>> good evening. i'm amna navaz. >> and i am geoff bennett. geoff: israel launches a new round of attacks on iran, and iran retaliates, renewing their regional war and threatening to upend the trump administration's diplomatic efforts in the region. amna: washington, d.c. prepares to host president trump's military parade, costing millions and sparking protests nationwide. geoff: in the white house

accuses mexico -- and the white house accuses mexico of stealing water from texas farmers in one of the country's most important agricultural regions. >> the u.s. population has increased by three times since 1940 and mexico by seven times. so you just have a ton of users, less consistent input of water, which makes it very contentious. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by friends of the news hour, including jams and nancy build mary and the robert and virginia schiller foundation, the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting

institutions to promote a better world. >> the charles f kettering foundation, working to advance inclusive democracies. learn more at kettering.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. nd friends of the news hour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> welcome to the news tonight, hour. two longtime adversaries in the middle east are at war. massive explosions from an onslaught of iranian missiles have rocked israel's largest cities, including tel aviv.

>> the u.s. says it's helping to intercept those missiles, which are retaliation for preemptive israeli strikes that killed top military officers and targeted iran's nuclear facilities late last night and into today. that includes a strike on an aboveground facility that led to chemical and radiation contamination according to the u.n. nuclear watchdog agency. both israel's brazen attack, and iran's unprecedented response, have world leaders concerned that the fighting will only escalate. as night fell in tel aviv, the protective iron dome system worked to intercept incoming iranian missiles. hundreds, according to iran's state run new jake >> -- run news agency, launched in revenge. the damage devastating and unlike any israel had seen in years. last night, the sky above to ron glowed red and buildings below were set ablaze as israel

carried out a punishing wave of what it called preemptive strikes on military leaders, nuclear facilities, and nuclear scientists in iran, part of an assault prime minister benjamin netanyahu said was years in the to prevent a nuclear-armed iran making to prevent a nuclear-armed iran -- iran. >> israel launched operation rising lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the iranian threat to israel's very survival. this operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat. amna: israeli strikes last night and today had multiple sites across the country. among them, nuclear targets, several of iran's main enrichment facilities at natanz and fordo.

ballistic missile sites at shiraz and kermansha were also hit. other strikes took out key leaders, including mohammad bagheri -- the military's commander in chief and general hossein salami -- chief of the powerful islamic revolutionary guard corps. tehran deployed a swarm of more then 100 drones overnight, which the idf says it shot down, and iran's supreme leader warned of severe punishment, a message echoed by iranian president . >> the iranian nation and its officials will not remain silent in the face of this crime. the islamic republic of iran's legitimate and powerful response will make the enemy regret its foolish actions. >> the u.s. response to the strikes evolved over the hours. the secretary of state said israel took unilateral action against iran. we are not involved in strikes against iran. but this morning, president trump told multiple reporters the u.s. knew an israeli attack was coming, warning in one interview that there is more to come. and in another, saying that iran "should now come to the table to make a deal before it is too late."

in 2018, during trump's first term, he pulled out of the 2015 obama-era nuclear deal, that severely restrained iran's nuclear fuel enrichment and stockpiles. in recent months, the trump white house -- led by envoy steve witkoff -- restarted that effort, holding multiple rounds of talks with iran to restrict their nuclear program today, after huddling with national security staff in the situation room, the president told axios “maybe now they will negotiate seriously." a sixth round of talks was scheduled for this sunday in oman. u.s. forces in the meantime our pivoting and preparation, repositioning military resources in the middle east, including ships and jets, and ramping up security at regional bases, bracing for what comes next as two old adversaries begin a new war. for more on the israel's goals and what comes next, we're joined by the israeli ambassador to the u.s., yechiel leiter.

