but they don t have any money and they don t have any family in the united states, and that s the situation that a lot of these migrants we ve been talking to are in. they don t have money, they don t have connections in the united states and so they re stuck here. i think what often gets lost, rosa, thank you for that great reporting, what gets lost in this conversation is that to seek asylum is a legal action. it is legal for people to go through the process and seek asylum in the united states. but you have some really interesting reporting on how backlogged that system is for people that even get in that line. reporter: you know, you re absolutely right. and the backlog is of historic proportions. there s a group at syracuse university that crunches all this data and according to their data, the number of immigration cases, immigration courts here in the united states and at uscis nears 1.6 million cases.
their son s christmas wish come true. bowen s only wish was to go to the winter classic to see the bruins play at fenway but after southwest delayed and canceled their flight from arizona they decided to drive. tim and kelly started their journey in arizona joining us from ohio as they are making their way and as they are, along with their children, as you can see them there. thank you all for being here. this is just a remarkable journey that you have been on, embarked in. i know it s in the hopes of making this christmas wish tom true. tell us what the last, you know, 36 hours of your life has looked like. yeah i think a little bit of a whirlwind when we made the decision in terminal 4 on sunday to turn this into a drive. i remember my husband saying, guys, this is a really big commitment, is everybody up for this? i think secretly we were
phone to address it. southwest is unable to locate even where their own crews are, let alone their own passengers and baggage. passengers as you ve been hearing from all morning having a very hard time getting in touch with anyone on the phone for customers service. employees themselves, if you can believe it, have not been able to reach or communicate with the airline. listen to what lynn montgomery, the president of the southwest flight attendant s union told cnn about the system. the phone systems that the company uses is just not working. they re not manned with enough man power in order to give the scheduling changes to flight attendants. and that s created a ripple effect that is creating chaos throughout the nation. so let me bring in now former vice president of american airlines and now an aviation consultant scott mason. thanks for being with us, scott. my pleasure to be here.
welcome back. a new documentary will premiere next week on discovery plus. it tells the story from a unique perspective of those who witnessed it firsthand. watch. the capitol has been breached. you re in danger. you have to leave the chamber. lock the doors. we need to leave now. go, go, go! a shot fired. people were banging on the door trying to barrel their way into the main door of the u.s. house of representatives. i cannot believe that this is happening. i called my wife.
create a dialogue, officials and experts say parents as they re having these critical conversations you want to do more listening than lecturing, guys. really good advice. i m so glad you spent time with them and did that reporting our hearts are broken for them but grateful what they re doing for other families. can you help us before you go, because so much focus has been on fentanyl and china. but where is it coming from now mostly? and how is it getting into this country? reporter: it s so important. you know, especially in this era where we talk about immigration and building walls, what we re finding, our colleagues at the washington post who did a remarkable profile on how the drugs are getting into the u.s., they found most of them roll across the u.s. border at legal points of entry. where i am in southern california, down near san diego, is ground zero. most of the actual seized fentanyl in the united states is