Would the media like to hear Mick Mulvaneys report or would you find it extraordinarily boring and therefore not fit for camera . Yes, please. Would you like to hear it . Yes, please. Why dont we do this. Well say grace afterwards. We are actually going t use that as an opportunity to take a bit of a break here. President trump there, weekly cabinet meeting, calling on his Budget DirectorMick Mulvaney for a presentation. We will go back when the president starts to take some questions there from reporters who have assembled in the room. Craig melvin here once again from mcallen, texas. You heard President Trump there going on a bit about the economy, going on a bit about the bad hand he has been dealt with regards to iran, with regards to north korea as well, and, of course, with regards to mexico. All of this coming just less than a day really after President Trump did an aboutface on his Policy Of Separating children from their parents as they illegally try to
cross the border here in southern texas. Peter alexander has been standing by, hes been listening to all of this go down. What else to talk to you about what we heard from President Trump, but we should know the president did hit one of his familiar themes as well, the size of his crowd in minnesota at that ruckus rally. Yeah. What struck me is we heard the president , again, doubling down on this idea of illegal immigration, barely 24 hours after backing down as it related to this Family Separation Policy as we just played for those watching at home right now. The president speaking for more than 30 minutes, fiercely laying in to some of his familiar opponents, trying to frame this as the fault of the democrats as it relates to the arrival of undocumented immigrants in the United States being fiercely critical of mexico saying they do nothing for us, which ignores, among other things, the fact that mexico is the second largest recipient of exported
trip here. She touched down i would say maybe 30, 45 minutes ago. She is here to meet with folks who are in the center. She is here to meet the Migrant Children who are being held, to thank Law Enforcement and the social Services Workers who have been working with them. Mrs. Trump, she spoke out early about the separation of kids from their parents and today she is going to be seeing the conditions were told, seeing the conditions of the Detention Centers firsthand. Shes asking officials here on the ground what more she and the administration can do to help. Thank you so much for having me here today. Im glad im here and im looking forward to seeing and meeting children. But first of all, let me begin to recnize each of you and thank you for all what you do. For your heroic work that you do every day. What you do for those children. We all know theyre having theyre here without their families and i want to thank you for your hard work, your compassion, and your kindness. In this difficult time. Im here to learn about your facility and which i know you house children on a longterm basis. And i also like ask you how i can help, to these children, to reunite with their families as quickly as possible. So thank you again, for all that you do, and thank you as well, thank you all for what you do. Thank you very much. Melania trump there. She is actually at the Lutheran Social Services center. I was actually at that same Services Center yesterday interviewing one of the advocates who have been working
with Migrant Children here for a number of years, five, ten minutes from here, were told the first lady is going to be making several stops in and around mcallen, texas. Gabe gutierrez is also here in mcallen, over at the federal courthouse. Gabe, what can the first lady expect to see while shes here . Well, craig, as you mentioned shes touring the Childrens Center and also planning to tour a Processing Center with cbp. That trip was delayed a little bit because of the heavy rain that weve been seeing in this area. I can also tell you she is arriving to an area that has some skepticism about how the president s Executive Order is playing out. Ill tell you where i am, in front of the federal courthouse here in mcallen, where an Immigration Hearing is under way right now as it is every day and 60 defendants are here being charged with illegal entry. What is significant about today, craig, is that according to an Immigration Attorney present
earlier this morning, 17 deftsz who had been charged with illegal entry had the charges dismissed. Now that immigration Attorney Says these defendants had one thing in common, that those 17 defendants were all parents of children that they had been separated from those children earlier this week. They had been arrested as they crossed into the border into the u. S. Illegally, either on monday or tuesday before the president had signed that Executive Order. Now craig, why is that significant . It appears that were seeing the ramifications of the president s Executive Order play out in real time. Theres a lot of questions about how the Judicial System W handle this. Whether there will continue to be prosecutions of these adults who have children. Just a short time ago the Washington Post citing a senior u. S. Official, reported that the doj was suspending prosecutions of these adults until i. C. E. Could have more Resource Capacity to have to be able
