house sent him packing. the supreme court hearing arguments in a high-stakes case on perdue pharma and the opioid crisis. could scotus unravel a deal that protected the sackler family from civil lawsuits? hi, everybody. good morning to you. i'm yasmin vossoughian. it's 10:00 a.m. in the east, in for ana cabrera. we begin with breaking news out of the israel-hamas war. israel expanding its assault to include the entire gaza strip. the idf dropping leaflets overnight telling civilians to evacuate, warning of a large-scale attack, saying these are the last hours to evacuate. a senior u.s. military official telling nbc news he was taken aback by the ferocity of the refluid campaign. i want to get to raf sanchez on the ground in tel aviv. what have we learned about this new assault? >> reporter: israel now says it is operating in every part of the gaza strip after launching this new ground offensive into the south. this focus on the south began pretty much minutes after the cease-fire collapsed. we saw a punishing wave of air strikes focused around the city of kahn eunice. now there are israeli tanks and ground units operating in the area. israel's chief of staff says what is happening in the south will be carried out with the same ferocity as the north. satellite imagery showing half of all the buildings in northern gaza damaged during israel's offensive there. israel says hamas' leaders are hiding in the southern city of khan yunis. there are hundreds of thousands seeking shelter there because israel told hem to get out of the north. a lot of questions about those people. >> let's stick there. where do they go? if they were told to head south, they cannot dros the border into egypt, how do they seek safety? >> reporter: that is the question we're hearing over and over again right now from palestinian parents trying to make literally life-and-death decisions to keep their children safe. where are they expected to go? they're already in the southern-most part of gaza. the only thing south of them is the rafah crossing, the rafah border and, as you said, the closed egyptian frontier. there is few places to run. our team inside gaza met a mother who brought her children from the jabalia refee camp which is all the way in the northern end of gaza, she brought them to khan yunis, she was following the military instructions. instead, her older son mohammed was killed in an israeli air strike which really illustrates there are no good options right now for palestinian civilians as they try to stay one step ahead of the israeli military offensive. >> dev staeth. raf sanchez, thank you. new concerns about an expanded conflict in the region as well. the pentagon confirming the u.s.s. carney shooting down three drones yesterday as commercial vessels came under attack in the red sea. the houthis taking responsibility. we want to bring in pentagon correspondent courtney kube. walk us through more of what we know about these drones and the u.s. military's response? >> yasmin, this was a pretty sustained campaign against commercial shipping in the red sea yesterday by the houthis, more in recent weeks or even months. over the course of about eight hours houthi rebels fired several ballistic missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles at three commercial vessels in the red sea. in each case, the u.s.s. carney that was in the region on patrol responded to the distress calls from these ships moving closer to them. in each of the three cases, yas, a drone fired from houthi-controlled areas in yemen was heading towards the u.s.s. carney. i use those words careful li. u.s. military officials are careful to say they don't have indications that the drones were directly attacking or targeting the carney but they were on the way or moving in a direct path towards it. in each case, the u.s.s. carney shooting them down. this is another example of increasingly aggressive behavior by these houthi rebels over the last several weeks, and not just against commercial shipping in the red sea, in the whole region. they have also on several occasions attempted to fire ballistic missiles into southern israel and attack drones into southern israel. so the big question now, does the u.s. military respond or does the u.s. respond? at this point u.s. military officials are not taking anything off the table, but not talking about any direct response at this time, yasmin. >> why would houthi rebels target commercial vessels? >> the houthis warned that they were going to start doing this several weeks ago. specifically they said they were going to go after any kind of commercial vessel that was israeli or had ties to the israelis. the three yesterday, they were associated -- whether it was flags, the crews who own the ships, with more than a dozen different nations. in this case they have gone after several other ships that have had some ties to the israelis. this all goes back to the war in israel and gaza. this all ticks back to this sort of activity after october 7th. i'm sure our viewers know this. the houthis do have ties to iran. they are funded, they are backed, they are trained and they are equipped. the u.s. military and the pentagon, when they put out their statement detailing all these attacks yesterday, they specifically the tied the training and the arming of the houthis back to iran. it's important to point out, though, just earlier today, a spokesperson for the iranian foreign ministry denied they're providing any of these sorts of drones or weapons to the houthis. >> that's what i have a question about. how closely are the houthis in contact with iran with some of these proxy wars. courtney