We are here to see the real story. Tell me about what youre fleeing from in your country. She says gangs threatened her life. Together with Lawrence Odonnell and the reporters from nbc news. We would like to see the girls and toddlers. Nbc primetime coverage begins with a special edition of all in right now. Good evening from mccallan, texas. Im chris hayes from the epicenter of this crisis just a couple miles away from the u. S. Southern border here in mccallan, texas at the larlgest Immigration Processing Center in the country where children are being separated from their parents off crossing into the United States. This is the Trump Administrations policy and the crisis is accelerating. According to new Government Data released by dhs, the Trump Administration separated 2,352 children from their parents between may 5th and june 9th, a rate of 65 children taken from their families every single day. Up from are about 46 per day over an earlier period starting in april. In just the last couple hours, the president wrapped up an immigration meeting with House Republicans amid a growing bipartisan backlash across the country and across Civil Society to his child separation policy. This story has exploded since allin began covering it about four weeks ago. Now were at the border on the front lines to show it you what our government is doing to the children in its custody. Were not alone. Tonight the last word with Lawrence Odonnell with also be broadcasting live from brownsville, texas, where 1500 children are being held in a converted walmart. We have marianna an tenseio in mexico, gaudi swartz in guatemala, cal perry in tore littleio, texas where the government erected a tent city in the desert to keep children and steph knew rhule and jacob so bore rof one of the few reporters to see inside some of the centers. First up, my colleague Lawrence Odonnell in brownsville. This is now the biggest story in the country. Reporter chris, it is. Ive spent the day in brownsville. This is the biggest facility housing children that we know of. And i just want to begin with the mysterious quality of this story because lets remember, we dont know the exactly how many children are being detained. We dont know where theyre being held. One of the great mysteries has been where are the girls. I believe i found one of the girls facilities today. Ill report on that at 10 00 in my hour coming up. But chris, the mystery of what goes on behind those walls behind me is the story that were really trying to get at. All we have are governmentissued photographs, very few reporters who have been allowed extremely limited controlled visits where theyre not allowed to speak to any of the kids in these facilities. And so the story were working on, sadly, is mostly a mystery. Were trying to really get at the truth of whats happening inside these facilities. All right, Lawrence Odonnell. Thanks for joining me. Well be talking later checking back in in the hour. Marian nab an tenseio just crossed the border in reynoso, mexico. Theres been lots of reports of people stacked up awaiting entry at the proper port of entry and being turned back. What are you seeing there . Reporter chris, i heard from one mother who says she was turned back and they come to this shelter where they basically find themselves in limbo. This is a shelter in reynosa, one of the most dangerous cities in mexico where these migrant mothers from lon dur ras, guatemala, el salvador tell me theyre having to weighing this incredibly difficult situation of whether or not to cross to the United States they say for the sake of their children. There is a Church Service going on behind me because the priest that heads the shelter is trying to give these families some hope, give these kids some structure. There are about 60 people here essentially waiting this out. I want to introduce to you one of these mothers. This is patricia and her little son johan who is 7. Can you tell us, youre desperately trying to cross with your little boy. What kind of violence are you fleeing from in your country . Violence that is killing us in our country. Gangs. Organized crime. We dont know where so much of this crime is coming from. This is killing us. Being a young boy, you dont have a future there, a young boy like her son who is 7. Chris, boys as young as 9 and 10 get recruited by the gangs in central america. Patricia, what is your message to the Trump Administration. Youve been waiting here for two weeks. It took you three months to get here. Please help us. We are human beings. Like christ says, we need each other. Please have a heart. Please soften your heart. Its not only me, its other mothers. Thank you so much, patricia. And chris, i want to point out this bible she is clinging to, a bible that has been cited by the attorney general as justification of some sort for this policy of separating families. Chris . Msnbcs marian nap an tenseio for that, that was important to see. Correspondent Gadi Schwartz is in guatemala, city, guatemala. Over a thousand miles away where many familiesening up in detention start their journey to the u. S. What do you hear from folks there is why people are making the decision to undertake this extremely perilousny. Reporter first of all, chris, people here guatemalians keep describing the family situations in a word which means what a bar bearity, what an atrosity. They are incredulous thats able to happen in the United States. They keep asking us about it. Were starting to hear more and more stories of not just these families being separated in the United States but parents separated from their children in the United States and then the parents are deported to guatemala to some of these countries without their children. Their children are still in shelters in the