Monday morning news: April 2, 2018

People Without Borders marching to U.S. » President Trump is demanding an end to so-called “catch and release” immigration policies. 

This — as some 1,200 mostly Honduran immigrants with the group “People Without Borders” is marching through Mexico toward the U.S. border with apparent assistance from the Mexican government. 

National Border Patrol Council Chief Brandon Judd says leaders of the group know they can organize the march in broad daylight. 

JUDD: They know that the catch and release program continues today. When we catch them we’ll take them into custody, we’ll take them back to our stations, we’ll process them and we’ll set them up for deportation proceedings, but they’ll never see those deportation proceedings.

With immigration courts burdened with huge backlogs— an immigrant’s hearing could be delayed up to two years— and Judd says most disappear into the country in that time. 

In a Sunday tweet— Trump said congressional Republicans should use the nuclear option to end catch and release. He threatened to withdraw his support for providing permanent relief to 700,000 people brought into the country illegally as children. 

North Korea summit » A key Republican thinks North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un could just be buying time by agreeing to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and President Trump.

Republican Lindsey Graham—a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee—expressed that view over the weekend. 

North Korea says it’s willing to talk about giving up its nuclear program— but Graham says negotiators need to get that locked in right away. 

GRAHAM: They’re about 9 months to a year away of having a missile with a nuclear weapon on top that can hit America. So I’d cut them off at the pass there. I would make sure the negotiations were very focused and get quick action. 

North and South Korean leaders are set to meet later this month— and President Trump is tentatively scheduled to meet with Kim Jong Un in May.

Noor Salman acquittal » A Florida jury has found the widow of the Pulse nightclub shooting not guilty of aiding her husband in the attack. WORLD Radio’s Kent Covington has more.

KENT COVINGTON, REPORTER: 31-year-old Noor Salmon was acquitted Friday of federal charges. Prosecutors say she helped her husband Omar Mateen plan his 2016 massacre at an Orlando nightclub and later lied to the FBI about it. Mateen killed 49 people in that club before police shot and killed him.

Salmon’s defense team said she was another of Mateen’s victims … an abused wife, controlled by fear. They also argued that she didn’t know he was planning the Pulse attack … and couldn’t have known, because Mateen himself didn’t know until hours before the shooting.

They pointed to evidence that he intended to attack Disney World’s shopping and entertainment complex … hiding a gun in a stroller … but was spooked by the number of police officers at the site. Surveillance video showed Mateen at Disney Springs on the day of the Pulse shooting.

Prosecutors maintain Salmon knew her husband was going to strike somewhere… but the jury disagreed.  

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Kent Covington.

NCAA basketball preview » College basketball’s Division One championship game is set for tonight— with Villanova and Michigan slugging it out for the title. 

But the Wolverines have their work cut out for them. Red-hot Villanova stunned a national audience Saturday night—opening a Final Four matchup against Kansas with a 22 to 4 run—and hitting an NCAA record 18 three-pointers.

Even Villanova Coach Jay Wright was surprised. 

WRIGHT: I didn’t think it would be this good. We’re definitely playing our best basketball at this time.

Villanova beat Kansas 95 to 79 Saturday, while Michigan mounted a second half surge— overcoming a 10-point deficit to defeat scrappy Loyola 69 to 57.

Tip off for tonight’s championship game is set for 9:20 Eastern.

I’m Jim Henry. Straight ahead: the Supreme Court considers a land dispute between an American Indian tribe and private landowners. Plus, the WORLD Radio History Book recalls the man who started Sunday School in England. This is The World and Everything in It.

(AP Photo/Russell Contreras, File) FILE – In this Jan. 4, 2016 file photo, a U.S. Border Patrol agent drives near the U.S.-Mexico border fence in Santa Teresa, N.M. 

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