welcome to the news hour. thank you for joining us. >> good to be with you. amna: i want to ask you about the latest we are seeing, the extraordinary missile attacks unfolding over tel aviv what can you tell us about the latest on the ground and what kind of damage has been inflicted so far in israel. >> we know at present there are 35 people injured outside tel aviv, two critically. we are praying for their survival. iran has a large array of ballistic missiles. they fired them in the past. these are huge missiles. > they say the military is

helping to intercept some of those iranian missiles. are you expecting u.s. forces to participate more deeply than that when it comes to defending israel? is that something president netanyahu and trump spoke about today? >> the u.s. has had our back both in april and october. there are antiaircraft missiles that have been sent in the middle east to help support our iron dome system. this is a barrage of dozens of missiles all at the same time and it means a support system and we are very thankful for the defensive posture the u.s. has taken now for a third time and helping these missiles from exacting dramatic damage on our civilian population. it's important to emphasize, when we attacked yesterday, we focused on the military commanders and the scientists

developing nuclear weapons. iran has shot ballistic missiles into the civilian population centers with the hope of injuring and killing scores of innocent people. amna: is there any conversation that's been had about the u.s. or u.s. forces participating more deeply than intercepting missiles? >> we have begun this operation with the intention of eliminating iran's nuclear enrichment facilities. we are intent on completing this. we have not asked for american involvement, only for help with protecting our civilian population. and we are committed to seeing this process through until the

threat of nuclear annihilation by iran is removed. amna: and what can you tell us about the damage israel has been able to inflict on iran so far? has their nuclear program been destroyed, severely degraded? what is your assessment. amna: it's been severely degraded but we have a ways to go. this is not something that can be done in a few hours. the top brass of the irgc, the terror sponsoring leadership to the army, has pretty much been eliminated. many of the top brass of the army responsible for the nuclear weaponization program has been eliminated. the site where uranium is enriched to be turned into nuclear weapons has been severely damaged. we are not quite sure that it's been eliminated yet but that needs to be determined over the next few hours. the conversion center for fuel in order to turn fuel into material that can be used from that used for weaponization has been compromised. we have also compromised the ground to air missile batteries that the iranian regime uses to

shoot into israel. we have compromised them dramatically but not quite eliminated them. so this is an operation that will take several days and we are committed to seeing it through we have to erase this threat to our existence. this is not a border dispute. it is a threat to our existence. they make no secret about it. it is a printed plan and which calls for the destruction of the state of israel is called for. for us it is existential. amna: we saw prime minister netanyahu says part of the goal is preventing iran from becoming nuclear armed but he spoke directly to the iranian people saying this is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard. his regime change in iran part of the goal? amb. leiter: it is not part of our goal. if it facilitates the goal of

the iranian people that is fine but regimes have to be determined by the people. that is how the democratic process works. so we don't focus on the regime change. we want the annihilation is to ideology of the regime to change. if the iranian people rise up and change their regime that is for them to decide, not for us. >> there were ongoing talks between the u.s. and iran to restrict their nuclear program when israel struck iran. there was another round sunday. do you want to see those talks move forward and are you confident they could reach a deal? >> we would like to see them move forward but we are not confident they will come around to a deal. we were skeptical from the outset. we encourage the talks because it's important to pursue a path of negotiation rather than a military one but the fact is the iranians are ideologically and

theologically committed to destroying israel and they have no intention whatsoever of throwing back their nuclear program, nuclear weaponization program. the fact of the matter is that the president gave the iranians 60 days. yesterday was the 61st day. the iaea issued a scathing report, this is not an israeli report, which basically indicted the iranian regime for violations and for the development of a nuclear weapons program. and we see -- this is the most important point -- that they are racing forward to achieve the weaponization of enriched uranium. that means a nuclear bomb. that changes the world. and for us it changes the entire equation because it endangers our very existence and we cannot live with that. amna: that is the israeli

ambassador to the united states joining us tonight. thank you for your time. we appreciate it. amb. leiter: thank you. good evening. geoff: and for a wider perspective, we turn now to wendy sherman who was the lead negotiator for nuclear agreement with iran during the obama administration. she served as u.s. deputy secretary of state during the biden administration and is currently a senior fellow at harvard's kennedy school of government. and vali nasr is a professor of international affairs and middle east studies at the johns hopkins university school of advanced international studies, and the author of “iran's grand strategy: a political history. -- history." is this attack in your view

aligned with u.s. interests or does it introduce new and unpredictable risks for u.s. forces and regional stability. ms. sherman: it certainly introduces a lot of risk for all of the military personnel, some 40,000 in the region, and the hundreds of thousands of americans in israel as well as in the wider region. there is no question that all of us don't want iran to have a nuclear weapon. that was the whole reason president obama asked secretary clinton, secretary kerry and myself to work hard to get a joint comprehensive plan of action with iran to put some strength on its nuclear program. donald trump in his first term as president pulled out of that deal. i don't think we would be where we are today if that hadn't happened. i think now we risk the potential for a much wider war. we have seen now a strike by israel, retaliation by iran. we heard from the ambassador that this will go on for some time.

