AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "News Hour" tonight: The U.S. Supreme Court mistakenly posts a draft opinion, signaling it may soon rule emergency abortions in Idaho are legal for now.

AMNA NAWAZ: As the trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich begins, we take a look at what his detention says about Russia today.

GEOFF BENNETT: And Judy Woodruff on the growing political divide within some Christian communities as religious affiliation declines.

RYAN BURGE, Eastern Illinois University: If you look at data in trusted institutions, we don't trust anything today as much as we trusted 40 years ago, whether it be banks or unions or the media or religion.

(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."

The U.S. Supreme Court handed down two opinions today, but has left some of the most politically fraught cases for the final few days of its term.

One of those left undecided for now is focused on abortion and the future of a strict ban in Idaho.

AMNA NAWAZ: We may have clues about how the justices will decide the case after a document was mistakenly posted to the court Web site before being removed.

The copy of the yet-to-be-finalized opinion suggests a 6-3 decision that would allow hospitals in the state to perform abortions to protect the life of the patient.

But it also leaves the heart of the case unresolved, as the court appears poised to say the plaintiffs lack standing.

John Yang is here now to explain how the mistake happened and what it could mean for the court.

So, John, let's start with that.

A document is posted briefly on the Web site and then removed.

What do we know about what happened?

JOHN YANG: Well, unlike the case that overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago, this does not appear to be a leak.

It appears to be a case of what they call fat thumbs.

Patricia McCabe, the court spokesperson, issued a statement saying: "The court's Publications Unit inadvertently and briefly uploaded a document to the court's Web site.

The court's opinion in these cases will be issued in due course."

AMNA NAWAZ: And it got a lot of attention, of course, because it is about abortion case in Idaho, a law banning essentially almost all abortions, imposing a penalty of up to five years in prison for doctors who perform them.

What did the documents say about the case?

JOHN YANG: Well, first of all, the caveat, we don't know if this is a final draft.

We don't know how many reiterations there may be before it's formally released.

But what Bloomberg posted says that the court is saying essentially, this case is not ready for us.

So we're sending it back.

We're going to reinstate the district court's injunction, blocking temporarily the Idaho law pending appeal.

And we're sending it back to that court for a trial, where they can hear evidence on both sides.

This is a -- it was a 6-3 decision.

The three most conservative justices, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch, all dissented.

And one of the liberal justices, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, had a little bit of a dissent.

She said she thought the court ought to go ahead and decide this now.

She wrote: "While this court dawdles and the country waits, pregnant people experiencing medical conditions remain in precarious position, as their doctors are kept in the dark about what the law requires."

We should note, this is the second time this month that the Supreme Court has avoided, sidestepped an abortion case.

Two weeks ago, they avoided a definitive decision the availability of mifepristone by saying that the plaintiffs in those cases did not have standing.

AMNA NAWAZ: So we should underscore here the ruling has not been issued here But does the document tell us how the case could be decided?

JOHN YANG: It's hard to tell.

The three liberal justices all sided with the government.

The Biden administration and said that the Idaho law should be overturned.

The three dissenters, the most conservative of the three justices, said, the Idaho law is just fine and ought to be allowed to stay.

We don't know about the other three justices, the chief justice, John Roberts, Neil -- I'm sorry -- Pat -- Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

Their positions aren't clear.

So they're the ones to watch when this case comes back to the Supreme Court, as it almost surely will.

AMNA NAWAZ: You will be watching and we will be following.

Thank you for adding clarity to a rather confusing day on the Supreme Court.

John Yang, good to see you.

JOHN YANG: Thanks.

GEOFF BENNETT: We start the day's other headlines with an unfolding situation in Bolivia, where the president says the country is facing an attempted coup.

Armored vehicles have rammed the doors of the government palace in the city of La Paz.

Tanks could be seen entering the city's main square and armed military police with riot shields marched the streets.

President Luis Arce took to social media posting a video of himself flanked by his ministers to call fork, in his words, democracy to be respected.

Bolivia has seen increasing protests in recent months over the nation's recent economic decline.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said today there's been significant progress in addressing the issue of U.S. weapons supplies to Israel.

His comments came as he wrapped up a visit to Washington.

Last week, Israel's prime minister frustrated allies after saying the Biden administration had been withholding arms shipments for months.

U.S. officials said they'd only held back one shipment.

Netanyahu also said he was committed to a U.S.-backed cease-fire deal after giving mixed messages about his stance.

And, today, Gallant affirmed that Israel fully supports it.

YOAV GALLANT, Israeli Defense Minister: We stand firmly behind the president's deal, which Israel has accepted and now Hamas must accept.

Al, bear the consequences.

We are committed to bringing the hostages home, with no exception.

GEOFF BENNETT: On the ground in Northern Gaza, ambulances arrive today at the site of an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp.

A hospital official says at least 13 people were killed in the attack.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is back in his home country of Australia.

He arrived hours after pleading guilty to obtaining and publishing U.S. military secrets.

Assange embraced his wife, Stella, who had long fought for his release.

His return closes out a 14-year legal battle, which included five years in a British prison.

The White House said today it was not involved in the deal that led to his release.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration over its ability to communicate with social media platforms.

