Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by babbel. Language app that teaches reallife conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. Babbels 1015 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. Nf more imation on babbel. Com. Consumer cellular. Financial symvices firm rad james. The william and flora hewlett foundation. For more than 50 years, tiadvancing ideas and supp institutions to promote a better world. At www. Hewlett. Org. And with the ongoing sunsort of thesetutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff President Trump tonight has rejected claims that he is fanning the flames of racism. He ignited a storm of criticism on sunday, in attacking four democrats in the u. S. Congress all of them women of color. Today, he stood by his tweets and said again if youre not happy here, you can leave. On another front, the president claimed success in raids to round up some 2,000 migrants. There was little evidence that any major raids had actually begun, but the threat raised fears in migrant communities. Meanwhile, the administration declared most migrants will now n be ineligible for asylume u. S. If they pass through anotr country first. We will explore this and the president s attacks on the congresswomen, after the newsy. Summ in the days other news, u. S. Customs and Border Patrol confirmed at 70 current and former employees are under investigation for offensive posts about migrants and wmakers. They belonged to a secret group ed facebook. It has been repohat Border Patrol chief carla provost was also in the group, but it is unclear if she is under investigation. A state judge in virginia today sentenced james fields to life in prison plus 419 years for a fatal attack at a White Nationalist rally. The selfdeclared neonazi supporter drove into counter protesters in chlottesville, in 2017. Heather heyer was killed, and more than two dozen others were hurt. Heyers mother said todays sentence delivers a powerful warning. I want itery clear in the public realm that not only d the United States hold theseti s to be quite serious, with serious consequences, but also the state of virginti is not tole them and i think that message is sent loud and clear today. Ie woodruff s is 22years old. De had already been sentenced to life in prison on l hate crime charges. Forecasters warned today of continued flood dangers from the remnants of hurricane barry. The storm opped 17 inches of rain across louisiana after making landfall this weekend. Still, the state escaped the worst, and recovery began in Iberia Parish and elsewhere, where some businesses were left ankledeep in water. Much of louisiana and mississippi, along with swhs of arkansas, missouri and texas, faced heavy rainfall today. Financier Jeffrey Epstein will stay in jail, at least untilay thuron charges that he sexually abused dozens of underage girls in new york and florida. A federal judge in new york delayed a decision on bail today, as two of epsteins accusers spoke at a hearing. Prosecutors said the case against epstein is getting stronger every day. There were closing arguments in oklahoma today in the first state trial against a drug maker over opioid addiction. The state charged that Johnso Johnson understated the risks of opioids out of pure greed. The company said it aimed to help people with chronic pain. Lahoma is seeking up to 17billion in damages. The outcome could influence the fate of 1,500 similaonlawsuits. Inkong chief executive carrie lam condemned violent sunday night clashes. Lyey began after thousands had protested peacefgainst an extradition bill and Mainland Chinas influencdo storefront w were smashed, at least six policosofficers weretalized and more than 20 people were hurt. Lam called today for an end to the trouble. translated were deeplypo grateful to thce who put their lives on the lines. They were attacked by the rioters, which is shocking. Im here to call for all hong kong residents to respect the ru of law. Woodruff prodemocracy lawmakers urged both protesters and police to cut back on the force used during demonstrations. Economic growth in Mainland China slowed to 6. 2 over the last year, the lowest rate in 26 years. Beijing reported that news todaa amid tensions with the u. S. And on wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 27 points to close at 27,359. D e nasdaq rose 14 points. And the s p 500 ad fraction. C in hawaistruction began on a longdisputed telescope project against protests todaywo thdrenowned site on the islands highest peak mauna kea is a sacred place ofd worship ayer for hawaiis native community who has disputed construction there multiple times. Scientists hope the telescope still to come on the newshour, how President Trump isanning the flames of racial tensions; the climate of fear amongan immi amid calls for increased ice raids; a Top Executive from chinese telec giant huawei on the controversial companys global reach, and much more. Woodruff it is a political fight that could worsen already deep divisions in our country. President trump escalates his nationalist rhetoric while democrats in congress unite around the idea of diversity. Yamiche alcindor begr coverage. Reporter do you think your tweets were racist, mr. President . Not at all. Not at all. Reporter President Trump doubling down on racist tweets. Today at a white house event aimed atelebrating american manufacturing, the president defended his targeting of four freshmen congresswomen of color. And he once again questioned their status as americans andd suggesave the United States. From their parents in front of an american flag. Reporter three of the four lawmakers had testified last friday about their visits to crowded border detention facilities. On twitter sunday, the president wrote, why dont they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came . The four congresswomen new york representative alexandria ocasiocortez, minnesota representative illhan omar,ma ssachusetts representative Ayanna Pressley and michigan representative rashida talib. All four women are american citizens. Three of the four were born in the u. S. It doesnt concern me becausa people agree with me and they can leave. Reporter today, the four congresswoman pushed back. Maybe the president just feels comfortable stoking racial divisions in this country. Reporter but today, the president earned a sharp rebuke from minority leader chuck schumer. Those who fail to condemn the president are fellow travelers on the president s racist road reporter earlier today, International Leaders includingi british primster theresa may spoken out against the president s tweets. And now, a small but growingpu number of icans in the u. S. Have begun done the same. Maine senator susan collins, today called it way over the line. And South Carolina senator tim scott called it racially offensive and aiming for the lowest common denominator. You find the president tweets racist and what do you make of White Nationalists praising those tweets . Again, i dont find them racist. Reporter mong the president s defenders today, treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and former House Speaker newt gingrich. Earlier, South Carolina senator lindsey graham, a close ally of the president , made silar attacks against the four lawmakers on fox news. Well we all know that a. O. C. And this crowd are a bunch of communists. They hate israel. They hate our own country. Make them the face of the future of theemocratic party, you will destroyhe democratic party. Reporter but en graham warned the president against questioning the lawmakers citizenship. They are american citizens. They won an election. S reporter tl comes as the Trump Administrationan nounced today that it is trying to end asylum protections for nearly everyone who tries to enter the u. S. Through the b southernorder. Under the new rule, anyng immigrant crosnto the u. S. From mexico seeking asylum would need to first apply for asylum in at least one other country that is not their native country. The changes comes after Vice President pence, senator graham and other members of congress visited a crowded border detention facility friday. The administration argues that it needs to stem the flow of Asylum Seekers entering the u. S. In a statement, the a. C. L. U. Called the Trump Administration move patently unlawful and vowed to sue swiftly. The climate in this country led by the president of the United States of america causes niar in the hearts of families reporter commuties across the country had braced sunday for stepped up immigration raids. La publicly announced he would depo thousands of people. The raids have so far fallen far short ofhat scale, but are slated to last into the coming week. Nm yamiche alcindor. Woodruff we wi hear from two lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on their retion to the president s comments as well as the administrations immigration crackdown. First, democratic congressman Ruben Gallego of arizona. He is a member of thesp congressional ic caucus. Representative gallego, thank you very much for joining us, d whyou make of the president s comments and his tweets and what hes saying in person today . Well, look, no oneul sbe surprised. This is the president that, for years, started a rumor about our first brach president being born in africa and snuck into this country, clearly a very tracist trope he was using the stoke anger and win the conservative base and he started his campaign talking about mexicans as rapists and has continued on and on talking about a judge, questioning his loyalty to this country, so none of us should be surprised. We should be surprised at the republican party, the party that tries to claim theyre a big tent and essentially theyre advocating their party to this type of White Nationalism this president is pushing. Woodruff i just want toa read jusart of what the president said. He talked about congresswoman ocasiocortez, the other congred women. He talout them being communist, he said theyre antisemitic, they ha israel, and then hes gone on, on several occasions, to say they hate hair hate their own country. Hes referring to comments he said they made critical to the United States. The president is trying to frame conversation, dialogue people are having abhat needs to be fixed in this country, much about what theen president ofays there are things that need to be fixed in this country, but no one says the president hates his country because he wants to fix conthcen gs. Though we may have certain points of view, and thothh i k the women hes questioning have different points of view, they do not hate their coury. The only reason he tries to use that is theyre women of color, and if they werent women of h colowouldnt be attacking them. He knows attacng them helps his base and distracts from the ministratio his ad you mention youre disappointed akinglicans are not spe outout. How do you know what they believe . Have you talked to them privately . Doesnt matter, i dont care what they think about privately ls not. Were public offic what you wear on your sleeve is what you are. Yo the facure note speaking out against the president andac his t rhetoric means you are a coward and youre not representing the republicans ideals. Woodruff what do you think about the peoplin your district . The people in my district have lived through the most antilatino rhetoric in this country considering we pased sb1070, had to live under the riewm of jan brewer who used kecism and rhetoric to sto anger. We all remember during that time, we told you toba go to mexico, and this hurts that the president is using the same rhetoric that the racists