kube, thank you. want to bring in retired admiral jooefs, james stavridis. let's pick up where courtney left off and we'll double back and talk about central and hamas and the assault in the south. you have these drone attacks on these commercial vessels, shot down by the u.s.s. carney. do you see this as an escalation? >> i do. let's couple it with something that's happening on land which is a continuing series of attacks, both drone and missile attacks against u.s. land forces in syria and iraq. what does it all have in common? one word, tehran. these are being orchestrated, masterminded. i suspect both hamas and hezbollah north of israel continue to get not only financial support, but a lot of their marching orders, we would say in the military, from the iranians. it's part of an orchestrated campaign. in terms of your excellent question a moment ago, why? why now, why are they doing this? number one, because it allows the iranians through this proxy group to show that they are striking back against israeli interests at sea. number two, anything that puts pressure on the global shipping world tends to create pressure to stop whatever is causing it. so the iranians believe pressuring global shipping will cause many governments to put pressure on israel to reduce their campaign. third and finally, it allows the iranians to show themselves to be a regional power, acting at land, sea and air. so, yes, this is coming from tehran. it's directly linked to what's happening in gaza. we ought to be concerned about whether it escalates or not. >> how much contact does tehran have with rebel forces like the houthis? are we talking about day today contact or are they given an overall directive that they must follow through on? >> both. they're taking their strategic direction from tehran. all of their equipment, their military support, their ammunition, their fuel, everything orchestrated by tehran, and tactically, absolutely. tehran is saying dial it up at sea. we'll dierl it down a little built on land while you dial it up at sea. they are the puppet masters directing all these proxy groups in the middle east. >> let's pivot and talk about what's happening with israel and hamas. with that i want to bring up the leaflet and the maps the idf has put out dropping for palestinians inside gaza saying you must evacuate the south. they show these quadrants from which they should evacuate from and places they should evacuate to. it's somewhat confusing to the naked eye to take a look at this thing. when you're looking at this and hearing the calls from the biden administration to say practice restraint, account for civilian casualties, is this enough considering hundreds of thousands of palestinians have now evacuated to the south? >> i do not think it is enough, and i believe that the administration correctly is going to continue to ramp up the pressure on israel. almost every other country in the west is already doing so at a higher level than the united states. i think, yasmin, behind closed doors tony blinken is being quite direct with the israelis. the israelis know the clock is running out for them in terms of simply being able to do whatever they want here. they are losing the information war. they are losing control of any sort of narrative of just response. they have got to begin to take more account for these massive numbers of displaced civilians in the south. >> let's talk quickly about hostage negotiations. israel has pulled out of qatar as we got the word over the weekend. how optimistic are you that they can resume these and another pause can be in the works. there's still 100-plus hostages being held inside gaza. >> i'm pessimistic at the moment. and i know that hamas is refusing to repatriate a group of women in their 20s and 30s who were specifically abducted from that rave musical concert where the hamas terrorists did so much killing and raping. i suspect they don't want that group of young women released. i don't think that's going to be a good story to tell for hamas. that's become a real sticking point, and i don't see the hamas leadership coming off that in the immediate future. therefore, israel, if you spoke to israelis, they would say that's why they're taking the fight to southern gaza to khan yunis, the absolute epicenter. they will say that will put pressure on hamas to come back to negotiations for the hostages. that's questionable, but i think that's obamacared into what the israelis are thinking. >> pessimistic about the hostage negotiations, i was talking to ambassador thomas pickering who i'm sure you know is a giant in diplomacy. he, too, is pessimistic about that possibility. where are you on that? >> i'm with ambassador pickering who is a fellow graduate of the fletcher school of law and diplomacy where i served as dean for five years. nobody smarter, looking at the world in big picture. the reason we're both pessimistic is the fundamentals are very bad here. i'll close with this, yasmin. there's no plan for what happens after the bullets stop flying. there's no plan for the palestinian authority or the arab league or united nations peacekeeping force. we're a long way away from that until we start talking about what comes next for two-plus million people in gaza. i think ambassador picker rg and i are going to remain pretty pessimistic about where this is going. >> admiral james stavridis, as always, thank you, sir, appreciate it. we'll be back in just 60 seconds. gone, but he clearly doesn't want to be forgotten. the accusations george santos is now throwing at former colleagues and what he's threatening to do. also ahead, a canary in the coal mine. the urgent