wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz, in chiapas, southern mexico. on the “newshour” tonight, we report from mexico's border with guatemala, where we meet migrants from around the world, and a smuggler helping to move them to the ited states. why not help people to legally

enter the united states? >> if we help people enter legally, then it's not a business. geoff: regional leaders meet to discuss the crisis in haiti as armed gangs expand their control moving the beleaguered nation closer to the brink of collapse. and a look at the bureaucratic burdens preventing some families living below the poverty line from accessing government aid. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the "newshour," including leonard and norma klorfine, and the judy and peter blum kovler foundation.

>> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. yes, i'm legally blind, and yes, i'm responsible for the user interface. data visualization. if i can see it and understand it quickly, anyone can. it is exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo. >> two retiring executives give these former race dogs a real chance to win. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your purpose, and the way you plan to give back. life well planned. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting instituations to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. 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 from viewers like you. thank you. stephanie: here are the latest headlines. former president trump is moving to delay another criminal trial, this one involving hush money payments to an adult film actress. his lawyers as the judge to delay the trial while they await a u.s. supreme court ruling on immunity.

they say mr. trump's statements in 2018 about michael cohen, his former attorney, are covered by -- may not be admissible due to rules. the muslim holy month of ramadan began today, with no end in sight to the war in gaza. instead, more relief supplies were air-dropped into the region, where the desperation has deepened as hunger spreads. meantime, a spanish ship remained in cyprus waiting for a maritime corridor to deliver food to palestinians. and in new york, the u.n. secretary-general called on both israel and hamas to stop fighting. >> my strongest appeal today is to honor the spirit of ramadan by silencing the guns and removing all obstacles to ensure the delivery of lifesaving aid at the speed and massive scale required. stephanie: gazan health officials say at least 25 people, mostly children, have died from malnutrition and dehydration in recent days.

at least 11 people were killed in yemen and 14 others injured tonight following airstrikes by a u.s.-british coalition. according to a yemeni government -- government official. there defending commercial shipping in the region. it comes days after a who the missile attack killed three people aboard a cargo ship. the u.s. pledged an additional 100 million dollars to help deploy a multinational force to haiti. gang violence has overrun the country. secretary of state antony blinken also announced humanitarian aid. new jersey senator bob menendez and his wife plead not guilty today to new obstruction of justice charges. the veteran democrat return to federal court in new york to enter his plea. he's already facing bribery and corruption charges in an 18-count indictment. the couple allegedly took cash and gifts from three businessmen in return for help on projects they supported. the secretary of housing and

urban development, marcia fudge, will step down on march 22. the former ohio congresswoman is reportedly wanting to spend more time with her aging mother. president biden praised fudge for her vision, passion, and a focus on economic opportunity. in britain, a social media storm erupted today over a picture of kate, the princess of wales, and her children. it was her first official photo since abdominal surgery in january, but it turned out to be altered. in an online posting, the princess said, quote, "like many amateur photographers, i do occasionally experiment with editing. i wanted to express my apologies for any confusion.” buckingham palace declined to release the unedited photograph. last night's oscar ceremony hit a four year viewership high, drawing in 19.5 million viewers. oppenheimer was the big winner, including awards for best picture and best director, christopher nolan.

the ukraine war film "20 days in mariupol" won best documentary. still to come on the "newshour": ranchers struggle to recover after devastating wildfires in texas; tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest political headlines; and the first american woman to race a sailboat solo around the world discusses her historic trip. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington, and in the west, from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: secretary of state antony blinken made a last-minute trip to jamaica today for an emergency meeting of caribbean leaders to discuss the spiraling security and humanitarian crises in haiti. the group is looking to develop a leadership transition in haiti as gang violence rages and the population there suffers. here's nick schifrin. and a note of caution: some images in this story are

disturbing. nick: in haiti's capital, the gangs are in control. they besiege port-au-prince's airport, where workers risk their lives just to cross the street. prison cells are unlocked and unguarded, emptied by gangs of thousands of inmates. the dead are left to rot. the city smells of bodies. it's too dangerous to retrieve them. the lucky are only shot in the leg. gangs have seized 80% of port-au-prince. >> the gangs came with big guns. we have no guns and we cannot defend ourselves. all of us are suffering. nick: haiti is no stranger to gang violence. but, this time, gangs are trying to overthrow an absent government. woman: welcome dr. the honorable ariel henry, prime minister of the republic of haiti. nick: prime minister ariel henry has been abroad at a regional summit in guyana, and then kenya

to secure the deployment of international police to haiti that he requested. >> we did this appeal, and you step up. nick: but, by then, gangs closed the airport, and his plane landed in puerto rico, where he is still stuck. prominent gang leader jimmy cherizier, widely known as barbecue, says henry has to go. >> we will fight ariel henry until our last drop of blood, until he resigns. if the international community continues to support ariel henry, they will lead us into civil war. nick: today, secretary of state antony blinken met with caribbean leaders in jamaica to announce $100 million support for the multinational police force and for a transitional presidential council. >> leadership at a critical moment, a critical moment for haiti, but also a critical moment for all of us. nick: there is no agreement yet on the council's makeup, but it would likely require henry to resign, as reiterated today by haiti caucus co-chair florida democrat sheila cherfilus-mccormick.