to handle these family units. However, doj spokesperson now says that that report is inaccurate, there has been no change to the president s Zero Tolerance policy. Bottom line, right now there are a lot of questions about how this Executive Order will play out. Overnight we had the conflicting statements from hhs at first saying there was no plan to reunify the families and a few hours later another official saying that the reunification of families was the ultimate goal and they were waiting further guidance on how to proceed. So craig, certainly a lot of questions playing out right now here on the ground in south texas and the Federal Building behind me, craig. All right. Gabe gutierrez, about ten minutes from where i am here. Inn mcallen, texas. We can tell you this is the video you saw there of the first lady, Melania Trump at the Lutheran Social Service facility, video taken moments ago. Mrs. Trump is on the move right now. She is in route to a location
we dont know precisely where shes headed but told when we get more images and pictures well bring those to you. She is expected to be spending the course of the day with social Services Workers, with Law Enforcement officials as well getting a firsthand look of the effort being made on the ground. It should be noted here, it was first lady Melania Trump a few days ago who surprised a lot of folks by saying through a spokesman, a very short statement, quote, mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their family and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform. She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart. President trump saying just a few moments ago there in the cabinet room announcing that his wife was making this surprise trip here to south texas. Once again indicating that she had been quite moved by the
images that had been coming out of south texas over the past few days. Peter, what more do we know about Melania Trumps influence on the president s Change Of Heart if you will . Well, i think we know that the president is driven by images, perhaps before anything else. He spends a lot of time speaking to friends and allies outside the white house, but he is certainly someone who consumes a ton of media. Reading newspapers, but most often watching cable tv and based on conversations ive had the Belief System is, that this president was in many ways motivated to make this decision based on what he was seeing on television. But its certain that part of what swayed his decision, was the guidance, privately of the first daughter, ivanka trump, and the first lady Melania Trump, according to sources familiar with the matter. The first lady youll remember, only a matter of weeks ago, announced her formal platform, be best, supposed to focus
specifically on children, which is why on this day, i think its notable that she is sort of the ambassador on behalf of this administration who is going down to visit with some of the children today. All right. Peter stand by. Lets go back to the cabinet room here. President trump taking questions. Nancy pelosi, they can come over, they can bring whoever they want. But the lawmakers have to sit down and have to do something because our country cannot continue to run like this. We cant have open borders. You have to have borders. You dont have a country without borders. They have to be enforced. It has to be a strict enforcement. At the same time we want people to come into our country, we need them. We have Many Companies right now moving back into the United States, they need workers. We have 3. 8 unemployment. They need workers. We have to have them come in. Im saying i want people to come in. They have to come in inn through a merit system. We can have a lot of people come into our system through the
merit system so they can help these companies that are looking so hard for people to make the company work. But the in a very simple way congress has to get together, get their act together. Democrats and republicans. They have to come up with a solution. I have ideas, they have ideas, we can put them together very easily. Theres so much hatred, theres so much i mean honestly im not saying this theres a lot of false reporting, misreporting, theres also a lot of great reporting. But congress has to come together and this is the best time to do it. Right now, i think is the best time ive seen for people that really are well meaning now, unfortunately we have an election coming up in a few months and, you know, i guess theyre looking at it and were looking at it and maybe we have to just sort of put on the blinders when it comes to doing that, but congress has to get together and we have to d something on immigration. Its very important. We have to change almost everything thats been done in the past. We are being laughed at as a country because of our bad immin policies. Were a young administration. This has been going on for 50 years, 60 years, 70 years. But its gotten worse over the last 20 because laws have been so complex and so ridiculous, we really dont have a law. We have laws that dont allow you to do what youre supposed to be doing. And we also to keep it in a very humane way. We want to take care of people. If we dont take them in we have to help. We need help from mexico. Mexico has not helped us, and we need help from mexico. Thats a long answer but i also appreciate the great job youve done. [ talking at the same time ] i cant hear you. Kids already separated from their parents . We want to put them together. We dont want to have children separated from their parents. You have to understand, you gave an example of 12,000 children. Of the 12,000 10,000 came up either alone, they werent necessarily young children, but either alone or came up with traffickers. And coyotes. These coyotes are bad dudes. But they came up with other people, brought them up, and they used them, they are using the children. 