i expect tit for tat. and we don't know who will get hurt in the process. i am certainly hoping that all who are injured make it through. geoff: and you heard that israel's goal was to eliminate iran's enrichment facilities. regime change was not objective. >> it's come out of the october 7. t wants to press the advantage to definitively change the balance of power. the president of israel has

repeatedly say they would like that to -- it has gone beyond missile sites. and also had civilian targets. srael wants to degrade the institutional basis of the state . eoff: what are the consequences of the region being on this cycle of repeated military action? ms. sherman: it's quite concerning. israel has said today because iran targeted civilians in israel that they have crossed a redline and israel will now go after economic infrastructure. that is likely to include the

oil and oil refineries inside of iran. we saw saudi arabia come out with a statement in support of iran. i think they understand the price of oil is about to go way up if in fact this occurs. and so i think we are seeing the potential for destabilization in the region, not the stability that they have all been seeking. president trump said that he would solve ukraine, gaza, get the hostages back, and get a deal with iran. none of that has happened. all this is hard work and cannot be done in a day. for all steven witkoff has tried, it cannot all be done by one human being. geoff: israel's massive air strike several senior commanders, including the head of its revolutionary guard. what does that level of mean for

the decapitation of the level of iran's ability to respond in the stability of the regime itself? prof. nasr: i don't think the stability of the regime is at risk yet unless a lot more happens but it is contingent at the top. the issue is not just the killing of these leaders but also the damage that's been done to the country's infrastructure, nuclear missile infrastructure. that matters more. also, a lot of civilians have died in tehran and other cities as well. at least 100 iranians were killed, hit by missiles to assassinate these leaders. i think that line wendy mentioned has already been crossed by both sides and that

puts this conflict in a very different place but i don't see it stopping and i don't see iran being able to go to the table, except surrender. it seems compelled that it has to retaliate and that will invite additional richly asian and, to wendy's point that additional retaliation -- invite additional retaliation and, to wendy's point, now president trump has the war he says he did not want. geoff: if the regime in iran survives, do you expect it will try to rebuild its nuclear program? can you imagine any scenario in which iran might abandon that ambition? prof. nasr: i do not see it, particularly now. the nuclear program was up for negotiation exchange for sanctions relief. now they have a powerful military adversary armed and supported by the west that is capable and willing to act at will, and if you are going to deter against it or confront it,

the conventional military capabilities iran has will not do it, so there's a great temptation in iran to resort to nuclear deterrence against israel. is not going to be easy for them but i think the argument to do that is much stronger now. geoff: we had a teff -- we had a technical issue with wendy sherman's shot coming into the newsroom. what would it take to rebuild any path to diplomacy between the u.s. and iran? is that door closed for the foreseeable future? rof. nasr: i think it is closed because they view president trump now of being duplicitous. he engaged in negotiations but was not serious about it. the u.s. was not prepared to discuss anything ofsubstance. he said war might be possible if the talks fail but he gave the green light to israeli action. even before the talks failed, before the last round of negotiation was supposed to happen.

it looks to iranians as if he's using the attacks as part of negotiation and that means it is difficult for them to go back to the table. president trump wants iran to surrender, not sign a deal and they are not ready to surrender. maybe down the road but not now. geoff: our thanks to you and wendy sherman. we appreciate it. prof. nasr: thank you. geoff: turning out to the days other headlines. more demonstrations against ice deportations are expected in a number of cities tonight. but many protesters are saving their energy for a day of national protests against president trump tomorrow. in california, where protests first erupted about a week ago, the presence of the marines and the national guard on the streets has been a flashpoint. now there are questions about -- reuters reported the marines

carried out the first attention of a civilian this afternoon outside a federal building they are protecting. there are questions also about whether courts will allow the garden -- the guard and marines to remain a second week. lisa desjardins has our report. lisa: in a rare sight, marines on the streets of a u.s. city after a third nine of curfews interests. local media reported dozens arrested, a figure notably lower than previous nights, and our cities are seeing reactions. in chicago yesterday, hundreds marched down the iconic michigan avenue. > protests against i.c.e. and the immigration crackdown also arose in san antonio, spokane and other cities. in newark, tunneled outside a key i.c.e. detention facility.