>> we have given him ample opportunities to have a transitional government. it has been 1.5 years and he has stalemated this process. nick: henry assumed power in july 2021, after the assassination of former president jovenel moise. last month, a judge indicted moise's widow, martine, for conspiring to kill her husband and replace him with herself. she was indicted alongside former prime minister claude joseph. it helped push haiti to today's breaking point, after years of poverty and violence. this weekend, the u.s. military boosted security around its embassy and evacuated nonessential staff. and, today, the european union announced it will evacuate all of its staff from haiti in response to, quote, "dramatic security deterioration.” for more on haiti, we are joined by robert fatton, professor of government and foreign affairs at the university of virginia. robert fatton, thank you very much. welcome to the "newshour.” how critical is the crisis that haiti faces today?

robert: it's critical. i mean, haiti is essentially on life support now. the gangs have essentially controlled the capital city, port-au-prince. they are controlling not only the main arteries leading to the capital city, but they have attacked the jails, they have attacked the airport, they have attacked the ministries, and they even attacked the national palace. so it's a really critical moment in the history of modern haiti. nick: and they have actually closed the airport so the prime minister can't return. as we said, secretary blinken's in jamaica today talking to regional leaders and calling for an independent what they're calling presidential college to transition away from ariel henry. how realistic is that? robert: this is going to be difficult, because you have many different political factions in haiti that have proposed essentially that solution, to have a college where the

presidency would rotate. the only problem is that those parties in haiti do not agree on the composition of the party. and the big problem is obviously, what do you do with the bandits or the gangs? are they going to be part of the negotiations? are they going to be excluded from any potential transitional government? that's the big question. and it's very clear that, in haiti now, the police is incapable of keeping order for long. it's also very clear that any type of government that were to come in the next 48 hours or so would have to deal with the gangs, and they don't have the means to deal with it. so the question is whether the mission that was approved by the united nations is gog to arrive on time in haiti, that is to say, the kenyan troops, the kenyan police officers that were supposed to arrive in haiti, whether they are going to arrive and whether they are going to be there on time, because the

situation is deteriorating as we speak. nick: the gang leader, barbecue, has said publicly that the violence, at least the latest round of violence, will stop if henry steps down. that perhaps is a short-term solution, but is that the medium- or even long-term solution? robert: it may be a short-term solution, but one has to doubt that the simple absence of ariel henry is going to resolve the problem in haiti. and it's not even clear that ariel henry is the problem at the moment. and the gangs may change their mind, because they are very close to getting the national palace. and if they were to get to the national palace, they may install someone who's not of the liking of most of the groups in haiti itself, let alone the international community. nick: you mentioned the multinational force that kenya would lead. there is a debate among experts of haiti, as you know, about whether those police officers could actually quell the violence.

do you believe they can? robert: it's going to be very difficult for them. you're talking only about 1,000 police officers. they don't speak the language. they speak english. apparently, some of them have learned french, but that is not going to be the language that they are going to have to speak confronting the gangs and going into the slums. so it's going to be very difficult. on the other hand, we don't really know how powerful are the gangs in terms of their capacity to inflict punishment on a well-armed force. that will have to be found out. the other problem is, obviously, that the terrain itself is very complicated, because you need to go to the slums, but you need also to protect the airport, the national palace. you need to protect the main arteries. so this is going to be an exceedingly difficult issue to be resolved. and 1,000 police officers may not be enough. we will have to wait and see, if

they come, that is. nick: the u.s. has backed ariel henry for years, including after the assassination of jovenel moise. and now the u.s. is calling for a transfer of power. what credibility does the u.s. have right now in haiti? robert: well, whether haitians like it or not, the u.s. is the main elephant in the room. ariel henry has been kind of humiliated, because he's not even allowed to go back to haiti, as you know. and, to some extent, the situation of ariel henry reminds us of henry kissinger's dictum that you can be, that to be an enemy of the united states is very dangerous, but to be a friend of the united states can be fatal. and i think that ariel henry is finding himself in that situation, although he may have a last card to play. but all signs point to his resignation, whether it's voluntary or forced.