10,000 out of the 12,000. Of the 2,000 a lot of the people where they came in with their children, this is their third, fourth, fifth time trying to come into our country. So this is not a perfect situation. This is a very bad. Port of entry, if you go to a port of entry, it works out very nicely. Theyve been doing a very good job. They dont want to come in through the port of entry. Thatd doi it the legal way. Many of the people in the 2,000 category, youre talking about 2,000 children, those are people that have tried to come into our
country many times the same way. They dont want to go into the port of entry. Usually thats for a very bad reason. Why dont they want to go in legally . You have to ask yourself that question. So you have a situation that is right for congress get together and examine up with a solution. And i am ready willing and able to help, ready, willing and able to take this pen right here and sign very quickly. [ inaudible ] tolerance to the system . If we took zertolerance away, you would be overrun as a country. You would have millions of people pouring through our border. If you took Zero Tolerance away, everybody would come right now. There would be they would be getting their little belongings, unfortunately, and they would be heading up. You would be you would have a run on this country the likes of which nobody has ever seen. So we have to have strong
borders. Frankly, the wall in terms of drugs, in terms of keeping certain people out that we dont want in this country, the wall is imperative. We have to have the wall. Weve started the wall. We have 1. 6 billion. Were fixing tremendous amounts of wall where its been overrun. But we have to come up with a solution. I would consider it, whether its north korea, whether its so many other things, we have a lot of things. Look, ive been given a very tough hand because i came up here, we had an economy that was going down, we had an iran problem, we had a middle east problem, take a look at what was going on in the middle east. Its a lot better now. A lot smoother right now than anything you heard over the last eight years. But we were given a lot of bad cards. One of the bad cards, we were given this immigration mess. And it was made worse by all of
the different contradting laws that have been passed. So were going to work very hard with mike pence and with everybody else in this room, were going to work hard to see if we can solve the immigration problem. But we need democrats to be able to do it. If theyre going to obstruct it cant be done because the republicans dont have the votes. Now, i think were going to win Additional Senate seats. That will help us a lot. But unless we get Additional Senate seats, and unless we keep the house more or less like it is right now, youre not going to be able. Unless the democrats are serious and they want to come along and ey want to get immigration work done. We can do something thats going to be historic. We can do something that will be historic. And we can get it done. I am ready. Im here. All of these people, these are very talented people, were all ready, were all here. We need votes from the democrats or nothing can pass. Thank you all very mh. All right. President trump in, weekly cabinet meeting. Taking a few questions from a handful of the assembled reporters. Let me go back to Peter Alexander for a moment here, peter, the question that i did not hear asked and i havent heard i havent heard an explanation yet, correct me if im wrong, but the administration has yet to explain how it is that the president was able to sign an Executive Order reversing Essentialla Policy Decision that was announced by his Attorney General just a few months ago, how is he able to sign that order when for the better part of the past week, hes said several times that he couldnt do it by Executive Order, his Homeland Security secretary said essentially the
same thing. Has anyone in the administration explained how they were able to do something that for days, they were insistent upon they couldnt do it . I dont think they have. Certainly not very well, craig. Lets be clear, this administration, this president , his advisors and aides, including the secretary of Homeland Security, kirstjen nielsen, for days, repeatedly and wrongly insisted that their hands were tied. Effectively saying only congress could do something about this, the president could not resolve this by Executive Order. What is evidenced by what he did yesterday the president was able to at least suspend the separation of these young, Undocumented Immigrants Fm their families by signing that order. Now none of this resolves what is the current problem which is trying to reunite those young immigrants with their families more than 2,000 of them now spread in many cases around the United States. The process of trying to reunite
