captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> brown: a new wave of violence stokes escalated tensions in the middle east, as hamas launches rocket attacks and israel wages air strikes. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. gwen ifill is away. also ahead this monday, protests in california and washington, d.c., demonstrate the divide over what to do with a surge in undocumented immigrant children entering the u.s. plus, who's really benefiting from the g.i. bill? for-profit colleges or the vets looking for a quality education? >> we're not getting the investment that we wanted when we sent these men and women to school. >> the veterans have chosen us because of the programs that we offer. those programs lead to careers

that they want to aspire to. >> brown: those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people buildmmeasurably better lives.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> 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: rebels in ukraine tried to regroup today after major setbacks over the weekend. the pro-russian fighters lost their former stronghold in slovayansk, and fell back to donetsk, vowing to keep fighting government forces. along the way, three bridges leading into donetsk were blown up today. one was a railway bridge that was bombed as a cargo train passed over. amid the fighting, russia pressed again today for a new cease-fire in ukraine. the political stalemate in iraq will go on, as the government

battles islamist militants who've seized a large portion of the country. the new parliament today delayed its next session for five weeks, until mid-august. leaders are at an impasse over choosing a prime minister, president and speaker of parliament. shiite prime minister nouri al- maliki has refused to step aside. the white house isn't confirming that a german intelligence worker spied for the u.s. a spokesman said today he can't comment on the matter. a 31-year-old german man was arrested last week, and there have been reports he admitted to passing documents to a u.s. contact. german chancellor angela merkel addressed the matter today, during a visit to china. >> ( translated ): we have already opened an investigation. if the reports are correct it would be a serious case. if the allegations are true, it would be for me a clear

ctradiction to what i consider to be a trustful cooperation between agencies and partners. >> woodruff: u.s.-german relations have been strained since last year, after revelations of large-scale snooping by the national security agency on germany. pope francis met with victims of sexual abuse by priests, for the first time today, and apologized. the pontiff celebrated mass at his vatican hotel, with six victims who recounted their personal stories of abuse. >> ( translated ): before god and his people i express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse committed against you. and i humbly ask forgiveness. i beg your forgiveness, too, for the sins of omission on the part of church leaders who did not respond adequately to reports of abuse made by family members, as well as by abuse victims themselves. >> woodruff: the pope also vowed to hold bishops accountable for the protection of minors, but he did not give details on how he would do that. in kenya, anti-government protests in nairobi turned violent today.

police and demonstrators battled with tear gas and stones as a rally in a nearby park spilled over into the streets. the crowds had gathered to demand talks with the government over economic inequality and other grievances. and in nigeria, officials in the northeast report 63 girls who were kidnapped last month have escaped. they apparently got away as their captors in the boko haram militant group were battling nigerian soldiers. meanwhile, a government spokesman reports progress in the investigation of april's abduction of 200 other school girls. >> we are moving closer to finding them. at least we have identified a number of leads, we have identified in the course of this exercise and that was what even led to the arrest of the chief of intelligence of boko haram. >> woodruff: nigeria's government and military have

faced international criticism for failing to rescue the kidnap victims. one of the last foreign ministers of the soviet union, eduard shevardnadze, died today. in the late 1980's, under soviet president mikhail gorbachev, he signed major arms control deals and helped eastern europe regain its freedom. after the soviet collapse, he became president of georgia, and survived two assassination attempts. he eventually resigned. eduard shevardnadze was 86 years old. a federal judge in philadelphia given initial approval to landmark concussion settlement between the national football league and former players, coming today after the league we moved a cap of $675 million on claims for medical damages. the judge questioned whether that amount would be enough to pay all claims. the assessment involves more than 3500 former players who have sued the nfl.

wall street came back from the holiday weekend in cautious mood. the dow jones industrial average lost 44 points to close at 17,024. the nasdaq fell 34 points to close at 4,451. and the s-and-p 500 dropped 7, to finish at 1,977. still to come on the newshour: renewed violence stokes tensions in the mid-east; disputed election results in afghanistan's presidential election; accessing who's really benefiting from the g.i. bill; and protests showcase the debate over undocumented immigrant children coming to the u.s. >> woodruff: now to the middle east, where there has been a major escalation of tensions in the last few hours. it follows days of up rest sparked by the deaths of three israeli teens and a palestinian