nick: robert fatton, thank you very much. robert: thank you. geoff: we turn now to the migrant crisis that's gripping parts of the southern u.s., but has much wider implications. here's amna nawaz. amna: geoff, a senior u.s. official tells us amid a global migration surge that the trafficking industry is booming. it's now a multibillion-dollar business, and that's led to unprecedented trends at the u.s. southern border. but much of that begins here, 1,500 miles away, in chiapas, mexico. as day turns tonight, the city of tapachula transforms, and the streets of this southern mexican hub fill with families from around the world. over the last three years,

tapachula, just a few miles from guatemala, has become a global crossroads on the migrant path north. nelson, originally from haiti, just arrived here in january with his wife and 1-year-old daughter. >> 98% of haitians that come through here want to go to the united states. the reason i'm planning to stay here is because i'm thinking about my family, a better future for my children, because, in my country, there is no future. amna: he left haiti in 2012, spent years in chile, and now hopes to call mexico home, unlike, he says, most migrants who pass through. >> this is the easiest route to get to the united states. that's why there are so many migrants here from around the world. amna: of the 195 recognized nations in the world, mexican authorities have logged migrants from 120 of them coming across their southern border. and those who pay smugglers are passed from handler to handler along the way, often staying in local hotels like these.

the u.s. or no? but any attempt to speak with them -- but you're from kazakstan? you don't want to speak to us? is short-lived. so this is part of the problem we're running into again and again here, is, a lot of people who are from countries that are not latin american countries, from russia, from india, a couple of guys i just met from kazakstan, they're staying in these hotels, here but they have basically been told by the smugglers who are moving them not to talk to anyone. smugglers like mario. that's not his real name, and we agreed to protect his identity, for fear of cartel retribution. but this former bank executive has worked in the human trafficking network since 2020. most people will look at what you do and say that you are a smuggler, you are a trafficker. how do you describe what you do? >> at the beginning, yes, i felt like a criminal. but as people have gotten to know me and now with my clients, i identify as someone who makes other people's dreams come true.

amna: dreams come true. what kind of dreams? >> i consider myself a facilitator of opportunities. amna: he says he charges anywhere from $7,500 to $21,000 per person. the tougher and longer the journey, from china or india, for example, the higher the cost. local mexican officials and cartels take their cuts along the way. he claims he has a nearly 100% success rate getting people into the united states. "newshour" has no way to verify that claim. >> without exaggerating, in the time that i have been working with this group, we have moved 50,000 people. amna: in the last two-and-a-half years, you think you have moved 50,000 people, your entire network you work with? >> yes. and i think it's probably more. amna: this river crossing is one of the paths mario uses to move people into mexico. in this stretch of the suchiate river, people and goods regularly move back and forth between guatemala and mexico.

but what we can't show you, out of security concerns, is an area just beyond the bridge behind me and another area about 100 yards ahead. those are completely in control of the human trafficking networks. they're smuggling people from as far away as congo, india and china. but not everyone makes it. mario concedes this is a business and admits he has held migrants hostage until they paid what they agreed to, but he claims he's never physically harmed anyone. but you know that many more people have been assaulted and have been treated badly and many more don't make it. and you're participating in a system that keeps making sure that people continue on these pathways. >> and i have thought about it, but it's out of my hands, and i can't help them. if they want to travel in a safe and secure way, they should have money. amna: there are legal ways for people to enter the united states, and you're essentially helping them to get around the laws. why do it that way?

why not help people to legally enter the united states? if we help people enter legally, then it's not a business. amna: america perez is with jesuit refugee services. >> they're coming from multiple countries, central america, from haiti, from cuba, from china, from afghanistan, from congo, from limitless number of places. amna: her organization helps with everything from travel documents to housing to health support. she says city services are overwhelmed and local patience is running thin. >> there's no more space for new migrants. they're sleeping on the streets next to the shelters or next to the stores. because we have had an increase in arrivals, you can see that people who live in tapachula are unhappy. there have been moments of xenophobia, dissatisfaction. there have been instances where they won't hire people who come from other countries. amna: twenty-year-old mariela has been looking for work for

seven months. she fled an abusive partner in honduras with her 1-year-old daughter, mia belin. i asked what worries her most. >> that he will take my daughter away. amna: she receives 5,000 pesos, or about $300, in federal support a month, but that doesn't cover food and diapers and housing. so she wants to head north to the u.s. or wherever she says she can find a job. >> i have heard the journey is dangerous, but, as a mother, i'm willing to risk it all for my child. amna: mario says, no matter who's in charge in the u.s. and whatever the restrictions, he always finds a way to get people in. so you pay close attention to what u.s. officials say, because that impacts who you move and how you move them; is that fair? >> yes, it's part of our job to be informed so that we know what we can offer people. this will never end. there is always a way to cross the border. there is always a way. amna: officials here estimate as many as 5,000 or 6,000 people