In a 6-3 ruling, the justices rejected a challenge from two Republican states that would have prevented officials from contacting companies to remove posts seen to contain misinformation.

The White House welcomed the ruling, saying it helps the Biden administration "continue our important work with technology companies to protect the safety and security of the American people."

Devastation across the Midwest and Central Plains has come into clearer focus tonight as floodwaters start to recede.

The flood left behind collapsed streets and houses washed clear off their foundations.

A house that we showed you yesterday teetering on the edge of an eroding river bank in Minnesota fell into the rushing river overnight.

The family had been evacuated beforehand.

Parts of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota have been swamped by torrential rain.

Up to 18 inches of rain fell in some areas, hundreds of people were rescued, and at least two people died after driving in flooded areas.

Kenya's president said today he will not sign a controversial finance bill after protesters stormed the country's Parliament yesterday.

A human rights group says at least 22 people were killed in the violence.

Today, soldiers and police patrolled the streets of Nairobi as workers cleaned up debris left behind.

The unrest started as lawmakers passed a bill that would have raised taxes to pay off the country's debt.

Critics argued it would have added further pain to Kenyans already living in poverty.

In a televised address, President William Ruto acknowledged that the bill caused -- quote -- "widespread dissatisfaction" and he called for national unity.

WILLIAM RUTO, Kenyan President: And I am therefore proposing that, because we have gotten rid of the finance bill 2024, it is necessary for us to have a conversation as a nation going forward.

GEOFF BENNETT: The White House has condemned the violence and urged the Kenyan government today to -- quote -- "respect the rights of all its citizens."

The Episcopal Church elected Sean Rowe as its new spiritual and executive leader today.

The 49-year-old currently serves as Bishop of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania.

He will replace presiding Bishop Michael Curry, who was the first Black leader in the church's 239-year history.

Curry was an outspoken advocate of racial justice and LGBTQ+ equality.

He rose to global prominence in 2018 when he delivered a rousing sermon at the widely televised marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

And Wall Street posted minimal gains today, even as Amazon's market value topped $2 trillion for the first time.

The Dow Jones industrial average barely budged, adding just 15 points.

The Nasdaq performed a little better, adding 87 points.

The S&P 500 added modestly higher.

Still to come on the "News Hour": President Biden pardons thousands of veterans previously convicted under the U.S. military's former ban on gay sex; a look at how immigration is shaping up to be a key issue in November's election; and a new trial finds a twice-yearly injection gives total protection from HIV infection.

AMNA NAWAZ: For the first time since the Cold War, a journalist has gone on trial in Russia for espionage.

The Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich appeared in court today, accused of working on behalf of the CIA.

Nick Schifrin is here now with that story -- Nick.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Amna, the White House calls the trial a -- quote -- "sham" and the charges against Gershkovich fiction.

The U.S. classifies him as wrongfully detained, but he will now be tried on charges with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

In a Russian court 900 miles from Moscow, padlocked into a glass box, Evan Gershkovich managed today to flash a smile.

And yet the 32-year-old American journalist is a prisoner of Putin's penal system, where conviction rates are 99 percent.

Today's hearing lasted two hours and brought Gershkovich back to Yekaterinburg, where last March police arrested him on a reporting trip.

He is the first American reporter accused of espionage in nearly 30 years.

MIKAEL OZDOYEV, Russian Prosecutor (through translator): The investigation has established and documented that the American journalist on orders of the CIA collected secret information about the activities of a defense enterprise.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. and Wall Street Journal deny that, and today The Journal called the trial -- quote -- "shameful and illegitimate.

Evan is a journalist who is accredited by the Russian government, and journalism is not a crime."

But the U.S. believes Gershkovich's trial and anticipated conviction could help facilitate a prisoner swap, a possibility that Putin confirmed earlier this month to international journalists.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President (through translator): Such issues are not decided via mass media.

They prefer a discreet, calm and professional approach and dialogue between special services.

And they certainly should be decided only on the basis of reciprocity.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Americans believe that means two for two or one for one, as it went in 2022, WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for a notorious Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout.

Several Americans remain in Russian custody, Paul Whelan, also convicted of espionage and also labeled wrongfully detained, active-duty Staff Sergeant Gordon Black convicted of theft and threatening his Russian girlfriend.

There are also dual nationals, Alsu Kurmasheva, a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, accused of violating a foreign agent law, and Ksenia Karelina, accused of treason for donating $51 to Ukraine.

Today, the U.S. State Department said they're working privately to bring Gershkovich and others home.

MATTHEW MILLER, State Department Spokesman: We will continue our efforts.

Those have been happening before Evan's trial.

They will continue during the trial.

And should he be convicted, which, of course, he will be -- it's not a free trial -- they will continue after the trial, but we want to see him return home immediately.

NICK SCHIFRIN: So what does today's trial say about Russia and the possibilities of a prisoner swap?

For that, we turn to Angela Stent, who worked in the State Department during the Clinton administration and served as a top U.S. intelligence officer on Russia during the George W. Bush administration.

She's now with the Brookings Institution and author of "Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest."

Angela Stent, thanks very much.

