0:00:15 > 0:00:18Welcome to Reporters. I'm Phillipa Thomas.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21From here in the world's newsroom we send out correspondents to bring
0:00:21 > 0:00:23you the best stories from across the globe.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25In this week's programme.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29I think God led this country to put Donald Trump in office.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Divided America.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34After week two of Donald Trump's unique style of diplomacy,
0:00:34 > 0:00:38further splits in opinion.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Nick Bryant travels to the Bible belt of Tennessee and finds
0:00:41 > 0:00:44his supporters fully behind their new President.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47There are two Americas right now and how you react to Donald Trump
0:00:47 > 0:00:51determines which one you inhabit.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53I am 12 years old.
0:00:53 > 0:00:5612 years old.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59The children of LA forced into prostitution.
0:00:59 > 0:01:04Angus Crawford gets exclusive access to the US police operation to rescue
0:01:04 > 0:01:08them and meets the girls stuck in a life of hell.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10What sort of things have happened to you working on the street?
0:01:10 > 0:01:16Raped, someone pulled a knife out on me, a gun, tried to rob me.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Shark sighting, of a large shark.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21We do advise that nobody enter the water.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24And, protecting Australia's beaches.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Hywel Griffiths reports on how shark nets are keeping the swimmers safe
0:01:27 > 0:01:31but harming marine life.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36It is two weeks since he took the oath of office
0:01:36 > 0:01:40and President Trump's administration has already issued dozens
0:01:40 > 0:01:43of orders, many of them sharply dividing opinion.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47But the President's supporters say he's simply fulfilling the promises
0:01:47 > 0:01:51he made on the campaign trail, whether people like them or not.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54Nick Bryant has travelled to the southern state of Tennessee
0:01:54 > 0:02:01to see how people are taking to their new President.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04The hills of eastern Tennessee, a landscape that reminds us that it
0:02:04 > 0:02:08wasn't just the rust belt that won Donald Trump the presidency,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11but the Bible belt, as well.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14Father God, we are so grateful to meet here together...
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Chattanooga prides itself on being the buckle of that belt
0:02:17 > 0:02:19and at this bible study group this morning, praise for his socially
0:02:19 > 0:02:22conservative Supreme Court nominee, and thanks to God for placing him
0:02:22 > 0:02:25in the White House.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29God has done a work in him. He has changed him.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32You can just see it in the people he surrounds himself with.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36And I do believe he's brought a seriousness that people just
0:02:36 > 0:02:39didn't think were going to come out of Donald Trump.
0:02:39 > 0:02:45I think God led this country to put Donald Trump in office.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48I was very opposed to him.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50Mark West started out as a Never Trump Republican.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53He is an evangelical Christian who looked upon the New Yorker
0:02:53 > 0:02:57as a philandering playboy but he's become a convert.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01Social conservatives and conservatives in general have
0:03:01 > 0:03:03been so fed up with Washington for so long, for decades,
0:03:03 > 0:03:07that we wanted someone to go to Washington and blow it up.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Whether I was a Trump supporter or not, so many of us are looking
0:03:10 > 0:03:13for Trump to do exactly what he has been doing so far, to completely
0:03:13 > 0:03:17change the landscape, figuratively blow up Washington
0:03:17 > 0:03:21and give us a new American revolution.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23It has been the pace of the Trump presidency,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26it's felt like a final furlong gallop, that's impressed
0:03:26 > 0:03:28Kelly and Todd Floyd.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31We are excited to see what he will continue to do.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33You think he is making good on his promises?
0:03:33 > 0:03:35I think he is, I think the implementation of
0:03:35 > 0:03:40the immigration policy showed that he was not a career politician,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43but I think that's why he got voted into office,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46because we don't want career politicians any more.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49There's no sign here of buyer's remorse.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52To travel from coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles
0:03:52 > 0:03:55into these heartland communities feels like crossing
0:03:55 > 0:03:58into a parallel universe.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02There are two Americas right now and how you react to Donald Trump
0:04:02 > 0:04:06determines which one you inhabit.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10The cannons from the American civil war that dot this landscape can be
0:04:10 > 0:04:13viewed both as relics of the past and reminders of how conflict
0:04:13 > 0:04:18and divisiveness is almost written into this nation's DNA,
0:04:18 > 0:04:20and once again, it feels like the people of America
0:04:20 > 0:04:26are sharing the same continent but not the same country.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30Nick Bryant, BBC News, Tennessee.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33It's thought to be the Los Angeles Police Department's biggest ever
0:04:33 > 0:04:37operation to find girls, some as young as 11,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42and young women who have been forced into a life of sexual exploitation.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Officers made almost 500 arrests and rescued more than 50 people.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Angus Crawford was given exclusive access to
0:04:48 > 0:04:51the operation to free them.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Look beyond the handcuffs and the painted nails.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58These aren't adults, just girls aged 16 and 17 arrested
0:04:58 > 0:05:03on the street for prostitution.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08Once inside, no cell, no bars or locks, just a room,
0:05:08 > 0:05:13a place of safety where young people can get help and support.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16We find minors every day that are out here working.