warns from former congresswoman liz cheney about reelecting donald trump. the opioid crisis, the question before the supreme court, can the sackler family avoid civil lawsuits under a bankruptcy deal? overworked and even using drugs and alcohol, what internal faa documents are now revealing about air traffic controllers. we'll be right back. about air traffic controllers. we'll be right back. m! ♪ (mom) please forgive him. (carolers) ♪ it's all good - just a little awkward. ♪ (soloist) think we'll wrap this up. (vo) for a limited time, turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium and ipad and apple watch se - all on us. that's up to $1700 in value. only on verizon. a few years ago, i came to saona, they told me there's no electricity on the island. we always thought that whatever we did here would be an emblem of what small communities can achieve. trying to give a better life to people that don't have the means to do it. si mi papá estuviera vivo, sé que él tuviera orgulloso también de vivir de esta viviendo una vida como la que estamos viviendo ahora. es electricidad aquí es salud. welcome back. we are six weeks out from the iowa caucuses. this morning a stark warning from former congresswoman liz cheney about reelecting donald trump. she said a second trump presidency could lead america towards the brink of dictatorship. >> do you believe if donald trump were elected next year, that he would try to stay in office beyond a second term, that he would never leave office? >> there's no question. >> you think he would try to stay in power forever? >> absolutely. he's already done it once. he's already attempted to seize power. he was stopped, thankfully, and for the good of the nation and the republic, but he said he will do it again. he's expressed no remorse for what he did. >> want to bring in senior national politics reporter jonathan allen and analyst elise jordan as well. liz cheney promoting her book, indicating the country would be safer if democrats controlled the house in 2024. what is she saying about members of her own party? >> she's saying they're a threat to democracy. when you saw supporters of donald trump storming the capital, you had democrats in charge, the successful effort of the capitol police through hand-to-hand combat essentially to repel that effort to stop the counting of votes. you have to wonder, had the republicans been in charge, given particularly that the speaker of the house is supported that supported trump's challenges to the election. you hear cheney now, i don't think it's terribly surprising she has this view. she served on the january 6th committee in what was clearly a rebuke to her own party and suffered the consequences of that, losing her house seat. i think what she's saying, the warn she's issuing is that, if you care about continuing the constitutional republic that we have as it stands, that she believes her party, the party she grew up in, the party her factor served as vice president of the united states has not shown the responsibility to protect that. >> she's gone so far as saying americans are sleepwalking into a re-election of donald trump? >> liz cheney is sounding the alarm, making a logical conclusion based on what donald trump has said in his many statements, that he will use his power to prosecute his political enemies once he gets into office. that statement alone should be disqualifying and shows you he really is planning to act out his authoritarian tendencies this next term. for her, she's given up so much already, she doesn't have much left to lose politically. so you see her really doing this out of principal. >> believe him when he tells you what he'll do. i want to turn to the race itself. john, donald trump and ron desantis held competing events this weekend. desantis dough voting a lot of time, saying he's going to win the iowa caucuses. let's take a listen. >> we're going to win the caucus. we're doing -- >> but what if you don't, governor? >> i've said from the beginning we are -- we're going to win the caucus. >> bottom line, is iowa do or die for you, governor? >> we're going to win iowa. i think it's going to help propel us to the nomination, but i think we'll have a lot of work to do beyond that. i don't think you take anything for granted. >> pretty confident, jonathan, he's going to win those caucuses. do you think his time and money is paying off? the polls don't seem to indicate so. >> he's been to 99 counties, and what we've seen in polling over time is his numbers have gone down and sort of flatlined, a plateau for desantis sitting 25, 30 points behind donald trump. there's been absolutely no indication of a change in ron desantis' direction. if he were to somehow come back and win iowa and win the nomination and the president seeshgs it would be the ultimate come obamacare story in the history of american politics. he hasn't shown so far the temperament, discipline or the popularity of his platform against trump to get those voters in iowa or the rest of the country to choose him over trump. meanwhile, you've got trump out there on the campaign trail bashing joe biden and what unifies republicans more than anything else? the idea of getting joe biden out of the white house, getting a republican in there, and for desantis it's a two-step problem right now. he has to first beat donald trump before he can even get to talking about biden in any real way. >> i want to talk about the rest of the race as well. elise, the other gop nominees insist they're in this for the long haul, chris christie, ron desantis, nikki haley as well. if they all stay in after iowa, new hampshire as well, is donald