April 3, 2024 - PBS NewsHour full episode

AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Israeli officials say their deadly strike on an aid convoy in Gaza was a result of misidentification.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Biden and former President Trump win Tuesday's primaries, but both see protest votes that hint at challenges come November.

AMNA NAWAZ: And our report on major shifts in immigration, following asylum seekers from around the world moving through Mexico to the U.S. border.

ELI CRUZ, International Organization for Migration: It's not just that women or men are traveling by themselves.

They're traveling with their families.

We are seeing a lot of different profiles with a lot of vulnerabilities.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

Today, the bodies of foreign aid workers killed in an Israeli strike early yesterday morning have left Gaza and are being flown to their home countries.

GEOFF BENNETT: They worked for World Central Kitchen, whose founder today accused Israel of targeting his employees deliberately.

That's an accusation that Israel denies.

Nick Schifrin starts our coverage.

NICK SCHIFRIN: He had flown 7,800 miles from home to help feed the hungry.

Today, he began his final journey home, pushed out of a morgue.

American-Canadian Jacob Flickinger was 33 years old.

He leaves behind his partner, Sandy, and their 1-year-old boy.

With him as he crossed the Egyptian border today, his friends in life and death, Australian Lalzawmi Frankcom, known as Zomi, Damian Sobol from Poland, and their British security team, John Chapman, James Henderson, and James Kirby, whose cousin today remembered him as someone who wanted to help.

MAN: He was completely selfless, which explains why he went to Gaza.

NICK SCHIFRIN: World Central Kitchen, or WCK, says it coordinated with the Israeli military late Monday night as a convoy left its warehouse in Deir al Balah by the sea in Central Gaza.

The group says Israeli munitions hit an initial vehicle.

Workers then moved to another vehicle that was struck and then a third vehicle that was struck as they traveled on or next to the coastal road that Israel designates for humanitarian aid.

JOSE ANDRES, Founder, World Central Kitchen: We were targeted deliberately, nonstop, until everybody was dead in this convoy.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jose Andres is the founder of World Central Kitchen.

He's a celebrity chef whose activism and charity has earned him deep respect among policymakers.

The group also fed Israelis after Hamas' October 7 terrorist attack.

He spoke to Reuters today.

JOSE ANDRES: It looks like it's not a war against terrorism anymore.

Seems this is a war against humanity itself.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Israel denies that accusation and says it takes pain to limit civilian casualties.

In response to the attack, it opened a joint situation room with international humanitarian groups and launched an investigation, whose initial finding was laid out last night by chief of the general staff, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi.

LT. GEN. HERZI HALEVI, Chief of Staff, Israeli Defense Forces: It was a mistake that followed a misidentification at night during a war in a very complex condition.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And, today, a U.S. official confirms that President Biden will speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow.

For more on this, we get two views.

Retired Master Sergeant Wes Bryant had a 20-year career in the Air Force And deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

As a joint terminal attack controller, he called in airstrikes and led air targeting cells.

He's also the co-author of "Hunting the Caliphate: America's War on ISIS and the Dawn of the Strike Cell."

And retired Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus had a 24-year career in the Israeli Defense Forces.

He commanded combat forces in Lebanon and Gaza and was most recently an IDF international spokesperson.

He's now a senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Thanks very much.

Welcome, both of you, to the "NewsHour."

Jonathan Conricus, let me start with you.

As we just heard, the chief of the general staff called this incident a -- quote -- "misidentification."

Can you explain how that's possible, when, as the World Central Kitchen says, it was coordinating with the IDF on its movements?

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS (RET.

), International Spokesperson, Israel Defense Forces: What I understand from the IDF's after-action review, which has not yet been completed, what the IDF has said so far, we are responsible, we are accountable, and this is not Hamas' doing, we did it.

That's number one.

What they have not -- they have been establish -- able to establish that.

What they have not yet been able to establish is, how did this misidentification happen and how was an aid convoy mistaken for a vehicle carrying terrorists, and who made the wrong decision, who misunderstood a very complex and dynamic battlefield, and who got it wrong?

I personally know that they are investigating it now, waiting for the outcomes for a transparent and honest after-action review.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Wes Bryant, what's your response to those two words, one, misidentification that we heard from the chief of the general staff, and as Jonathan Conricus said, some kind of misunderstanding or misunderstood a complex battlefield?

MASTER SGT.

WES BRYANT (RET.

), U.S. Air Force: Yes, and I appreciate those remarks.

Misidentification does, of course, happen in combat, but, to me, this strike is just an effect or a demonstration of a broader problem.

And that's a pattern of targeting negligence, a pattern of indifference towards civilian harm, and a pattern of disregard toward international humanitarian law that the IDF has, unfortunately, though being our allies and though having a clear precedent to go after Hamas, which is a dangerous and brutal terrorist organization, that the IDF has, unfortunately, demonstrated throughout their operation in Gaza.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jonathan Conricus, can you respond to that, targeting negligence and a disregard for civilian casualties?

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS: Yes, I think those are very unfortunate and uncorrect comments or an assessment of IDF practices.

I, myself, have been in the targeting rooms or the cells where we do those processes.

I have seen the process, I have seen the legal overview, and I have seen the intelligence vetting that is done, which is part of protocol, before we strike.

We operate in an extremely complex environment, unlike expeditionary missions, which I think is the benchmark that you will bring up and give me examples of.