teenager. three israeli suspects in the killing of the palestinian teen confessed to the crime today. prime minister benjamin netanyahu found the teen's father and vowed the killers would be brought to justice. tonight hamas fired dozens of rockets into israel, claiming revenge for israeli air strikes overnight which they say killed six of its members. a short time ago, i spoke to josef federman who has been covering a story for the associated press. josef, thank you for talking with us. bring us up to date on what is going on. what is each side doing? >> well, it's been a pretty busy day here. things are heating up in southern israel along the gaza border. gaza militants have fired about 100 rockets today into israel or at israel. israel has responded with limited air strikes earlier in the day. the rocket fire heated up, really intensified this evening. there was a barrage of nearly 50

rockets after nightfall, some of them set off alarms deep inside israel, about 50 miles away from the border, reaching almost the outskirts of tel aviv. so this is seen as a bit of an escalation. israel hasn't responded to the latest barrage but we're expecting a pretty long night. >> woodruff: how is this different from what normally has been taking place there? >> well, most of the time the rocket fire is pretty limited to when there are attacks and there are periods when it's quiet all together but usually it's limited to one or two or a handful of rockets fired at short distances into open areas. now we are seeing an intensity that we haven't seen for several years where it's dozens and dozens each day, the distance that they're flying is a lot further and many are reaching populated areas. >> woodruff: tell us more about israel's response. we know you mentioned the air strikes. they're calling up reservists as well, right? >> yeah, what we've seen is

israel is moving forces down toward the border. we have had ap people along the border today. we saw pictures of rows and rows of tanks and buses filled with soldiers, people kind of milling around the border area, even this evening the roads is are empty down there because most people are staying inside bomb shelters with all the rockets flying. the only traffic you see on the roads basically are military vehicles bringing tanks, armored vehicles and so forth, so israel seems to be bracing. the consensus, the speculation is that israel will begin by limiting activity to aerial bombardments. i don't think they will send in ground troops at least at this stage, but what we're expecting is a much more intense, a heavier response to what you have been seeing earlier. for the most part, israel has been going after military hamas training bases and fields and launching sites. what you may see are sort of higher value targets, places where maybe there are forces,

you may see more casualties and so forth, so that's the type of thing i'm expecting to see in the next few hours. >> woodruff: we also know mahmoud abbas has been speaking out, the palestinian president. what is he trying to do? >> he's actually been pretty quiet on the situation in gaza. he always speaks out against violence. anytime there's loss of palestinian life. and there were eight palestinian militants killed today. he always condemns that. his focus has been on the situation in jerusalem and the west bank. things are heating up in israel following the death of a palestinian teenager last week. israel has arrested some jewish israelis aspects, and the pallets -- as suspects and the palestinians are upset and that's where president abbas has been focusing his attention. >> woodruff: and what is the reaction in israel? we reported some of the israeli

suspects who were arrested now confessed to the killing of the palestinian teenager. how is that being received? >> yeah, the arrests -- and we dill still don't have the ident. a lot of the information is kept under wraps as the investigation continues. what we do know is the suspects are jewer. authorities say three people confessed today and it set off soul searching in israel. there's a lot of shock because to have the brutality and how grizzly this killing was where they burned somebody alive. so people are having a hard time coming to terms with this, and even the nation's top leaders, the president, a nobel peace prize winner, called the family, the boy's parents today to express his condolences and told them how shocked and ashamed he was. you hear that a lot, "shame," you hear it in newspapers, among

politicians, even prime minister benjamin netanyahu reached out and called the families and you don't normally si israelis reaching across the aisles to palestinians. >> woodruff: to sum up, you said, israel, both sides are bracing for something worse? >> i think so. hamas, this morning, after it suffered casualties, like i said, eight militants were killed overnight last night and that was the h heaviest death toll we've seen so far. they immediately vowed revenge. then we see 100 rockets flying throughout the course of the day. so i think the militant groups in gaza are expecting something, and israel almost always responds, and especially after a barrage of this intensity, it's impossible for israel to sit back and not do anything. there is just so much public pressure to do something. so it really almost seems inevitable that you're going to see more fightinin the coming

hours. >> woodruff: josef federman, associated press, we thank you. >> thank >> woodruff: and joining me now to help us understand the latest developments are dennis ross, a longtime u.s. diplomat and mid- east envoy serving in the george h.w. bush, clinton and obama administrations. he's now a counselor at the washington institute for near- east policy. and shibley telhami, the anwar sadat professor of peace and development at the university of maryland, senior fellow at the brookings institution and author of the book, "the world through arab eyes." we thank you both. women come back to the "newshour". what do you think has set off the latest round of violence? >> i think it was connected to the kidnappings of the three israeli teenagers. israel has held hamas responsible for that and you began to see the beginnings of this process of tit for tat

