Biden Administration Announces it will build more of the border wall and deport venezuelan migrants. And. A jailed iranian activist receives the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor her husband says bolsters the nationwide movement pushing for womens rights. This prize actually belongs to the people of iran, in particular those fighting for human rights, and all those that are working for democracy and civil movements in iran. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including jim and Nancy Goldman and kathy and Paul Anderson. Consumer cellular. This is sam, how may i help you . This is a pocket dial. Well, somebodys pocket. I thought i would tell you you get nationwide coverage with no contract. That is kind of our thing. Have a nice day. Actually, you dont need vision to do most things in life. Yes, i am legally blind and yes, i am 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 technology forward. I think thats the most rewarding thing. People who know know bdo. The john s. And james l. Knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. More at kf. Org. And with ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. Thank you. Amna welcome to the newshour. The strength of the jobs mart stunned again today with a report surpassing most expectations. Employers added 336,000 jobs in september, while unemployment remained at 3. 8 percent and we learned that nearly 120,000 more jobs were created in july and august than originally reported. Paul solman reports on a job market that continues to defy economic headwinds. Paul this morning, a jobs report that blew expectations out of the water. Economist julia coronado. This was a blockbuster report. We were on a slowing hiring trend through the last few months, and we just saw not only a great month of job creation in september, but upward revisions to july and august. Paul where is most of the growth coming from . Julia one of the encouraging things about this report is that its pretty broad based. So the last couple of months there was a very large hiring dominance by health care. Now were seeing manufacturing pick back up, state and local governments hiring teachers for the school year. Retail is adding jobs ahead of the holiday season. Paul leisure and hospitality, which hemorrhaged workers during the pandemic, finally returned to precovid levels in september, adding 96,000 jobs, most of the gains in food and drinking places. And yet, persistent inflation, skyhigh interest rates, strikes by autoworkers, actors, healthcare workers. Plenty of evidence to support the idea of a twofaced economy. Julia we have the economy taking divergent paths. Paul economist julia pollak. Julia we have parts of the economy that are growing and parts that are shrinking. So in states like new jersey and california, for example, the Unemployment Rate has risen pretty substantially over the past year, while in states like maryland and massachusetts, Unemployment Rates have fallen. You see the same kind of divergence across industries. Paul economist coronado agrees. Julia theres a lot of variation in the experiences of consumers. Paul and some depends on age, says coronado. Julia if you have wealth, you are much wealthier than before the pandemic. But if youre a younger consumer, so you might have gotten strong wage gains. In fact, younger consumers did get some of the strongest wage gains, but theyre also more likely to be renters. And rents went up faster than almost any other price. Paul so, no surprise, our call to find out how people are doing showed vastly different realities for folks of different ages in different places. Two faces. For example everything has gotten so much better. Its just recently gotten back to the point of even a little better than prepandemic. Paul jeanice blancett, who lives in memphis. Shes turning 61 next week, and paul and things may be getting even better, as oil prices cratered this week. On the other hand, at the moment, in pinellas county, florida just everything is more expensive. Paul thats what carmela pollice. My electric bill is almost three times higher. My Homeowners Insurance its higher. My Flood Insurance is almost double. My utilities, such as my security system, is 25 more a month than before the pandemic. Paul now multiple polls and the Consumer Confidence index have shown that most americans have been similarly down on the economy. How come . Unemployment at historically low levels. Inflation, moderating. Economy, growing. So why are people so economically despondent . Julia things are more expensive. So it doesnt while from a Macro Economic standpoint, were seeing reassuring signs of stabilization, it still is a very different environment for consumers than it was a few years ago. Paul even though wage gains have finally caught up with, even inched ahead of inflation some months. But julia i think most people are comparing their fortunes either to the good times during the pandemic when they were getting cash from uncle sam, when they were able to pay down their Credit Card Debt and when there were all kinds of Government Services available, or theyre available. Paul another factor, economic inequality, says Rebecca Riddell of oxfam, the international antipoverty organization. Rebecca as corporate profits have hit record highs and on one side, decades of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, the very wealthiest, have become dramatically richer. Paul by contrast . Rebecca census