trump's nomination secured? or if they choose to coalesce around a second-place candidate, could trump actually be in jeopardy? >> i don't see ron desantis staying in the race after losing iowa. it would have to be such a perfect confluence of events for nikki haley to have a shot. say she wins in new hampshire and then goes to south carolina and wins, she could have real momentum. this is a scenario that's never really played out in a republican primary where someone with her polling actually gets the nomination, and you look at donald trump and how he is so far ahead, i really think it would be some kind of black swan event at this point to take donald trump out of the race. >> elise jordan, jonathan allen, thank you. tonight rachel maddow is going to interview former congresswoman liz cheney tonight at k9 on msnbc. his scandals are being turned into a movie. now george santos is adding a new twist to his story. he's planning to turn the tables on his former colleagues. the sackler family and the company behind the supreme court case being heard right now. the big dollars at stake. e big e [sneeze] dude you coming? 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make it arexvy. ♪ students... students of any age, from anywhere. students in a new kind of classroom. ♪ using our technology to power different ways of learning. ♪ harnessing ai to plant new beginnings. ♪ so when minds grow, opportunities follow. dear wayfair. this year i want... to say thanks. over the centuries i've become passionate about home decor. and my favorite homes are wayfair homes. i even stop by on my day off! i know what people want, and you've got just what they need. also, i love your ottomans. your number one fan, santa. ♪ wayfair you've got just what i need ♪ the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. welcome back. george santos may have gotten the boot from congress, but he's not going quietly. the expelled congressman now promising to bring ethics complaints against several of his former colleagues. as the drama plays out, house republicans also say they're closer to an official vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry into the president. nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali is joining us now with all of this. who is santos, ali, bringing these complaints against? what is he alleging? >> reporter: not entirely a surprising list, especially because many of them are his fellow freshmen new yorkers, those who pushed to have him expelled from congress three times and finally were able to do it on the third try at the end of last week. talking specific lip about mike lawler and congresswoman nicole mall to being kiss and rob menendez jr. all these different claims that santos is making are ranging from ethics violations to campaign finance violations. it's important to remember that santos is viewing if as his potential road to redemption in his words. he was never going to go quietly. >> not surprising to say the least, considering how he was ousted in the first place. let's talk the impeachment inquiry. what they're saying about the impeachment probe and the response from the democrats? >> reporter: again, it's really important the words we use here. just as kevin mccarthy was speaker and was backing an impeachment inquiry he opened that, in theory. now what leadership is talking about is actually voting to open an impeachment inquiry in an official fashion. this is why the new speaker, mike johnson, is saying it's necessary. >> it's become a necessary step. elise and i both served on the impeachment defense team of donald trump twice when the democrats used it for brazen partisan political purposes. we decried that rule of it. remember we are the rule of law team and have to do it very methodically. >> reporter: the reality stands that while these xhipt teas who have been leading the charge on what could be an impeachment have been investigating, they've been issuing subpoenas, looking for documents. all those investigations have been going on whether or not you call it an impeachment inquiry. the argument in favor of one is that it gives investigators more teeth behind their subpoenas, the ability to ask for more information in terms of banking records and things of that nature. at the same time this does remain a solution in search of a problem when you consider the fact that this impeachment inquiry is going forward because republicans say they're still looking for evidence of what they're trying to allege, but they don't have it yet. >> they don't have it yet. that is the key. ali vitali, thank you. right now the supreme court is hearing arguments in a case that could bury the family behind purdue pharma's oxycontin, or could actually shield the sackler family fortune for good behind a bankruptcy loophole. purdue agreed to pay $6 billion to fight the opioid crisis. the settlement shields the family from any further victim lawsuits. the supreme court is arguing whether that squares with the constitution. joining me, nbc news justin and silence correspondent ken del layne nan and former district attorney, carol lam. welcome to you both. ken, you've got this watch dog group saying, no, this is settlement is no going to stick, it's not good. they're asking and urging scotus to block it. walk us through both sides of the argument. >> good morning, yasmin. purdue farmer and the sackler pharma are considered the chief oshg texts of the opioid crisis, how they profited from the deceptive marketing of oxycontin. the company twice pleaded guilty to criminal charges, and in 2020 reached a massive settlement until which the sackler family agreed to pay $6 billion. the settlement calls for the sackler family to be shielded even though they didn't personally file for bankruptcy. that's what's called a third party release. this is a tactic used in other mass civil tort cases including those including sexual abuse at the boy scouts and the catholic church. the trustee has objected to the sacklers getting this release from liability and arguing this is an abuse of the brupgs system, that the law doesn't allow for the sacklers to be shielded in this way. at the end of the day, it's a very technical legal dispute that has huge implications for both bankruptcy law and state governments and individuals who stand to benefit from this massive opioid settlement. >> carol, what's interesting about this case, you have this group representing 60,000 individuals seeking compensation that have filed a brief supporting this current settlement. the argument they're making essentially, if does not stick, it's going to get drawn out and they'll never see any sort of civil compensation, any sort of money. how is that going to be factored into the supreme court's decision? >> it's a huge factor, yasmin. the oral arguments have been in front of the supreme court have just started. what they're saying -- what some of the justices are saying is how are you going to get consent from more than 600,000 potential claimants in a bankruptcy proceeding or any prups to cover anything for these claimants. that's a real practical problem here. if the supreme court decides to say that the bankruptcy judge does not have the authority under the current bankruptcy code to grant these non-consensual releases for the sacklers, then you're sart of back to square one again, and all the potential claimants under these opioid cases have to figure out what mechanism they might be able to use to recover these funds. that's going to be a huge legal proceeding that will take years and years and years, of course, the money will likely dissipate over that time. >> have we seen any cases like this, ken, any precedent set in the supreme court that can give yours an indication as to where they would rule on this? >> reporter: not really. some legal experts say this case poses a real dilemma for the court conservatives, because they tend to favor corporate interests. the u.s. chamber of commerce filed a brief asking for the settlement to go forward. mass torts litigation, huge lawsuits by hundreds of victims can bring companies to their knees. many of the lawyers behind these kinds of torts are also in favor of keeping these third party releases because it makes it easier to settle cases and get paid. it's anyone'suess wisconsin the court es. >> a ruling against the purdue pharma settlement could have impact on other cases. the boy scouts of america was able to stay in business because of an $850 million settlement that looked a lot like purdue pharma's. could a deal like the sacklers upend, change deals already settled? >> it definitely could. the supreme court decided to take this case for review for probably a couple of reasons, one, of course, a huge settlement, $6 billion. another reason the supreme court decided to accept this case for review, there's been a split in the circuits. the appellate courts haven't ruled consistently on this issue of whether the bankruptcy court can approve a settlement that forecloses claimants from proceeding against people not in bankruptcy. that's a very big issue. actually, the boy scouts have a $2.5 billion settlement out there, and they say they're in a different position because those claims have already started to be filed and the processing of those payments has already begun. one of the issues, if the supreme court decides that the bankruptcy court does not have authority to do what they are doing in the purdue case, one of the issuesi think they're going to have to decide is whether that's retroactive and whether the boy scouts' settlement will also be unwound. >> carol lam, ken dilanian thank you. terror in paris. a stabbing attack near the eiffel tower. what we're learning about the suspect. el tower what we're learning about the suspect. with voya, considering all your financial choices together can help you make smarter decisions. voya. well planned. well invested. well protected. 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[♪♪] ask about kisqali, there's a way to cut your dishwashing time by 50%. try dawn powerwash dish spray. it removes 99% of grease and grime in half the time. it cleans so well, you can replace multiple cleaning products. welcome back. turning to paris where a deadly attack is raising new fears of terrorism. a german tourist was stabbed to death and two others injured a few hundred yards from the eiffel tower. the suspect pledged allegiance to the islamic state in a video released online. josh lederman is joining us with more on this. what more do we know? >> reporter: he was not just known to intelligence, but actually had been in prison for several years for a previous failed terror attack about eight years ago. after that attack, he was put on a watch list. authorities in france saying he maintained contact with jihadis who had planned other terror attacks in france. he also was known to have a history of treatment for severe psychiatric illness. the red flags on this suspect were all there, yasmin, but we're also learning from the anti-terror prosecutors in france who gave a news conference last night saying shortly after he was apprehended in the wake of this attack, this suspect told police that he was upset about the way muslims were being treated around the world, and he specifically cited the war in