Welcome back... ANGELA STENT, Brookings Institution: Good to be here.

NICK SCHIFRIN: ...to the "News Hour."

U.S. officials and The Wall Street Journal both today called the trial a sham and illegitimate.

Is that how you see it?

ANGELA STENT: Oh, yes.

It's a travesty.

It's not a trial.

They already know what the verdict is going to be.

They know what the sentence is going to be.

And Evan Gershkovich is a fine, talented journalist.

He was writing some excellent stuff on the wartime economy.

He was accredited in Russia.

And when he went to Yekaterinburg to go to this factory and see how they were replenishing their tanks, that's when they arrested him.

So it really is a sham, as the government has said.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The White House also called him a bargaining chip.

Are a trial and the expected conviction the requirements almost to begin the process of possibly having a prisoner swap that would release him?

ANGELA STENT: They definitely are.

And Putin has said as much.

His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has said that.

So we don't know how long the trial will take.

The next hearing is until August the 13th.

Since everything is completely secret, we won't know anything about the proceedings.

And once it's over and once they announce that he's been sentenced, presumably to 20 years, then I think they will talk more seriously about exchanging him.

I mean, this really is completely a political arrest.

And it's a hostage negotiation.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The trial is opaque, as you point out.

But, also, the hostage negotiations are opaque.

But we do have one name that has emerged from Russian officials to American officials.

And that is Vadim Krasikov, believed to be a Russian intelligence officer convicted in Germany of murdering a Chechen who had fought Russian soldiers.

We don't know for sure, but is there either one-for-one deal or a two-for-two deal that would include Paul Whelan somewhere out there on the table?

ANGELA STENT: So, Putin a few months ago gave us a hint that that was on the cards.

But this was when Alexei Navalny was alive.

And then he died.

And then Putin said there would have been an exchange for Navalny and Evan Gershkovich for this FSB assassin, Vadim Krasikov.

Now that Navalny's dead, the question is, what happens?

The Germans really wanted Navalny.

They would have to give up Krasikov because he's sitting in a jail in Berlin.

But I do understand that there are negotiations going on.

And, hopefully, Paul Whelan will be part of them now too.

NICK SCHIFRIN: That word reciprocity that we heard Putin use earlier, that is what U.S. officials believe is either a one-for-one or two-for-two.

Is that how you see that word?

ANGELA STENT: Yes, that's how I see that.

Unfortunately, I think the other two people who were mentioned in your story, they're not part of that negotiation at the moment.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Dual nationals.

ANGELA STENT: Dual nationals.

NICK SCHIFRIN: U.S. officials tell me that Russia treats the dual nationals differently.

ANGELA STENT: Oh, yes, and it wants to punish them for going to the United States and getting American citizenship too.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In terms of other possible Russian intelligence officials or anyone at least accused of espionage, as Whelan and Gershkovich mostly are, a senior State Department official recently told us about a full spectrum of hybrid activities and subversion campaigns across Europe and highlighted some arrests that have recently been publicized.

Czech authorities charged a man with terrorism for allegedly trying to set buses on fire on behalf of Russia.

The U.K. recently expelled a military attache after an arson attack.

German officials are talking about another possible arson attack by Russians.

Are these the kinds of people that the U.S. and European allies would be looking to detain in order to possibly have a trade for people like Gershkovich?

ANGELA STENT: Well, first of all, the U.S. and the Europeans don't detain people just to exchange them, right?

I mean, these people carried out these acts.

It's possible.

It gets very complicated when other countries are involved.

With Brittney Griner, we were just talking about someone, Viktor Bout, who was in the U.S.

It doesn't mean it couldn't happen, but that would make it much more complicated than that.

Then how would you choose which one to exchange?

As far as we know, there's no one in the U.S., Russian, in jail that's of high enough value that the Russians would be willing to trade Evan Gershkovich for him.

NICK SCHIFRIN: What do these activities in Europe say about what Putin and Russia are doing in Europe?

ANGELA STENT: Putin thinks that he's at war with the West.

He's determined to win this war with Ukraine.

And they're really upping all of these sabotage activities.

We know that there's election interference going on in Europe, in the United States, as we speak.

They had a deepfake video of the State Department spokesman the other day saying things.

So they're really -- he -- I think Putin is more confident than he was before, and he is determined to do anything he can to wreak havoc in Europe or the United States.

NICK SCHIFRIN: We saw obviously the peak of Russian interference in the U.S. election in 2016.

U.S. officials say the interference in 2020, 2022 was lower.

What do you anticipate this year?

ANGELA STENT: I think it will probably be lower than it was in 2016, but I think it's still going on.

I mean, the use of social media and things like that is -- as we speak is going on, and then supporting different groups against each other.

What the Russians want is chaos in the United States and Europe, and that's what they're promoting.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Very briefly, Angela Stent, while I have you, Putin has done something that we haven't seen him do in the past, and that is appoint a number of relatives to high jobs in the Russian government.

Why?

ANGELA STENT: So this is, I think, part of an elaborate succession plan.

I'm not saying that Putin's going to step aside any time soon, but his first cousin once removed, she was just made deputy defense minister.

