but there is no denying across that country hate crimes targeting asians and asian-americans are spiking and spiking fast, which alejandro mayorkas addressed earlier today. >> our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the tragic killings in the areas surrounding atlanta. independent of those killings, we have seen a tremendous rise in hate crimes. hate crimes against the asian-american pacific islander community, and against other communities. as the president so powerfully put it yesterday, words do matter. words matter. leadership matters. and we are addressing this very significant threat like it has been addressed never before. >> tomorrow, members of congress will hold a news conference to address the rise in attacks against the aapi community. and a national day of action is being planned for friday. joining me now, cedric richmond, senior adviser to president biden. he also serves as director of the white house office of public engagement. thank you so much for being here. we have learned federal investigators have yet to find sufficient evidence to build a federal hate crimes case. atlanta's mayor, keisha lance bottoms, says if this isn't a hate crime, she doesn't know what else it would be. what are your thoughts? >> well, i think you let the investigation run its course, but we're concerned, and we have been concerned, about the rise in anti-asian sentiment, rhetoric, bullying, violence. and it's been a concern of this president for a very long time. and that's why we went down on friday to georgia to meet with state legislators and community activists, to let them know that the government is here to help. and we're going to have their back. and we wanted to make sure they understood that they were not irrelevant, they were not invisible, that we hear them, we see them, and we mourn with them. >> to your point, this weekend, more than 180 national groups are calling on the biden administration to establish a task force to address anti-asian discrimination and violence. is that something that's under consideration? >> look, our work on anti-asian sentiment has been consistent. it was april 10th of last year before president biden had the nomination, before he was president, that he authored his first op-ed, rising or at least sounding the alarm on the increasing rise of anti-asian sentiment. and then, you saw his first primetime address. he mentioned it again. and he signed a memo that we are combatting xenophobia and anti-asian sentiment throughout government. and so we have a whole of government approach to the rise in anti-asian pacific islander sentiment across this country, so we have instructed the doj to partner with community organizations and others so that we protect those communities, we prosecute offenders, and that we protect them. and i think that is what people are calling for, and i think that's what we're doing. >> i mean, that talks a lot about the response. i think part of the frustration is you well know is about how you root out something as deep and pervasive as hate in america. and that's certainly right now we're seeing a rise in the hate directed at the aapi community, but it's a bigger problem and i wonder how the administration sees itself tackling that. >> well, the first thing you do is lead by example. and you don't divide this country. that's the main reason why president biden got in the race in the first place, which was charlottesville, and the former president said there were good people on both sides. no, there are never good people on both sides of racism and hate. and this president is very clear that it has no place in this country, and that we're going to tackle it. but the first part is to lead by example. words have consequences. words matter. and i think president biden and vice president harris are doing that. and so we're going to unify. we're going to heal this country. we're going to restore the soul of america. those are things we're serious about doing. i think that's why you see such swift action and comments by both the president and vice president. >> and the need there is certainly clear. i also want to ask you, when it comes to investigating hate crime, specifically, against the aapi community. senator tammy duckworth is asking for further investigations. take a listen. >> from where i sit, i want to see a deeper investigation into whether or not these shootings and other similar crimes are racially motivated. it looks racially motivated to me. but i'm not, you know, i'm not a police officer. i'm not investigating the crimes. what i have done, though, is i have actually sent a letter to director wray and to attorney general garland, asking for a deeper investigation into crimes that involve asian-americans, to see how many crimes have actually been underreported as hate crimes. >> what role does the biden administration see washington playing in making sure that these crimes are properly investigated? >> we're going to play a big role, which is why the president authored and signed the memorandum to the attorney general, because what we do know is that asian-american women are two times more likely to encounter incidents of violence directed at them. we also know that there are many, many incidents that go unreported because of fear of alerting authorities, retribution, immigration status, and we want the community to know that we're there to protect them. no matter what their immigration status is. and then, the other thing that is very important to us is to make sure that the community knows that we're their partner. we're not going to come into a community and try to spite in spite of the community. we're