United States and once these parents are here in guatemala, it becomes very, very difficult for them to contact the authorities in the United States to figure out exactly where their sons and daughters are. Many of them have trouble [ speaking spanish ] because they are indigenous people. I want to tell you a little bit about this one father we heard of today. It was a father and a 14yearold girl. They were trying to make their way north to escape violence. They were kidnapped during their trip up north and held for ransom. It was a 600 ran some. They paid off the gangs holding them and cross the border into the United States. Once they crossed the border, they were apprehended by Border Patrol. The advocates working with them say that they were separated. The daughter went one way, the father went another and then the father was quickly deported back to guatemala. The daughter is still up there. The advocates working on the case say it was almost like they were kidnapped twice, once by the gangs, account other time by the u. S. Government. They want answers. They dont know the when the daughter will come back. That is the apply the were hearing from more and more families here. I want to be clear here, post deportation, the individual you were talking of is back in guatemala and his daughter is still in u. S. Custody . Correct. Its not just him. There are other cases, the advocates we were talking to said there are five cases that are very similar. One of those cases is a 6yearold girl. Theyre trying to reunite a 6yearold girl who is still in the United States with her parents here in guatemala. So theres a lot of confusion just because of the way that the bureaucracy is set up not just in the United States but here in guatemala too and some of the language barriers. Those cases are coming up more and more frequently. Gadi schwartz, thank you very much for that. I want to go to nbcs cal perry who ises in tornillo, texas where the government recently reconstructed a tent city in a hot part of the country to house children. What is the scene like there . Reporter we just saw a couple vans arrive. We understand this is the overflow area for a lot of centers youre talking about this. Just about a quarter of mile behind me just out of view that is intentional. They dont want the media to see this tent city. About 18 to 20 tents were told by a congressman that right now about 400 beds chis in that tent city. Theyre preparing for up to 4,000 beds in this tent city as you said, the temperature here is a growing concern to officials. It was 105 degrees here today. You can imagine what its going to be like if you have 20 unaccompanied minors in those tents during that heat. I want to echo what lawrence said. We are asking for access to these centers. We are doing there in the dark bringing the best information that we have but we have not seen these unaccompanied minors in these tent cities. Weve only seen these government handouts, chris. Cal perry. That is a very important question to get to the bottom of the. The plans for tornillo. That is on federal government property, am i correct . On a military base in tornillo . No, its federal property just off that highway right there to my right, your left. Federal property means as jacob sober rof and other advocates noted that essentially gives the government immunity in terms both lawsuits so its even more important that reporters be allowed to get in there. Cal perry. Ill tell you, the best shots weve seen from a local newspaper the reporter went to mexico, came around, risking a lot to get those photos to get the shots. If you walk on to this road, youll be met by a Customs Border patrol with three minutes, flashing lights and they escort you off that road, chris. Thank you. Im joined right here in mccallan, texas by Stephanie Rhule and jacob sobero. Theres two populations unaccompanied minors kids coming by themselves coming for a while, it spiked in 2014. Thats continued to happen and 2600 kids taken everybody parents processed here. Youve been trying to get answers on the full location of them. What is what do we know right now. It gives me the chills. Lets remember inside that building, in that building with the metal siding, there are over 1200 people. 1100 people in this sector alone separated from their parents. This is where it is all happening right now. The secretary of Homeland Security who says she has been in Detention Centers has never been inside this facility the one with the cages and mats. This is the one with with the mylar blankets. We dont know once they leave where they had up, particularly the girs and the toddlers. And weve asked hhs time and again, i think i called them three or four times, where are the girls, where are the toddlers . They offered pictures of those shelters in 2016 where the girls are and i said i dont want your pictures. I want to get into thehelters. I should note, not only that, i cannot get anyone at orr to talk to me. They have gone completely dark. We also dont know the a breakdown. This is why its important. Theres an infrastructure built for minors like the facility s yousaw in brownsville. What do you do with a 13yearold if a 12yearold shows up . There is no infrastructure for kids younger than that. Ive talked to advocates say a lot of it is being done through foster care. We dont have numbers or anything like that. Never been done before but the cases that gadi was describing may not be all that unusual. Were hearing about a class of basically orphaned immigrants that may be created by this entire program. Julia ansley was reporting that today. Its not just a couple. It may be a huge number of these kids here that could never see their parents again. I cant get anyone to answer the question why, why put this policy in