JONH YANG: Tonight on PBS News Weekend.

With measles cases steadily rising, questions about how the Trump administration is dealing with the outbreak.

Then, schools brace for the possibility of immigration arrests, President Trump's decision to allow ICE into classrooms and how scientists are using satellite trackers to help solve a mystery about one of the world's oldest living creatures.

WOMAN: Our long held assumptions about these animals may not be 100 percent correct, in part because it's really hard to study them.

It's very hard to find them offshore.

So we've improved the best available.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

The growing measles outbreak in the southwestern United States claimed a second life this week.

New Mexico health officials said an unvaccinated adult who did not seek medical care tested positive for the virus after dying.

Measles is a highly contagious disease, but in 2000, health officials said that the widespread administration of the measles vaccine had eliminated it in the United States.

But now the CDC warns that more cases can be expected.

So far this year, more than 220 cases have been reported across 12 states.

Texas, where the outbreak first emerged and where late last month an unvaccinated child died, has the majority of the cases, at least 198since late January.

Jessica Malaty Rivera is an infectious disease epidemiologist at the de Beaumont Foundation.

That's a philanthropy that promotes public health.

Jessica, help us put this in context.

There have been measles outbreaks in recent years.

How is this one different or is it different?

JESSICA MALATY RIVERA, de Beaumont Foundation: Yeah, it is different.

We have had measles outbreaks in previous years.

In 2019, the U.S. nearly lost the elimination status because of 1,300 cases that were reported throughout New York and New Jersey.

And in 2013, there was an outbreak.

When we say outbreak, we refer to cases that involve three or more infections.

In 2024, there were a number of outbreaks.

But two months into 2025, this is our third outbreak and it's growing to be one of the worst.

So it's, you know, when we talk about this, it is unusual for this type of scale, but because of decreasing vaccination rates and vaccine refusal in general, we are seeing emerging cases happen on occasion.

JOHN YANG: Vaccine refusal, is that the main driving force for this outbreak or the previous outbreaks?

JESSICA MALATY RIVERA: Yes.

When we talk about measles herd immunity, which refers to what the vaccination rate that we need to prevent measles outbreaks, it's 95 percent or higher.

When we dip below that percentage, that's when we start to see new cases emerge.

It is the most contagious infectious disease we have, and the MMR vaccine is one of the most effective vaccines.

When we have vaccination rates above 95 percent, that's when we can maintain that elimination status as soon as it starts to dip.

And we've seen that dip below 90 percent in some communities.

But even when it's in the 92, 93 percent range, that is a vulnerability for populations.

JOHN YANG: MMR vaccine 3 measles, mumps, rubella, in that one vaccine.

Talk about the effectiveness and the history of that vaccine.

JESSICA MALATY RIVERA: Yep.

So the MMR vaccine is probably one of the most effective vaccines that we have.

It protects, with one dose, you have 93 percent protection from infection, and with two doses, you protect it up to 98 percent.

The first dose is typically given to children who are between 12 to 15 months, and the second dose is given between the ages of four to six, ideally so that children are fully vaccinated and protected by the time they enter kindergarten.

And it's kindergarten vaccination rates that we're typically looking at when we talk about populations that are either protected or vulnerable.

JOHN YANG: The new Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. longtime vaccine skeptic.

When this first outbreak broke out, he said it was not unusual.

He's been suggesting that things like vitamin A and cod liver oil could be remedies.

What effect is that having, do you think.

JESSICA MALATY RIVERA: It's having a pretty significant effect.

It is sowing additional doubt in vaccine confidence.

You know, I think it's important to note that vitamin A cannot prevent measles infection.

Vitamin A is a very specific post infection guidance again offered by the WHO because in some cases measles can deplete a child's vitamin A levels.

And so the dosage of vitamin A is given by a doctor two doses 24 hours apart for the purpose of replenishing that deficiency in vitamin A.

It is not something that should be dosed at home.

It's not prophylaxis or prevention.

The only way to prevent measles infection is through the MMR vaccine.

JOHN YANG: In the first term, of course, President Trump had to deal with COVID.

How well equipped do you think the OR prepared is the second Trump administration for something like this?

JESSICA MALATY RIVERA: This is a really difficult question to answer because it's hard to quantify.

But it doesn't bode well when we are seeing a widespread attack on a lot of our public health institutions.