crossing into mexico every day, and many of them do make their way north to the u.s., fueling record border numbers last fiscal year. those numbers are growing increasingly diverse in recent years and are challenging an already stressed u.s. immigration system in new ways. we will have more from that u.s.mexico border tomorrow. geoff: wildfires in texas have burned more than a million acres, as firefighters continue to fight the blazes. stephanie sy has our look at the long road ahead for farmers and ranchers in the texas panhandle. stephanie: geoff, the smokehouse creek fire, the largest in the state's history, is now mostly contained, but not before it and other wildfires in the state inflicted major damage on the agriculture industry in the

panhandle. texas' cattle industry is worth $15.5 billion, with some 11.8 million head of cattle in the state; 85% of the cattle is located in the panhandle. so far, more than 7,000 head have died in the fires. farmers and ranchers now face devastating personal and financial losses. for more, we're joined by texas agriculture commissioner sid miller. mr. miller, thank you for joining the "newshour.” i understand that the big wildfire out there is 85% contained. are the farmers and ranchers in the panhandle out of the woods from active fires at this point? >> well, i think so. the latest report, we have a new report out, 90% of all the fires are contained, 90% containment. however, we have got dry conditions coming up, so the likelihood of fire spreading is great. so we're trying to stay on top of those, make sure they stay

out. stephanie: ok. and i said that there are some 6,000, 7,000 head that have died so far. i expect that number is going to go up, but it's not just about the dead cattle, is it? what about all that grazing land that's been razed? what about all the infrastructure? sid miller: well, and you're absolutely correct, over 7,000 head of cattle that are dead, 2,000 square miles of land scorched, looks like a moonscape, 120 miles of electric lines on the ground. so there's no electricity to the wells to pump water for the livestock. we closed 16 schools. most of those are back open. we have lost over 500 barns and houses in that area,three fatalities, five injured firefighters. so it's a big problem up there. we have got a lot of recovery and a lot of work ahead of us as we go forward. stephanie: now, i know that you

have been in touch with the agriculture secretary, tom vilsack. i also know the usda is offering some loans to ranchers. between that and any other disaster assistance that may become available, is that going to be enough for these businesses and ranchers to be on the road to recovery? sid miller: well, yes, but the road is going to be long and hard. it'll take at least two years for the grass to come back on these places. we have got, out of my estimate, not official, probably 3,000 to 4,000 miles of fence to replace at $15,000 a mile. all will so we desperately need hay and fencing materials in that panhandle area. we lost seven grain and seed dealers, completely wiped out. so it wasn't just the farmers and ranchers. we had the railroads go through that part of the state. we lost railroad trestle.

so the railroad was down for a while. i think they have got it repaired, at least where they can use it and keep the trains running, but a lot of things you don't think about when you have a fire of this magnitude. stephanie: you are a cattleman yourself, i understand. it's in your blood. i wonder if you could describe for us what it might be like to be a cattleman right now in that area, what they might be going through mentally and emotionally, not to mention financially. sid: well, yes, some of those ranches up there are over 100 years old, generation after generation. it gets to the point where you don't own the land. the land owns you. and that's your family heritage. everything about your family is now gone. you might not have anything but the shirt on your back. so it's very devastating to these families to lose everything they got. they have got, cattle losses are astronomical. that 7,000 number will continue to go up. we have got a lot of cattle we're going to have to euthanize. the hooves are burned off.

the udders are burnt beyond that you can't heal those up. a lot of orphaned calves are going to have to be bottle-fed. so it's a mess. we will have to put down a lot of those cattle or at least take them to the sale barn. they won't be eaten. they're just not salvageable after they have been through a fire like that. stephanie: are you worried about the mental health of some of these farmers and business owners, given the threats to their livelihoods that they're facing right now? >> yes. and i would like to direct everybody to our web site and our social media, texasagriculture.gov. you will find our hay hot line there, where you can, and you will find drop locations around the state and other states. you will find delivery points in the panhandle if you want to ship fencing supplies or feed or hay directly up there. now, then, our agristress network, that's my suicide mental health hot line. it's different than 988. the phone number for the agristress hot line is 833-897-2474.