figures out last month tell that story. Last year, poverty jumped up as pandemic supports fell away. Child poverty increased by record amounts. Posttax income inequality rose and real wages fell. Paul so again, depending where you sit, the economy looks rocky or rosy. But after todays report, says julia julia as a macro economist, its hard to look at these numbers and see reasons for pessimism. Paul well soon see how Many Americans agree. For the pbs newshour, paul solman. Amna in the days other headlines, the United Auto Workers union held off expanding its strike against detroits big three, to additional plants. That came after General Motors made a major concession including electric vehicle battery plants under a uaw contract. Union president shawn fain spoke in a video appearance. Fain i wish i was here to announce a tentative agreement at one or more of these companies, but i do want to be really clear we are making significant progress. In just three weeks, we have moved these companies further than anyone thought was possible. Amna stellantis, ford and gm had already made concessions on wages and costofliving increases. The strike has now lasted just over three weeks. So far, workers have walked out of five Assembly Plants and 38 parts depots. House republicans face a weekend of weighing who should be the next speaker and now they have a new consideration. Former President Trump came out for ohio representative jim jordan overnight. In a social media post, mr. Trump wrote, he will be a great speaker of the house, and has my complete and total endorsement. At the white house today, President Biden was asked about jordan, who is currently leading an impeachment inquiry. Pres. Biden whomever the House Speaker is, im going to try to work with. They control half the, half of congress. And im going to try to work with them. Some people i imagine are gonna be easier to work with than others. But whomever the speaker is, ill try to work with. Amna so far, House Majority leader Steve Scalise is the only other declared contender for speaker. In syria, the death toll has risen to 89, with up to 277 wounded, after exploding drones struck a military graduation. Funeral processions began today in the central city of homs as three days of National Mourning began. Family members waited at a Military Hospital for bodies of additional victims. Search teams in the indian himalayas kept looking today for victims of catastrophic flooding that claimed at least 42 lives. It happened on wednesday when a lake in the northeastern sikkim region broke its banks and poured into the valleys below. Cliffside roads have crumbled from the resulting landslides, and entire buses are still trapped beneath several feet of mud. Survivors say they had little warning. Lepcha we just heard the loud noise of the river. The sound of the river was like a loud explosion. It felt like an earthquake, there were tremors and the ground was shaking. We all came out and there was no alarm. It just felt like a bomb blast. Amna at least 142 people are still missing in the wake of the disaster. Russian missile fire struck northeastern ukraine again today, killing a 10yearold boy and his grandmother. The attacks hit an apartment complex in kharkiv, a day after one of the deadliest incidents in months. The 52 civilians killed in thursdays assault were mourned today in the village of hroza. Theyd been attending a wake for a fallen soldier when a missile struck. And, on wall street stocks rallied after todays jobs report showed wage hikes are slowing, which could help curb inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 288 points nearly 1 percent to close at 33,407. The nasdaq rose 1. 6 percent. The s p 500 was up 1. 2 percent. Still to come on the newshour. The future of mauis fragile economy after deadly wildfires. Journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate maria ressa discusses the future of Artificial Intelligence. David brooks and ruth marcus weigh in on the weeks political headlines. Plus much more. 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. Amna the Biden Administration is taking fire for a recent move to expedite the construction of a stretch of wall along the southern border. Laura baron lopez has more. Laura President Biden says the money for a wall along a portion of the border was appropriated during the trump administration, and that his hands are tied. Pres. Biden well, i was told i had no choice. Congress passes legislation to build something, i cannot say i dont like it and we wont do it. Laura the move is sparking outcry from some immigration advocates and others who point to bidens 2020 campaign promise. Pres. Biden there will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration. Laura secretary of Homeland SecurityAlejandro Mayorkas tried to clarify the administrations position yesterday. Sec. Mayorkas there is no new Administration Policy with respect to the border wall. Laura joining us to discus is Washington Post reporter nick mirrof. Thanks so much. Newshour spoke to someone from the National Border patrol council, a union that represents border agents, and we asked about the construction of this section of the wall. Its a knee jerk reaction and right now theyre doing it a little bit too late. Weve had millions of individuals that have come across. The administration has to realize, hey, look, we were wrong. Whether they want to come out and say they were wrong or not. I think them just