place. Put the humanitarian issue, the heart strings aside. From a policy perspective, if the president says we have a jobs issue, immigrants are stealing our jobs, lou can he possibly make the same argument the jobs picture is great and america is beautiful. When i walk through this town, there are help wanted signs in every window. I spoke to Small Business managers who said this is a community of texans and migrants. One of the reasons this community has risen up is because migrants have taken jobs americans didnt want to. Weve heard this story before. You have shrimp boats ha need workers. So the immigration issue was an issue and people here say we need bodder security but the crisis has erupted because of separating children from parents which makes knock logical, economic or policy sense. You know, the argument, part of whats difficult about the conversation is they wont own the policy. Why wont they . If its such a good policy, own it. Thats a great question. They called it a deterrent. Its important for folks to know and youve encountered this in your reporting, the trip is the deterrent. The trip is the deterrent. People are making a calculation, you just heard from marianna and Gadi Schwartz. Ive talked to advocates, stories of people being shot and beaten, having one of their sons taken and killed and go with the other two. They are making the decision to traverse the most. Mexico is the most dangerous country in the world today. The u. S. Government knows deterrence kills people. Im talking about deterrence at our southern border. The official border policy was caud prevention through deterrence. People ended up going around the walls not coming into the u. S. , they went to the arizona desert and came here to the checkpoint here in south texas. They go around the checkpoints and die die in the brush. What do you think Asylum Seekers will do . Theyll run for it and die out here. They make the argument what are the people complaining about, threw have three square meal a day and have a bed. Make the argument for why separate the children from their mothers. Let these mothers stay with them. It makes no sense. You got a chance to talk to a woman, a legendary person here in mccallan, a local nun who runs a shelter. I spoke to sister norm marks they call the popes favorite nun. She said this is a humanitarian issue. She met with the head of Border Patrol who she worked with for years. I said how does he feel about there. She said hes doing his job. Were trying to do the best we can. She kept saying america is better than this. I brought to her a point you made earlier. In the Trump Administration, we have seen the muslim ban, charlottesville, puerto rico, and now this. This these four issues are making all of us wonder, is this what the United States stands for . And sister norma said we must be better than this. She was optimistic. We are talking about this. This has raised a national and international attention. Its a moment in history to do Something Better she hopes the president and you know he watches cable news is watching. Theres also a sense in which, and part of what makes this is story difficult and difficult to report is the lack of transparency. They did a bunch of press about zero tolerance. Its very clear what you heard from marianna and folks were talking to, there is now a concerted effort to turn people away at the ports from entries. Theyre using methods to put the clamp on Asylum Seekers may i ask both of you a question. If its a zero tolerance policy, where are the employer whos employ undocumented immigrants . Who is going after them . Because wouldnt they be in trouble too because they are the ones who are depressing wages . Hiringen documented immigrants, paying them less and giving them no benefits. On the ports of entry, basically theyre putting these people in the situation where if they send them to the ports of entry, they say they show up at the ports, there are 130,000 inadd miss bes over a sevenmonth period, a big chunk of them are people that didnt make it in the ports of entry. Its a 80 of the people make it through the first round. You have to step into the United States to declare asylum. When you have agents preventing you by telling you sorry, we dont have space, come back later, i met a family a couple months ago, five days in a row they tried to get in. In they said hey, why dont you come back later. What are you supposed to do. So great to have you down here doing the work youre doing. We have much more live from the border tonight on president s policy of ripping children from their families. Well learn more about that leaked audio that captured the nations attention of children weeping for their parents in a u. S. Government facility with the lawyer who released. Plus senator jeff merkel tells me why hes calling for the resignation of kirstjen nelson. And will heard was in a meeting with the president about what is happening here at the border which he represents and he joins me right after this. [ speaking Foreign Language ] she says gangs threatened her life and thats xwr she had to leave honduras with a 3yearold child. This car is literally my baby. Which is why i use armor all ultra shine wash wipes. They effectively remove dirt, dust and grime with no water. That car is in tip top shape we are both in tip top shape armor all, its easy to look good. The world is full of different hair. Thats why pantene has the perfect conditioners for everyone. From airlight foam, to nourishing 3 minute miracle, to the moistureinfusing gold series. We give more women great hair days every day. Pantene. Looking for a hotel that fits. Whoooo. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. We are back with our special coverage tonight here in mccallan, texas, steps from the countrys largest Immigration Processing Center where young migrants detained behind metal wires sleep under mylar blankets on thin pads on the concrete floor. Among them, children separated from their parents often with no warning under the policy of the Trump Administration which has been in effect now for about six weeks. The member of congress who represents much of the texas board ser representative will herd. A republican who on friday visit aid temporary shelter in texas in his district where hundreds of minors are now being held. Just a short time too ago, herd and other republicans mate with the trump on capitol hill to discuss immigration policy. Joining me from capitol hill is congressman will hurd, congressman from texas. Before we get to the meeting, theres a letter going around the senate asking the president to end the policy that is his doing, his administrations doing while a legislative solution is worked out. Is that something you would like to see before we talk about what the solution is . This is something clearly within this administrations ability to stop today. I think its ridiculous that we even have to consider a piece of legislation to say you shouldnt rip kids from their mothers arms. This is something we should know in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we shouldnt be using kids as a deterrence. Yes, i would like to see this stopped today. And also, id like to see us work on a legislative solution so it doesnt have the to be brought back up. Did anyone communicate that point of view to the president today as he came in to meet with your caucus of House Republicans . No, he didnt take any questions or any comments. And there wasnt anything definitive from the meeting. The one thing we did realize is that the house and congress is going to ultimately have to act. I believe this problem, this isnt a republican or democratic problem. It shouldnt be a republican or democratic problem. This is something we have to solve in a bipartisan fashion. When i saw the facility last friday, thats a plan festation of a failed policy. This is something we shouldnt be doing and absomething we should stop. Also, this is a an issue that doesnt show us the real problem. The real problem is issues that are happening in costa rica and el salvador and honduras causing this migration. We need more judges in order to prosecute people and need to have smart Border Security and building a 30feet high structure from sea to shining sea is the most ineffective and most expensive way to do Border Security. These are things we can solve together. I want to ask you about something the president tweeted earlier this morning. There was a little 10yearold boy outside a mass in reynosa with his mother. The president said those people are coming to infest the United States. Do you think the people showing up here bedraggaled having traveled 1,000 miles are coming to infest the United States . Most are coming to try to improve their quality of life. If you violate the law there should be consequences. When people are in our custody, we should treat them humanely and respectively. This is a symptom of a broken immigration system. In a broken system, you shouldnt be resorting to kids and your previous segment, somebody was asking a bunch of questions. Some of the questions i have, what were some of the taurls being discussed versus this current policy . How does a mom or a dad figure out where their kid is . I think weve all seen that onepage document that says call a 1800number . Really, thats how someones going to find out where their child is and if their kid is okay . These are a lot of questions and partly hhs doesnt always know what doj is doing, doj doesnt know what the department of Homeland Security is doing. There is a big problem especially when it comes to taking care of kids. The president seems to think you guys have to solve it. Well see what you and your colleagues can get done. Congressman will hurd, thanks for being with me. The human toll of the Trump Administration policy of separating children from parents at the border is evident in the cries of those children. Earlier today, i went to the border to meet jennifer harbor, a civil rights attorney, the one who obtained that very audio recording. I asked her, how she got it. Well, there was a whistleblower who made the tape recording. That person made it directly. That person brought it to me. We had a Legal Consultation about different issues. And the whistleblower asked me to make it available to the press which i did. And that tape was taken in the Ursula Center . I cant disclose which customs and Border Patrol offices it was taken in. It was taken in a place where children are being separated from their parents. And was taken in the last few days. I think maybe its useful. Youve been down here doing this work here on the border for 40 years. Yeah. Maybe can you tell us, whats changed in the last say six weeks under this what the Administration Calls zero tolerance policy . What are you seen firsthand. I have never in 40 years seen children separated from their parents. Its unheard of for a misdemeanor . Next time you get a parking ticket, do you expect your children to be taken away . Really . We have never seen people piled up on the bridge asking for asylum which is the legal way to do it. Theyre following the laws completely. Theyre legally requesting. Nowadays theyre not allowed to sit in the big air conditioned waiting room where theres bathrooms. They had to sleep with their children on the skeemt sidewalk, two weeks, 16 days on the reynosa bridge and over in roma. That lasted about three weeks. A 3monthold baby went to a lopt. The argument from the administration is if you dont cross at a port that is not protected when you