The Diane Rehm Show

Immigration has long been an emotionally and politically charged topic in the United States. The Senate last week began debating a bill to reform the nation's immigration policies. President Barack Obama called it a "broken system" and urged lawmakers to fix it. Some members of Congress are fighting for tougher laws. They, along with many Americans, worry immigrants are taking jobs from U.S. citizens and burdening already strapped social service programs. But a new book argues that legal immigration is almost always economically — and morally — beneficial. Diane speaks with Alvaro Vargas Llosa about immigration.

Yesterday former intelligence subcontractor Edward Snowden denied ties to China. Many questions remain unanswered related to his claims that the U.S. government routinely collects vast troves of information on ordinary Americans. But there's another kind of surveillance not widely acknowledged: facial recognition. An estimated 120 million facial images are stored in searchable databases across the country. Law enforcement authorities in 26 states are allowed to search these images for crime suspects, victims and witnesses. How facial recognition software and other biometric techniques are being used today.

Most Americans say they want to die at home, but 75 percent die in hospitals or nursing homes. Hospitalization often means aggressive, high-cost treatment at the expense of quality of life. And life-prolonging care accounts for 30 percent of total Medicare spending. Now, two Harvard doctors are making movies that visually depict common forms of end-of life care in hospitals. The short films show real patients receiving treatment such as emergency CPR and feeding tubes. Clinical studies show that patients who view these movies overwhelmingly opt out of costly, life-prolonging treatment. Diane and her guests discuss how to make better end-of-life decisions.

The United States weighs a no-fly zone in Syria after determining the government of Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on its citizens. In a surprise landslide, Iran elects a moderate-conservative president, stunning the Islamic Republic's hardline establishment. And violent clashes spread in Turkey. Diane and her guests discuss the latest developments in the Middle East and what they mean for the region and the U.S.

In 1971, a collection of documents that came to be known as the Pentagon Papers was leaked to The New York Times. The papers traced the path of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. When the Nixon administration tried to block publication, young Floyd Abrams was part of the Times' legal defense team, which went on to win at the Supreme Court. In the years since, Abrams has been on the front lines of the nation's top free speech cases, including the Brooklyn Museum's battle with New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as well as the Citizens United case. A conversation with America's leading First Amendment lawyer.