But that benchmark is not really relevant because we are talking about defending our homeland here.

We do not have the same leisure and time to be super extra careful when it comes to taking out live military targets, because our civilians are at risk here.

Israel is committed to the international law of armed warfare.

Israel takes precaution.

Israel uses distinction and proportionality, but that does not mean, sadly, that Palestinian civilians do not get wounded or killed on the battlefield.

But the responsibility for that is, first and foremost, with those who set up the battlefield.

And that is Hamas, not Israel.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Wes Bryant, take on those two points.

One, there is a difference, as Jonathan Conricus put it, between fighting, as you did in Afghanistan and Iraq and Syria, and fighting in Israel itself or next to it in Gaza, but also the international humanitarian law, specifically distinction and proportionality.

Do you believe the IDF is following those two tenets?

MASTER SGT.

WES BRYANT: Well, on the second point, I absolutely don't, for the most part.

I think an over 30,000 casualty ratio.

Whether or not 9,000 or 10,000 of those are Hamas operatives, that's a huge ratio between civilian casualties and combatants.

With comparing past wars with this, yes, every war has its differences, but urban combat is urban combat and war is war.

More importantly, international humanitarian law is just that.

And what I see the IDF doing is taking the principles of military necessity and proportionality and saying that basically any civilian loss that happens is justified because of the military necessity of this target.

It's just not the way the U.S. conducts warfare.

Even with the civilian harm that the U.S. has caused, which it has caused civilian harm, and we know that, the U.S. itself would absolutely not be conducting a targeting campaign in the way that IDF has in the last few months.

And that's something that I think I think the whole world is paying attention to you, and I think both Israeli and U.S. government need to pay closer attention to you.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jonathan Conricus, you're shaking your head.

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS: Yes, I can personally tell of hundreds of strikes that have been aborted in real time in this war in Gaza because of the presence of children, civilians, women, elderly, and people who we assessed were not enemy combatants, and strikes, airstrikes, were called off because the proportionality between the military necessity and the importance of taking out a certain target did not warrant or justify the killing or the probable wounding of civilians.

The Gaza battlefield is an area which is virtually impossible to fight in without having noncombatant casualties.

That is how Hamas has rigged the battlefield.

That is what we are fighting.

And that is the sad reality that we, by trying to move civilians out of the battlefield, have tried to negate.

That's what the Israeli Defense Forces did in the beginning.

We called on civilians to evacuate because we know that fighting high-intensity warfare in urban terrain is a horrible endeavor that leads to casualties.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Wes Bryant, Hamas has rigged the battlefield.

How much does that matter, in your opinion, as you assess the IDF campaign?

MASTER SGT.

WES BRYANT: Well, Hamas' known use of human shields does not negate the other combatant, IDF in this case, the responsibility to protect civilian and noncombatant lives.

So the IDF has put out statements, up to Netanyahu, Netanyahu himself, that these strikes have unwitting or involuntary human shields that Hamas is using, and, therefore, it's justified that we went after this target and we can't avoid, in some of these cases, killing these civilians.

Well, unfortunately, through that, IDF has also acknowledged that they are still striking when civilians or involuntary human shields are actually known in the target area.

And that's obvious even just from the reporting and the other corroboration that we see.

And so that's a problem under U.S. law of war.

That would be a violation of our law of war and international humanitarian law.

And other -- under all common interpretations, it would be as well.

I don't doubt that the IDF is calling off strikes, is aborting in some cases.

They're just not doing it enough.

NICK SCHIFRIN: I know there's a lot more to discuss.

Unfortunately, we're out of time.

I want to thank you both.

Wes Bryant, Jonathan Conricus, thanks very much for both of your time.

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS: Thank you.

MASTER SGT.

WES BRYANT: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: A massive early spring storm brought a late winter to New England.

The region braced for more than a foot of snow, especially in New Hampshire and Maine, with winds gusting up to 60 miles an hour.

The storm also drenched the mid-Atlantic and Northeast with heavy rain.

Elsewhere, several states in the South and Midwest were cleaning up from tornadoes and flooding a day earlier.

The extreme weather was blamed for at least one death.

Authorities in Taiwan report nine people were killed and hundreds hurt after the island's strongest earthquake in a quarter-century.

It struck during morning rush hour just off the eastern coast, about 90 miles from Taipei, the capital.

Some older buildings tipped over, including one leaning at a 45-degree angle.

Taiwan's vice president said rescuers spent the day searching for survivors.

WILLIAM LAI, Taiwanese Vice President (through translator): The most important thing right now is to rescue people.

We have to check carefully how many are still trapped.

We must quickly help them, and the wounded should be given the best medical care.

AMNA NAWAZ: Aftershocks continued throughout the day, but quakes are common in Taiwan, and much of the population quickly returned to their routines.

In Ukraine, the government has lowered its military conscription age to 25 as it tries to replenish its armed forces after two years of war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed three bills into law today.

They cut the draft age from 27 and also eliminated some exemptions.

NATO foreign ministers agreed today to begin planning long-term military support for Ukraine.

The diplomats, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, met in Brussels.

NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg pointed to the stalemate in Congress over American aid.

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO Secretary-General: Because every time I meet representatives from the U.S. Congress -- I met many of them over the last weeks - - they assured me that there is a majority in the U.S. and also in the U.S. Congress for support.

But, so far, they haven't been able to turn that majority into decision, and that's exactly what we all now are waiting for, and it is urgent.