come and say im from guatemala seeking asylum. All of this is aimed at shoving people back to the countries they came from and letting them die there. Number one, you tap on the door and say im here. At the beginning of last year and now in many places including el paso and brownsville, theyre most likely to say go away, we wont do it. Is that new . It happened a little bit last year at the beginning of the Trump Administration. That has never happened before. That is a new thing that happened with trump when people would present themselves for asylum being told no room at the inn get out of here. This is because as far as you can tell, someone has sent word down to the frontline c ballpark p officers manning these ports of entry to say for the first time youve been doing this work in 40 years, you cant come in. Theyre saying we will not let au apply for asylum. If they arent sleeping on the bridge now, what a lot of agents are doing is saying were going to call mexican immigration to drag you away. People are terrified of that so theyre running back to the safehouses in reynosa. Theyre a number one target of kidnapping for the cartels. The squeeze here is two things are happening. One is at the ports from entry, theyre not letting people come in to apply for asylum. People are desperate. They then go back find a coyote, try to cross somewhere else. Right. And then thats when if theyre apprehended and present for asylum. Then theyre punished. Theyre punished in an additional way if they come legally. If they make it through the hot cement sidewalks and everything and get to get through the credible fear interview which means they have a right to be heard by the judge, then as of last year, it had been less and less that people like that were being released on parole or bond. And that means if you have no criminal record, you have clear i. D. , your fingerprints come back clean and you have a number of u. S. Citizen or lpr relatives who will take care of you, you go live with them while your case goes through. They stopped doing that. Only some women who were pregnant were allowed out and for a long time, women with children. But people like an 18yearold who had come running up here because bowing of his brothers had been killed by the cartel, he went to port isabel Detention Center. Those are exactly like prisons. Theyre supposed to be civil Detention Centers. Theyre not even theyre not even partitions between the toilet bowls there. Theyre not allowed to touch one another, to comfort each other if someone gets news a relative has been murdered and is crying, if they try to hug them, theyre told to get back or well put you in the hole. If you go by the river, your kids will be taken away. If you walk across the bridge, you may get turned back all together and kidnapped at the fast of the bridge or if youre lucky enough to finally get across the bridge, you may get to sleep there or if you get in and pass your credible fear interview so you get before an immigration judge some day, could you spend two years in prison. What a lot of people do after being in there long enough, they give up and they go back to the dangers they fled and they do get killed. Which is the entire point of the policy. Jennifer, thank you so much. You can only imagine the psychological damage for these children as a result of the trump policy. Im joined by dr. Mercado. A clinical psychologist working with children and families in these border communities, professor at the university of texas, rio grenades valley. Good to have you here. You work with these communities. Before we were talking about the trauma of children taken from parents, generally migrants undergoing an incredibly traumatic journey, what are the effects that manifest when youre dealing with that. Chris, i think its important to understand that the reasons why these families and children are migrating to the United States is are they range from extreme poverty, trauma, abuse and the issues go on and on. Were looking at premigration trauma and many of them experience migration during the journey traveling thousands of miles, being exposed to severe conditions. Let alone once they are here on u. S. Soil, the trauma continues. Were looking at longterm consequences of the child that ranges anywhere from psychological, physical and social. You know, something that this is reading from the Mental Health professional petition about the policy to pretend that separated children do not grow up with the shrapnel of this experience embedded in their minds is to disregard everything we know about child development, the brain and trauma. Do you agree with that . We definitely see neurological consequences, trauma brings so many consequences to the table. Were looking at severe Mental Health symptoms that can arise later on in adulthood whether its development of post Traumatic Stress disorder, depression, anxiety. Were looking at substance abuse. So many relational issues that can arise later on in life, as well. You know, one of the things someone said to me, someone who worked in one of the facilities, right so this facility was outfitted to hold unaccompanied minors and started getting kids taken from their parents. Two different populations. The unaccompanied minors, it was hard but they knew they were going alone. The people having just been ripped from parents was this is extras uncertainty that one second their parent was there and the next they werent. I see these families on a regular basis as a psychologist in my community in south texas. These families dont know whats happening. Right . So this is new trauma they are experiencing. If this practice is happening. And it is a different level. So many times were exacerbating these symptoms due to that separation. Whether its hours, days and weeks at a time or months at a time. Ive seen all of that in different levels. Does it stick with a kid . Definitely. You know, when were looking at trauma, different stages, separation, were looking at longterm psychological effects, physical effects, as well. Doctor, thank you so much. I appreciate you taking the time. Dr. Alfonso mercado. Jeff merkley returned to the border after being denied access to one of the facilities. Now hes calling for Kirstjen Nielsen who resign. He joins me next. 