going to reach out, we want to know what they thing, we want to know what solutions they have seen that help. and the thing that scares us the most is the amount of fear that is going on in the asian-american pacific islander community. and they feel so vulnerable. we want to be there to help. you have seniors in that community that are scared to leave their home to get vaccinated because they're worried about another american either slapping them, spitting in their face, pushing them down. that's not the country that i know. it's not the country i want us to be. but this administration is going to root that out, and to those people that are doing it to those people who think it's okay, we won't tolerate it. and we will prosecute you. we will find you. because this is a serious issue to us. and we're going to put the full resources of government behind it. so the deep investigation that senator duckworth is calling for, we're doing it because this is important. >> i'm very glad you highlighted how all of this interplays with immigration status. what then is the mandate to dhs to i.c.e. when it comes to talking about the way in which these communities interface with those organizations and how that sometimes gets tied up in these questions of hate crimes that we're currently talking about? >> well, we don't want victims to be afraid to report a crime because of immigration status. and you're double victimizing people in the country, so the president has made clear, and he made clear in the meeting on friday with a lot of the aapi community leaders, that immigration status won't play a role in how we treat victims, how we pursue the crime, and we need that message to go out into the community so that they feel safe to report crimes. they don't have to take this sitting down. they don't have to keep it to themselves. they don't have to let that fear and hate, you know, just fester inside of them. we're here to help. we want them to know that. and that's why this is just something that we were so focused on before we even entered the white house. and we're going to keep doing it because this just is not who we want to be and who we are. and so you know, i can't keep saying it enough, but when we say bringing people together, uniting the country, but this is also a part that is very important, good people can't stay silent on this. you know, if you're silent, you're complicit. if you're allowing this to happen and you're not taking up for people and you're not isolating the people who feel this way and act this way, you are a part of the problem. and so if we're going to come together as a country, we need to make sure that it's one for all, all for one, and that we are our brothers and sisters' keeper, no matter what they look like, no matter where they come from, we should not and we won't tolerate this. i think that's the strongest thing that american citizens can do right now, make sure we're taking up for our family of aapi americans. >> cedric richmond, thank you so much for your time tonight. >> thank you for having me. still ahead, an influx of migrant children at the border. now a significant challenge for the biden white house, made harder by gop talking points. the dhs secretary spent his sunday morning debunking. we'll so you what's really going on. plus, back on the attack, republicans aim at voter rights in texas. we're talking to three texans who are fighting them right back. >> later, after all out chaos on the streets of miami beach, officials just extended the curfew that triggered that outrage. we're just getting started on "american voices." alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice. and long-lasting gain scent beads. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain! you're clearly someone who takes care of yourself. so why wait to screen for colon cancer? 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(snap) fine jewelry for every day, minus the traditional markups. ♪♪ the biden administration secured an $86 million contract for hotel rooms near the southern border to hold migrant family members. the contract is for six months but could be expanded, includes hotels in arizona and texas. the move reflective of an administration that is trying to find solutions for the growing number of families in its custody. here's president biden just a few moments ago. >> are you thinking of going to the border? >> at some point i will, yes. >> do you want to see first-hand what's going on in the facilities? >> i know what's going on in the facilities. >> i'm joined by eugene daniels, author of the political playbook, and jelani cobb, a staff writer. both are msnbc contributors. eugene, mayorkas was out in full force. >> why the challenge at the border is as difficult as it is now, even though we're tackling it and will tackle it successfully, is because the entire system was dismantled by the trump administration and we're in the midst of a pandemic. so it makes the challenge more difficult, but we know how to meet that challenge. the personnel of the department of homeland security will and are meeting that challenge. and we will execute this successfully. >> eugene, a little later in the show, we're going to talk about the humanitarian challenges happening at the border, the real cost there, but i want to ask you about what is happening in washington as a lens through which to understand what's going to happen to these people at the border. your sense of what the administration believes it is up against. >> they have constantly said that, you know, telling people not to come to try to cross the border. they said that before they were even in the