protesters attempted to block officers at the gate. at that location, four detainees escape yesterday. attorneys say detainees complain about conditions, including a lack of food, for nearly day. andy cham says the trump administration mishandled this. >> they are talking about what action they are taking. this is the perfect example of the shot events of the plan. this is a symbol for the brokenness of the trump administration plan when it comes to immigration. lisa: in california, legal of people over the national guard. a federal judge ruled that control must be returned to governor gavin newsom, but hours later, an appellate court temporarily restored the president's deployment pending a

tuesday hearing. president trump celebrated the appeals ruling on truth social. "if i didn't send the military to los angeles, that city would be burning to the ground right now." the initial ruling from judge charles breyer held protests were far short of rebellion and from overstepped. governor newsom -- >> he is not a monarch, not aching, and he should stop acting like -- not a king, and he should stop acting like one. >> thousands of no king rallies are planned tomorrow, but not in washington, d.c. the city is preparing for tomorrow's military parade for the army's 250th birthday in trump's birthday. officials are preparing for counter demonstrators and weather. thunderstorms are forecast. >> a federal judge in massachusetts today block part of president trump's executive order aimed at overhauling elections. judge denise casper sided with democrats in finding that the constitution does not grant a president specific powers over voting. mr. trump signed an order in march that would have required proof of citizenship for federal elections. it also barred states from accepting mail-in ballots that arrived after election day.

today's decision comes after a federal judge in washington, d.c. also blocked the proof-of-citizenship requirement. the white house has defending the order, saying it supports "free, fair and honest elections." in tennessee, kilmar abrego garcia pleaded not guilty today to federal charges of human smuggling. it was the first time the construction worker and longtime maryland resident has appeared in the u.s. courtroom since he was mistakenly deported to el salvador in march. the trump administration brought him back to the u.s. last week to face criminal charges that stem from a 2022 traffic stop. > the people united will never be divided. geoff: abrego garcia's supporters called for his freedom outside the courthouse today. and at a nearby church, his wife, jennifer, described seeing her husband for the first time in three months. >> kilmar was taken on march 12 and it was not until like yesterday that i was able to visit him for the first time. i'm grateful for everyone who

has been fighting for this milestone in this fight to bring my husband back home with our children. geoff: meantime, a federal judge has sided with a trump administration's push to keep columbia university graduate mahmoud khalil in detention. that's despite a previous judge's order saying the pro-palestinian activist could no longer be held based on the administration's initial argument that he is a threat to u.s. foreign policy. the government now says khalil is being held on other grounds, claiming that he lied on his green card application. the head of the smithsonian portrait gallery is stepping down two weeks after president trump said on social media that he had fired her. kim sajet's departure was announced in a memo to staff, which was provided to the newshour. in it she is quoted as saying " this was not an easy decision but i believe that stepping aside is the best way to serve the institution i hold so deeply in my heart." her announcement comes just days

after the smithsonian made a public statement asserting its independence over personnel decisions. in india, investigators say they've recovered the flight data recorder from yesterday's air india crash the black box should provide clues as to why the london-bound boeing 787 fell from the sky just minutes after takeoff. 241 people died on board as did several others at a medical college where the plane came down. today, scenes of grief as families waited for dna tests to identify the bodies of their loved ones. at the crash site, india's prime minister toward the wreckage and then met the sole surviving passenger at a nearby hospital. on indian tv today, the 38-year-old described his miraculous escape. >> everything happened in front of my eyes. i don't know how i survived. for some time i thought i was also going to die. but when i opened my eyes, i