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We are back lear on boarder in mckalb, texas with special coverage of the decision by donald trump and his administration to, among other things that were still learning about, forcibly separate Migrant Children from their parents as a plan to deter people from coming here seeking asylum. Two weeks ago, my next guest senator jeff merkley was turned away from a former walmart now used by the Trump Administration contracted through a social Service Agency as a Detention Center for Migrant Children. He returns to the board are there weekend to tour Processing Centers in the rio grande valley. To better understand how the trump policy is playing out on the ground. Joining me now from back in washington is senator jeff merkley, democrat of oregon. What have you learn bid being able to access the facilities . Well, ill tell you, it was very striking right from the beginning to that how much easier it is to get in when you have Seven Members of congress coming together. But also because of the publicity of the last two weeks. But what we saw out on that bridge that jennifer was speaking to and i was able to be with jennifer when i came two weeks ago is a story that really gives the lie to what the administration is saying when the secretary of Homeland Security says if only they would come to the border official site to come across, there would be no issue. And yet, theyre turning people away from those official sites. Leaving them on the bridge two weeks ago as jennifer was describing and now having border guars out there turning them away if theyre seeking asylum letting just a couple through in the course of a day, just a few through. Senator, theres a big decision that you and your colleagues have now. One way to understand whats happened is that the president has taken hostages essentially in both a sort of metaphorical and literal sense. 2600 children separated from their charns and now hes using them as leverage to try to get a legislative solution favorable to his preferred policy goals. Ted cruz has a bill that is relatively narrow but would truncate the asylum process. Are democrats going to play ball with this negotiation on these terms. Well emphasize the entire problem was created with the stroke of a president ial pen and its a president ial pen that can end it. Now, cruz is putting forward a bill, thats what legislators do. His bill sets up a Kangaroo Court that says you have 14 days from basically your detention or prison cell to be able to get documents from your home country to make your case and prove that your life was at risk and you have a credible fear of return. Nobody can do that. So everybody would be turned down for asylum. Im sure theres other problems in it, as well, but thats certainly one of them. Have to keep coming back to the fact that we are a nation that has always treated those fleeing persecution with respect. Treat people respectfully, they get their hearing. If they meet the standard then welcome into the u. S. If not, then they leave. We have, we only let in about one in five through those hearings. We had a Case Management program that was working by all accounts quite well that the administration shut down that had people turning up for hearings in very high rates. One article said 100 , another said 99 . We had a perfectly good system, torn down by the president. And this effort to start essentially hurting children to send a message to families overseas. Just totally unacceptable. Senator jeff merkley, thanks for your time tonight. Thank you, chris. Coming up, as the eyes of the world turn to this border, we reminutes away from right now what the people of texas who call this state home, think of whats happening. Much more from mccallan right after this. Is it to carry carg. Or to carry on a legacy . Its show of strength. Or its sign of intelligence . In crossing harsh terrain. Or breaking new ground . This is the time to get an exceptional offer on the mercedes of your midsummer dreams at the mercedesbenz summer event, going on now. Receive up to a 1,250 summer event bonus on select suvs. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Welcome to holiday inn thank you wait, i have something for you every stay is a special stay at holiday inn. Save up to 15 when you book early at hollidayinn. Com save up to 15 when you book early my gums are irritated. I dont have to worry about that, do i . Actually, you do. Harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line, and if youre not taking care of your gums, youre not taking care of your mouth. 