administration, it was during the transition. mayorkas has said before it's overwhelmed. and then obviously, putting him on all of the sunday shows, which as for people who cover politics, we know what that looks like. that means they're trying to get a message out there, make it clear, and they're repeating that one message, the border is closed. but the problem is that the cat is kind of out of the bag. you have people who heard that there was going to be a new administration that promised a more humane immigration system, and they're willing to try their luck on it, even though it's only been about two months since the biden administration has taken over. what you do see is that because people think these policies are going to be more favorable, there's this needle that the biden administration is going to have to thread because they don't want to look and sound or do anything like the trump administration, but they know they have a huge, huge problem right now. >> jelani that is on top of the fact that most people when tey go to the border and talk to migrants, they say i'm not thinking about donald trump, not thinking about joe biden. situations are so bad at home i felt i had no other choice but to come here. i want to listen to what texas congressman michael mccaul said earlier this morning. >> it's going to get worse. it's going to get a lot worse. springtime, summer, more and more come over. the message is coming back that, hey, we got a new president. come on in. we're open for business to the traffickers. and guess what, they're right here, and i predict a million people trying to get into this country by the summertime. >> this is a lot of what we're going to hear from republicans, that this is a crisis, that this is a crisis that they want to pin on biden. i'm not sure if you saw because it happened just as we came on air, former president trump releasing a statement about the border. it is gibberish. i'm not going to read it to you and give it any more air than it needs. but there's going to be a lot of finger pointing here. how do we get out from under that? >> sure, there's a lot of this, first off, we can expect or anticipate that the former president will be braying from the sidelines about anything that happens at the border. and i think it's another thing in terms of messaging. if you noticed, even during the campaign, the biden team was clear to be talking about family separation. and focusing on the cruelty of taking children out of the arms of their parents. because that was the one kind of moral line that people could say was indisputable. the rest of it is hazy and complicated and difficult. and they're going to likely see the same sorts of things we saw previously with news outlets on the right ginning up fear and concern about caravans or armies of people making their way across the desert to invade the united states. i think those are just the kinds of media dynamics we can anticipate. and in terms of the policy side of it, this is going to require the thing that seems to be impossible in american politics. some sort of comprehensive approach to at least grapple with the dynamics -- in honduras where people are given 24 hours to leave the country or die, and gangs were doing things like that, people are going to leave under those circumstances. and so the problems we're looking at are not simply at the border. the border is the flash point, but it's a much bigger american policy crisis that is going to have to respond to it. >> that's right, and eugene, that's part of why you hear the biden administration talk about making an investment in the northern triangle countries. i wonder, if you watch the news this week, you would think that what was happening at the border was the only immigration story that is happening in america, when there are plenty of other stories, when there are haitians being deported on flights, when there is legislation that is passing through congress, bipartisan legislation, to actually begin dealing with a pathway to citizenship for some of america's critical workers, for dreamers, how much of what we're hearing from republicans is really a way to muddy up what they see as potential progress on this issue? >> i think one of the things is, you know, covid was -- the covid relief bill was so popular among the american people, joe biden, his favorability ratings rin the 60s, sometimes 70s, in how he's handling this pandemic. so republicans are looking for places to hit him on. and unfortunately, immigration is a place where they seem really vulnerable. the biden administration in every single democrat has to be careful now because of the former president, trump, he had such harsh policies and rhetoric that anything that seems close to what's going on is going to be slammed hard by the left. and so it makes the republicans can say they're soft on immigration. all of these people are going to come here. the things we heard over the last four years. but the biden administration, any time i talk to his aides, they say we have been here for two months. they continue to say they did not get a system that works. we don't really -- we haven't had, like jelani was saying, we haven't had any bill to overhaul our entire immigration system in a very long time. so the biden administration is focused on trying to do that. in some way, like you mentioned this kind of $4 billion proposal they talked about at the beginning of the administration and during the campaign, for el salvador, honduras, and guatemala so you can get to the root of the problem which is creating a safer place for these people not to have to leave. this is from short term fixes