we grew up with are now using and coirnlg more of it. Woodruff i want to ask you about what the presint has been talking about a number of days and that is his intention to have the government round up undocumented immigrants in a number of cities around the country, by the thousands. We have been told this was coming. Did not materialize over the weekend. What does that all add up to for you . This is just him trying to scare two populations, mber one, the immigrant population, number two his own ppulation of Trump Supporters and trying to get them to believe that theree this masmount of people that need to be rounded up. If youre under deportation orders, there is no necessi for you to declare youre going to round up people. While youre under deportation orders, i. C. E. Could do this in a very professional manner and go out and get those people. The only thing many ofs worry about, to make sure i. C. E. Is condting this everything in mind concerning everyone still has constitutional duties, al we know a lot of people under deportation orders have not had a chance to speak to a judge. Our concern at the end of the day is the president is using this, again, to scare people and, you know, to that degree, he has succeeded woodruff well, to the extent there are people who are undocumented, who are wherever they are lieing around t country, is he not saying to ingm you should be com forward and, if you dont, were going to hold yo really to your deportation to whatever ourpo ation laws are . I think the problem the president he ndesnt undersow deportation or immigration laws work. Many of these men and women did not even have their day in court because they received their notice at the wrong address. So they should at least have the ability to present themselves to actually make an argument, ae what t president has actually meant to do is turn themselves in which automatically gives up their opportunity to appeal. At the end of the day, we do believe democrats needs to have ntrol of who and who doesnt come into this country, but we need to make sure we honor our laws and part of that is due process and these immigrants have due pross. Woodruff what do you make of the president s efforts to tighten the interpretatioof the asylum laws in this country, apply for asylum. Number one, its illegal, and we will taking that to court and it will be defeated in court. Two, this is him tryingo consolidate his base. Many of the people on the right that help him get elected think hes succeeded when it comes to immigration, for example he hasnt gotten th bored weurl been able to bring down illegal border crossings, which tell us a out this president , the one Campaign Promise hes had he ruined, almost like Everything Else in his career. Hes broken the border and attend of the day thway to fix it is to have democrats have s ssion reform but thas to live with. Woodruff con gallego, thank you. Thank you. Woodruff for a republican rspective, joined by representative james comer from kentucky. Congressman comber, welcome back to the newshour. What do you make of President Trumps comments today and yesterday about theseour women of color who are membersgr of cs . I do not believe the president is racist. I believe th president shares frustration with members of congress, particuthose four women congressmen w for no other reason constantly criticizes the president and also congress and our country. I think theres a vel of frustration that the president has that he unfortunately tk out in probably not the bestworded tweet, but i think that the tweets been overblown, and i think that we really need to move on and talk about the issues icongress that the American People care about. Woodruff you said unfortunately, what was it about the tweet that you think the president should not have said . Well, theres just been the whole term racism has been thrown around in congress a lo more over the last two months than ive ever heard the word used. Justast week, you had ocasiocortez basically call pelosi racist for some of the comments she made about women of color. When youre a member of congress, when youre the presid and you get to this level, and the debate hisis contentious, and youve got an nameri electorate thats equally divided, sometimes your emotions take control and you say things that yu dont necessarily mean and sometimes things come out differently than you intende woodruff you mention yourco tituents, what are they telling you . I was in kentucky all weekend, i was at the airport in loyal this morning talking to a lot of people from all across my district and all across kentucky, and i can tell you my thople are not offend bid the tweet. ve become accustomed toto the president s tweets. I have told the president in conversations that i feel like he would be better served if he didnt tweet as much, but i think we all know that the president is going to continue to tweet, yats his wa of doing things, its gotten him this far i personally would like to see a more civil congress, a more vil tone between both parties and the National News media, but i dont think thats going to but as the people in the fhappen. District, they still strongly support the president , they support the president s agenda and they know that he sharesei frustration with a lot of the policies that tho four members of congress continue to spew. They it doesnt seem they can like theyre for secung the border, it doesnt seem like they are for any type of civil debate that the averrage taxpa in mic district could support. Woodruff you say its noci in your view and, yet, each one of these women is a woman of color. Right. And, you know, its no different, in my oinion, than the National Media saying, whenh they talk abou president ial debates, well, the democrat base doesnt want Bernie Sanders or joe biden cause theyre a whi