AMNA NAWAZ: Stoltenberg is pushing a $100 billion fund for Ukraine over five years, but so far the reaction among NATO members has been mixed.

Uganda's Constitutional Court has upheld an anti-gay law that calls for the death penalty in some cases.

The judges declined to overturn the law today.

They did void some sections, including one that criminalized the failure to report homosexual acts.

The statute targets what it calls -- quote -- "aggravated homosexuality" involving sexual relations with a minor or when infected with HIV.

Back in this country, crews in Baltimore cleared more wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge nine days after a giant cargo ship smashed into it.

A second temporary channel has now been opened near the cobweb of jagged steel and concrete.

Plans call for a third channel to let larger ships pass.

REAR ADM. SHANNON GILREATH, U.S. Coast Guard: Those two alternate channels so far have produced eight commercial vessel transits.

Those are tugs and barges inbound and outbound from the Port of Baltimore.

So those two alternate channels are beginning to make a difference.

There's much more work to go, but those are, again, small steps in a long marathon.

AMNA NAWAZ: One shipping terminal is still operating in Baltimore's outer harbor.

The company says it expects to unload 10,000 imported cars and trucks from backlogged ships over the next 15 days.

Federal prosecutors are sharply criticizing a court order in former President Trump's classified documents case.

Federal Judge Aileen Cannon had asked attorneys to submit potential jury instructions, and she appeared to accept Mr. Trump's argument that he acted within the law.

But in a filing late Tuesday, prosecutors called that -- quote -- "a fundamentally flawed legal premise."

And on Wall Street, stocks mostly steadied after Tuesday's sell-off.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 43 points to close at 39127.

But the Nasdaq rose 37 points, and the S&P 500 added five.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": former President Trump's increasing use of incendiary rhetoric on the campaign trail; amid rising costs following fires and storms, FEMA is easing access to federal disaster assistance; a look at the historic rise in viewership of women's college basketball; plus much more.

GEOFF BENNETT: Last night, voters in Wisconsin, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island turned out for their state's presidential primaries.

For more on the results and what this means for the upcoming election, White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez joins us now.

So, Laura, four primaries last night.

What were the biggest takeaways?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, President Biden and former President Donald Trump both won their primaries, respectively, but two notable takeaways.

There was a larger-than-expected turnout of uncommitted voters in states like Wisconsin, where it received about 8 percent of the vote.

Those uncommitted voters, as you know, Geoff, are Democratic voters that are upset with President Biden because they want him to take more swift action for a cease-fire in Gaza.

And then also Nikki Haley voters -- there are still a number of Republicans that are voting for Nikki Haley.

And in a state like Wisconsin, she got nearly 13 percent of the vote.

GEOFF BENNETT: And we understand we have some fresh polling.

Polling, of course, is a snapshot in time, not a predictor.

But where does this rematch between Donald Trump and President Biden stand right now?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So the new polling released today by "PBS NewsHour," Marist and NPR says that President Biden has a small two-point lead over Donald Trump nationally.

That's within the margin of error.

Then, according to a new Wall Street Journal poll, it's a razor-thin margin between President Biden and former President Trump in the key battleground states of Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

But Donald Trump is clearly leading President Biden in two other battleground states, Arizona and North Carolina, by five and eight points respectively.

Crucial to note in that poll, Geoff, is that RFK Jr., the independent front-runner, has around 11 percent of the vote across these swing states.

And then I just want to go back to our poll for a minute because -- and highlight that another key data point in our poll is on voters' views of political violence.

And it shows that 20 percent of Americans believe that they may have to resort to violence to -- quote -- "get the country back on track."

And when you break that down further, you see that 28 percent of Republicans agree with that sentiment, compared to 12 percent of Democrats and 18 percent of independents.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Laura, returning to this so-called uncommitted movement, these voters who are voting uncommitted against President Biden, and then the protest votes we're seeing against President Trump, driven in part by Nikki Haley supporters, based on your reporting, how do you see that evolving?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, with the uncommitted vote, those are Democrats, as I noted, that are clearly very upset with President Biden, and they're exercising this as a protest vote.

I spoke to one of these uncommitted voters recently who said that they're not necessarily in the abandon President Biden camp, but that they want to exert this protest and that hopefully they feel like they could maybe end up voting for President Biden come November.

And so the question is, ultimately, do they stay home, do they protest-vote, or do they actually go back to President Biden?

Then, when you look at Nikki Haley voters, where do they go next?

President Biden's team is actively courting these voters.

And I spoke to Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist who conducts focus groups with a number of Republicans, including two-time Trump voters who aren't necessarily happy with the former president, and they have expressed this frustration.

MAN: At this point, Trump has been charged with 91 criminal charges.

So do you want a president who is indicted and perhaps found guilty?

And in so many situations, we don't even hire people for jobs if they have a criminal history.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Another voter, a white 68-year-old female who voted for Trump in 2016 and then President Biden in 2020, said that former -- that Trump's talk of retribution and revenge scares her.

And so she also very well could end up voting for President Biden again.

And then I just want to make clear, Geoff, that when you're looking at uncommitted voters and Nikki Haley voters, they're very different.

Uncommitted voters aren't necessarily persuadable for President Trump, whereas Nikki Haley voters, both President Biden's campaign, as well as anti-Trump Republicans like Sarah Longwell, think that they are persuadable and could go to President Biden.