The sons of various close colleagues of Putin have been promoted to high positions in the Kremlin, in the government.

So they're setting the stage for the next generation to take over at some point, but people who share their views and want to continue the system.

And it's also a way, I think, for Putin to ensure that nothing will happen to his family when he's not in the Kremlin anymore.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Something, of course, that he guaranteed to Yeltsin when he took over.

ANGELA STENT: Of course he did, yes.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Angela Stent, always a pleasure.

Thanks very much.

ANGELA STENT: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Major news from the White House today.

President Biden announced pardons for former U.S. service personnel who were convicted under a military law repealed in 2013 that banned gay sex.

The move today would potentially cover thousands of veterans who were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation.

Lindsay Church is executive director of Minority Veterans of America and joins us now from the White House, where they are attending an event.

Thanks for being with us.

LINDSAY CHURCH, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Minority Veterans of America: Thank you so much for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: Help us understand the details of this pardon, how it works and how it would affect veterans who were previously criminalized under the law.

LINDSAY CHURCH: So, today, the announcement was made that President Biden would use his clemency authority to pardon service members who received a discharge under what's called Article 125, which criminalizes gay sex, as you mentioned.

So folks that were kicked out and sent to court-martial based off of autonomy laws are -- now have the opportunity to apply to have that -- to have the pardon in that court-martial and to eventually have their discharges upgraded.

As you mentioned, this is expected that it could be up to a few thousand service members that were impacted by this.

The process would not be automatic.

The service member would still have to apply for the program under the pardon, and they would then go through the discharge upgrade process, but they would be entitled to -- as long as they meet the certain requirements, to be able to have their discharges upgraded to honorable, and which would allow them to be entitled to benefits that they have otherwise been denied for the last however long.

Sodomy laws were in place between 1951 and 2013, so many of these service members are long past, and their families will be able to apply for the benefits as well posthumously.

So they would have anything up to and including burial rights in National Cemetery.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about service members who were also discharged and criminalized in different ways, not under Article 125?

How does this apply to them, if at all?

LINDSAY CHURCH: It won't.

There is a very specific group of folks that are pardoned, that they're going to be specifically discharged under Article 125.

There are different programs that allow for people to apply for discharge upgrades should they have gone through or been discharged under what's called the don't ask/don't tell policy or for homosexual acts.

So there are processes in place in which that service member can apply for a discharge upgrade, and they can do that through the review boards for the military services.

So many of those service members are already eligible and have the ability to apply for the program.

But, like I said, one of the biggest problems with both of these programs is that they're not automatic.

And so it requires that the service member, former service member and their family actually apply for the clemency, so that they would actually -- it's not automatic and they wouldn't just automatically get it.

They would actually have to go through the process.

The VA issued a Web site today for anybody who is possibly entitled to the benefits of the clemency about Article 125, along with an FAQ section that says the criteria for which you would have to meet and the criteria in which you wouldn't apply -- or you wouldn't be able to meet the requirements for the program.

GEOFF BENNETT: Do you have a sense of why the Biden administration is making this move right now?

LINDSAY CHURCH: I think we're at a point where we are correcting past wrongs.

This -- like you mentioned, this -- sodomy laws were repealed in 2013.

It's now 2024.

It's been a decade, long past that we have been waiting for people to be able to access these benefits.

And, right now, obviously, it's Pride Month.

It's an opportunity for us to celebrate the accomplishment and to recognize that our country did a disservice to a generation of service members that were truly, truly criminalized for nothing more than their sexual orientation or gender identity.

And there's no one-size-fits-all solution to the people that were discharged under just -- under these policies.

And it's going to take small solutions like this for 2,000 service members at a time to reach the generation of service members like myself and those who served before 2011, when don't ask/don't tell was repealed.

GEOFF BENNETT: You served in the military for four years, as I understand it, most of those years under don't ask/don't tell.

What was that like for you?

LINDSAY CHURCH: I served all of three months under don't ask/don't tell.

And it was a really hard time.

You live under intense fear that you could wake up today and somebody would find out your secret, and you would go from being a linguist in the military to being dishonorably discharged and sent home with the equivalent of a felony on your record.

I spent a lot of time in the hospital because I got hurt in the military, spent 65 days in the hospital.

I couldn't have my partner with me.

I couldn't connect with the people that I needed to most, because the military, if they found out that I had a girlfriend or a partner back home, could potentially kick me out, and I would lose access to everything, including the health care that I desperately needed because of the injuries that I incurred in service.

So it was a very hard time, in which you spend all this time waiting and hoping that you aren't going to be next and picked out of a lineup for nothing more than just who you are.

Many of us served our country.

I'm transgender and very proudly served my country.

And one in five transgender Americans before the ban was lifted would serve in the military, which means that we're more patriotic as LGBTQ people.

We serve at twice the rate.

And we have lived under these criminal laws for a long time.

And so, little by little, we are working towards righting these wrongs.

But it's been a long process to get to a place of healing around that policy.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lindsay Church is executive director of Minority Veterans of America.

Thanks for being with us.

LINDSAY CHURCH: Thank you so much for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: Immigration has become a flash point this election cycle, and it's expected to be a key issue in Thursday's presidential debate.