like what's happening with fema, like the hotels, but also long term fixes like an immigration overhaul and this $4 billion investment. >> sometimes the way we talk about these things are so myopic, so i want you to zoom out for me. violence against asian-americans on the rise, an insurrection at the u.s. capitol, children arriving at our border and being used as a political wedge. the throughline through all of that, what is it? >> it's all kind of a social anxiety about what the country looks like and who will be the majority population. who will be -- what the electorate will look like, and there's one thing i have to say that's crucial about this. the messaging we have seen is that america is under siege. these people are somehow foreign and they have the worst intentions, and so on. how many cities would have been completely dysfunctional in the past year were it not for frankly undocumented people who went out every day and did things that exposed themselves to the covid virus in the name of keeping everyone else safe? that is the story that we haven't heard. and that is a story that really, really needs to be part of this narrative, because the thing that we're looking at is the demonization of people of color. that we have seen time and time again in american history, and we really have to combat that with the conversation about the sacrifices people made and the contributions they gave to the stow in our darkest hours of the past year. >> eugene, jelani, thank you both. in texas, democrats are gaining ground, so to fight back, republicans are working to limit voting rights. we'll talk to three texans who are not having it. and later, should our nation's capitol be its own state? 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"the washington post" editorial board writes, quote, the real goal is to suppress voting in houston and other areas trending blue. the consequence ought to be voter backlash against a party that displays such contempt for democracy. so, how can voters fight back? joining us now, charlie bonner, communications director for move texas, christina ramirez, the founder can chief strategy officer of jolt, and chris hollins, a former county clerk in harris county. good to see you all. charlie, remember prepandemic when you and i were wedged into a place where people were doing all of that phone canvassing and we had no idea what was ahead. here we are once again, texas republicans have a stronghold on power at the state level, of course, that's also the case in georgia. we see democrats there putting pressure on businesses in the state to stand against restrictive voting laws. i wonder what are groups in texas outside groups, business groups, doing to fight these bills on the ground? >> absolutely. and thanks for having me. i would rather be in a phone bank right now as well, so hopefully we'll get back to that soon. but for now, the fight is on. what we're witnessing right now is an all-out assault on the right to vote in texas. this could be the worst package of bills we have seen on voting rights since the jim crow era. and we need everyone to be speaking out right now. these elected officials are seeing the writing on the wall. about this rising electorate that in part groups like move and jolt have been registering to vote. and this is a cynical attempt at holding on to power. they can't win on the issues, so they're trying to change the rules. and they're doing it in just a matter of days. these bills are being heard tomorrow, and were filed about nine days ago. this is completely unprecedented. and so we're trying to mobilize as many people as possible right now to speak out, to protect the fundamental right to vote. >> chris, what is the obsession with harris county? >> well, in harris county, in 2020, we brought unparalleled access to voters. we introduced things like drive-through voting for the first time in texas history. 24-hour voting and other extended hours for the first time in texas history. some of these bills come directly after us, to make 24-hour voting illegal, to make drive-through voting illegal, but ultimately, the goal to make sure people of color, who republicans know often live in cities, to keep them away from the polls and weaken their right to vote. >> senator raphael warnock spoke with chuck todd this morning about defending voting rights. take a listen. i don't know that we have that sound. i'm going to read it to you instead. he said as someone who served as the pastor of congressman john lewis, who literally laid his life on the line -- okay, let's play it. >> someone who served as the pastor of congressman john lewis, who literally laid his life on the line crossing a bridge in order to secure that right for us, i'm going to do everything in my power to convince my colleagues to support voting rights. it's the only reason why any one of us is in the senate in the first place. somebody voted for us. and right now, in real time, we have 250 voter suppression bills all across our country. we cannot allow this to happen. we have to secure our democracy. >> christina, senator warnock is pushing the senate to deliver on hr-1 the sweeping voting reform legislation that's already passed through the house, what would bold action on the federal level mean for you in a state like texas? >> well, we have to remember that texas is the south, that these bills are the same old tactics of poll taxes and literacy tests repackaged with the same purpose, to deny communities of color the right to vote. it took federal action with the voting rights act to make texas comply and actually insure that all texans had a right to vote. that