about the craftsmanship's of these items. >> a style now center stage at

the super bowl of the fashion industry -- how does it strike you that the met has taken this on is the theme for this year's gala? >> there is a little bit of courage in it. this one has the benefit of really coming at a time when questions about diversity and identity and gender are very much at the center of cultural and political conversations. so, i think it is quite timely. >> for dandy wellington. >> at the end of the day, it is just me, what brings me joy. whether i'm going to the supermarket or i'm going to the metropolitan museum of art. the style is always with me. >> that is a news hour for tonight. >> on behalf of the entire news hour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by -- >> cunard is a proud supporter of public television.

on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of leisure and british style. all with cunard's white star service. >> i love seeing interns succeed, seeing them come back and join engagement teams and seeing where they go from there. i get to watch the personal growth. it makes my heart happy. >> friends of the "news hour," including jim and nancy bildner and the robert and virginia schiller foundation. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide.

and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> this is the "pbs newshour." from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> you are watching pbs.

(bright music) - i know cooking can sometimes feel overwhelming, but it doesn't need to be. - to be honest, it's all a bit stressful. - so in this series, i'm joining some wonderful familiar faces. - mary! - [mary] each with their own dilemmas in the kitchen. - would you like some turkey dinosaur? - [mary] not a lot. i'm going to show them how it's done with easy new recipes. - i'm your sous chef, i love this. - [mary] in the most glorious locations. - you are a natural. (dart thuds) - all right, mary - bes, you've gotta multitask.