after that. now you have the revenge killing, which if we heard from the report, has created a shock wave in israel, but takes place against the backdrop of increasing tension between hamas and gaza. they don't want to look like they're backing down. hamas vows revenge because, you know, eight of their operatives were killed last night, and they sense that there's an urgency on the part of israelis to come in on the ground and it's almost as if they're testing the israels to see how far they go but they don't want to go too far because if they really provoke the israelis to come in on the ground they knot don't know how far they will go and the price to hamas could be great. >> woodruff: shibley telhami, how do you read what is going on and how the palestinian leadership is reading it? >> i happened to be in jerusalem

and ramallah when the israelis were kidnapped and my feel, particularly in ramallah rights after, was that it felt like 1987 again, 1987 was the start of the first. and there were some things that were so similar. palestinian despair over the distraction embroiled by other problems. what's happening in iraq, egypt, syria. in the 1985s, palestinian were frustrated that attention was going to iraq in the iraq-iran war and people weren't paying attention to their issues. there was frustration from the leadership detached and there was a sense the people had to do something on their own. there is that sense of alienation. in fact both mahmoud abbas and hamas risk being irrelevant, which is why they came together, to be more relevant. so you have the combination that

is combustible. on top of that, the fellow of american diplomacy and a sense of resignation, it was a disaster waiting for a spark. >> woodruff: i gather from both of your answers it's not cleared what the leadership on each side, how far they're prepared to take it. >> i think that's right. we have two different realities taking place. we have the reality in jerusalem which may or may not be, and in gaza which confronts hamas and the yirlz leadership with hard choices. that point, where is the leadership? in the case of israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, you can see that on the one hand he wants to make it clear that hamas, there's a terrible price to be paid as they continue to provoke israel. on the other hand, he himself is

saying this is not a time for histie, emotional decisions but a time for judicious behavior. also the fact he reaches out to the parents to have the palestinian teen who was killed is a signal that says, look, we are going to act against our excesses. what happened was shameful and we're a country ruled by law and we're going to act and that's also both a reflection of i think a deep-seated feeling but also sends a signal that the last thing we want to see is an explosion with the palestinians. >> woodruff: pick up on that, and talk about the forces on each side. >> the political leadership in hamas and the prime minister of israel don't want an escalation at this time. it's too a costly, disrupts their priorities, are not ready for it but may be dragged in that direction. why? look at the divisions first of

all within israel. it's not just public opinion. public opinion is one set of problems. when the prime minister of israel starts sounding like he's the moderate in his own government, you can tell that you've got a problem on your hand. in hamas, they have two problems, one problem is they, just like israelis, they learn from hesbollah, that when they feel under attack or lose, they have to retaliate, like israelis feel that pressure. there is that dynamic. there are groups within gaza that we can't fully control. they have been firing some of the rockets across the israeli borders and we don't know how divided they are. the deal to have a national government and proceed with a political process was somewhat controversial within hamas, so we don't know what forces are at play when you have a political environment in public that is mobilized and angry, people are going to may to the public. >> how much is the public on both sides, dens dennis, pushinp

this to more crisis point than it already is. >> i don't think either side is pushing it to crisis point. i think there's a level of despair on the palestinian side and anger on the israeli side, but i think you have, in a sense, certain constituencies that may be pushing. shibley made reference to the pressures under prime minister netanyahu. we see it in terms of former minister lieberman not leaving the government but splitting from the coalition with the party. we see it in terms atout what i call the military wing of hamas. they're the ones who launched the rockets today. up till now, they have not been the ones launching the rockets. but you can see segments on each side who see an emotional moment and are reacting to that. the question is, is there sufficient control of leaders to

be able to do that? i think on the israeli side, there is. on the palestinian side, it's much more an open question. >> woodruff: how would you answer that? >> on both sides, it's an open question. in part because the israeli government has a lot of people on the right who want to take -- who are running for the next prime minister position in the israeli election and they're exploiting this just like they are people on e palestinian side who want to go to a militancy. i think neither side wants from frustration but they could go there. we saw seven horrible kills that dragged people into a situational confrontation. >> woodruff: a lot of questions coming out of this. we thank you both for talking to us tonight, shibley telhami, dennis ross. t thank you. >> woodruff: in afghanistan,

election officials today announced interim results in the recent presidential elections, but they also said no winner can be declared yet because millions of ballots were being audited for fraud. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: the preliminary results came nearly a month after afghan voters went to the polls in the presidential run- off. the national election commission announced former finance minister ashraf ghani won 56% of the vote. former foreign minister abdullah abdullah trailed with 43%, a reversal of the double-digit lead he'd held after the first round. >> ( translated ): i want to emphasize that the preliminary result announcement is not the announcement of the winner of the election. there is the possibility of changing the results after auditing the votes and reviewing the complaints and objections. >> brown: indeed, the commission acknowledged there had been fraud, and announced it will audit ballots from nearly 7,000 of 23,000 polling stations.