kind of federal action would again insure that here in texas, one of the states that makes it the most difficult to register and actually cast a ballot, would allow millions of people's votes to be protected. look, a lot of people have an image of texas, of white cowboys, and we have a lot of great white cowboys in our state, but actually, what people should be envisioning about texas today is we're a state that is majority brown and black, young and urban. and those voters are the exact voters that the republican party is trying to keep from casting ballots, is trying to keep from their constitutional right. back in 2018, we had our governor direct our secretary of state to try and purge 100,000 citizens from the right to vote. sending them letters saying they were illegally casting ballots. it all turned out to be a fraud and a sham. that's what we're seeing again, these calls saying there is voter fraud are actually inaccurate. greg abbott, ted cruz, ken paxton, these are not men who are defenders of democracy, they're traitors to it, and federal action would make sure we could actually protect the right of millions of people across this country to vote. >> charlie, christina said it right there, governor abbott is leaning into the big lie. this week, he said he didn't know how many or if any local elections in texas were altered in 2020 because of fraud. again, we know there is no evidence of widespread voting fraud in the entire country. how damaging is this election integrity narrative when you were up against a legislative fight like the one you were up against? >> really solidiied himself as the voter suppresser in chief, going back to his days as attorney general prosecuting black and brown voters. now, there's so much more that we can do in this moment. and it's laughable to me to watch these press conferences where they talk about how concerned they are about the trust in our elections and don't forget -- don't remember they were the ones sowing that distrust in our elections. this is fundamental to our fight. every single american needs to be watching what's happening in texas and in georgia, because it is coming to a state house near you. >> chris, to that point, i wonder, i mean, are you watching what is happening in other states and trying to learn from the playbook of other advocates, of other activists, of other legislators in those states, when you see what is -- i mean, how much can you look at what is happening in a state like georgia and apply it to a state like texas? >> yes, well, we saw in georgia some of these laws that make sunday voting illegal. some of these bills that would otherwise limit voting by mail. we have had activists step up and ask the corporate players, the deltas, the home depots thrk coca-colas of the world to say something, and the georgia chamber of commerce did that and we're already seeing republicans start to back off. here in texas, we need our big corporate player whose care about their customers, that care about their employees, to step up in the same way. moreover, we need help from the federal government. joe manchin, if you're listening, kyrsten sinema, if you're listening, we need hr-1 critically, because republicans cannot be trusted here in texas to do what's right for the voters. so we need you to step up. >> i have about 30 seconds, but i do want to ask, if someone is watching this and say i don't live in texas or georgia, what is your message to them? >> that these assaults on democracy, that texas, georgia, these are the laboratories and ground zero for how we will see assaults on democracy at state house by state house and at the federal level. so we need to take it very seriously, and we need to invest and support groups like move, the incredible local officials mighting fac, because the biggest battleground state is now ground zero for the fight to defend democracy. that's a fight that we all desperately need to care about across this country. >> i cannot imagine a better panel to talk about this issue. thank you all. next, could the shooting in atlanta be a chance to reignite the movement to end asian hate? my colleague richard lui is going to weigh in, but first, the debate over washington, d.c. should be its own state. republicans in congress have it on their minds. we'll tell you why. ♪ hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid ♪ ♪ and all that glitters is gold ♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's. are you packed yet? 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>> thanks so much for talking about that, and the very difference is in the 1960s, it was just, if you will, a glimmer in somebody's eye. the first time that the word oriental, which was given to the group, asian-americans, changed. and a group that us berkeley said let's call ourselves asian-american to show inclusiveness. that's really the 1960s. the beginning of that idea on the west coast and some other cities. the 1980s, vincent chin was murdered in the street with a bat. the two assailants who beat him like a dog, got away with three months of probation and $3,000 fine. the model of the time was $3,000 license to kill. today is totally different. after the 1980s, there was that solidifying event that potentially could bring together some energy from the asian-american community, but today, we're seeing 22 million asian-americans, americans that you have interviewed many of the leards of, that are now together, crying, and are quite angry. every single industry, old and young, it's all of a sudden one group of america being stripped naked. >> and richard, i think a lot about our industry and the burden that is