them with families is going to be a challenging one, one for which there has been limited, if any, clarity from the administration. Kirstjen nielsen earlier today telling reporters they have a plan, but a spokesperson for her department earlier said that they basically havent received any further guidance on that matter to this point. At the end of the day what the president has been trying to do here as evidenced by his remarks yesterday where he used the word strong seven times, is to try to cast himself as the strong guy, the tough guy, when it comes to illegal immigration, even while at the same time backing away from a policy that simply could not stand. As evidenced by the outspoken remarks from republicans and democrats alike on this issue. The president again today speaking firmly about illegal immigration, even his wife is down at the border visiting with those doctors, those social workers and those young individuals who in many ways were victimized by this. They committed an illegal act by crossing the border, but they did it with adults so they were not in a position to do it of their own fruition so to speak and its those individuals well being at the center of the firestorm across this country. Peter alexander for us there from the white house as we, again, look at these images from here in mcallen, texas, where first lady Melania Trump, touched down last hour. I want to bring in our panel now and spend a little more time talking about the firstadys trip to talk about what we heard from President Trump there as well. Susan page, Washington Bureau chief for usa today with me. So is president ial historian and journalist jon meacham, an msnbc contributor and immigrations rights advocate ann chandler. A big thanks to all of you. Let me just start, were starting to get a little more color from inside this lutheran Services Center where Melania Trump was a few moments ago. Again, were told that right now
the first lady is on the move. She is likely being hampered a bit by the weather here in south texas. It has been raining torrentially for the better part of two days. Flash Flood Warning in effect for most of the area. So she is having to reroute just a bit were told. Susan, were told that the first lady has a translator with us to talk to the children who do not speak english. Although many of these kids appear to have a grasp on the english language. She visited a series of classrooms, colorful drawings, beautiful landscapes, large sculptures of letters made out of crayons hung from the ceiling here. Were told the first lady shook hands and she told them at onepoint, quote, be kind and nice to each other, okay. The girls giggled at that. She asked them, are you trying to learn to speak english. Most of them nodded. Melania trump asked the boys how
old they were, what their favorite subject in school is. These are some live pictures now. This is the first lady signing this oversized American Flag e. This is a flag that were told was made just for her. As you can see there, welcome first lady on it in big black letters. She asked the children where they are from and asked them to demonstrate their Writing Skills for her as well. First lady Melania Trump moving about. Susan, lets talk about this trip and talk a little bit about melanias role, the role that she appears to be carving for herself. Peter alexander, referring to her as the secretary of compassion a few moments ago. It is so interesting that the first lady chose to make this surprise trip to texas, and, you know, shes not someone who has weighed in on a lot of Public Policy matters so that means you really Pay Attention when she chooses to do so. It seems to me she is sending
such a different picture than her husband, just by going down there. She doesnt have to confront him on any policy questions. Just the fact that she is there and focusing on the welfare of these kids who have come across the border since sends such a different message. I wonder to what degree she has an audience of one, she has her husband and his policies in mind when she goes down there and makes these appearances today. We have seen her sort of play this role a few times. The aftermath of hurricane maria, we saw the first lady. In las vegas after the deadly shooting at the hotel there. Theres a look at some of the other trips that the first lady has made. Jon meacham, i want to go back to something we were just talking about a few moments ago. The idea that President Trump we can dance around it, i suppose. The reality is the president capitulated. Heres a president who appeared to really be digging in his heels just 24 hours prior, and then all of a sudden he announces that he is, in fact, going to reverse his own policy. Lets not lose sight of that. Yeah. But the president had a Change Of Heart to a certain extent it would seem. What are we to make of that, jon meacham . Is this the first time in his presidency that weve seen Something Like that . Well, i think so. And i guess, craig, i would argue a little bit or suggest that the phrase is not a Change Of Heart because, though, i cant see into his heart, obviously, i suspect that wasnt it, but it was a change of mind because of the politics and the i hate this word but the optics of the moment. And to some extent you to ask yourself, you know, the country