ghani's followers celebrated, but abdullah has refused to accept any results until a full investigation is completed. he spoke yesterday in kabul. >> ( translated ): we will not accept those results until clean votes are separated from unclean votes. nobody doubts that there was fraud in afghanistan's elections. there was a mass and organized fraud. a fraud that the independent election commission was involved in. >> brown: abdullah also accuses current president hamid karzai, who is term-limited, of trying to rig the outcome in ghani's favor. the claims are reminiscent of widespread fraud in the 2009 election, when karzai defeated abdullah. in washington today, state department spokeswoman jen psaki agreed it's vital to investigate the current results. >> right now, our focus is on encouraging a full and thorough review of all the reasonable allegations of irregularities. we think that's essential to ensuring that the afghan people have confidence in the integrity

of the electoral process. >> brown: resolving the election dispute is also essential to getting a bilateral agreement that keeps a small american force in afghanistan beyond 2014. about 33,000 u.s. troops are still there. most will leave at the end of this year, but some 9,800 would stay on to train afghans, if there's an agreement governing their presence. karzai has refused to sign the pact, but both ghani and abdullah have said they would sign it. the final election results are due, july 22nd. >> woodruff: what's at stake between now and then? for that we're joined by: andrew wilder, vice president of south and central asia programs at the "united states institute of peace." he just returned from afghanistan lt week. and nazif shahrani is an afghan- american who's a professor of anthropology at indiana university. nazif shahrani, let me start with you. how serious a situation is this? is there potential for a drawn-out major problem?

>> yes, unfortunately, there is. the people of afghanistan have been waiting for the results of the election for some time. given the environment in which the two candidates, especially abdullah abdullah, is at this point that is threatening not to accept the results and also some of his supporters in the provinces as well as one of his vice presidents are saying that if their demas are not met, they may create a parallel government which obviously would not be to the advantage of the country and the people are seriously concerned about it. >> brown: andrew wilder, you were just there. what did you see in terms of the election or anything that helps us understand the voting, the potential for fraud? >> i was in afghanistan for the first round of the election which went remarkably well and there were problems then, too,

but the results were accepted as legitimate. clearly, there were problems and serious problems which now need to be investigated and this is where i think it's really important for the two campaigns to -- you know, together with the electoral institutions to agree now on the process moving forward on how to verify the various charges of fraud have been made actually by both camps so that we can get this process moving forward because as much as flawed, electoral process is all we have to dermot come and ultimately elections end up with a winner and loser and it's urgent we get that process moving forward. >> brown: nazif shahrani remind us of the stakes. what does it matter between the two candidates and what is resting on the outcome of a good outcome here? >> well, what is, i think, i

hope for is a peaceful transition of power for the first time in the history of afghanistan, from one elected president, again, fraudulent as it was in 2009, to another president who would have the confidence of the nation. unfortunately, the dispute right now, particularly in accounting as perhaps the acquisition of stuffing the ballot boxes by abdullah abdullah against president karzai and his government is making the possibility of outcome rather problematic and very serious for the country, and also for the region and ultimately for the united states and the international community worked so hard in the last 13 years to stabilize the country and they all hoped just as the people of

afghanistan hoped that there will be a peaceful transition and it doesn't look like it might be. >> brown: andrew wilder, for the united states there is the agreement, the withdrawal. how does this potentially impact that? >> i think if it gets too drawn out, it could further delay the signing of the bilateral security agreement and, currently, the scheduled inauguration date, let's not forget, the august 2, so there's not a whole lot of time to resolve this before president karzai says he's stepping down and even saying if ther there'so one else, i'll turn over power to my vice president at tt point. we have a security crisis already in afghanistan, we have an economic cry says brewing, and it's imperative this political crisis get resolved swiftly so we can focus on the other serious issues in afghanistan. there's another major interpretational agenda coming