we answer that around the clock. we answer it in 30 seconds, and we just don't take that call one time. we call you back the next day and the next day until we make sure that you're ok. stephanie: commissioner, as devastating as this clearly was for ranchers, farmers and business owners in the panhandle, do you expect the impact to be relatively localized, given just the size of texas' agriculture industry? sid: i don't, i'd like to reassure consumers that this fire will not drive beef prices higher. we, you have, i think you mentioned we have 11 million head of cattle in texas alone. this is going to be 10,000, 15,000 head total, but even the ones that we have to salvage and sell because they're no longer viable to the operation. so, overall, it won't affect the overall price of beef to the average consumer. now, locally, it's going to have some local implications to those farmers and ranchers around

there. having to sell your livelihood is pretty tough sometimes. you spend decades building up these genetics on these cattle. then, all, one day, it's all gone, so tough time for these ranchers up there. stephanie: well, our thoughts are certainly with you and them. texas agriculture commissioner sid miller, thanks so much for joining the "newshour.” sid miller: thank you. geoff: amid many of the debates around entitlements and benefits, one thing often gets lost. that's that many people who qualify for help struggle to get and keep their benefits because it can be difficult to navigate the system. economics correspondent paul solman looks at that challenge as part of our special series america's safety net.

>> you want tea too? paul: single mom morgan wingate is eligible for food stamps, but getting them? morgan wingate: you will think that you did everything you were supposed to do. then you come to find out that you're supposed to be doing something else. paul: jessica joyner's experience >> i submit my paperwork, and it'll be two or three months had gone by where i get a response. sometimes, they don't get my information. >> you really have to be on top of every piece of mail that comes in. paul: laurie-ann millis' food stamps were once cut off. laurie-ann millis: i didn't have my birth certificate or something. i didn't have access to it. paul: georgetown university's pamela herd co-authored the book "administrative burden.” >> it can feel like a full-time job, both getting on those programs and then actually staying on them. paul: aurelle amram has seen the challenges in her work for code for america. >> you might have to fill out a form that could take you over an hour to complete with questions that are potentially incomprehensible that can make

you really nervous that you're answering incorrectly. paul: the results are stark, literally billions in unclaimed benefits, says amram. >> there's $80 billion of money left on the table every single year because of how hard it is to navigate these hurdles. paul: morgan wingate's job has kept her from the in-person appointments required to maintain her wic benefits, supplemental nutrition for women, infants and children. >> i just gave up. i just said, you know what, i'm not going to be able to make it because a lot of the appointments are during my work hours. paul: yet, wingate, who works as a caregiver for people with disabilities, needs all the help she can get just to feed her kids. >> i don't make enough to take care of all of my children and pay my bills. so that is stressful. i'm going to get upset. paul: laurie-ann millis recently got a letter saying her medicaid benefit was stopped because she did not recertify correctly.

laurie-ann millis: i'm actually holding off on going to the doctor until i get it straightened out. that's my crisis. it takes that one little crisis. paul: mills' finances were already precarious. >> if it's not worrying about the quality of the food that you get just to make it to the end of the month and the fact that even the jeep -- -- cheap -- is so expensive now, there's that, and then came up short on my rent. what if they put a note on my door, the stress of hearing that knock, the stress that, how am i going to catch up? paul: the safety net's entanglements take a toll, says pamela herd. >> this is where it really hits people actually hard, i think, is just the amount of stress, anxiety and frustration people experience. paul: janan jones had her own

struggles with getting benefits, but nothing like one of her friends. >> she was in the shelter and she got kicked out. she has a child to provide for her, so she, she had to do what she had to do. paul: what did she do? >> she went into prostitution, because she couldn't get any assistance. and she did what she thought was right to provide for her and her son. paul: so why is it so hard for people? >> it's about layers and layers of accumulated policy and regulations. we're very good at adding things and very bad at taking away regulations and requirements. paul: and government agencies are stretched thin. >> governments are seeing record numbers of cases continuing from the pandemic, with also record staff vacancies. paul: but there are folks out there trying to make it easier. >> this is the providers app. paul: this app from jimmy chen's company propel based in brooklyn keeps track of your monthly food stamp use.

jimmy chen: this is your transaction history, as well as your deposit date. paul: rather than call a 1-800 number to access the balance for your benefit card, called an ebt card, users can see their balance on the app for free. jimmy chen: very similar to kind of how a bank might offer you a mobile app that lets you see your balance and transaction history, we did that same thing for the ebt card. and we currently serve more than five million households each month. paul: of the 20 million american households with ebt cards. after stints at facebook and linkedin, chen launched propel in 2014. jimmy chen: you have got companies like uber and airbnb, companies that are solving the problems faced by the demographic profiles of people who work in tech. paul: relatively well-off people. jimmy chen: relatively well off people, yes, solving their own problems. and the thing that made me uncomfortable was the feeling that, in this day and age, low-income families also have access to smartphones and use the internet on a regular basis. and there are just way fewer software companies applying