has spent the last ten days or more entirely focused on this issue, and if its really about shees children, then these children, then we should be thinking this kind of protest, this kind of attention, has truly moved us in the right direction, not completely, but today is better than yesterday for these children who have been separated from their families. So i think we have to say that, not to give the president undue credit, i dont mean that, it was a crisis of his own making, but if were going to have anything remotely resembling a rationale, political conversation in the country, which is a very elusive thing in the best of times, and this is not the best of times, i think we do have to be able to say, all right, this is a good day, we can keep pushing, keep working. On the first lady being down there in that very interesting,
interesting list you just showed about her other trips, one of the things that i dont know how widely understood it is, there are some people in the white house, particularly in mrs. Trumps part of it, who have been part of previous administrations and understand what normal white houses do. If you look at that list you see that thats a role where a first lady is making a stand, playing out the symbolic role of the office, in a way that makes more sense to those of us who are accustomed to the rhythms of a white house. There really is, jon meacham, no downside to the first lady making trips like this. No. And, you know, if youre a particularly hard core antitrump person, right now, at home, you probably have your lighter about to set your hair
on fire because what you think is happening is here we are, as m mark gurrin, the Clinton Communications director once said, the White House Press corp is like an 8yearold soccer team, they kick a ball and we chase it. The cynical view is one of the great points of Modern Washington life, the cynical view, we fell for it, right. We just fell forhe fact that now were looking at this and thinking that the trumps are engaged in compassion. I understand all that. You understand it. At the same time heres the first lady of the United States and this is a better thing to be doing than staying out of sight and letting her husband, the most radically unconventional president in history, run over american values. So good for her for going down there. Ann, lets talk about the
policy here. For a moment as we continue to watch these pictures of Melania Trump inside this facility here in south texas. I spent some time at a vigil and walk last night here in mcallen, and everyone in the crowd, a few hundred folks, they were all acutely aware that the president had signed this Executive Order reversing his own policy, ending the separation of children from their parents here. But there was still a great deal of, shall we say, skepticism and suspicion that this was going to be a practice that actually ended and that there was going to be, in fact, this sort of radical change. Ann, in terms of the president s actions, what do they mean for the 2300 children who have been separated from their parents over the last month, what do the president s actions mean and perhaps just as important, what dont they mean . So i think skepticism and
suspicion are good terms to use. I mean what we read that Executive Order to mean was a few things. Number one, that Family Separation, the policy that he put in place and then removed, is going to be replaced with something we believe that will look like Family Detention. Number two, we still saw the Zero Tolerance and the sense that kind of ignoring that our nation does have protective laws and policies and procedures in place, not have an open border but procedures in place where Asylum Seekers arrive on borders and ask for asylum, kind of Zero Tolerance unfortunately is still in place. And third, what was most scary about the memo was, a sense that there is nothing wrong with detaining children in places of Mass Incarceration for prolonged
periods while they try to tell our Government Officials about the rapes they might have suffered, the Human Trafficking in their home country, about what the gangs might have done to their sibling or to themselves. And so im very i am de, deeply concerned that Family Detention under this Administration May be and may capture the horror of the world in the same way that the world was horrified as we stripped children from their mothers and their fathers. And stand by for me in a moment because we have a bit of an update as it relates to the first ladys schedule. These are pictures from inside the Lutheran Social Services of the South Facility here in mcallen, texas. I can tell you i was there yesterday, this is a facility that has been open for three or