up in that the president is to go to china in august for an important regional conference and nato in september and the u.n. general assembly. it's very important for afghanistan to have a legitimate successor to karzai, being able to represent the country in these international forum, and regain what president karzai squandered. >> brown: what is president karzai's role now? is he playing a role in this election and the outcome, good or bad? >> well, according to his own brother, mahmoud karzai, he has been a spoiler. he has been trying to, according to mahmoud, stay in power in that he has created this crisis and manufactured it in a way that would perhaps make it possible for him to continue to stay in power, especially if these two candidates cannot reach an agreement and resolve the problem as it stands right

now. so there is a threat, still, that karzai may be manufacturing this particular crisis and may try to take advantage of that in the long run. one hopes that that would not be the case, but, if it is, it, obviously, -- he's willing to be responsible for dragging the country back into a serious crisis. >> brown: andrew, do you see karzai playing a role like that, potentially, a negative role? >> i think he's played a negative role in the past. i rarely disagree with the doctor, but i think president karzai lost control of the process. i think the palace is politically very fragmented. i think the electoral institutions are fragmented. the afghan national security force in some ways are fragmented. so the idea president karzai could mastermind this entire rigging in one direction or another, i actually don't think he's powerful enough anymore to do that because many of the political elites are looking beyond karzai for patronage, not

looking to him and listening to him anymore. >> brown: on that point, having just come from there, what was the sense of the atmosphere among people that you talked to? are they eager to get this behind them and move on? >> i think the people are getting frustrated and want a result and an outcome, you know, because they realize afghan's future depends on this and that's why we saw so many voters turn out to vote in the first and second round. >> more than people expected. yes, and certainly some of that we can attribute to fraud. but i saw it with my eyes the long lines of people turning out to vote was higher than anticipate and i think that was because they were voting for a peaceful future, wanting, you know -- and i think that's why the urgency, i wanted to emfa zeiss size, of getting this process resolved so we can get a leit mat successor to karzai in the palace. >> brown: thank you both very

much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: next, how funds from the federal g.i. bill are flowing to for-profit schools, even though all too frequently, veterans' prospects are not appreciably better after attending them. the for-profit college sector is under the microscope: the department of education is expected to cut federal aid to schools with high default rates. the federal government and state attorneys general also are investigating marketing and lending practices of some schools. more than $10 billion were spent on the g.i. bill for veterans' education last year. until now, for profits have netted a growing amount of money from a new generation of vets. in california, nearly two of every three g.i. bill dollars is spent on for-profit schools. aaron glantz has the story from our partners at the center for investigative reporting.

>> reporter: the world war ii g.i. bill. it's one of the most cherished programs in american history. it paid the full cost of an education at any four-year college or university. >> you mean he can get any kind of education he wants? now you're getting the idea. >> reporter: the gi bill was weakened in the decades after world war ii, until congress passed a new law in 2008 to help veterans returning home from iraq and afghanistan. and so, for the first time since world war ii, veterans can receive the full cost of a college education. paid for by taxpayers, up to $19,000 a year. but g.i. bill money is not going where congress expected. for-profit schools like the ashford university and the university of phoenix are among the largest recipits. >> these schools are set up to make money. kate o'gorman is political director at iraq and afghanistan veterans of america.

>> many veterans simply are being aggressively and deceptively recruited by some bad actors in the for-profit school sector. >> reporter: she says thousands of veterans are being left with worthless degrees and few job prospects. >> we're not getting the investment that we wanted when we sent these men and women to school. >> reporter: in california alone, the center for investigative reporting found nearly 300 schools banned from receiving state financial aid, that still got g.i. bill money. even schools with no academic accreditation at all. beauty schools, auto repair programs, and dog training academies. together, more than $600 million. the biggest beneficiary is the for-profit university of phoenix, which fails to graduate most of it's students, according to the u.s. department of education. nationally, it took in nearly a billion dollars from the g.i. bill over the last five years. the university of phoenix has been especially successful at

attracting veterans in san diego, a port city with a high concentration of veterans. every year, soldiers and sailors here retire from active duty and turn to the g.i. bill as they transition to civilian life. among them, david pace, who served 20 years in the navy. pace dreamed of a career in the business world and enrolled in a bachelor's program at the university of phoenix. >> i figured that with that college degree i would get a better job and move on. >> reporter: he told me a recruiter from the university of phoenix said he could turn his military experience into academic credit and graduate in just 18 months, leaving him with enough g.i. bill money to pursue a master's degree. >> but that ain't how it worked. >> reporter: a year into that degree plan, pace says he was told he would need to take ten additional classes to graduate, pace feels he was tricked. >> i didn't know. i really didn't know that. i was going by what they told me. >> reporter: it took pace three