When I say attack, I the silencing and the kind of removal of essential public health data and public health information.

Right now we're seeing a lot of political fighting when it comes to what CDC and NIH and even FDA can do.

So things are not looking great.

But there are a number of very active public health leaders and organizers who are trying to do the best they can to put out good information and to help create systems of harm reduction and advocacy, kind of the core principles of public health.

JOHN YANG: Epidemiologist Jessica Malaty Rivera, thank you very much.

JESSICA MALATY RIVERA: Thanks, John.

JOHN YANG: In other news, Russian strikes in Ukraine have killed at least 20 people.

It was the second night of aerial attacks since the Trump administration stopped sharing satellite images with Ukraine.

In the Donetsk region, 11 people died in strikes that damaged apartment buildings.

Others were killed in areas along the front lines.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials are to meet next week in Saudi Arabia to start talks on a possible ceasefire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is fully committed to the talks.

And in Syria, clashes over the last two days have left more than 1,000 people dead.

Fighting erupted between the interim government security forces and loyalists of ousted President Bashar al Assad.

It's in a region home to the Alawite minority, which was Assad's longtime base of support.

The government said it was responding to recent attacks from remnants of Assad's forces.

A British based human rights monitoring group said 148 pro Assad fighters died in fighting and nearly 750 civilians were killed in revenge attacks.

Women around the world march today on International Women's Day.

Chants calling for equal pay, reproductive rights and social justice echoed in streets from Berlin to Istanbul.

Thousands in Madrid protested far right policies they say undermine human rights.

In France, women paid tribute to Giselle Pellico, whose high profile rape trial sparked a global conversation about sexual violence.

And don't forget to set your clocks ahead tonight for most of the country, Daylight saving time starts at 2:00 a.m. Sunday.

Springing forward may cost us an hour of sleep, but will gain an hour of daylight in the evening.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend, the Trump administration policy that has some parents pulling their children from school and how modern science is shedding new light on the lives of ancient species.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: There's an escalating dispute between President Trump and South Africa over a new land policy that he says discriminates against the country's white minority.

On Truth Social yesterday, the president criticized what he called the terrible treatment of longtime farmers in the country and offered them a rapid pathway to U.S. citizenship.

And in February, Mr. Trump signed an executive order halting almost all foreign aid to South Africa because of what it called racially discriminatory property confiscation.

Ali Rogin spoke earlier with John Eligon.

He's the Johannesburg bureau chief for the New York Times.

ALI ROGIN: John, thank you so much for being with us.

First of all, tell us about this new land policy.

JOHN ELIGON, The New York Times: So essentially what the government has done is they've passed a law that allows the government to take land without providing compensation to the people they take it from.

Basically, the justification that the South African government gives for this is that we know through the long history of apartheid in South Africa that black people were essentially robbed of their land.

So, they are really looking at ways to sort of make right some of the inequalities that happen during apartheid.

ALI ROGIN: President Trump, in his executive order, referred specifically to white South Africans.

But then in a later social media post, he invited all farmers to consider the United States a place to come if they felt that they were being discriminated.

Do you think that shift in language was deliberate?

JOHN ELIGON: It's hard to say, as we've seen with many of the President's social media posts, that they're not always necessarily nuanced.

And race identity, culture is a very tricky thing across the world, especially in South Africa.

And now that he's brought in it to all farmers, the reality is that while most commercial farmers in South Africa are white, most farmers in South Africa are actually black.

What the President was thinking, whether he has made this distinction or his administration has made that distinction, I don't know.

But clearly in the initial order, it was not something that was meant for black farmers.

ALI ROGIN: And the reality that you laid out just now underscores the historical reality, which is that land ownership has historically been dominated by white South Africans.

We spoke to Yale University Professor Daniel Magaziner about this, and this is what he told us.

DANIEL MAGAZINER, Professor, Yale University: Historically, in fact, farmers have been quite oppressed in South Africa, but those are black farmers.

Those are the people whose land was alienated over centuries of colonization and who in many cases worked as really poorly remunerated menial laborers in horrific conditions on white owned farms.

And so in many ways, what he's doing is he is implicitly, not explicitly, but implicitly downplaying the reality of South African history.

ALI ROGIN: Is that what the South African government is saying President Trump is doing?