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Also in a letter, House Speaker joe strauss asked the president move immediately to rescind the policy of separating immigrant families and then made it clear this is not a binary choice between ramp in crime and tearing families apart. Tanya chavez is a strategist with Immigration Rights group and Democratic State representative terry carnales. What are your concerns your organization has what the effects of this policy are. One of the fears that we have is that we have dealt with the issue of immigration for many years and families who have resided here for many years are now wondering are we next. Right . And. This has cast a pall over the community. Exactly. Now were starting to get some calls into our office and how to reunite the children with their mariners. Our biggest concern is that when children get routed through the system and theyre ready to be released to a Family Member, their parents are in detention. How are you going to get them to someone in safety. And if they were to have another undocumented relative they could be released to, the policies are preventing those Family Members from stepping forward to picking up those children. Now we have them being released into a foster care system. You can have a kid who has cleared the process ready to be released that the adult is still in detention because theyve been separated in the processing and they cant go to an actual member they have because that Family Member is too scared theyll get prosecuted. Exactly. What were dealing with our community is that historically in the rio grande valley, we dealt with the issue of immigration. We have increased militarization and were wondering if this means more militarization for border communities when were just trying to make a living and be a safe community, a welcoming community for all immigrants. This is your district. What did you think of the letter from the House Speaker today. It was what was needed. Weve got two different breeds of republicans in texas. I think joe strauss represents the more ideological person that better represents the mainstream republican, not this far fringed right republican that weve seen that basically you know, President Trump style follower. I mean, this is a massive disruption for this area, right . Its incredible. Youre someone who has been in ta facility. You represent the border. Whats new now . What has changed under the Trump Administration particularly under this policy. What youre seeing the last time i was in the 2014, those were uncan compaaccompanied min. Make no mistake, thats a prison. The children sleep on the floor. Theyre covered in aluminum look like foil camping blankets. This is a terrible place to be, and the last time i was in chris, i sat in my truck and cried my eyes out for 20 minutes. That was me. I cant imagine the children in there. Its were at the epicenter of this and our community is at the epicenter, it is taking a toll on us all. Yesterday and this morning when we were here, we get to see the buses where the children are being shuttled out. And it is really it breaks your heart to see those children waving hands at you and so we need to make sure that the public knows that this can be ended by the Trump Administration with the stroke of a pen of a with a pen and he has the power to fix this. And you live in the community and the context of the whole thing is that people coming and seeking asylum in most cases, they need to be held somewhere. You cant just let them go. But that is what we did for years, right . You dont need to be held anywhere. They are Asylum Seekers and they are processed and give an interview and be let into the United States. That is what needs to happen. We are not in the business of incarcerating kids like today and the Trump Administration needs to end this policy because it is immoral. Additionally, i would weigh in and say that one of the aspects you hear is ms13 rhetoric that they are all i spoke with my sheriff and he said in 2016 they had one person arrested affiliated and in 2018 one affiliated, all american born. Three people in three years in a county of over a Million People. In a county of a Million People over the border a site of influx of people. It is a false narrative and the idea they are selling it to the American People and there is an influx of ms13 people yes, there are maybe some caught at the border but the idea they are sticking around here and creating havoc that is not the truth and it is confirmed by my largest Law Enforcement agency. When you hear the president talk about the threat and hear and see the president use a word like infest and i dont know if he know he said this, he says her coming here to infest. It is disheartening and it isnt like Jeff Sessions said, this is not biblical, this is diabolical. And it is disheartening and racist at best. America is a welcoming country. Were a nation of immigrants and therefore we should welcome them. Absolutely. I asked President Trump, how will he feel if his child were to be taken away from him . Right . He is a father. Why is he tearing apart children from their parents. Texas state representative terry cammales and thank you for joining me. I want to take a look at cory lieu and ows lewandowski, th former Trump Campaign manager him reacting to a story about what is happening at the border on fox news earlier tonight. A take a listen. I read about a 10yearold girl with down syndrome taken from her mother and put in a cage. Wah wah. Did you just say that how dare you how dare you . When you cross the border how dare you, sir how dare you. We have the reaction to a story in the wall street journal about how as a result of this trump policy a 10yearold girl with Downs Syndrome was recently separated from her mother and 10yearold brother as that he tempted to enter the u. S. The girl was sent to a facility in mcallen and her mother sent to brownsville and Cory Lewandowski, a close associate of the president of the United States said, whomp whomp on national television. Im in mcallen, texas and Lawrence Odonnell is in brownsville. Lawrence, it feels like some kind of moral reckoning the country is working through right now. Well, what we just saw with Cory Lewandowski is the sad fact that you wont pick up on this Network Coverage but there are people out there who are actually enjoying this. Not feeling neutral about it. Not feeling confused about it. Not feeling that