years to graduate. by then he had exhausted his entire education benefit. pace attended this university of phoenix campus in san diego. it has received more g.i. bill money than any brick and mortar campus in america, $95 million over the last five years. that's almost seven times what the university of california san diego got. in fact, the center for investigative reporting found, the university of phoenix san diego campus received more g.i. bill money than the entire 10- campus u.c. system. last june, the school's accrediting body, the higher learning commission, put the university of phoenix on notice, saying the school did not "support student learning and effective teaching." students at the university of phoenix often have trouble repaying their loans. more than a quarter default within three years of leaving school. and, at this campus, fewer than 15% of students graduate, according to the department of education. i met with retired u.s. army colonel garland williams.

he oversees military programs for all university of phoenix campuses nationwide. do you feel like this almost billion dollars of taxpayer money to the university of phoenix is a good investment for the taxpayers? >> the veterans have chosen us because of the programs that we offer. we have over one hundred programs that we offer and they have found the higher education goal that they've sought. those programs lead to careers that they want to aspire to. they have chosen us. >> reporter: do you have any evidence that it's actually leading to careers for these veterans? >> the veterans have chosen us. they have chosen to use their entitlement at the university of phoenix. >> reporter: getting an associates degree at the university of phoenix costs nearly 10 times what a community college would charge. nevertheless, the university of phoenix says it's working with the government to ensure that veterans' needs are met. to prove it's point, the company allowed us to observe as a team of auditors arrived from the

california department of veterans affairs. university of phoenix staff gathered veterans' transcripts and financial information as they prepared for inspection. the auditors will check these documents to ensure compliance with g.i. bill requirements. their goal: to make sure the school isn't billing the government for students who don't exist. >> reporter: but the inspectors don't look at anything else. latanaya johnson is a member of the audit team. are you looking at whether or not the instruction is good? >> no, that's not a part of the visit, at all. >> reporter: the university of phoenix has been put on notice by it's accrediting agency. do you look at that? >> no, that's not a part of the visit at all. >> reporter: or any issues they might be having with the faculty not complying with certain regulations? you look at that? >> no, that's a different processing completely. >> reporter: turns out no one >> reporter: in washington, lawmakers have tried again and again to strengthen regulations on which schools can receive

g.i. bill money. democrat tom harkin, the chair of the senate committee that oversees education, has spent years investigating the for- profit education industry. >> neither the department of veterans affairs nor the department of defense has any way of assessing whether they are getting a good education. i might add neither does the department of education or any of the entities that accredit these schools. they have no way of assessing what's happening to these students. >> reporter: kate o'gorman of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america says her organization has also been trying to change things, but has run up against organized opposition. >> we've seen money going into committees and campaign contributions. we see for-profit school lobbyists consistently on the hill. almost every time the veteran's community goes into an office and says, "we need these strong reforms and regulations." we see a for-profit school lobist walking out. >> reporter: now, the legislative fight is moving to the state level.

in california, a bill would have required all schools to tell regulators how many veterans graduate and how many find jobs. it was gutted in the face of opposition from for-profit colleges. in a letter to lawmakers, the university of phoenix's lobbyist called those requirements "cumbersome" and "of little practical value." i asked garland williams to explain his company's position. >> what i can tell you and your viewers is that the support that we provide our veterans, our active duty, and their family members is personal. >> reporter: but we don't deserve to know how many of them are actually succeeding? >> you deserve to know that we provide the utmost care to our military. we think we do it right. we were always a learning organization to get it right, but we think we do it right because veterans choose the university of phoenix. >> reporter: veteran david pace wishes he had never made that choice. after spending an estimated $50,000 in taxpayers' money to obtain a business degree, he is still doing the same kind of

blue collar, physical labor that he did in the service. >> i think that's the most frustrating part about it is that i could have come right out of the navy and got this job without the time and the headache. >> reporter: he's a maintenance electrician for a defense contractor at naval base san diego. pace says employers don't take his degree seriously. >> if you say you got a degree from the university of phoenix, you immediately get that's a paper factory, that's a certificate factory, you don't get the same respect. >> reporter: he hopes other veterans think more carefully than he did about where they spend their education benefit. but advocates say it's not realistic to expect veterans like pace to police the g.i. bill. they say that's the job of congress and regulators. five years after the new g.i. bill became law, there are still virtually no restrictions on where that money can be spent. >> woodruff: a couple of footnotes: for the record, david pace does work for b.a.e. systems, which is an underwriter

of the newshour. this past week, one major for- profit player, corinthian colleges, under scrutiny from the government and facing bankruptcy, announced it would sell or close it's 97 u.s. schools. this story was part of "reveal," a new investigative radio program from the center for investigative reporting and p.r.x. it's airing on public radio stations nationally all this week. >> woodruff: a flood of undocumented immigrant children into the u.s., often risking their lives to escape violence in central america, has sparked protests and debate around the country on how to handle their arrival. >> woodruff: it was a scene that launched the southern california town of murietta into the national spotlight.