JOHN ELIGON: Essentially what they're saying is that he is flipping the narrative of what the true situation of South Africa is on its head.

So it's a very tricky thing because South Africa has always said that they want to build an inclusive rainbow nation.

So, yes, they want to work alongside the white farmers who've already existed, but they also want to, in some ways, find ways to uplift black farmers who have historically not had the same opportunities.

ALI ROGIN: The U.S. government has paused most aid to South Africa, citing this policy and also the nation's positions on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

How are South Africans responding to that move by the United States?

JOHN ELIGON: I think South Africans, like many other people, across other countries in Africa are all very upset about the aid cuts.

Specifically in South Africa, most of that funding is for HIV and AIDS prevention treatment, those sorts of programs.

So the question is, when you cut off things like that, that will essentially could cost people their lives.

You know, people could are having difficulty accessing life safe medications.

So they feel like this is sort of a punitive measure that really gets at them for something that they didn't cause or they didn't do.

ALI ROGIN: And we've been looking at this largely through the prism of the United States and their actions against South Africa.

But how is this debate playing out inside the country?

JOHN ELIGON: So be clear, the land law is fairly controversial, right?

There is a real sense when you talk to white South Africans, particularly white farmers and white people living in rural areas, there is a sense of vulnerability in their lives.

There is a sense that, hey, you know, we're still being blamed for all the, for all what happened under apartheid and we're still be blamed for the troubles that happen now because of apartheid.

So it is very defensive because then on the other side, you do have the reality that a lot of black South Africans are still without any wealth, are still in very deep poverty and saying, hey, since the end of apartheid, those scales have not been equaled.

The injustices that happened that led us into poverty, that led us into generational poverty have not been corrected and the government has not done a good job of that.

So I think there's a lot of heat on the government as well.

There's a lot of tension all around.

ALI ROGIN: John Eligon, New York Times bureau chief in Johannesburg.

Thank you so much for joining us.

JOHN ELIGON: Thank you.

JOHN YANG: The day President Trump began his second term, the Department of Homeland Security changed its policy on making immigration arrests at places like schools, hospitals, and places of worship.

For more than a decade, DHS had restricted arrests at those places.

Now officers are just told to use discretion and a healthy dose of common sense.

Last month, the Denver school system became the first district to go to court over the change.

And late Friday, a federal judge denied their request to temporarily pause the new policy.

So far, there haven't been any raids at schools, but just the possibility has some parents keeping their children out of classes and some schools scrambling to be ready for them.

Here's what some educators and a student told us.

The student asked us to hide his identity for safety reasons.

MAN: I'm a 12th grader and I've been living in the country for five years.

My family was afraid because I wanted to go to school, because I want to be someone in the future.

MADELINE NEGRON, Superintendent, New Haven Public Schools: If a child is too stressed in a classroom to even concentrate, how can they possibly learn anything when they may be sitting at that desk worrying if, when they go back home, if their parents are going to be there or not?

CARYN SHAPIRO, ESL Teacher: There are some kids I have not seen since January 20th.

I started receiving messages, text messages, WhatsApp messages from students saying, you know, miss, I'm scared.

I don't know what to do.

My parents don't want me to go to the bus stop.

NEGRON: We already know that we have a national teacher shortage in our country.

What this is doing is now putting out a stress.

SHAPIRO: I know these parents expect me to try and help their children, and that is very sacred.

And it's a trust that I will not betray.

I see myself as a line of defense for my students.

MAN: We came here to have a better life, so probably, I hope nothing's going to happen to us.

JOHN YANG: The old policy limiting arrests at what the DHS calls sensitive locations was in effect during all of the first Trump administration.

Kica Matos is the president of the National Immigration Law Center.

It's a group that advocates for low income immigrants.

Kica, what have you heard about the effects of this policy change?

KICA MATOS, National Immigration Law Center: They have been devastating to immigrant families, to immigrant communities, to schools all over the country that have immigrant children.

People are living lives filled with fear, and children are afraid to go to school, and parents are afraid to take them to school.

And then the broader community is also afraid that they will see some enforcement action that will affect them even if they're US Citizens.

So it's a really, really trying time for our education system and schools around the country.

JOHN YANG: What advice would you give to parents about how to talk to their children about this and also to school administrators and teachers?