put on journalists of color in different circumstances. in this case, members of your community who have been asked to step up and cover this either from the perspective of cultural comp tense, either because they are the only person in their newsroom who speaks one of the languages necessary to koofrb this. i was very grateful to a number of journalists who put out proper pronouncers on the names of the victims, an incredibly useful element for all of us to have. what has it been like for aapi journalists, reporters, trying to cover this story at the same time that they're living it? >> it's like the experience i had 12 years ago when you had a similar story, and all of a sudden you're the person in the newsroom, potentially the only one, that has that connection back to the community. how to pronounce names, the asian-american journalist association, for instance, putting out that pronouncer. i have to tell you, it's very introspective. we have seen many of the reporters, i have seen, broadcast journalists, that are now quite emotional on air, and for good reason. all of a sudden, you realize that your job and who you are and what you thought you were, it may not be that. and you feel the story that you're telling. >> there's also, i mean, of course all this discourse around the idea of asian, asian-americans being the model minority and the way in which there's some grappling with that, not only outside of the community, but within the community, particularly the ways in which it makes it more complicated to address these hate crimes. >> model minority, well, there's a third word, right? myth. model minority, you perform well. you're good citizens. you are well off. you know, being in the new york area, the highest group with poverty are those of asian-american. i went to community college. not everybody goes to harvard. so the majority of asian-americans are not that perfect idea. on the flip side, when you look at the myth part, well, if you do fit that ideal, does that mean that you get all the benefits? you don't. >> richard lui, i'm always grateful to have you as a colleague and never more than in this moment. again, the new book, i just got my advance copy, "enough about me, the unexpected power of selflessness" is on store shelves march 23rd, but you can reorder right now. >> still to come for us, what constitutes a crisis at the border? we'll take an in depth look at how talking points and red herrings play a huge role in how you, the american people, answer that question. but next, the new debate over whether d.c. should be its own state. stick with us. state. stick with us. it was interesting to think about their lives... their successes... and...their hardships. i think that's part of what i want my kids to know. they come from people who... were brave. and took risks. big risks. no pressure. 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>> you know, it's been -- i can't even imagine what this might be like for congresswoman norton to seeing 100 people vote no to now have, you know, all but one democrat vote yes last year when they took a vote. i mean she is absolutely right. this is the closest we've ever been to getting d.c. statehood. we cannot lose this opportunity. this is a really exciting moment for folks in the district. >> help us understand what has shifted and how it has shifted that we now find ourselves at this moment. >> yeah. i think the short answer is probably donald trump. i think our democracy took quite a few body blows over the past four years and a lot of those were down to, you know, donald trump really not respecting our democracy, shredding our democratic institutions. a lot of progressives started looking around and going, oh, i guess our democracy doesn't work on auto pilot. there's a lot of things we need to do to fix it. d.c. statehood is one of those things. it goes a long way to making the senate more representative by granting us a voice. >> it's particularly fascinating when you think about what is happening in texas and in georgia to see a pro-democratic initiative. last month the gop-controlled legislature in south dakota passed a resolution opposing d.c. statehood. now one of south dakota's congressmen is proposing d.c. residents stop voting in federal elections, period. how did representation for the district of columbia become such a flash point for the gop? is that the foil to what we're talking about in terms of why we're now seeing this front and center? >> it's almost a backhanded compliment that so many state legislatures are taking up these anti-d.c. resolutions. it shows how strong this movement is that state-based republicans are freaked out about the district becoming a state. they're silly. it's a silly season. but this is a big problem for republicans because of the makeup of the district. and their opposition to statehood is rooted in the same things that these voter suppression bills in the states are rooted in as well. if you're not going to vote for me then you shouldn't get to vote is basically their perspective. that's why they have long denied representation to the district and that's why they're kind of in a tizzy right now. it's easier if they keep denying us access to democracy. >> we'll have our eyes on that hearing tomorrow. thank you for your time. still ahead on "american voices" how we can ensure the mission to combat asian hate continues. olivia munn will join us. plus as the fencing comes down, the investigation ramps up to find each and every member of the mob who stormed our capitol. first, a community gives back to their hero. eir hero houl ? 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