White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez has more -- Laura.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thanks, Amna.

On the trail, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly made baseless claims blaming undocumented migrants for a violent crime wave.

But, nationwide, violent crime is down 15 percent and undocumented immigrants are 26 percent less likely than native-born Americans to be arrested and convicted of murder, according to a new report in Texas from the libertarian Cato Institute.

On the southern border today, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said President Biden's policies are working.

Weekly average border encounters have decreased more than 40 percent, the lowest level of encounters since January 2021.

For an on-the-ground perspective of the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, first, we're joined by Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Arizona.

Sheriff Dannels, thank you for joining the "News Hour."

I wanted to ask you.

The Biden administration today says border encounters are down, including in your area of the border.

Are you seeing that decrease?

MARK DANNELS, Cochise County, Arizona, Sheriff: Well, I went back and looked and I asked my border team to give me some stats.

And we are down.

And we saw this trend come in here about a month ago when we look at the stats.

So they are down.

But I think, if you look at the overall picture, what's going on, two years ago, this was a crisis, even with the numbers we're seeing today, and which means it's still a crisis.

I love to see the success, but we're not where we need to be.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Your county is along the southeastern border of Arizona with Mexico.

Help us understand what the day-to-day is like for you and your team.

MARK DANNELS: Well, we deal with the got-aways, which these are people that are not given up.

These are the people that are smuggled under the control of the criminal cartels.

They jump in vehicles.

They go 100 miles an hour through my communities.

Again, over 28 months, we booked just under 3,400 people for border-related crimes in my county.

The smuggling is still going on.

It's not like it's gone away.

And the -- it's nice to celebrate what's going on, like Secretary Mayorkas is doing.

But let's not forget, for three-and-a-half years, we have seen tragedy after tragedy, up to death, not just in Cochise County, but throughout our Southwest border and beyond, now within our community.

So we need to be real to it too and not celebrate too early.

There's nothing to be celebrating about yet.

Let's get a handle on this.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: You said you're dealing with a lot of border-related crimes.

What kind of crimes?

MARK DANNELS: Everything from drugs, stolen vehicles, people with warrants.

And these are the ones coming here.

I think it's important to note, out of the almost 3,400 people that were arrested and booked into our three jails here in my county, only 190 were foreign-born or legally in the country.

These are people that are coming from all over the United States.

A lot of them have criminal histories.

They come down here and sell them cars.

They bring their fentanyl with them.

They bring their crimes with them.

And that's what we're addressing as they come into my county to disturb our quality of life here.

And then you look at the pursuits.

They pick up, they go 100 or some miles an hour through our communities, which ends up a lot of times in crashes.

People are injured.

People are killed.

Again, sad situation, and that has not stopped.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: You say that the border encounters are down in your area of the border.

President Biden recently put a crackdown in place, temporarily blocking asylum seekers between ports of entry.

What else do you want to see him do?

MARK DANNELS: Well, we still need to follow the rule of law.

Again, what I was briefed on a couple of days ago was the numbers.

This was a -- they used like 4,000 -- like 4,200 people had crossed the day before, when I was in Oklahoma City.

Out of those 4,200 people, let's just be real with the math, he stated 1,900, almost 2,000, were released into the country, not deported, not told to go back.

We still need to look at coming across the border illegally is a crime.

It needs to be addressed.

It needs to be -- persons need to be expelled, as federal law states.

We're not doing that.

We are now accepting what I call a celebratory new norm, which is, it's OK to come across the border illegally.

A percentage gets to stay, and the rest, we will address accordingly.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So what else do you think, though, that the federal government should do?

Would you support that bipartisan border deal that Republicans voted against?

MARK DANNELS: I think we need to support bipartisan laws, measures and reform.

I truly do.

I'm all about that, because they were elected no different than I was.

And that is to protect our communities, protect our citizens and protect our country.

And when you put your political party above the people, you're going to fail every time.

And that's what I think Congress is doing.

Even parts of White House is doing this.

For three-and-a-half years, we have been dealing with a tragedy on the border.

And let's do this collectively with our federal government.

And let's do it right.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Arizona, thank you for your time.

MARK DANNELS: Thank you for having me.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Now, for another perspective, from the Texas-Mexico border, we're joined by immigration attorney Jennifer Babaie, who works with asylum seekers in El Paso.

Jennifer, thank you so much for joining.

President Biden recently put new restrictions on asylum seekers.

And we just spoke to Sheriff Mark Dannels in Cochise County, who said that he's seen some decrease in border encounters, but still called it a crisis.

What are you seeing at the El Paso border?

JENNIFER BABAIE, Director of Advocacy and Legal Services, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center: We are seeing so much fear, confusion and just overall frustration from the families and the individuals I have spoken to since the suspension came down.

People are at a loss of what to do.

They're trying their best to understand the new rules and to comply with them.

But I have got to say we haven't seen new appointments issued by the administration since CBP-1 was rolled out late last year.

And we are also cutting off all access to asylum.

So families are at their wit's end of where they're supposed to go from here.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: CBP-1 meaning the Customs and Border Protection app for -- that asylum seekers can use.