realised i was alive and i tried to unbuckle myself from the seat and escape from where i could. geoff: indian officials say they've started their investigation of the crash with what they are calling full force. they will be joined by u.s. officials from the ntsb, the faa and boeing. on wall street today, stocks tumbled amid worries about the increasing tensions in the middle east. the dow jones industrial average dropped nearly 800 points on the day. the nasdaq fell more than 250 points. the s&p 500 also ended the week sharply lower. still to come, washington, d.c. prepares for president trump's military parade, jonathan capehart and ramesh ponnuru weigh in on the week's political headlines, and the ongoing feud between the u.s. and mexico over texas water rights. >> this is the pbs news hour from the david in room --

the david rubenstein studio in washington and at asu. geoff: since his first term in office, president trump has envisioned a grand military parade, and on saturday will become a reality. the occasion, the u.s. army's 250th birthday, which happens to coincide with president trump's own birthday. the multi-million-dollar spectacle promises a striking display of american military might, but the event has also drawn scrutiny, with questions swirling about its cost and the political message it sends. dan lamothe covers the u.s. military and the pentagon for the washington post. he is getting this military parade. how did this vision for a bastille day style parade result in this event? mr. lamothe: i think the most

significant piece here in terms of how we got to following through and doing it is that the army approached the white house early in this administration looking to do some big national event to celebrate 250 years of the army. that seems to have grown into what we are looking at, which very much rhymes with what they were trying to do in the first to administration, where the parade short of that sort of short circuit -- parade sort of short-circuited. geoff: there are estimates that place the parade cost between 25 and $45 million including money to repack -- to repair the streets given the weight of the armored vehicles. it was footing the bill? mr. lamothe: the army for the most part. this comes out of operations and maintenance, things that could have been put toward training. whether they make that money back later is a question. geoff: how is the pentagon

responding to concerns that the military is being politicized? there are people who have compared this to authoritarian spectacles of the type you see in china and north korea? >> the army is trying to keep their head down and celebrate this -- and treat this as a celebration of history. but there are a lot of things going on right now, including the national guard in los angeles, president trump's visit to fort bragg, we had him not only making political commentary in front of soldiers but some of them actually laughing and booing on camera. that is outside the bounds of what soldiers are supposed to do in uniform and the army is having to take that on the chin and figure out how they will manage that. amna: based on your reporting, how do you see all of this coming together? what is a broader message and impact? mr. lamothe: i think the message is that we are looking at a very rare event. the last military parade we have -- we had was after the gulf war. it is rare to have something of

this size and scope in washington. we will be watching for not just what rolls down the street but what happens on the margins. what does the president say? what does the brass have to sort of standby and watch and at what point did they need to weigh in or not? trying to keep this a nonpartisan tradition. geoff: what should we expect to see tomorrow? mr. lamothe: it's huge. dozens of tanks, helicopters, fighting vehicles, combat vehicles, thousands of soldiers in uniform. you know, this is something that will be quite the spectacle. geoff: thank you for being here. mr. lamothe: thank you. amna: israel's attack on iran and iran's response has washington and the rest of the world holding its breath for an all out war between the two regional powers. to discuss that and more we turn to the analysis of capehart and ponnuru.

that is jonathan capehart, associate editor for "the washington post," and ramesh ponnuru, editor for "the national review." david brooks is away this evening. great to see you both. let's start overseas. this moment in time where we saw these unprecedented strikes by israel on iran and we are seeing an extraordinary response and more broadly a region that has been getting more and stable over the last several months. how are you looking at that? jonathan: i am looking at that with great trepidation. basically since october 7, the region has been roiling, and at the center of it is prime minister netanyahu, who understandably is going after hamas in gaza but an opening other fronts within the middle east, and this attack on iran, it just strikes me that he is

doing things that i am not sure the president of the united states is totally bought in. i am not sure whether he's listening to american officials, who at least at one point the president was pleading, hey, don't do anything, iran, come to the table, and then switching once the attack started saying i am all for it, but the big thing is between what netanyahu has done with iran coupled with what prime minister -- president zelenskyy of ukraine did in terms of not cluing in the u.s. in a big operation that they did inside russia, makes me wonder where is the united states in all of this? leave trump out. have world leaders decided to just not think about the united states, not involve the united states, simply because of who is in the oval office?