GEOFF BENNETT: Laura Barron-Lopez, thanks so much.

I appreciate it.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, Trump and Biden continue to make the case for their campaigns directly to voters.

Just yesterday, the former president made stops in two critical battleground states.

Lisa Desjardins is here to break down his message -- Lisa.

LISA DESJARDINS: Whatever you call the former president, he clearly is a showman, right?

And it's not just part of his persona, but Trump's following comes from his speeches and directly from his words, not staff or infrastructure, in the way it made for more traditional campaigns.

Now, I know voters are already exhausted, I have been talking to you, by a lot of the political shrapnel going around.

But Trump's speeches in Michigan and Wisconsin yesterday are a good chance to shed light on how Trump speaks in general and his latest verbal flames.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: I stand before you today to declare the Joe Biden's border bloodbath.

This is a border bloodbath.

Ends the day I take the oath of office.

It ends.

LISA DESJARDINS: We start here, Trump's newly minted message and now the phrase pushed by the Republican national party.

DONALD TRUMP: With your vote, I will seal the border.

I will stop the invasion.

I will end the carnage.

JENNIFER MERCIECA, Texas A&M University: The framing is so important for Donald Trump.

LISA DESJARDINS: We asked Jennifer Mercieca to watch the speeches with us.

She's an author and Texas A&M professor who specializes in political and Trump rhetoric.

The border is Trump's core message, she says, and this framing a carefully forged attack on Biden and anyone who calls it a humanitarian crisis.

JENNIFER MERCIECA: He is constantly trying to frame how we understand political reality.

And so it can't be neutral.

It can't be a situation at the border.

It has to be violent.

It has to be an invasion.

It has to be a bloodbath.

LISA DESJARDINS: No question, the Southwest border is overwhelmed and dangerous in places.

But there's no evidence of a bloodbath for Americans living there.

Of course, Trump is also arguing that the border is causing a crime wave across the country.

But, in fact, violent crime rates are at modern lows on average and down in many cities.

And multiple studies show that migrants are actually less likely to commit crime than others here.

Even so, Trump is trying to cement the idea that migrants are the enemy.

DONALD TRUMP: We have a new form of crime.

It's called migrant crime.

LISA DESJARDINS: Trump attacks some as subhuman, this week repeating a word he's long associated, especially with migrants committing crime.

DONALD TRUMP: Nancy Pelosi told me that she said, "Please don't use the word animal, sir, when you're talking about these people."

I said, "I will use the word animal, because that's what they are."

LISA DESJARDINS: The speeches included a regular Trump feature about his outreach to victims.

DONALD TRUMP: Right here in Kent County, a 25-year-old Michigan woman named Ruby Garcia was savagely murdered by an illegal alien criminal.

They said she had just as most contagious laughter, and when she walked into a room, she lit up that room.

And I have heard that from so many people.

I spoke to some of her family.

LISA DESJARDINS: Trump does meet with and call victims' families, but in this case of a young woman killed last month, Ruby Garcia's family told a newspaper that actually they never heard from him.

JENNIFER MERCIECA: I think it's unusual for him to misremember meeting a family like this, but I think using hyperbole is something that's very common for him.

LISA DESJARDINS: Another Trump boilerplate item heard about the press.

DONALD TRUMP: You know, for years, I used to tell the fake news back there -- look at all those cameras.

Wow.

but I used to tell them, show the crowd.

I gave up with that because they don't do it.

LISA DESJARDINS: And we brought in another linguist to help... MATT MCGARRITY, University of Washington: My name is Matt McGarrity.

And I'm director of the Center for Speech and Debate at the University of Washington.

LISA DESJARDINS: ... who said beneath Trump's attacks on the media and others is an expert speaker keeping his crowd and followers with him.

MATT MCGARRITY: It's us versus them.

And here they are.

They're right in our midst.

And we know more than they do, because we're able to see what's going on.

LISA DESJARDINS: With this, Trump builds to an all-encompassing thought.

DONALD TRUMP: Because if we don't win on November 5, I think our country is going to cease to exist.

It could be the last election we ever have.

I actually mean that.

We don't win, I think this could be the last election we ever have.

That's where our country is going.

LISA DESJARDINS: What do you think he's doing there?

Jennifer Mercieca says this kind of speech is what separates Trump.

It's not political razzle-dazzle, but dangerous, hyperbolic fearmongering.

JENNIFER MERCIECA: He's trying to make it seem as though everything is at stake.

And most people are not excited about his campaign or Biden's.

And so both candidates are trying to generate a lot of interest.

One way you do that is through using intense and extreme language to make it seem as though everything is at stake.

LISA DESJARDINS: And in Wisconsin yesterday, he added religion, injecting the idea that, while Joe Biden is a regular churchgoer, he, Donald Trump, is the Christian candidate this election.

DONALD TRUMP: November 5 is going to be called something else.

You know what it's going to be called?

Christian visibility day, when Christians turn out in numbers.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) LISA DESJARDINS: Another example of why Trump's speeches were a showcase of why he succeeds and fails.

They contain a weave of lies and truths around one constant center.

JENNIFER MERCIECA: All presidents run as heroes.

It's not uncommon.

Joe Biden is running as a hero right now.

He's running as a hero to save democracy.

Donald Trump is running as a different kind of hero.

And he is the only one who can save the nation.

He's the only one who can save his followers.