openly saying were going to Start Building more wall, i think that alone proves that they were wrong. Laura the president said he doesnt believe a border wall works, but the data tends to suggest it doesnt necessarily serve as a deterrent, so what is the purpose of construction of even a section of wall . Nick what was significant about the federal registered notice yesterday is two things, one, they were waiving more than two dozen laws, including the endangered species act, clean water act and other environmental protections, but they refer to the barrier is an urgent necessity to stop illegal entries in that section of south texas. Weve never seen the Administration Talk about the barrier that way. If anything, what weve seen is what the president said, the idea that these very years dont work. Right there we saw a glaring contradiction in the Administration Position on these barriers. Laura im glad you mention the environmental aspect because we also spoke to the southwest conservation advocate, who was frustrated about this border barrier being constructed. Here is what they had to say. There is no environmentally friendly border wall. These walls will fragment wildlife habitat. They will stop wildlife migrations. They will cut animals off from their main source of drinking water, which, of course, is the rio grande. And there is no way to do this environmental consciously. Perhaps whats even more concerning is that the administration has waived our nations most important environmental laws, not just to build these walls, but to rush their construction. Laura were the president s hands tied as he suggested today or was it a choice as the advocate pointed out . Nick he is this money was appropriated by congress to build barriers in these areas. However, since when has the fear of a lawsuit ever stopped this administration from Going Forward with the immigration policies it wants to pursue . This administration is facing a number of lawsuits over its border and immigration policies in many different places. Really it is the decision to waive the environmental laws and other protections to expedite barrier construction that is a break from the past and has raised questions about whether or not the Biden Administration is taking a new policy approach with regard to the border wall. Laura President Biden also facing incoming from jb pritzker, a trusted ally, 2024 campaign pure he confronted the administration on this. There are other things the federal government can do other than sending us money that they have not yet done. Laura he also said the situation is untenable. You recently reported on the conditions in cities like chicago. What are the conditions for the migrants that are there, and being bused, many of them, by rid state governors . Nick the strains on cities like new york and chicago, denver and others, have become more and more apparent. Simply too many people arriving too fast. Whats different about this current wave of newcomers to the United States, many of whom are fleeing terrible conditions in their home countries, one group in particular, venezuelan migrants, are coming in large numbers to new york in particular and venezuelans coming to the United States dont tend to have the same family and friend support networks as previous waves of migrants and that makes them in some ways more dependent on City Services and particularly on shelter. In new york, the shelter laws obligate the city to make sure their our beds are beds for the newcomers. Its putting a strain on the mayor. We are seeing this in many other states and thats why many of these democratic mayors are calling on the federal government and the biden and in its ration to do more to support them and reduce the number of people, or at least the pace at which they are arriving across the border. Laura yesterday the president also resumed removal flights of venezuelan nationals who cross the border unlawfully. Why are they making this change now on how many people could be affected . Nick this is in part to address the pressure they are getting they will resume deportation flights from venezuela. The timing is curious, just two weeks after the Biden Administration designated venezuelans for a form of temporary legal status. That protection extends to nearly 500,000 venezuelans who arrived before july 31. These new deportation flights are going to be oriented toward venezuelans who cross the border illegally, starting after august 1, and who dont qualify for some kind of humanitarian protection in the United States. This is an effort by the Biden Administration to put more consequences, as they would say, into the Immigration Enforcement system, and try to steer venezuelans back to the expanded legal opportunities they have opened up for venezuelans, cubans and other nationalities over the last year or so. Laura nick, thank you. Amna today, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to one of irans most prominent human rights activists. Nargis mohammedi is in detention in irans notorious evin prison, for spreading antistate propaganda. But as Nick Schifrin reports, iranian efforts to silence her, have only made her voice louder. Nick the young iranians who have protested their governments stand on the shoulders of 51yearold narges mohammedi. She protested when few were willing, created civil rights organizations when few existed, hoping one day to create a democratic iran, as she said on her 50th birthday april before returning