and they were negotiating right now a new iran nuclear deal that, ramesh, maybe you can tell me who was at the table with the trump administration in these negotiations? when president obama was doing it was called the p5 plus one. those are the allies. where are the allies in all of this? amna: to that point, these are conflicts jonathan has listed that president trump said he would end on day one. they have gotten worse and we are opening up a new friend now in this war. how do you look at president trump's involvement and u.s. influence in the world right now? ramesh: trump has kept his options open. today, trump has been more or less taking credit for the israeli strikes last night. marco rubio sycamore ridge -- marco rubio took a more measured tone, distancing the u.s. from israel's actions. i strongly suspect that if these actions by israel had backfired in a big way that the

administration would have said we tried to warn you, we said we wanted peace and this is not our doing but i think israel has a strong sense of itself having to take care of itself for at least two decades now. they have been warning about a nuclear iran and i think what happened after october 7 was that israel has decided to make a strategic revolution in the region that's been largely successful. one of the reasons i think we are seeing that is that iran is at a weak point and there is no better time to make the strike as a result and of course you have the nuclear threat with the iaea saying enrichment has been accelerating by iran. put those things together and i think that this is something netanyahu wanted to do for a long time and they wanted to do it. amna: is donald trump leaning into the moment now, taking

advantage of what's clearly been is really -- ben israel reshaping the region? maybe even getting iran to the negotiating table? jonathan: i don't know. the guy, yes, he keeps his options open, but is that the way to make policy in a region that is roiling right now, where you have a president of the united states who hedges his bets so much so that he can be on the side of the winter? s defined by him? that is not a way to achieve peace or bring stability to a region that desperately needs it. i go back to what i was saying before. the u.s. used to be the stabilizing influence at the negotiating table and certainly within the region and they are now as much a wildcard as the prime minister.

it seems prime minister nine yahoo! is the one who is rational, the person with a clear agenda and goal and they have a president who will bend it to ever -- to whoever they think is on the good side. ramesh: important to point out that israel has often been independent of the u.s.. the strike is not something they cord needed with the reagan administration. so there's plenty of precedent for israel acting in its own interests. amna: outside of that, trump's efforts toward diplomacy, and now there's a new front, have those failed. >> i don't know how many people ever took those seriously. trump did repeatedly say that he was going to end ukraine in one day as though to get that message across and since he has taken office he said that was

more metaphorical. amna: we will file -- follow that as it plays out. in the u.s., we are seeing the trump administration's response to those protests in los angeles . we saw him send in federal troops to california against governor newsom's wishes. we know he's fighting in court to keep them there. we are also seeing them and more cities. what does this say about the way the president views the use of federal troops in the military and this priority of mass deportation? >> the priority of mass deportations was crystal clear during his campaign. so crystal clear that during the convention in milwaukee they handed out signs to all the convention goers >>-, mass deportations. so anyone who is surprised

should not be. he told us he was going to do this and he is. we are at a turning point this weekend with what we have seen in the run-up to tomorrow's parade and with what is happening in los angeles. more people's hair should be on fire realityone with less water. , not just because of the national guard troops in los angeles without working with or permission by the governor which bylaw should have been done but calling up of marines. the u.s. military on american streets is a line that to me anyway is one that should not have been crossed and the president putting out this order that is not specific to los

angeles or any city but the language is so broad that you could tuck it into a giant l.l. bean totebag can pull out where do i need to send troops? this should not be in the united states. and yet you have democrats screaming about it and citizens screaming about it but where are republicans? i am old enough to remember republicans who would have seen that kind of action as being over the line and yet we are hearing nothing from them. >> for example, kristi noem, who just last year was saying his deployment of the national guard would be an assault on states rights. we are not hearing those voices with respect to the broadness of that order. it is also not tied to protests turning violent potentially. it says anywhere dhs enforcement actions are being enacted.