More than class, gender, race, socioeconomic status, the one thing that Trump supporters have in common is that they want to follow a strong leader.

LISA DESJARDINS: We noticed yesterday Trump left out two other common speeches -- features of his speeches.

He has repeatedly played the national anthem as sung by January 6 prisoners and pledged to pardon them at the beginning of his rallies.

And he has also often used an anthem for conspiracy theories in QAnon and theorists in QAnon near the end.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Lisa, some of the experts you have been talking to, how do they look at some of this potentially coded language and its impact when it comes from Mr. Trump's speeches?

LISA DESJARDINS: One of the many reasons I'm glad I work at "NewsHour."

Trump actually uses classical devices, one of them ad baculum, meaning try and bring in the idea of force, encourage force in your speaking.

But the way he activates, I think, his followers is the most important.

And I heard from a lot of different linguists that I spoke to talking about something called paraleipsis.

That idea is that I'm saying something, but I'm actually not saying.

I'm inferring something, and then I have plausible deniability that I said it.

So Trump is activating his followers by implying something and then later fighting with the media over whether he said it or not.

That has very strong consequences, not only for his campaign, but also for those kinds of statistics that Laura mentioned about violence.

When he's saying the situation is dire, when he's saying democracy will end if I'm not elected, he is implying to some of his followers, violence may be OK. And you saw that in Laura's numbers.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa Desjardins, thank you so much.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: Last month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, made some big changes to its disaster relief programs, changes that the agency called -- quote -- "the most significant updates to disaster assistance in 20 years," among them expanding access to money for food, water and other essentials, funding immediate housing needs when people can't return home, help for repairs not covered by insurance, reducing paperwork required for temporary housing and more.

For more on what these changes mean, I'm joined now by FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.

Welcome back.

Thanks for being here.

DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA Administrator: Thanks, Amna.

It's great to be here.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, as you know, FEMA's long faced criticism, long before your tenure even, for being slow to respond in disasters, bureaucratic to deal with.

I guess the big question is, why couldn't many of these changes have been made sooner, if they are so needed and significant?

DEANNE CRISWELL: You know, I think, Amna, the changes that we made, one, they're transformational, for sure.

And we are extremely excited about them.

But to make changes of this magnitude, it takes time.

And part of the time was really spent listening and listening to people that have been impacted by these disasters, whether it's survivors in communities or local emergency managers, state directors, hearing the problems that people faced.

And I think that, in the past, we have really approached delivery of our programs in this very generic one-size-fits-all approach.

And what I have realized, having been a customer of FEMA previously and now in this role, that everybody's situation is different and unique.

And so we really spent a lot of time after I first started in this role understanding the unique characteristics and nature of each community and understanding what their barriers are, and then how do we make changes to those barriers?

How do we pull them down so more people can access our programs?

And it just took time.

AMNA NAWAZ: Can I ask you what role was played in pushing forward these changes in what we know are the growing frequency and intensity of more extreme weather events and the disasters that accompany them?

Did that help push these changes across the line?

DEANNE CRISWELL: I think that was really one of the driving forces of being able to actually get these moving forward and getting the people of our agency who have spent a lot of time thinking about the types of changes that were needed really knowing that more people are impacted, right?

We're seeing more people impacted.

We're seeing recoveries become more complex.

We're seeing them take longer.

And so how do we help these communities become more resilient?

How do we help these individuals jump-start this road to recovery using the programs that we have, instead of creating this disparity between those who need our help the most, but really faced the most barriers?

And so I think, as we saw more and more people having to face this... AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

DEANNE CRISWELL: ... it really gave us an opportunity to really think hard about what we could do to change that.

AMNA NAWAZ: There's the insurance piece of it I want to ask you about.

We mentioned it briefly in the introduction there.

You have given previously the example of a homeowner who has some $80,000 in damage after a disaster.

If they only get $45,000 from insurance, FEMA could step in and fill the gap.

We're now seeing reports out of California, in particular, of insurers dropping homeowners because they live in areas that are too prone to wildfires.

We have seen similar issues in Florida.

So how would this help those homeowners?

I mean, would FEMA step in to cover the whole cost if insurers have dropped homeowners?

DEANNE CRISWELL: It's a really good question because one of the things that we do provide is some financial assistance to jump-start recovery, but we don't replace insurance.

And so with these changes, in the past, if an insurance company gave you what our statutory maximum is, which right now is $42,500, and it changes a little bit every year, every fiscal year, if an insurance company gave you more than that, then we couldn't give you any more, even if you had uninsured losses.

So now we can at least cover uninsured losses, but still up to that max of $42,000.

AMNA NAWAZ: So there's still a cap on what you will be able to provide?

DEANNE CRISWELL: There is.

But the problem is, that insurance companies are dropping insurance policies because of the types of catastrophic risks that these communities are facing, which is why another thing that we are really focused on this year is building resilience in these communities, because if we can make a community more resilient, it's an insurable community.

So resilient communities are insurable communities.

So the more we can build their resilience and help them on that road, the more we think that we will be able to create the environment for the insurance market to stay in those neighborhoods.

AMNA NAWAZ: There's a resilience question.

There's also this question we have seen in conversations about where people are choosing to live, where they're choosing to rebuild.

Should FEMA, should the federal government play more of a role in discouraging people to rebuild in areas that are continuously hit or supporting people to move to other areas?