these state-of-the-art technology practices to solve their problems. paul: now, propel is a profit making company, but, chen insists -- jimmy chen: the way that we can build the scalable, sustainable impact that we're trying to build, not just a one-time summer project that helps people a little bit and then goes away, is by building a scalable business model behind it. paul: and that model includes job listings, a no-feed debit card, ads offering consumer discounts. jimmy chen: if you are purchasing online groceries through walmart, they have given us this coupon code for our users to be able to get some money off their orders. >> so this is one of the forms we're working to improve. paul: at nonprofit code for america, aurelle amram is also trying to ease the process by simplifying government forms. >> i believe this one is 16 pages. paul: verification, you will need copies of all of the following all in capital letters, but copies of your official, copy, oh, my goodness. that's just the first page. >> that's just the first page. and so already you're in this mind-set of fear and stress

before you even started. paul: yes, yes. so how to make it user-friendly? >> this is the form we helped minnesota redesign. it used to take over 100 minutes, on average. paul: now it's mobile-friendly. >> so we use things like the font size to draw your attention to certain areas just the information you need to know. so you know what sections you can skip. you can see where you're supposed to check a box. there's all sorts of visual cues. paul: and so, for an application that used to take an average of 110 minutes to -- >> we ultimately get to a form that takes 12 minutes on average, is available in multiple languages, is at a third-grade reading level for the same nine-benefit program. paul: it's all an effort to reduce the burden on folks like laurie-ann millis. >> we're here because we're down already. you know what i mean? don't make it any more painful than it already is. paul: after all, the safety net-eligible just want to get what's supposed to be theirs.

for the "pbs newshour," paul solman. geoff: president biden traveled to new hampshire today, his latest trip to a battleground state after he and former president donald trump held dueling rallies over the weekend. mr. trump mocked biden's childhood stutter and pounced on the president saying in an interview with msnbc over the weekend that he regretted using the term illegal during his state of the union address to describe the suspected killer of the university of georgia nursing student laken riley. joe biden, president of the united states: i shouldn't have used illegal. i should have, it's undocumented. and, look, when i spoke about the difference between trump and me, one of the things i talked about on the border was that his, the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood. i talked about what i'm not going to do, what i won't do. i'm not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect.

>> he was an illegal migrant and he shouldn't have been in our country and he never would have been under the trump policy. and biden should be apologizing for apologizing to this killer. geoff: let's bring in our politics monday team. that's amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter and tamara keith of npr. it's great to see you both. and, look, we should correct the record because president biden never apologized to the alleged killer, as donald trump said he did. he never even apologized for using the word illegal. but, tam, the biden campaign has been saying for weeks now that they want to draw a contrast between these two visions. and never before, you could argue, have differing visions been so clear on this topic of immigration that more voters say they care about, prioritizing over the economy. >> right. immigration and the border keeps rising in terms of voter concern, voter priorities. and president biden is not running running away from this

issue. there was a time where he sort of was, but that time is past. and now he has something to say, now which is, hey, there was this bipartisan deal in the senate. it was tough on the border. i would have supported it. i did support it. and trump tanked it. and that is biden's message that you're going to hear again and again. now, will it work? i don't know. trump is taking a very different tack, and he is running, sort of rerunning the playbook that he ran in 2016, all the way down to, in 2016, he also talked about a young woman who was killed in an incident that involved someone who was in the country illegally. and now he is very focused at this time on the riley case and saying, quite explicitly saying suburban housewives are worried about illegal immigrants coming into their homes and going to there their kitchens, i mean, which is a very trumpy way to very way which is a very trumpy way to say things. but he's being very explicit that he is running a campaign

based on the idea that his immigration policies will make you safe, that you, this thing you're worried about, i'm going to be tough. and biden is running on sort of a more nuanced, we need to be tough, but we also need to be compassionate. geoff: how do you see it? >> yes, that's exactly righ the ways in which we talk about the term immigration sound different to different groups of people. and so if you say border security, i think that's one thing that across the board voters say that they are concerned about. what to do about it is a different question. and i was digging into some polling that pew did a couple of weeks ago asking hispanic voters specifically what they thought the answer could be to solving some of this. and one of those is, ok, increase more deportations. well, voters well, among non-hispanic voters, 59% say that sounds like a great idea. only 33% of hispanic voters say that they think that's a good idea.