ut it's also part of another pattern in this administration to accomplish as little as possible in the most disruptive and polarizing way possible. we have seen that with d.o.g.e. and on the immigration side there are other ways you can be enforcing the immigration laws. you could be setting up a system where employers have to check the legal status of new hires and require them to do it. we can work with congress to get that kind of lob pass. it is the kind of thing policy experts have talked about for a long time, including some democrats. that is not what we are talking about. we are talking about having the most backlash likely action to create the political conflict. jonathan: in creating the conflict, because i interviewed the minnesota state attorney general in the anniversary of the murder of george floyd, and he brought up

on his own the rumor that the president was going to pardon derek chauvin. and the attorney general says that the president might do that as a distraction to larger goals and one of the larger goals the attorney general mentioned that's always been in the back of my mind is to create the conditions that would allow the president to invoke the insurrection act. once the president invokes the insurrection act, all sorts of powers are handed to the president , you know, suspending elections and other things that once you open that box, and in particular you open that box with this president and the administration and the yes-people they have around him -- he has around him, there's no going back. that's one of the reasons i am so concerned about what we are about to see tomorrow.

amna: do you share that concern? you have about 30 seconds. ramesh: there are lots of things to be concerned about but one of the reasons trump is maybe getting away with this even though people disapprove of the methods, they don't think the democrats are serious about enforcing the immigration laws and they do think they need to be enforced. amna: a lot more to talk about here. thank you both so much for being here. smart conversation. appreciate you both. eoff: in a social media post earlier this year, president trump threatened tariffs and sanctions against mexico, claiming the country violated a 1944 treaty and is stealing water from texas farmers. it's part of a long-running dispute over shared water in the rio grande river -- a dispute that scientists say is made worse by higher temperatures, extreme weather, and a greater demand for water. stephanie sy reports from texas for our series on the impact of climate change, tipping point. stephanie: from texas state

highway 107 in santa rosa, the rio grande valley sugar mill strikes an imposing figure. we're in the sugar warehouse. sugar would fill this entire warehouse as it's being processed. but it's sat empty since the mill closed its doors last year. we started dismantling it immediately. tudor uhlhorn is a former sugarcane grower and the mill's last chairman of the board. i don't come out here like i used to with pride that i'm a sugar grower. i come out and it's sad to see that this whole industry is gone now. it is a reflection of nobody cares about us in the rio grande valley the closure of texas' last sugar mill, which once employed 500 people and processed about 160-thousand tons of raw sugar annually, coincided with years of increasing water scarcity in the region

the rio grande valley is one of the few places in the u.s. where sugarcane will grow, but it takes a lot of water. farmers are plowing out cane, because no one has any irrigation water we just got completely choked off by mexico's failure to deliver the water. that water is owed to farmers here in the rio grande valley as part of a more than 80 year-old treaty, that requires mexico to share some of the water that winds through it land. signed in 1944, the treaty establishes that the u.s. will release a minimum of nearly 500 billion gallons of water from the colorado river to mexico annually, providing water for agriculture in the mexicali valley and drinking water for large cities like tijuana. in return, mexico will release a minimum of 114 billion gallons of water from the rio conchos and other tributaries to the rio

grande annually, providing water for farmers and residents in the rio grande valley. the treaty stipulates that any water debt should carry over to the next five-year cycle in times of extraordinary drought, but critics say drought is not the only reason mexico hasn't upheld its end of the bargain. >> mexico is capturing the water that used to flow freely into the rio grande. stephanie: sonny hinojosa is a former water district general manager in hidalgo county, texas. >> since the treaty was signed in 1944, these other eight additional reservoirs were constructed. stephanie: he says mexico's construction of additional reservoirs has allowed them to keep more of the water before it flows to texas. they've fallen short of their obligations to the u.s. five times since the 1990's. even when a tropical storm filled mexico's reservoirs with over 700 billion gallons of water in 2022. >> mexico didn't release any of that water to comply with the

terms of the treaty for the next couple of years. stephanie: the current five-year delivery cycle ends in october, but so far, mexico has released less than 40% of what it owes. >> our farmers will once again be faced with shortages. they either don't plant or they plant reduced acreage. and that's just the way it is. stephanie: across the southern border, the dependence on the rio grande's main tributary, the rio conchos, has led to desperation. drought has brought this community in the state of chihuahua out to a lakeside mass-- they pray for rain. >> the situation is very critical. so we need to ask god to send us the rain. that's the only solution we have for everything. stephanie: for 30 years, rafael betance has been measuring the la boquilla dam, which stores water from the rio conchos. he says the terms of the 80-year-old treaty are impossible to fulfill these days.