DEANNE CRISWELL: I think it's a really complicated question, because where you build is one part of the question, but how you build is also another part of the question, right?

There are certainly parts of this country that where you build is the conversation we should be having.

But, sometimes, it's just about how you build, right?

Are we going to help you build in a way that makes you more resilient to the type of threat that you're facing?

Like, if you are in an area that is prone to sea level rise, right, if you're going to move into wildfire community, how you build is going to make a difference.

Or if you're going to build in the Midwest, where we saw tornadoes yesterday, how you build makes a difference.

AMNA NAWAZ: There's the price tag, which is worth a second look as well.

You said the expected new policies could increase federal disaster costs by some $500 million a year.

We know these storms aren't getting less expensive.

Can FEMA afford to continue to fill these gaps and make these changes?

DEANNE CRISWELL: I think one of the things that we need to talk about with that is the costs that we're going to be covering were covered by somebody.

They were covered by state programs.

They were covered by nonprofits.

They took time to put in place, which eventually slowed the recovery process down for individuals.

And so I really believe that, even with an increased federal share, and there will be an increased state share as well in some of these, that it also helps them on their road to recovery.

And so the long-term benefits -- we're not going to know what those are right away, but those long-term benefits of people being on their road to recovery, staying in their community and not having to move, those are going to be the soft costs that are saved in the end that I think are going to be equally as important to have awareness of.

AMNA NAWAZ: FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, thank you so much for being here today.

Great to speak with you.

DEANNE CRISWELL: Thanks, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: Apprehensions of migrants at the U.S. southern border reached a record high at the end of last year.

But before crossing into the U.S., many in this increasingly global group travel more than 1,500 miles through Mexico.

With producers Sam Weber and Christine Romo, we recently went to Mexico's southern border with Guatemala to report on this desperate journey.

When we met them on this Chiapas, Mexico, roadside, these families, originally from Venezuela, had already been walking for 15 days.

Where are they heading now?

JASON, Venezuelan Migrant (through translator): We are going to the United States, God permitting.

AMNA NAWAZ: Why did you leave?

DIANA, Venezuelan Migrant (through translator): My country.

My country.

The government is horrible.

Under a blazing sun in near 90-degree heat, they share that they are heading to the U.S. to seek asylum.

We ask what they need.

Water, water.

MAN (through translator): Food for the children.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ten-year-old Brittany has already witnessed and lived what no child should.

BRITTANY, Venezuelan Migrant (through translator): We had to pass through the jungle and cross rivers.

They stole our money and lied to us.

AMNA NAWAZ: When's the last time she had any food or water?

BRITTANY (through translator): I don't know.

AMNA NAWAZ: But she's fueled by a simple dream.

BRITTANY (through translator): I want to study.

AMNA NAWAZ: Study?

What do you want to study?

BRITTANY (through translator): Doctor.

Little brother Jason is just five.

JASON, Venezuelan Migrant (through translator): I'm going to the Disney castle.

AMNA NAWAZ: You're going to the Disney castle.

And with that, they press on, each step they hope bringing them closer to a better life.

As migration worldwide erupts to record levels, this part of Southern Mexico has become a global crossroads, with thousands of asylum seekers passing through each day, most on their way to the United States.

ELI CRUZ, U.N. International Organization for Migration: We are here right now, and here is mainly where the people enter through Mexico.

AMNA NAWAZ: Eli Cruz leads the Tapachula suboffice for the United Nations International Organization for Migration.

ELI CRUZ: It's not just that women or men are traveling by themselves.

They're traveling with their families.

There are a lot of children.

We are seeing a lot of different profiles with a lot of vulnerabilities.

AMNA NAWAZ: For years, migrants crossing through Mexico were largely from Central America.

2023 marked the first year that people from South America outpaced them, with record numbers from Venezuela and Ecuador, according to Mexican government data.

But the patterns continue to shift.

What about people from even further away?

For example, at the U.S. southern border, some of the biggest jumps we have been seeing over the last three years have been for people from Russia, from India, from China.

Have you been seeing that here as well?

ELI CRUZ: Yes.

In the last years, we have been seeing a lot of these nationality, also people from Afghanistan or from Bangladesh.

AMNA NAWAZ: Over the past decade, Mexico has become an increasingly popular and accessible route to the U.S. for Asian and African migrants.

In fact, out of the 195 recognized countries in the world, Mexican officials say 120 nationalities have come across their southern border.

The majority of those crossings happen here.

This shallow stretch of Suchiate River is all that separates Guatemala from Mexico at this point and rafts regularly ferry people across.

But in some ways, the most difficult part of the journey is still ahead, some 1,500 miles and many more obstacles before the U.S. southern border.

But those who can afford it skip all those obstacles and gain swift passage to the northern border.

Smugglers like Mario handle all the details.

MARIO, Smuggler (through translator): My clients all want to arrive safe and sound in the United States.

AMNA NAWAZ: We're using a different name to protect him from cartel retribution.

He charges up to $21,000 per person for longer journeys and says his network has moved 50,000 people into the U.S. since 2021.

What do you tell them when they approach you?

Do you guarantee them that they will be able to make it?

MARIO (through translator): It's my word and my reputation the line.

Out of all the clients that I have had, only two or three have been detained.

The rest are in the United States.

AMNA NAWAZ: "NewsHour" has no way to verify that claim.

I ask him about migrant stories of abuse and assault on their journeys.

MARIO (through translator): Yes, it's true.