the law is worth supporting even if it is painful. There are people watching this who are enjoying it and Cory Lewandowski is one of them. And would it surprise anyone that the Campaign Manager of the president ial candidate who actually himself on a stage in front of his supporters mocked a disabled reporter and made fun of a reporters kwl physical disability and surprised he would do this. If you put him on television, there is a likelihood of that happening and the real question is why would anyone put him on television. There is there is this kind of braggadocios from the white house and this happened when when it was a complete cluster and it was it was a crisis sand protests at every airport and quotes from bannon and and they said we wanted this and like making the liberals cry and they like it, do you think that is true . Well steve bannon said it is true. And i dont know why we would want to doubt that. It seems they get energy from it. It seems the president gets energized by it. The president seems more energized by this now than a couple of days ago. Here i am standing in front of the largest facility at casa padre Holding Children in texas, a largest facility Holding Children in the country and im not the first reporter to stand here in front of this building, but by the time im standing in front of it, the president is going up to capitol hill tonight and kind of leading a cheerleading session about how well this is going. Is he marching them the politics are fascinating to me because this was something that sort of we started covering it four weeks ago and it was a din and now became a roar. And the next thing you know ted cruz has a bill and john cornyn and Mitch Mcconnell said we dont like this and this is terrible and will hurd in a district that voted for hillary and a a tight district, was just on my show saying i dont like this. The politics seem to be point ago way from the white house. What do you think . Chris, no one has more Actual Experience of this issue than people who live in the border states. People who have been living in texas for decades have seen versions of this for decades and they know that the world doesnt come to an end if you release a parent and a child instead of putting them into custody. As were doing now for the first time. And so there is no surprise that people in border states like texas would be reacting against this. There is also a sort of question here about what is there a breaking point. Everyone keeps looking for the breaking point and a question about the breaking point in charlottesville and the question about the shole countries that he talked about and the president using language hes been using the last two days talking about germany has to preserve its purity against the sort of interlopers, rooting on rightwing nationalist movements in europe and today talking about immigrants infesting the country. It is always been ugly from the moment he came down the escalator but it feels particularly dark and ugly right now. Well it seems, chris, when you put donald trump under pressure, you find out more truth about him. The more pressure that the republicans in congress have been getting on this issue, the more pressure the white house has been getting on this issue, the more clarifying Donald Trumps words are about it. The more clarifying Cory Lewandowski is about it tonight showing he actually enjoyed this. And so this is part of the process. If you if this pressure is back on donald trump, he actually reacts in a way that reveals more of what he really thinks. Remember when he said i hated seeing this he said i hate seeing this. That is what he was saying on friday. He doesnt say that any more. Youre there in brownsville and youre going to be reporting and hosting your show live from there later tonight. And doing some work to try to find where the girls are being held and where the tender age children and what do you have in store tonight . Chris, i did find one facility today that reportedly has the girls has many girls and it has some infants. And we know that because some diapers have been seen around there there is evidence of that. But how can we be standing here in texas, in the United States of america, and saying to the country, we dont know where the babies are. We dont know where the girls are. That is a mystery to us because the government has made it a mystery to us. They will not tell us what they have done with the girls. They will not tell us what theyve done with the babies. And the secretary of Homeland Security who is supposed to know this, who is in charge of this yesterday at the white house, her answer was basically, i dont know. Lawrence odonnell in brownsville, texas. And he will be broadcasting his show, the last word with Lawrence Odonnell live at 10 00 p. M. Eastern time. Ill be there as well. You should be too. There is more to cover here. Lawrence thank you very much for joining me. Thanks, chris. And we will be back here live from mcallen, texas, tomorrow night where much more reporting on this important story. The Rachel Maddow show starts right now. Good evening, rachel. Good evening, chris, well done my friend and thank you for being there covering this. Thanks at home for joining us this hour. We have a lot to get to tonight. At this time on last nights show, this time last night we reported the new news that the republican governor of massachusetts Charlie Baker had canceled his National Guard deployment to the border from his state in protest of President Trumps new policy of separating kids from their parents at the border. Massachusetts canceling a National Guard deployment and reported last night at this time on another new action taken by the democrat governor of colorado, john hickenlooper. Who signed an executi o