What are you hearing from migrants that you're speaking to?

Are they aware of the crackdown at the border?

And are more families deciding to send their kids over alone, since unaccompanied minors are still allowed in?

JENNIFER BABAIE: We're going to be seeing lots of troubling patterns increasing in the next few months.

Already, in these last three weeks, we have seen single mothers with children turned away for something as small as CBP didn't believe they had a translator available to interview the person.

And most people are not aware or understand the change in the rules, because they are so complex.

The executive order does nothing to actually stop or prevent someone from coming up to seek asylum.

But what it does do is brutally then close the door in their face and say, go back to Mexico, go back home or stay in detention, and we will give you a removal order before you do leave.

So it's a brutal mechanism.

And trying to explain this to families who are at the end of their journey and hoping to find safety in the U.S. is a complex matter.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: That executive order that President Biden issued about three weeks ago now, the administration said, was about taking pressure off of an overwhelmed immigration system.

And it makes it so asylum seekers can't declare asylum between ports of entry.

Are you seeing any progress in that area when it comes to helping an overwhelmed immigration system?

JENNIFER BABAIE: Absolutely not.

The facts on the ground are that, although the executive order reads innocuous and the stated goals are efficiency, what's happening is that we are simply telling more and more people they're ineligible for asylum, but the government, meaning Border Patrol, law enforcement, still has to process them at the border.

So nothing in this suspension is targeting the reason for the backlog, which is, people need access to information, they need access to attorneys, they need court dates.

And this order does nothing to fix any of those issues.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: What's next for the migrants that you're working with?

What options do they have left?

JENNIFER BABAIE: It is a dismal time as an advocate to speak with individuals about their options, because there are close to none.

For individuals that I have interviewed in Mexico, many have traveled days, weeks to come to that area.

And they're also facing discrimination by law enforcement officials in Mexico.

So not only are they meeting a closed door when they are attempting to seek safety here, but they are getting pushback and altercations with law enforcement in Mexico.

We're even seeing that unaccompanied children are being prevented from coming to the port of entry and trying to seek safety.

And it's leading to family separation, meaning it's leading to families making impossible choices about how will they try to leave a shelter, walk up to the border and try to seek safety with or without other members of their family because of their fear of what will happen if they remain in Mexico another day.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Jennifer Babaie in El Paso, Texas, thank you for your time.

JENNIFER BABAIE: Thank you for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: The long fight against HIV/AIDS may get a powerful new weapon.

A new drug taken by injection only twice a year shows great promise in preventing new HIV infections.

That could have far-reaching impacts, especially in lower-income countries that are facing rising infection rates.

William Brangham has the details.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's right.

This drug is called lenacapavir.

And it is made by the drugmaker Gilead, which recently said that in a clinical trial of 2,000 patients in South Africa and Uganda, not one person taking the drug was infected with HIV.

So if this drug pans out as hoped, what would that mean for global HIV care?

To understand that, we turn to one of the world's leading experts in HIV treatment and prevention.

Salim Abdool Karim the head of CAPRISA, one of South Africa's top HIV/AIDS research centers and which helped run this study.

Salim Abdool Karim, so nice to have you back on the program.

As I mentioned, this drug is not yet approved for use in the marketplace, but let's say these results hold up.

What would this mean?

How potent a tool would this be in the fight against HIV?

SALIM ABDOOL KARIM, Director, CAPRISA: Great to be here with you, William.

Well, in my 40 years of doing AIDS research, I have never seen a result like this.

Absolutely amazing to see a drug like this that provides 100 percent protection.

So when you look at a drug like this, and given that it's in a completely new class of antiretrovirals, we do not have circulating resistance to this drug.

And so we are seeing high levels of protection because it's not a drug that the virus has already been exposed to.

But its potential as a highly efficacious prevention mechanism is enormous.

Given that our goal is to try and end the AIDS pandemic by 2030, and this is ending it as a public health threat, we need to focus on the three key groups where HIV continues to be a major challenge.

And those three groups are men who have sex with men, in particular, younger men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, and, in Africa, young women.

Indeed, young women bear the brunt of the HIV pandemic in Africa.

And the study was undertaken in exactly that group.

And if we can get this drug rolled out to large numbers of high-risk women, we could make a huge dent on the pandemic.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But given that there is already a prevention pill, Truvada, or PrEP, as it is known, that people take every single day, why does this twice-a-year shot make such a difference?

SALIM ABDOOL KARIM: So, studies done with antiretrovirals taken as a daily tablet or daily pill have shown that we have a challenge in individuals maintaining the ongoing use of these drugs, what we refer to as adherence or compliance.

The big challenge you have is that the individuals taking the drug are well and healthy people.

They don't have HIV.

So, it requires an extra moral effort for them to be able to remember that every day that they are at risk of HIV and they need to remember to take their tablets.

It also places an onus of the individuals to go to the hospital to collect the medications at a regular interval.

And that becomes a high bar when we are dealing with people who are essentially well.

The difference now is that, basically, individuals who are at risk need to think about their risk of HIV twice a year, and they need to make the effort to go to a clinic or a hospital to get this injection just once every six months.

That sits a much lower bar.