four years and we do not know, by the way, if any of the socalled tender age migrants, the toddlers, babies, we dont know if any of them are being kept here. T i can tell you that this is a facility for boys that was once anlyare facility. But an update here on the first ladys travel. She is apparently headed back to the airport, back to Mcallen International airport. We were told that she was going to be heading to a Processing Center. The largest immigration Processing Center is here in mcallen texas. Her plan had been to heado that Processing Center. Were told now shes headed back to the airport because of the widespread flooding that we have right now in mcallen, texas, and the surrounding areas. It has been raining torrentially for the better part of two days. That flooding were told is affecting the first ladys caravan. Her ability to move around south texas. Melania trump headed back to the airport now, presumably to head back to washington, d. C. That second stop likely going away because of the flooding. I can, again, i can tell you firsthand that the Processing Center, i was in front of the Processing Center this morning for the today show, it was sufficiently flooded at around 10 00 a. M. And it has rained pretty much nonstop for the past three hours. So first lady Melania Trump heading back now to washington, d. C. , what was going to be a bit of a tour here in south texas, is not going to happen. This one stop is going to be all the first lady is able to do because of the weather. And let me come back to you here for just a moment, because as you know, according to msnbcs exclusive reporting, as many as 21 military attorneys are being sent here and to other border states as well to help prosecute
immigration cases. Congressman ted lewis is a former jag attorney, jags are not trained in Immigration Law. Jag mission is to help commanders fight our wars, not prosecute misdemeanors. Is it in your opinion, is it a wise move to send attorneys here with limited Immigration Law experience into this situation . Are they going to be able to help at all or do you foresee that being more of a hindrance . Well, you know, im not familiar with the Jag Attorneys background or professionalism. They handle that duty. What i am aware of is, that it is completely absurd that the u. S. Attorneys office and now potentially Jag Attorneys, will be prosecuting Asylum Seekers for the misdemeanor of arriving on our country at a place that
is not designated by our government. You know, i think one thing that was left out by President Trumps remarks, washe ability to individuals to actually access our asylum on the port of entries. I think its really important for us to listen to the accounts of Asylum Seekers as they describe arriving on our bridges and our Government Officials telling Asylum Seekers im sorry, we cant process you. Our were closed for the day, please come back later. The border zone, one thing i think President Trump got right, right now is a very dangerous place. We see many Asylum Seekers that have suffered rapend harm along this very perilous journey and it is incumbent upon our country as we look at Zero Tolerance, to demand for our government to allow a safe, orderly process for these children and these parents to be able to access protections and
individual evaluationings of their cases. So im concerned less about the professional background of the prosecutors than the fact that were prosecuting Asylum Seekers for an illegal act where our law says one can seek asylum in our country, regardless of how they enter our country. Jon meacham, President Trump last night, at one of these rallies, one o these campaignstyle rallies, doing what the president tends to do, going off script. One of the things that i found especially interesting if you will, after the rally was over, and was reading online, as well, and some other folks that seemed to share this sentiment, this is a president who seems to be exploiting the culture wars in this country more so than any predecessor, any of his predecessors, at least during my
lifetime. Weve always had culture wars, abortion, gay rights. Heres a president that seems to every month or two, manage to find another battle in the culture wars to exploit. Am i overstating that or is this a president who has managed to why and i always hate putting guests in this position but ill do it because youre jon meacham, why . Why manage to exploit why exploit the culture wars to the extent hes doing it . Im happy to be put on that spot. Thats how he rose to power. He makes thomas hobbs look like a peacemaker. It turns out that the trump era is nasty, brutish and longer than we would like. I dont think theres any great mystery here. How did donald trump enter the heart of the hard core right wing coming out of a very new york background . He did it by lying about barack
obama and his birth certificate. He has trafficked in conspiracy theories. Hes trafficked in caricatures, reaping the whirlwind of that right now. There is a rationale conversation to be had about whats going on at the border. There are two different issues here at least in the popular mind. The Family Separation and the Zero Tolerance policy. Those are i know they are related but in the popular mind as the issue was presented to the country over the last couple, ten days or so, they are different. The issue, the focus was on these children who were being victimized by a separation policy. Many. And everyone, you know, i dont know what the numbers were exactly, but we can agree that that was a terrible thing. And a situation of the trump administrations creation. Now the question about the