do you think it's increasing crime? again, overwhelming%age of non-hispanic voters say, yes, i do think that what is happening on the border is having an impact on crime. latino voters are split on that issue. and we see it too in just who's the most concerned about this issue. we saw it in katie, senator katie britt's response in, to the state of the union. we have seen it in ads for congressional candidates that have been running thus far. and, of course, we see it in the rhetoric of donald trump. the issue of the border is the number one topic for their base. and so that to me is the question. it's, we know, republicans, this is is their very top issue. it's not as important of an issue for democrats. what is it going to mean for these other groups of voters who will don't align themselves in either camp? geoff: yes. well, look, there's also a contrast on this issue of social spending. president biden, as you all both

know, released a 2025 budget today that calls for broad new social spending, higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. donald trump, meantime, on cnbc said there is a lot that can be done in terms of cutting the government programs, social security and medicaid. >> there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements, tremendous bad management of entitlements. there's tremendous amounts of things, numbers of things you can do. geoff: so, look, social security is solvent through, what, the year 2034. medicare is solvent through 2028. after that, some choices have to be made. but to talk about potentially making cuts to these programs, that's a choice. tamara: right. and these are obviously very difficult public policy issues that are going to have to be dealt with eventually, and they are concerns for some voters. but, generally speaking, president biden should send a thank you note to former president trump, because the

idea that trump is going to come for your social security and medicare was just, that case was just made easier by what trump said on tv, because this is an issue that biden has been trying to push, trying to say that republicans want to take away these programs that you care about a lot. you saw it in last year's state of the union, an entire extended back-and-forth about this very topic. and it became an applause line for president biden for half the year. did you see my state of the union where i negotiated to preserve medicare and social security with the republicans? this is something that the biden campaign is going to be very happy to talk about. amy: well, it's also difficult, though, to make a campaign about what you want to make it about. if it were up to, right. if it were up to democrats, this would be an election about health care. it would be an election about protecting social security and medicare, all the issues, it would be about abortion, all the issues where they have a natural advantage. instead, we have a crisis on the border and we have the american consumer who's not feeling great about the economy.

those are the issues that are in front of them at this moment in time. time. dollars now, with billions of joe dollars that will be spent on the election, and, of course, we have months to go where other issues can pop up, this may make with her it into the, it's definitely going to make it into their advertising. whether it makes it into the consciousness of voters as the top salient issue, we will have to wait and see. geoff: well, meantime, the biden campaign is looking to lock in the image that president biden projected at that state of the union address last week. here's a new ad from his campaign released over the weekend. pres. biden: look, i'm not a young guy. that's no secret. but here's the deal. i understand how to get things done for the american people. geoff: so walk us through the new strategy here, tam. tamara: if you can't change it and you can't hide from it, why not run straight into it headlong? and that's exactly what they're doing with the age issue, which is, it's a challenge that they can't fix, because every single day, joe biden gets older.

that is a benefit of living, is that every day you get older. but it's a challenge for his campaign. and even though they say this is a media creation and a media fixation, i will tell you, when i was out talking to voters last week, they brought it up. i didn't bring it up. they brought it up, not just republicans, but also democrats. it was something that was discussed repeatedly by voters as a concern. they are trying to neutralize it with this ad and with other things and arguing, as president biden has now said a few times, it's not about your age. it's about the age of your ideas. and that is the way that he's trying to turn it, at least in this current iteration, $30 million of spending in the next six weeks. and that's just the beginning. geoff: thirty million dollars, that's real money. amy: yes, you can do a lot of stuff with $30 million, although it's $30 million in, are we still in march? it's still in march. tamara: it's march. amy: it's still in march.

we have got a long way to go before november. but, look, i think the issue for biden is, his age is also a stand-in for voters thinking he's not being effective, right? and so when we hear about this term of he doesn't sound right, or he looks weak, getting a win on something, whether that is on a border legislation, whether that's something else that we're going to see in these next few months, i think that is going to be more important than a conversation about whether he's really all that old. geoff: amy walter and tamara keith, thanks, as always, for your analysis. tamara: you're welcome. amy: you're welcome. geoff: now an historic and epic achievement by an american woman that captured worldwide attention. cole brauer became the first american woman to sail solo nonstop around the world last week after finishing in spain. brauer, who is 29 years old, joined a group of fewer than 200

people in the world who have ever done that. she was the only woman that participated this year in what's known as the global solo challenge. brauer was able to stay in touch with her team by satellite, which also allowed her to regularly chronicle her 30,000-mile-long journey on instagram, where nearly half-a-million people followed her posts. her feed detailed how she dealt with bad weather, waves, injury, dehydration, and much joy along the way. i spoke with her earlier today from spain. sailing around the world is a daunting pursuit, even on a vessel with a full crew. how were you able to do it on your own? what was that like? >> i really wanted to do it by myself, not because i needed to prove anything, but mostly because i really like the introspective moments that you can have when it's just you. you don't have to try to impress anyone. it's just you and your vessel. and i thought it was really wonderful.