And, therefore, we think we will have better adherence and will lead to a larger number of patients taking it up and maintaining their long-term use of this injectable.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In the U.S. and certain parts of the West, new HIV infections, certainly deaths from AIDS, have really dropped off people's radar.

I know that's not the case elsewhere in the country, certainly not where you are in South Africa.

Can you remind us the challenges you still face fighting this pandemic?

SALIM ABDOOL KARIM: Well, the problem was that COVID-19 literally came in with such gusto that it consumed all of the world's attention.

I think we're seeing that there's a lot of what I call fatigue, AIDS fatigue, people just tired of this problem.

They moved on mentally, physically.

And so the other pandemics that were occurring, they haven't gone away.

They remain with us.

And the three big pandemics are malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.

And of those, in terms of HIV, in places, in many countries in Africa, AIDS remains one of the biggest challenges.

In South Africa, it remains one of the top 10 causes of death.

If you take at a global level, just last year, there were in the region of around one-and-a-half-million new infections.

That's a lot of new infections still continuing at the global level.

But it's not just that we're seeing new infections occurring.

We continue to have a high number of deaths.

Around 700,000 deaths occurred last year.

So we have got to change that narrative.

We have got to slow down the spread of this virus.

And we have got to protect people from dying.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Salim Abdool Karim, the head of CAPRISA in South Africa, it is always good to see you.

Thank you so much for being here.

SALIM ABDOOL KARIM: It's a pleasure.

AMNA NAWAZ: More than a quarter of Americans now claim no religious affiliation.

That's according to the Pew Research Center.

That group now comprises the largest bloc of Americans and follows decades of declining attendance among white Christians, as well as Black Protestants and Jews.

Judy Woodruff reports that, for white Christians, there's also been a growing political divide within some faith communities.

It's her latest installment of America at a Crossroads.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Across America, each week, a familiar sound, Christians of different denominations gathering to sing, worship and find community.

Yet, in a growing number of places in the country, especially away from major cities, that sound has been growing softer.

And, in some, like this American Baptist church in Southern Illinois, which has existed in some form since 1868, it will soon grow quiet altogether.

RYAN BURGE, Eastern Illinois University: I have done a handful of baptisms while I have been pastor here, but I have done over 25 funerals.

So we're just not offsetting the losses at this point.

And once you get to a certain point, it's almost impossible to pull out of the nosedive.

We have had a bunch of birthdays because we haven't been really meeting last couple of weeks.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For more than 17 years, Ryan Burge has been the pastor of First Baptist Church ABC in Mount Vernon, one of the many mainline Protestant denominations that once dominated the nation's cities, towns and countryside.

Yet, since 1972, even as the country's population has grown over 60 percent, the proportion of white Americans attending churches like these or even identifying as a Christian has fallen precipitously.

This church will close for good in July.

RYAN BURGE: Religion is just not a central part of life for lots and lots of people.

Today in America, about 25 percent of people report weekly church attendance, which puts us on par with a country like Italy.

We were above 40 percent at one point.

Amongst Catholics, 50 percent were weekly mass attenders in 1972.

It's 20 percent today.

So we're seeing a decline in religious attendance across almost every religious tradition, not just Protestants, but also Catholics as well.

And Jesus answered, very truly, I tell you, no one... JUDY WOODRUFF: In addition to being a pastor, Burge is also a political scientist teaching at Eastern Illinois University, where he studies the intersection of faith, politics and the data behind it, describing these broad trends in his 2023 book, "The Nones," about the growing share of Americans who identify as atheists, agnostics, or nothing in particular.

RYAN BURGE: Ninety percent of Americans used to identify as Christians in 1972.

It's about 65 percent today.

And the share of Americans who are white Christians is now below half.

The nones have gone from -- N-O-N-E-S -- have gone from 5 percent of America in 1972 to almost 30 percent of America today.

Amongst young people, it's over 40 percent of America.

So we're facing an entirely different religious landscape today than we did even 30 years ago.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What is your best understanding of what's happened, why fewer and fewer Americans feel some connection with a church or with a faith?

RYAN BURGE: I think a lot of it is that Americans are anti-institutional now.

And if you look at data and trust in institutions, we don't trust anything today as much as we trusted it 40 years ago, whether it be banks or unions or the media or religion.

They're not seeing the value that religion plays in people's lives.

And they're also thinking -- and I think this is the thing that I push back against the most -- that religion is only about belief.

Religion is also a social enterprise.

You come here, you sit next to people who are different than you.

You learn how to volunteer, you learn how to run meetings, you learn how to fund-raise.

You learn about the Bible, but you also learn that other people are good people.

MAN: How about some pulled pork?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Just a few miles away, some of those volunteers are helping the needy at this once-a-month-food pantry, Angels on Assignment, where they provide free food, clothing and help with expenses.

The population of Jefferson County is shrinking as it ages, and its politics have swung further to the right, in 2000, voting 54 percent in favor of George W. Bush to nearly 72 percent in favor of President Trump in 2020.

Volunteers here joined from across local denominations, but this outreach is organized by another mainline denomination in steep decline.