gaza. he said he felt that france was anisrael's actions in the gaza strip and also referenced the treatment of muslims in afghanistan. you can really see how there was an individual here with a long history of problematic behavior, but whose current actions appear to have n be fueled at least in part by some of the concern about the situation in gaza that we're now seeing spill over into other parts of the world, yasmin. >> the war having reverberations around the war. i want to talk about the victim killed in this attack, a german tourist working as a nurse. what more are we learning about the victim? >> we know he was originally from the philippines, also was a german national and he was stabbed three times and also hit four times with a hammer. so those were the injuries that led to his death. we're hearing from cher man chancellor olaf scholz who says he was shocked by this terror attack and said this killing of this german national is the latest indication of why we need to be so resolute against both hate and terror. >> josh, thank you. back in the states, new details about one of the palestinian american students shot in vermont. hisham awartani's family says a bullet that hit him is stuck in his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. his mother says he's going into intensive rehab but may not be able to walk again. a gun fund me has raised over $800,000. texas governor vows to bring the fight over his buoy barrier to the supreme court as border pressures force arizona to close a crossing after 17,000 migrants were detained in just the last week. 0 migrants were detained in just the last week when you have chronic kidney disease... ...there are places you'd like to be. like here. and here. not so much here. farxiga reduces the risk of kidney failure which can lead to dialysis. ♪far-xi-ga♪ farxiga can cause serious side effects, including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections, and low blood sugar. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, an allergic reaction, or ketoacidosis. when you have chronic kidney disease, it's time to ask your doctor for farxiga. because there are places you want to be. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. ♪far-xi-ga♪ liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. with the money i saved, i started a dog walking business. oh. 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(vo) for a limited time, turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium and ipad and apple watch se - all on us. that's up to $1700 in value. only on verizon. a few years ago, i came to saona, they told me there's no electricity on the island. we always thought that whatever we did here would be an emblem of what small communities can achieve. trying to give a better life to people that don't have the means to do it. si mi papá estuviera vivo, sé que él tuviera orgulloso también de vivir de esta viviendo una vida como la que estamos viviendo ahora. es electricidad aquí es salud. turning to the southern border and the legal fight between the federal government and the state of texas. a court ruled on friday that texas must remove the floating barriers it into stalled in the rio grande. texas governor greg abbott turning to x saying he'll seek an appeal and take it all the way to the supreme court if needed. officials are so overwhelmed with the increased migrant crossings, they're closing a port of entry in a remote part of arizona. morgan chesky is in eagle pass, texas. i see a lot of folks behind you, lots of new developments behind the border. what are you seeing? >> reporter: yasmin, you're absolutely right. eagle pass, one of the two locations along the u.s./mexico border that is feeling the brunt of this latest surge. you can get a glimpse as to just -- a sheer glimpse of how many people that have come across since our crew arrived this morning. the majority coming from venezuela, colombia and nicaragua. right now, yasz min, the concern is with agents being diverted from international crossings to help border patrol, how much longer will this go before this surge can be accommodated? this morning texas and arizona feeling the brunt of what authorities are calling a new border migration trend. >> the numbers are increasing. they really are. >> reporter: new groups of migrants arriving so rapidly, federal authorities are temporarily closing the remote lukeville port of entry in arizona. border patrol there reporting more than 17,000 arrests in just the last week. those numbers rising as temperatures drop, leaving migrant men, women and children in perilous conditions. tatiana vera from ecuador barel frigid desert night. meanwhile, in texas, migrants facing another danger, a number of people struggling to cross the rio grande had to be rescued as the debate over state rights on the river rages on. a u.s. appeals court ordering texas governor greg abbott to remove the thousand foot floating buoy barrier installed to keep migrants from crossing. the governor calling the ruling clearly wrong, promising to go all the way to the supreme court. another federal judge also denying texas the ability to block federal border agents from cutting through state installed razor wire. the ruling coming amid reports migrants became trapped, while trying to cross. and it is not just southern states coping with the influx. chicago released its latest numbers sunday, reporting over 13,000 migrants in 26 active shelters. the city building temporary shelters to protect even more from wintry weather. >> now, it is an international crisis that i inherited. and so the work, of course, is ongoing. winter is