i'm missing it every single day. geoff: your journey took you around the three great capes off of africa, australia, and south america and through point nemo, an area in the pacific ocean that's so far away from any land that the nearest humans are actually often orbiting overhead on the international space station. what was the most difficult moment of your journey? cole brauer: i wouldn't say that there was like one big, big, difficult part. there was a lot of small, difficult parts that they bring you irritation, anger, frustration. for example, when i first left, it took about two weeks to adjust. i had spent so much time with my team and so much time with my family. then, all of a sudden, there was no weaning-off period. you just kicked off the dock and you're going along. and i'm good at being alone, but now i was completely alone and there was no one to confide in. i don't tell very many people this, but i cried every day for

the first two weeks, because i just missed team dinners, being able to go out for drinks, being able to have croissants and cappuccinos. and that might have been the hardest part if i actually look back on it, was just the interaction with humans that i didn't have anymore. geoff: and there were moments, as i understand it, where you were concerned that your vessel might actually fail? tell me about that. cole brauer: yes. so, there was a couple of moments. that was probably the biggest moment i ever was fearful of, was these boats, these manmade objects, are just not made to handle this type of stress, maybe 10,000 miles or even 20,000 miles, but almost 30,000 miles. and we just don't build things in modern day to be able to withstand something like that without maintenance. and so i was doing a lot of maintenance trying to keep up with these things that were deteriorating. geoff: yes, there was a moment

in your trip where you were sort of tossed across the boat and you injured a rib. and at one point you had to self-administer i.v. fluids to ward off dehydration. how did you find the mental fortitude to keep going? cole brauer: i don't know if it's mental fortitude or if it's just you don't have another option. though so, when you don't have anything else, there is no other other way. there's no way to quit. it's not like you can just call someone and be like, ok, come pick me up, because you're so far away. there's nobody that can come and get you. so maybe that's considered mental fortitude, but it's kind of like you just, i have a journal that i wrote down every day what was going on. and every morning, if i, when i hurt myself, my ribs, i just wrote down a list of, ok, this is what i'm going to do today. and if i don't get it all done, it's ok. but at least, like, step one,

breakfast, step two, go outside. and it's not really mental fortitude. it's just following the steps. that's all. geoff: what did it feel like when you finally reached the end of your grueling race? cole brauer: it was like every day, because every day was a challenge. every day was an experience. every day was the best day of my life. and that is exactly what the finish was also. and so it wasn't the biggest one relief. but i did love seeing my family and my friends. and that was such a wonderful moment. i would say lighting the flares was such a wonderful moment too, because it's something that sailors, when you see a sailor finish this big important race, that is the tradition is to light flares and hold them over your head. and to be actually, to actually have that moment, it's such a dream come true. geoff: sailing is still a male-dominated sport. what message do you hope all of this sends to women and girls

who want to follow in your footsteps? cole brauer: i think that it's not just about women. i think it's about men also, is that it's so male energy-dominated. and so even men that maybe are a in little bit more feminine have had to hide that side of themselves, and because they're afraid to lose their sponsorships or not be respected in the community. and i think it's not really as being just a woman, but it's bringing that feminine energy to kind of balance the super male energy-dominant sport. and that was kind of what i was hoping, is that, if you are feminine, you should be able to be who you are even if you're in the middle of the ocean. you shouldn't have to be thinking if someone's judging you when you're trying to deal with a boat that's breaking in half. so i think that's super important for young women to understand. you don't have to lose yourself to do your dream. geoff: do you think you might

try another voyage like this in the future? cole brauer: oh, 100%. this race was always meant to be a stepping-stone for a much bigger race coming. it happens every four years. i so, in 2028, i plan on doing the vendee globe, but it is tenfold on sponsorship money on time, energy. and it's, that race is much well-known that it's dominated by the french, the french sailing community. and so coming in as an american, an american woman, it's never been done before. and so my hope is to be the first american woman to race in the vendee globe in 2028. geoff: well, we will be watching. cole brauer, thanks so much for your time. cole brauer: thank you for having me.

one geoff: there's a lot after recent mass shootings in that state. that's at pbs.org/newshour. amna: and tune in tomorrow night when we'll have more from the u.s.-mexico border, with a look at how arizona is handling the influx of migrants from around the world. and that is the "newshour" for tonight. i'm amna nawaz, in chiapas, southern mexico. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. thanks for joining us, and have a good evening. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> on an american cruiseline journey, the route forged by lewis and clark more than 200 years ago. american cruise line's fleet of modern riverboats traveled through american landscapes to historic landmarks. where you can experience local

customs and cuisine. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. >> the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. 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. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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