The United Methodist Church has fallen from 11 million people in 1967 to half of that today, and, in just the past two years, lost about a quarter of its churches over issues surrounding same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy.

REV.

VICTOR LONG, First United Methodist: The lord's table is the place where the distinctions between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, are erased.

JUDY WOODRUFF: On a recent Sunday morning, though, First United Methodist pews were mostly full, with more joining online, and a full choir leading the congregation, including Keith and Cheryl Cox.

CHERYL COX, Member, First United Methodist: One more time.

JUDY WOODRUFF: A decade ago, Keith, a retired choir director, and Cheryl, a former German teacher and school administrator, moved from Northern Illinois to the family farm here.

The first church they joined closed, with too few members to sustain it.

The next one, a Methodist Church close to home, didn't align with their views on supporting border migrants through UMCOR, the church's relief agency, and the decision to close churches during the COVID-19 outbreak.

KEITH COX, Member, First United Methodist: When I was on the church council and I heard the church leaders in that council being very unhappy about the fact that UMCOR was helping migrants, and that the bishop was a terrible person for trying to keep people safe, that truly troubled me.

And so I was not as interested in being a part of that church at that point in time.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now Keith and Cheryl drive 45 minutes each way twice a week to sing in the choir and worship at First United Methodist in Mount Vernon.

KEITH COX: It's the best 45-minute drive that I have on a regular basis, because I do feel uplifted when I go to the church.

And I can't say that that's been true even at the other Methodist churches that I have been to.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And recognizing that politics was now a part of the church set of beliefs, how did that make you feel?

CHERYL COX: I think politics has invaded schools and health care and just about every aspect of our lives.

So I shouldn't be surprised that it is invading in some ways in the church.

But did it make me feel uncomfortable?

Absolutely.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Singing alongside Keith and Cheryl Cox is Seth Calvert, who was drawn to this church first by its music, then by its message.

REV.

VICTOR LONG: The lord's table is the place where gay and straight and every other orientation in between can discover and receive the gift of God's life-giving grace.

SETH CALVERT, Member, First United Methodist: It honestly kind of rocks my world that there are people who are Christians who are actually open-minded.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Calvert lives in Mount Vernon with his husband, Brandon (ph).

He was raised Southern Baptist, but felt increasingly uncomfortable with that branch as he aged, especially as he heard things from the pastor that conflicted with his realization that he was transgender.

SETH CALVERT: One of the examples that actually was the reason I ended up leaving that church was, he was going on a tangent about how trains rights was all bad and all that.

And he said the civil rights movement was a mistake because now we have the gay rights movement.

And it was like, that's wrong.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You were hearing that, and then what were you thinking?

SETH CALVERT: I had been taught, if you see things going wrong, you always stay there and try and fix them.

And that's what I was trying to do for years and years in that church.

And then it got to the point that it's like, there's no way I can fix this.

There's no way that me sticking around is going to be able to help these people see that what they're saying and doing is wrong.

REV.

VICTOR LONG, First United Methodist: It's almost like we have become a safe haven for refugees from other traditions and even other United Methodist churches who have felt excluded.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Victor Long leads this congregation of the United Methodist Church, whose motto is "Open Minds, Open Hearts, Open Doors."

REV.

VICTOR LONG: The churches they often come from are very rigid and narrow.

And, now, some have come from churches where politics was really the theme of the messages they heard.

And they're looking for a safe place where they're not told what to believe, where they have freedom to ask questions, and room to grow in their faith.

JUDY WOODRUFF: On the day we visited, long delivered a sermon the importance of unity.

REV.

VICTOR LONG: The lord's table is the place where Democrats can kneel alongside Republicans.

Where else in the world are you going to see that?

I just felt like it was the right time for people to be reminded of that.

And communion is the perfect setting for it, because that's when we come together as one and receive the bread and wine.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And when you say it's the right time, what's made it the right time, do you think?

REV.

VICTOR LONG: Because all the other voices that get airtime in the church are about division and who's right and who's wrong and we need to leave.

And people need to hear that I believe Christ calls the church to unity, in spite of our differences.

It's not uniformity, but it's unity in the body of Christ.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Long says his congregation includes Republicans, Democrats and everything in between, a hallmark of mainline Protestant churches.

But that is becoming increasingly rare, according to Ryan Burge.

RYAN BURGE: For a long time, we always thought that religion was the first lens and politics was downstream of that.

So, what party I voted for, I looked at the Bible, I think about theology, how I view the world, and then I picked Republican or Democrat.

Now things have changed.

The recent data says that we pick our religion based off our politics.

So, if I'm a Republican, I'm going to seek out a congregation that affirms my views and really tells me what I want to hear.

So that's why a lot of people have left religion over the last 50 years.

So even today, amongst liberals, 50 percent of them are non-religious.

Among conservatives, it's only 12 percent.

So what we're seeing more and more is people go, well, I can't do that.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In our next story, we will visit an evangelical church in Tennessee that has leaned heavily into politics and President Trump, but is now having second thoughts.

For the PBS "News Hour," I'm Judy Woodruff in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

GEOFF BENNETT: And join us again here tomorrow night for a preview of Thursday's CNN presidential debate.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "News Hour" team, thank you for joining us.