last tuesday, dozens of protesters turned back three homeland security buses headed for the town's border patrol station. inside the vehicles were 140 undocumented immigrants, mostly women and young children. they'd been flown in from texas, where detention facilities have reached full capacity. >> they're coming here for free food, free housing, free medical. >> woodruff: the protests drew new attention to a growing problem along the nation's southern border. more than 52,000 unaccompanied children have been detained since october, illegally trying to cross into the united states from mexico. most hail from three nations: guatemala, honduras and el salvador. places rife with poverty, violence and smugglers offering to deliver the children for a price. once in the u.s., they've been taken to border patrol facilities in texas, arizona and

elsewhere, but their growing numbers have led to overflow sites, such as murietta. >> murrieta expects the federal government to enforce our laws including the deportation of illegal immigrants caught crossing our borders. not disperse them into our local communities. >> woodruff: there were more protests friday, on both sides of the immigration debate. president obama has called the surge of unaccompanied minors a "humanitarian crisis" and says most will not remain in the u.s. >> the journey is unbelievably dangerous for these kids. the children who are fortunate enough to survive it will be taken care of while they go through the legal process, but in most cases that process will lead to them being sent back home. >> woodruff: but it remains unclear just when the children being detained will be deported.

sunday, on n.b.c., the secretary of homeland security jeh johnson referred to the complex process that applies to how they are dealt with: >> there is a deportation proceeding that is commenced against illegal migrants, including children. we are looking at ways to create additional options for dealing with the children in particular, consistent with our laws and our values. >> i'm trying to get an answer to will most of them end up staying, in your judgment? >> i think we need to find more efficient, effective ways to turn this tide around generally, and we've already begun to do that. >> reporter: today, outside the white house, immigration advocates criticized the president for not doing enough to help undocumented families. the president is now preparing to ask congress for more than $2 billion to hire more immigration judges and open additional detention facilities. >> woodruff: for more on what's causing today's circumstances,

and possible remedies, we turn to marshall fitz, director of immigration policy with the center for american progress, a left-leaning think tank in washington. and jennifer vaughan, the director for policy studies at the right-leaning center for immigration studies. we welcome you both to the program. marshal fitz, let me start with you. i want to ask you both this question. what's your understanding of why we are seeing this big influx of children especially from central america? >> well, it's clear the major drivers behind this recent influx are the condition in their countries. we know this because of the fact they are dispersing throughout the region. it's a regional crisis. there's a 712% increase in applications in panama, nick ra wax costa rica, and people are leaving because of endemic violence, the weak institutional government and lack of protections for the civil

society there and it's happening now because that violence is escalating. honduras is the murder capital of the world. >> woodruff: in fact we have a graphic to show our audience, they have the highest number of deaths per 100,000 people. following is el salvador -- the fourth is el salvador and the firth is guatemala. >> yes. >> woodruff: and these are the countries sending so many of the children. jessica vaughn, what is your sense of your understanding of what is sending most of these children? >> well, there earl is poverty and violence in the three countries that are sending most of the people across the border in south texas, now, but many of them who are coming are not actually coming from the violent areas of the countries. they're coming from all over rural areas, areas distant from the violence. what we know from border patrol

intelligence, immigration, from the migrant reporters and their own government officials is the main reason they're coming is because they know that they will be allowed to stay, for the most mart, and that's what's driving this at this time. they have been told by friends and family who have already come here illegally what they can say and that if they come with kids or if they send their kids, that the chances are almost certain that they'll be allowed to stay here. >> woodruff: and marshal fitz, there has been reporting to this effect that the word has spread amg many of the communities. >> the most thorough study we have on what's driving the kids to flee their own countries and leave their own families is from the unhcr and they interviewed more than 400 kids, u.n. international agency. they spent a few hours with the kids and only a small handful mentioned immigration status in t country.