border and asylum granting is separate or is different, anyway. And a different conversation. A president who did not traffic in care ka tours and as you say rightly fight constant cultural battles, could ask for a moment of having a rationale debate about that, but trump has to deal with the world he created. Hes not a just i cant believe i have to say this sentence out loud, to say that donald trump doesnt really engage New Wa Engage Nuance is perhaps the greatest understatement one can imagine. I think that were in a particularly difficult political time, obviously, made exacerbated by the way trump has weaponized almost everything in our national life. And so theres i think the reason he does it, if you ask for the reason because thats
what got him to this point. Its what got him to that chair. All of us are doing exactly what he wants. Were sitting here talking about him and looking at him. You know, this is perhaps the longest abusive relationship in american history. There you go. Thats a good spot susan, im sure youll have a keen point. Were going to you know what susan, go ahead, as we look at the first lady here at Mcallen International airport. Live pictures here of the first lady posing with some of the Law Enforcement folks who have gathered there on the tarmac as she gets ready to head back to washington. What were you about to say . I was going to say to add to jons point. Its five months before midterm elections that could dramatically change President Trumps tenure and i think that one of the things that we know is that one of the issues,
perhaps the issue that most energizes his base voters, that supporters who have been with him from the start, is this issue of immigration. By talking about the threat from the border, talking as he did as we saw in this hour, talking about open borders and a flood of people who would come over the board fer he didnt maintain his Zero Tolerance policy, that is a message that will energize, i think, his supporters to get out and vote in midterm elections. And that may be hard. You know we know that first term midterm elections can be brutal for president s. That was certainly true for president obama. It was true for president clinton. And this is i think a way politically to get his troops as energized as democrats are at the moment about the elections were going to see in november. First lady Melania Trump making her way up the stairs of that 787. Maybe a 737. Im not sure actually. Making her way on board getting ready to take that flight back
tohington, d. C. It was a Whirlwind Trip for the first lady, Melania Trump a few moments ago inside the Lutheran Social Services of the South Facility in mcallen, texas. That is one of the handful of facilities here in the area that uses Migrant Children. This particular facility houses boys. I was there yesterday, boys between the ages were told of 8 or 9 and 16 or 17. These are boys who are not allowed to leave the facility. They are allowed to go outside and engage in recreation for close to two hours a day. They receive some instruction. Theyre also allowed to spe some time with members of the clergy as well. But Melania Trump on the ground here for about an hour. Again, the plan was, were told, for the first lady to make at least one additional stop. She was going to stop by a
Processing Center, one of the immigration Processing Centers, the Largest Center is here in mcallen, texas, but the first lady, because of the weather here on the ground, flooding in mcallen, texas, around mcallen, texas, was only able to spend 75 minutes. Ose who are watching and listening and might think that is some sort of line from the white house, i can tell you firsthand, that there are a number of major thoroughfares that are flooded here. A flash Flood Warning in effect for a while. Thank you susan, jon meacham, who managed to work in the thomas hobbs reference on cable news in the afternoon, thanks to you aswell. The plight of these children, separated by from their families that plight has struck at the hearts of many americans. Some came here last night to south texas to take part in a vigil to offer their prayers and
hopes for these young victims of this crisis. I spent time with a few of them. Im very concerned about both reuniting the families who have been separated from their children now theres been thousands of children, just like my little guy right here, as young as him. We need to unify them. Find them and get them back together with their parents. You think that should be the next order of business . Absolutely. Are you optimistic thats something thats going to happen . I remain faithful and optimistic. You came here from new york. I did. I came down to protest, to yeah, to say people coming, people are in need and were meeting them at the border saying, go to jail instead of come on in and well help. The president says that weve got ms13 gang members coming in. Ive seen the pictures of those gang members. Theyre 4 years old. Among the immigrants who come here across the border, crime is lower than it is for the likes of me and you. Lower rates of crime. Maybe we should go. Josh ruben, by the way, there the character in the hat, hopped on a plane yesterday, left brooklyn, and came last night just for the vigil