0:05:16 > 0:05:1811 is the youngest we've had.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22On the street they call The Blade, in the richest country in the world,
0:05:22 > 0:05:26children are bought and sold at any time of day, every day.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29A car approached us - she's again moving slowly.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Sergeant Brian Gallagher heads the area vice unit.
0:05:32 > 0:05:38His job tonight - find those girls, get them off the street.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42They stop a man they recognise.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46He has a passenger. It's cold and she's shivering.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49It is 4am and a routine patrol of the vice squad here has pulled
0:05:49 > 0:05:52over a car driven by a man they know is a pimp.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55When they stopped it, a young woman got out of the car
0:05:55 > 0:05:57and they're concerned about her.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59She says she's 19.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Her parents have reported her missing.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04See her tattoo? It's the name of her pimp.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Here, they call it branding.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09A lot of these girls, when we talk to them,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13they'll tell us they're out here for 20 hours a day working.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15They get a little bit of food.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19They get abused physically, sexually.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22It's barbaric what's being done to these little kids.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25My cousin grabbed me on the way home from school...
0:06:25 > 0:06:27America is slowly waking up to reality.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31Thousands of children are being sexually exploited for money.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33I am 12 years old.
0:06:33 > 0:06:3612 years old.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40That's why they launched Operation Reclaim and Rebuild,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43state-wide, lasting three days.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Prostitutes and customers arrested, processed.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49Some are released with a warning.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52For others, it's jail.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Just 18, caught for a second time, Treasure.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58She started on the street in middle school.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00You were a child when you first started doing this?
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Yeah.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06What sort of things have happened to you working on the street?
0:07:06 > 0:07:11Raped, someone pulled a knife out on me, a gun, tried to rob me.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15For detective Brian Gallagher, it seems neverending.
0:07:15 > 0:07:20Children forced to work the streets turn into women who know only this,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24a life of violence and exploitation.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29Angus Crawford, BBC News, Los Angeles.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32Campaigners in Australia are calling for an end to the use of shark nets
0:07:32 > 0:07:37because they're killing too many dolphins and turtles.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41A recent spate of shark attacks on the east coast has forced
0:07:41 > 0:07:44the authorities to put up more, but some nets have
0:07:44 > 0:07:46been cut deliberately by those who oppose them.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49As Hywel Griffiths reports from Sydney, there is a fine line
0:07:49 > 0:07:55between keeping swimmers safe and protecting marine life.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00In a country where catching a wave is a national obsession,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03the allure of the ocean is endless.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06As is the debate over how best to share these waters
0:08:06 > 0:08:09with some of the locals.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Shark nets have been Australia's answer since the 1930s.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Sections are set hundreds of metres out at sea.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20They don't create an enclosure, but they do offer reassurance.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22I think they're a great idea.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24We have got to try to protect our kids.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26So, that's what it's all about to me.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Probably against them.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31You see creatures in the wildlife getting stuck out there.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34You take a risk swimming in the ocean and that's
0:08:34 > 0:08:35where sharks belong.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38That's what the nets are meant to keep out.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Great whites are one of ten species targeted by the programme
0:08:41 > 0:08:43here in New South Wales.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47The nets are put in place from September to April, when these
0:08:47 > 0:08:49beaches at are at their busiest.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51Last year, they trapped over 130 of the targeted,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54more dangerous sharks, but they also trapped
0:08:54 > 0:08:57another 600 marine animals, including dolphins,
0:08:57 > 0:09:01rays and turtles.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05This video shows what happens when one becomes entangled.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10A group of tourists managed to set this turtle free but 19 others died
0:09:10 > 0:09:13in the nets last year.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16The nets have whale and dolphin alarms, and they're
0:09:16 > 0:09:19checked every three days.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Around half of the animals are set free alive, but some campaigners
0:09:22 > 0:09:26have decided to take matters into their own hands.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28This is their home, that's where they live.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31We can't exclude them from where they live.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34They're not coming up into the car parks to get us,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36so let's not go into the ocean to kill them.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Diver Dave Thomas admits he's cut shark nets in the past
0:09:39 > 0:09:41to free trapped rays.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43He argues they don't really protect humans,
0:09:43 > 0:09:45only harm the sea life.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47The net is a random thing.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49It's not based on any science or factual data.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52It is out there killing anything and everything and the risk
0:09:52 > 0:09:57to people is negliable.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Shark sighting, rather a large shark.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03We advise nobody enter the water...
0:10:03 > 0:10:06There hasn't been a fatal shark attack on these beaches in 60 years.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09The local government says it is a sign the nets do work
0:10:09 > 0:10:12and that cutting them is dangerous.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14People who have deliberately tampered with the nets,
0:10:14 > 0:10:18that have cut the nets, released them from anchors
0:10:18 > 0:10:21or floats, obviously very dangerous, not only for the individuals
0:10:21 > 0:10:25involved, but creating a real hazard for the swimmers
0:10:25 > 0:10:28and surfers at those beaches.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Finding the right balance between protecting humans
0:10:31 > 0:10:34and preserving sea life is a challenge and here it
0:10:34 > 0:10:37seems as elusive as ever.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41Hywel Griffiths, BBC News, Sydney.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Always nice to finish on a sunset.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45That's all from Reporters for this week.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49From me, Phillipa Thomas, goodbye for now.