they all talked about the violence they were fleeing. i'm sure there are misperceptions that are being put out by smuggling operations and we are cracking down on those operations, but the real reason people are leaving the countries is because of the violence and the conditions they're experiencing in their home country. >> woodruff: jessica vaughn, you were saying many is coming from areas where the violence is not an issue. is that what i understood you to say? >> that's according to information that was released by the border patrol, and also the border patrol interviews all of these migrants at the time that they surrender to the border patrol, and what they're telling the border patrol, 95% of them have said that they're coming because they heard that they would be allowed to stay. in fact, that's not a false rumor or a misperception. it is, in fact, what's been happening. only 3% of the central americans who have come into contact with

the border patrol in recent months have actually been sent back. so the vast majority of them are allowed to stay and are allowed to resettle in the country. >> woodruff: marshal fitz, we know it is a different process because of the law for dealing with children or any immigrant coming from central america, is that correct, because of a law passed several years ago. >> under president george bush. it's a law that was designed to ensure that unaccompanied kids or kids who are arriving here without a family member, without a parent, that they are eligible to go through the full screening process to ensure that they are or are not eligible for protection. what jessica says about this allowed to stay is only a function of the fact that our immigration courts are so backlogged. that's something i think she and i can probably agree on is there is very much a need to infuse resources into the system to ensure that cases can get adjudicated more expeditiously. that is something that is a

long-standing problem. congress has starved the immigration courts of resource force decades, now. >> woodruff: jessica vaughn, how much of a part of the problem is that? and the fact as we mentioned a minute ago that this law was passed under president bush saying unaccompanied minors coming in there central america had to go through a hearing process before they could be deported? >> well, the law we're talking about here was passed at the initiative of certain democratic members of congress who wanted to create a process for children who were being trafficked into the united states. clearly, that's not the case with most to have the individuals who are a -- most of the individuals who are a part of the surge. about two-thirds people who surrendered to the border patrol are actually entire families, so are not unaccompanied kids, and the vast majority of kids who turned themselves over to the border patrol are coming here to

join family members who are already here. so, once they rejoin their family members, they are no longer unaccompanied, and i think that it makes sense that they should not necessarily benefit from a procedure that was set up to handle the most difficult cases of kids who were actually trafficked. it's not trafficking when parents pay a smuggler to bring their children to the united states, and then get to rejoin with their child with no questions asked either about the smuggling or their own legal status here. here, things the president can address without changing the law. >> woodruff: marshal fitz, what about that? >> jessica is making assertions that aren't grounded in the facts. all of the reporting done so far by independent agencies, not by border patrol, show somewhere upwards of 58% or 60% of the kids are entitled to some fort of protection -- form of

protection and we're seeing that, that many of the kids are granted either asylum or special immigrant juvenile protection. so the facts are these kids are eligible for status because they are either fleeing traumatic situations in their home countries or they're being trafficked along the way which is, again, another very serious problem. the unaccompanied minors, we shouldn't be treating these kids like they're fedex packages and trying to send them back immediately. we have to treat them humanely and i think that's what most of us in the advocacy community are looking for. >> woodruff: the white house was saying most unaccompanied children arriving are unlikely to qualify them for humanitarian relief that would prevent from sending them back home, that came from the administration today. thank you jessica vaughn and marshal fitz. >> thanks for having me.

you. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day. militants in gaza fired dozens of rockets as far as 50 miles into israel this evening. meanwhile, an israeli official said three suspects confessed to the murder of a palestinian teen-ager. afghan elections officials announced former finance minister ashraf ghani has a big lead in initial results from a presidential run-off. his rival, abdullah abdullah, claimed extensive fraud. and a federal judge gave initial approval to a concussion settlement between the national football league and thousands of former players. on the newshour online, 200 years ago, a new genre of fiction took the world by storm, thanks in large part to sir walter scott. read about the scottish author's work "waverley," published on this day in 1814, which set the example for the "historical novel" from that point forward. that's on our art beat page. all that and more is on our web

site, newshour.pbs.org. and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, defense secretary hagel goes to capitol hill to face questions over iraq and afghanistan. i'm judy woodruff, we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> there's a saying around here:

>> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.orger

. this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathieson and susie garin. >> now what with dow 17,000 in the rear view mirror, one long-time market watcher says there is very little that can prevent stocks from going higher. summer stock sale. how and where bargain hunters are finding value now even at these lofty levels. missing the bulls eye, three things retirement savers into ed to know about those popular target funds that most don't. we have all that and more on a monday business report for monday, july 37th. >> good evening, everyone, welcome, thursday came the fireworks. today it was the fizzle that followed last week's sizzle. stocks sold off mildly after the pre4th of july parade the record high, yes, the dow