and just to protest. Were also keeping a very close eye on capitol hill where two te on those two different republican Immigration Bills are scheduled for later this afternoon, but that could change. We are going to check in with our garrett headacaike on the o side of this break. vo new purely fancy feast filets. Like nothing you, or she, has ever seen. Filets of 100 real natural chicken or seafood. Handcrafted, and served any way she wants. Purely fancy feast filets. Love is in the details. Thats a good thing, but it doesnt cover everything. Only about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. So consider an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company. Like any of these types of plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesnt pay. And could really save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company today to request a free [decision guide]
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do you still think im crazy standing here today i couldnt make you love me applebees 2 for 20, now with steak. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Right now on capitol hill, we are waiting for two highly anticipated votes on two Immigration Bills. But now the timing may be in question. Zbart headac Garrett Haake is standing by with an update. House republicans are once again all twisted up about their Immigration Plan and everything is in flux. We expect well see one vote
today, for certain. Thats the vote on this more conservative goodlatt ebigoodl thats supposed to happen in the next hour. There is a meeting going on right nowspeakers office. People have been coming out and going in. Bottom line is, members dont entirely know whats in this compromised bill despite all the work thats been put into it. Remember this morning you had the president of the United States on twitter saying, why bother with this bill if it is just going to die in the senate . So the sense that we are getting from members coming out is that they may give one more day on this vote, see if they can push it until tomorrow, see if they can have a bit more time for members to get comfortable with it but right now this Compromise Bill is on very, very thin ice. This is one of those movies
that weve seen a few hundred times. It is looking a little bit familiar. Garrett, thanks. Back here in texas, crossing the border. It can be dangerous, to say the least. Pose a serious threat to the safety of my gragra migrants, fy to smugglers and others. Mariana atencio is with customs and border agents. Reporter were trying to understand the perilous journey that these families and kids even take to get to the u. S. Border, a journey the president on twitter is calling a walk in central park. It is ed deadly. Weve embedded with the Border Fa Tro Patrol here. Tell us quickly why we have
stopped here . This is the background of the terrain that these human smuggling organizations, these criminals put theirictims through to come and bypass our checkpoints to get close to a State Highway to get into the u. S. This here is an indicator of how or what the train looks like for these smugglers to get their people across. Craig, they put these kids, families, through barbed wire, through fences like this one. It is the smugglers that are profiting from these families and these children. What is the going rate, on average, for essential american to bring them over . What do they pay these smugglers . The smugglers are charging from 10,000 to 15,000 a person to get smuggled into the u. S. And further into the United States of america. Is that person from Central America . The vast majority does come from central mark. That is the charge. 10,000, per person. Yes, maam. It seems as if they are treated as a product. These families. They are treated like a
product. They care about making that money and these criminals treat their products without any care. So it is the only product that gets sent back to their country. Them being illegal aliens, these alien smuggler organizations. Craig, people bei treated as commodities. Lining the supervisor said, it is the only product that is sent back so that way the smugglers ep making money off them, trying to get them back here. Mariana, thank you. Well be right back. Its Pretty Amazing out there. The world is full of more possibilities than ever before. And American Express has your back every step of the way whether its the comfort of knowing help is just a call away with global assist. Or getting financing to fund your business. No one has your back like American Express. So where ever you go. Were right there with you. The powerful backing of American Express. Dont do business without it. Dont live life without it. In the movies, a lot of times, i tend to play the tough guy. But i wasnt tough enough to quit on my own. Not until i tried chantix. Chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. It reduced my urge to smoke to the point that i could stop. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. Tell your Healthcare Provider if youve had depression or other Mental Health problems. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. The most common side effect is nausea. My favorite role so far . Being a nonsmoker. No question about it. Talk to your doctor about chantix