KICA MATOS: So one of the things that we are doing is making sure that immigrant children, immigrant parents, immigrant communities, educators really get a good grasp on what their rights are.

We're giving people know your rights information.

They're these little red cards that we're giving to people and we're saying to them, can keep these in your wallets.

Right?

Because we want to make sure that people are not just safe, but that they know what their rights are.

And when it comes to schools, we've had conversations with superintendents all over the country to say that they really need protocols in place.

You want to make sure that you identify places in the schools that are private and that are public.

Why?

Because then you have the protections of the fourth amendment with you in case ICE comes into the schools.

Before, it used to be okay that anybody could just go into the schools.

Now you want to direct people to go to an administrator's office, including ICE officers.

And if there is somebody who's coming in for enforcement action, you want to make sure that you train, be it an educator, an administrator, the school principal, to look at the warrant that the ICE officer has.

Because there's a difference between a judicial warrant and that is a warrant that's signed by a judge with specific information and a date, and what ICE calls an administrative warrant, which really doesn't carry the force of a judicial warrant.

So you want to make sure that if ICE comes to your school with a warrant, that it's actually a warrant signed by a judge and it has all of the specific information about who it is they might be looking for or what access they want to the schools.

JOHN YANG: As the tensions over immigration build the political rhetoric, it's not just the administration or officials that pose a threat.

There was a story out of Texas where an 11 year old died by suicide after being bullied for her immigration status.

What's your message to school administrators about bullying over immigration status?

KICA MATOS: So school educators now have to become counselors, therapists.

They have to monitor even more closely the kind of interaction that kids are having.

They have to pay attention to the trauma that immigrant children exhibit in the classroom.

Schools are the place where we're supposed to feel safe, where we get an education, where we learn about our responsibilities in a democracy, how we show up civically.

That should be the mandate of any school in this country.

And now our world is being turned upside down because teachers have to fear immigration enforcement.

They have to fear and be concerned about what kids will do to each other.

So there is an intimidation that is targeting immigrants all over the country that is really unacceptable and heartbreaking.

JOHN YANG: Kica Matos of the National Immigration Law center, thank you very much.

KICA MATOS: Thank you.

JOHN YANG: Finally tonight, a story about new insights into one of Earth's most ancient living creatures, sea turtles.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Its tiny flippers churning sand, this newly hatched sea turtle heads toward the ocean just as generations of its ancestors have done for more than 100 million years.

Considered one of the oldest living species on Earth, it's been a mystery where baby sea turtles go after heading out to sea.

It's known as their lost years.

KATE MANSFIELD, Marine Turtle Research Group: Because we don't have that information, it's really hard for us to develop management plans and conservation measures to best protect these animals.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Kate Mansfield and the team of marine scientists she leads at the University of Central Florida are working to change that.

The breakthrough came after they attached specially sized geolocator devices to 114 wild sea turtle shells in the waters off the Gulf Coast.

KATE MANSFIELD: This is a standard satellite tag for larger animals.

And this is bigger than some baby hatchlings, so we needed something that was smaller.

Here's one.

And here's the other.

They're ideal candidates for something that can recharge over time and allow us to figure out their locations without hurting them.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): For more than a decade, they tracked young sea turtles whereabouts to better understand their migration patterns.

The data Mansfield's team collected revealed that in just a few months, the turtles traveled more than 1,000 miles, swimming between relatively shallow waters closer to shore and the deep open ocean, a much wider area than scientists had previously thought.

KATE MANSFIELD: We ended up realizing that these are animals that are actively swimming some of the time, and that means that they may not be passively drifting and entrained within an area that could be impacted by human activities like an oil spill.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Mansfield says the research will help federal agencies like the National Marine Fisheries Service protect endangered turtle species in their habitats.

KATE MANSFIELD: Our long held assumptions about these animals may not be 100% correct, in part because it's very hard to find them offshore.

So we've improved the best available data on these animals.

I would say that is one of the best and most fun things about this project.

JOHN YANG: A fun project that's pushing the frontiers of science by unlocking the secrets of the journey sea turtles take when they disappear into the sea.

Older than dinosaurs, though, sea turtles, and that is PBS News Weekend for this Saturday.

I'm John Yang.

For all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us.

And don't forget to set your clocks.

See you tomorrow.