The people that happens to don't have the money to pay for my services.

The overland trip across Mexico can take around 15 days, but I can move any nationality into the United States via plane in a matter of hours.

There is always a way to get in.

AMNA NAWAZ: With scarce resources, 24-year-old Rosa and her family are making their own way to the U.S.

They left Venezuela in September of 2023, traversing the deadly and dangerous Darien Gap into Central America.

ROSA, Venezuelan Migrant (through translator): We saw horrible things, dead women, children, and we worried constantly about what could happen to our children, if the river would take them, if they would dehydrate, if they would suffer from malnutrition because we didn't have enough food, or if they would need medication.

AMNA NAWAZ: Thirty-two-year-old Merlin, a former government official, says she fled political persecution.

She and the other mothers banded together to get their families to the United States.

MERLIN, Venezuelan Migrant (through translator): Some brought tents.

Some brought medicine.

We organized everything.

We are a total of 16 people, five mothers, all traveling together with our children, and we share everything, and we help each other along the way.

ROSA (through translator): Sometimes, we would run out of everything and have to go without food and water.

If all we had was a piece of bread, then we made sure all of the children ate, so they could survive, because they are not as strong as we are.

AMNA NAWAZ: In Mexico, they have entered a so-called containment zone set up by Mexican officials under U.S. pressure.

Checkpoints pepper the roads.

Migrants without paperwork can be detained.

Even those who make it to Mexico's north can be bussed or flown back to the south, an effort to alleviate pressure at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Near the riverbank, families wait to board a bus provided by Mexican immigration.

There's no shared schedule, timing, or final destination.

U.S. officials tell "NewsHour" this unpredictable effort aims to move migrants from dense cities into less populated areas and keeps them in Southern Mexico.

But that hasn't stopped the flow of migrants.

There are no official government numbers, but some officials and NGOs estimate between 4,000 and 6,000 migrants arrive daily.

Roughly half are processed by Mexico's Refugee Agency known as COMAR.

The other half are entering under the radar and not registering.

"NewsHour"'s repeated requests for an interview with a COMAR official were denied, citing election season restrictions.

Merlin says they know Mexico would be the toughest part of the journey, but they're not deterred.

MERLIN (through translator): We are heading out now.

We have high hopes and we're excited to move ahead in our journey.

We don't know where they're taking us, but we're going to stay positive.

AMNA NAWAZ: After several days walking and busing through Mexico, Rosa, Merlin and family arrive in Mexico City more than six months after they first left Venezuela.

From here, they plan to try and get an appointment with U.S. immigration through the CBP One app, a legal route for asylum seekers, before continuing on to the border.

It's at this point in the journey that countless families get close, only to get stuck.

You haven't been able to get an appointment yet.

How long have you been trying?

JUAN, Mexican Migrant (through translator): No, we have been trying for an appointment every single day.

AMNA NAWAZ: Juan and Rocio have spent nearly two months at this shelter along the U.S.-Mexico border with their five kids.

Cartel violence in their home state of Guerrero has paralyzed a once-thriving state.

When you think about your life ahead, if you make it into the United States, what do you want for your children?

What does that better life look like?

ROCIO, Mexican Migrant (through translator): I want my children to do well, to go to school and be someone in life.

I don't want them to live in fear.

Susana Hurtado Rochin is a program coordinator for Save the Children in the state of Sonora, on the border with Arizona.

For many of the children who come through here, the journeys that they have made are just unimaginable.

What's the impact of that kind of journey on a child?

What does it do to them?

SUSANA HURTADO ROCHIN, Save the Children (through translator): Both adults and children arrive with mixed emotions.

They arrive with an idea of getting to the border and crossing right away into the United States.

And then they get here and they're stuck and they're conflicted about being so close, but yet so far away at the same time.

AMNA NAWAZ: Save the Children works directly in shelters across the U.S.-Mexico border, setting up child-friendly safe spaces.

SUSANA HURTADO ROCHIN (through translator): The goal is to give them a sensation of taking back control of their lives and not living in standby mode, so that they can continue with their lives, meet people, make friends, and do it all in a place where they feel safe to express their feelings and speak about their emotions.

AMNA NAWAZ: Seven-year-old Carely and her sister, 11-year-old Citlalli, are already preparing for life in the U.S. CARELY, Mexican Migrant (through translator): I just know one thing in English.

You're my baby.

AMNA NAWAZ: You're my baby?

Oh.

(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: They tell us they prefer life in the shelter to life back home.

What do you like about being here?

What's it like staying here?

CARELY (through translator): I like the games.

AMNA NAWAZ: Oh, the games?

CARELY (through translator): What I like best is being with my family.

AMNA NAWAZ: Their parents, Juan and Rocio, say they will wait as long as it takes to get an appointment and enter the U.S. legally.

The border crossing is just a few miles away, but, for this family, close enough is good enough for now.

We will have a second report tomorrow from the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on what asylum seekers face when they cross the border and how U.S. immigration officials are coping with it all.

GEOFF BENNETT: Monday night's March Madness game in which Iowa beat LSU to go to the Final Four was watched by more than 12 million viewers on ESPN, making it the most watched women's college basketball game ever.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's right, Geoff.

In fact, it was the most watched college basketball game ever on the cable channel, men's or women's.

John Yang joins us now with more -- John.