>> the commitments they made were when there were surpluses of the dams, when it spilled over, when it rained a lot right now, where do we give them water from? it hasn't rained for two or three years. that's the problem. stephanie: the scarcity of water isn't merely due to a lack of rain: farms in the region have significantly expanded their acreage in the last few years and aging irrigation infrastructure means farmers there are wasting water. miles from the dam, farmer fidel hidalgo tarano: waters his 5-acre walnut grove for the first time in a month and a half, by flooding the field, one of the least efficient irrigation techniques. >> think that all of us, those of us who farm, are aware that we are wasting a lot of water. if there were another watering system, a sprinkler irrigation -- it takes a lot of money and it's expensive. stephanie: chihuahua is a major producer of walnuts, a water intensive crop that demands even

more irrigation on hotter, drier days. >> it has gotten hotter the -- gotten hotter. the annual temperature has changed, increased by almost three degrees. the average annual number of days over 100 has increased fivefold since 1950. stephanie: alex racelis is an environmental scientist at the university of texas rio grande valley. he says the impacts of climate change -- higher temperatures, coupled with less predictable rains -- have strained water resources, as has an increase in demand >> the u.s. population has increased by three times since 1940 and mexico by seven times. so you just have a ton of users, less consistent input of water, which makes it very contentious. stephanie: racelis works directly with local farmers in the rio grande valley to adapt to a new climate reality, one with less water. >> when you look at climate change predictions where it's only predicted to get hotter and the periods of drought are predicted to get even more prolonged and you combine that

with the fact that the population is expected to increase and even double by -- increase, it's pretty grim. >> at hub of prosperity, a small, off-campus farm operated by the university of texas rio grande valley, he demonstrates water-efficient farming techniques, and promotes a variety of vegetables that can grow in a hotter climate. >> farmers are very resilient. they are very innovative. they're coming up with their own techniques that we're helping them explore. >> that across the street was an orchard. we were starting to hit that uncertainty of water. stephanie: for most of his life, dale murden has been a citrus grower. he's also president of texas citrus mutual, representing hundreds of other farmers in the state. >> this is really not what you want a grove to look like. stephanie: the rough shape of this grapefruit grove illustrates the difficult choices growers are having to make in an era of scarcity. >> this grove should have already been watered a couple of times this year. we probably should have had two, at least two waterings more on

this than it has, but that's where we're at with limited supply of water or no water. and so you kind of tend to let things go like weed control. stephanie: murden watched as the sugarcane industry in the rio grande valley folded, wondering if citrus was next. >> what does the future hold? if i can't even count on my neighbor giving me the annual payment, like we do on the colorado side, man, it renders me really, really incapable of the ability to plan for long range. stephanie: calls from texas lawmakers to force mexico to deliver water more reliably have been echoed by the president. in april, trump raised the prospect of escalating tariffs and possible sanctions "until mexico honors the treaty." in response, mexican president claudia sheinbaum acknowledged her country's shortcomings, and released roughly 18 billion gallons of water. >> it's definitely on this administration's radar for whatever reason. there's chips in every trade

negotiation. if i'm being used as a chip, so be it. at least we're getting the attention. stephanie: but the attention may be too little too late -- that's certainly the case for texas' sugar cane industry, the first, but likely not the last casualty , of this water battle. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in the rio grande valley. amna: remember, there's a lot more online, including an explainer on the $1000 accounts that would be started for newborn babies under the congressional budget bill. that's it pbs.org/ newshour. geoff: and be sure to tune into washington week with the atlantic later tonight right here on pbs. the panel discusses israel and iran's escalating war. amna: and watch pbs news weekend for coverage of the nationwide

protests planned on the same day as president trump's military parade. and that is the newshour. i'm amna nawaz geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. for all of us here at the pbs news hour, thank you for spending part of your evening with us and have a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour, including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. >>a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions and the way you enrich your community. life well planned. >> the john s and james all-night foundation, fostering

informed and engaged communities. more at -- at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. nd friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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hello, everyone. welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. in ukraine, civilian casualties found. i am joined to discuss the human toll of newton's work. concern in washington over reports israel is preparing to strike iran's nuclear facilities.