coming fast. >> reporter: and back out here live in eagle pass, texas, you're getting a live look at some of the migrants that have come across within the last hour or so. no word on official number of crossings within the last 24 or 48 hours yasmin. but i want to point to the number shared by the sector chief in arizona saying they had 17,500 arrests in just the last week. these numbers not appearing to dip, only appearing to stay stable or go up and that is a real concern going forward. yasmin. >> morgan chesky, thank you. appreciate it. let's talk weather, everybody. winter is here. that is for sure. the first major snowfalls of the year walloping the western u.s. 40 inches of snow falling along the popular rabbit ear pass in colorado. talk about skiing, man. and these were the dangerous conditions on the road friday in oregon's columbia river gorge. the pacific northwest now facing the risk of flooding, avalanches with heavy rain in the next few days combined with the runoff and the snow. coming up next, everybody, under stress? under staffed? and overworked. the immense pressure facing air traffic controllers as passenger levels are hitting record highs. >> that is not a sustainable lifestyle to be working that hard at a job that requires so much mental focus at all times. s e provider about the number one prescribed h-i-v treatment, biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in many people whether you're 18 or 80. with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to undetectable—and stay there whether you're just starting or replacing your current treatment. research shows that taking h-i-v treatment as prescribed and getting to and staying undetectable prevents transmitting h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your healthcare provider. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. no matter where life takes you, biktarvy can go with you. talk to your healthcare provider today. [sneeze] dude you coming? because the only thing dripping should be your style. plop plop fizz fizz with alka-seltzer plus cold & flu relief. also try for fizzy fast cough relief. welcome back. overworked, exhausted, some even using drugs or alcohol while on the job. those are just some of the issues that are plaguing our nation's air traffic controllers according to a revealing new survey. it is a long-running crisis that led some dangerous close calls on our runways. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: good day. this is a nationwide problem, controllers are facing mandatory overtime, ten-hour days, six-day weeks, just as we're facing record numbers of passengers in the air right now. there is a self-reporting mechanism controllers have to report when they may have made a mistake or there was a close call and now some controllers are taking to that site to report drug and alcohol abuse, even sleeping on the job. it is a high stakes, high pressure job. and 2023 has been a year of close calls, involving both pilots and controller error, including this one in austin, when a controller cleared a fedex plane to land just as a southwest plane was departing. >> southwest abort. >> fedex is on the go. >> reporter: one big problem, controller fatigue. 77% of air traffic control facilities are understaffed, leading to mandatory overtime. medical issues forced this man to retire this year. >> we're tired of working ten hour days. >> reporter: nbc news obtained internal faa documents first reported by "the new york times," detailing controllers' own anonymous reporting of mistakes and exhaustion. among the entries, many employees can be observed sleeping on the job. if i had not been fatigued, i may have been able to recognize the aircraft lined up for the incorrect runway sooner. and i pray no one dies due to controller fatigue. also included, isolated cases of controllers using alcohol and illegal drugs while on position. one claimed a colleague regularly smoked marijuana on break. another said a controller bragged about making big money buzzed. but with more than 10,000 certified controllers on the job, the new faa chief says substance abuse is very rare. >> we monitor for drug and alcohol use very closely. we have robust reporting. and we follow up on every possible lead that comes in. >> reporter: still, both the faa and controllers union say overtime fatigue is real. >> you're missing your home life. you're missing your kids' ball games and spouse and it does have an effect. >> reporter: controller michelle hager left last june. >> this is not a sustainable lifestyle to be working that hard at a job that requires so much mental focus at all times. >> we're work every day to make sure that that -- that the system stays as safe as it has been for decades. we're not letting down our guard and working that issue hard every day. >> reporter: despite the fact that the faa hired 1400 controllers this year, because of so many retirees at the end of the year, there is only a gain, a net gain of 8. the problem is they're well behind on training, this goes all the way back to before the pandemic, but the pandemic shut down the academy. and they're now down 1500 to 3,000 controllers. it will take years to catch up, which means many more months and maybe years of overtime. back to you. >> tom costello, thank you. that does it for me this hour. ana will be back in the chair tomorrow. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. good mornmorning. it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. israel expands its assault against hamas to all of gaza as they push into the southern part of the strip. a senior u.s. military official tells nbc news he