JOHN YANG: Well, Amna and Geoff, that audience was bigger even than last year's record-setting NCAA Championship Game between the same two teams, and that was on ABC, which reaches more homes than ESPN.

It was bigger than any Major League Baseball game since the 2022 World Series and bigger than every National Hockey League game since 1971.

The question is whether it's a one-time effect of superstar Caitlin Clark or whether it's a sign of bigger changes for women's sports.

Nicole Auerbach is a senior writer for The Athletic.

She covers college football and basketball.

Nicole, so what about that?

Is this just a one-time effect of Caitlin Clark or are we seeing a big shift in women's sports?

NICOLE AUERBACH, The Athletic: Well, I think we're seeing a shift.

I mean, this is a multiple-years trajectory that we're seeing.

And there was also 6.7 million people that watched the second part of that doubleheader on Monday night.

And in any other year, that would have been a record for a non-Final Four game for the women's tournament.

And, instead, this year, that record has been broken so many times, it wasn't.

But what I think it does is, it has introduced a lot more people to a lot of the stars in women's basketball.

We are seeing them stick around.

Even if they came in for Caitlin Clark, they are getting to know the JuJu Watkins and the Paige Bueckers that maybe they forgot about who was injured for the last year-and-a-half.

And maybe they're deciding that they're getting invested with their local team.

But we are seeing it continue to build and spread.

So I think that there are a lot of stars in place and interesting teams and parity across the board that will keep people engaged in women's college basketball even after Caitlin Clark heads off to the pros.

JOHN YANG: I mean, compared to the men's tournament, we're learning today that on the secondary market, tickets for the Final Four, for the women's Final Four, are $2,300, which is twice what the going rate is for the men's Final Four.

What does that tell you?

NICOLE AUERBACH: Well, it tells you that, first of all, one is in an arena and one is in a football stadium.

But it shows the demand for these tickets on the women's side.

I had said to some folks who were involved in the planning for Cleveland before the tournament began that if you got South Carolina and a UConn or an Iowa or one of the three, you would probably have a pretty good audience.

And I think that this is going to be an incredible atmosphere for these teams because of those fan bases that are going to be there.

But it does show that there is demand.

JOHN YANG: And beyond college basketball, are we seeing this shift in women's professional soccer and in other sports?

Is it too early to say that we sort of crossed a threshold now?

NICOLE AUERBACH: I think we have crossed a threshold.

I mean, I noticed it anecdotally among my friends that they are planning their weekends around these women's games, that they are making sure that they were going to be done with whatever work they had in order to be seated in time for that 7:00 game to watch Iowa-LSU.

And that's been changing over the last couple of years, because, obviously, we have seen the viewership increases in a lot of different sports, but even in the collegiate space, that includes women's gymnastics, it includes volleyball, it includes softball.

So you are seeing the growth in a lot of these areas.

And then you're seeing media companies respond to that and give better time slots, better channels that they're on to make it more accessible and to ride off of that, because, if it's more accessible, you are going to find new and bigger audiences that are down the road.

And so I think that we have seen that across the board.

And, obviously, I think, with this women's basketball season, and if you have watched one game, you were more likely to stick around and watch more.

And I think that's what's really kind of getting people excited about the future.

Obviously, Caitlin Clark is a unique phenomenon, but if she introduces more people to the sport and they realize, hey, this is really fun, this is high-level athleticism, this is elite athletes, they are more likely to stick around.

So I think you're seeing that in a number of spaces.

JOHN YANG: We mentioned the new attention to this, but there's also, we have to mention, some negative attention Angel Reese of LSU.

She's gotten a lot of criticism since her team won the national championship last year.

And she got very emotional talking about it Monday night in the postgame news conference.

ANGEL REESE (LSU Basketball Player): I have been through so much.

I have seen so much.

I have been attacked so many times, death threats.

I have been sexualized.

I have been threatened.

I have been so many things,and I have stood strong every single time.

And I just try to stand strong for my teammates, because I don't want them to see me down and then, like, not be there for them.

So I just want them to always just know, like, I'm still human.

JOHN YANG: Nicole, I'm going to ask this very plainly.

How much does race play into that?

NICOLE AUERBACH: Oh, it plays into it quite a bit.

I mean, I think a lot of what we have seen over the last year has been two things, right?

It's that we're talking about a female athlete, and then we're talking about a Black athlete.

And Angel has actually talked about this a little bit throughout the whole weekend.

I was in Albany when she was opening up about this in the lead-up to that championship game.

She said she hasn't had peace since last year's national championship game.

And it's really hard to imagine anyone being able to put themselves in her shoes and understand how famous she got so quickly.

And then you become a polarizing figure who isn't afraid to say how they feel.

And that has attracted, again, a lot of criticism and all of the things that Angel said has absolutely happened to her.

And that's part of this as well.

When there are more eyeballs on female athletes, especially Black female athletes, there is an underside to this that is really ugly.

And it's something that I think we all need to be aware of, so that we can help make this better for female athletes, especially Black female athletes in college sports, who are really young and exposed in a way that is just hard to imagine.

But it's not someone who necessarily sought out the level of fame that she has, but has to live with it.

And it's -- it was incredible to hear her teammates have her back and support her, which led to that emotional response.

JOHN YANG: Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic, thank you very much.

NICOLE AUERBACH: Thanks for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: And join us back here tomorrow night for our exclusive conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on efforts to increase security cooperation in Asia.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

Thank you for joining us and have a good evening.