laundrie's parents went to the park this morning to help search for their son. police are conducting a more thorough investigation. what appears to be partial human remains have been found in the carlton reserve. 23-year-old brian laundrie remains the only person of interest in the disappearance of his fiance gabby petito. a medical examiner ruled petito's cause of death was homicide by strangulation. nbc's dasha burns and former fbi agent clint watts join me. dasha, what have you learned about the search? >> geoff, up until today, there had been seemingly no trace of brian laundrie but it seems that has now changed. we are still watching the story as it is developing very quickly. let me reset, again, what it is that we know now. we know that last night, the fbi and north port police learned chris and roberta laundrie, brian laundrie's parents, were planning to go to the carlton reserve to search for brian again. the reserve had been closed for about a month. it reopened yesterday but is closed again today as you have law enforcement and the medical examiner on the scene there now. we know per the laundrie family attorney that there have been some items found in that reserve that they have confirmed do indeed belong to brian laundrie. we also know from a senior law enforcement official that partial human remains have also been found in that reserve. they have been found near a backpack that the senior law enforcement official says is consistent with items that may belong to brian laundrie. and look, geoff, this has been such a long search for gabby's fiance. i've been talking about law enforcement efforts about how is it possible there has been no trace for so long. a former fbi agent told me that there are only a few scenarios here where someone could really evade law enforcement for this amount of time. one, it's a person who is very prepared in law enforcement techniques, knows ins and outs of how a search like this would go and is able to hide, someone who perhaps has had experience with law enforcement before. it could also be a person who is getting help from somebody else. and the last option she presented to me is this could be someone who is deceased and has not yet been found and she said, look, it's very likely that brian laundrie didn't know the ins and outs of investigative techniques. so the two options she was looking at were that he was still in hiding while getting help, or that he was deceased. the water levels in the carlton reserves have been high over the last two weeks but recently the water levels have receded, which is why we are seeing items that weren't seen before. in the last couple of weeks brian's father chris had been helping the fbi look in inform those areas where the water levels were starting to recede and reveal a little more, geoff. >> clint, as we look at these air shots from florida, give us a sense of the law enforcement activity at the scene. >> over the last few weeks, as you've seen, they've been conducting an extensive search, trying to map out the entire area. as you noted here from that interview with dana, they have to have something to go on. the parents mentioned this location before. they may have now found something consistent with this individual so they'll narrow in. once they find remains, though, that's really about bringing in someone to very far. that's why they'll call the coroner's office to get someone out there to verify remains. then they'll go to family members and someone who knows the individual as well to make sure there's confirmation of the identification of the body. this oftentimes takes a long time, i want as simple as you may think it is. they have a chain of custody they have to maintain in terms of the evidence and in terms of notification of next of kin. >> clint, does this put more of a spotlight at all on laundrie's parents? >> i don't know. i think it's mixed in terms of this. they probably were trying to follow some rules and also stay out of the media spotlight, i would imagine. you know, this has been a nationwide case that's drawn lots of public attention. i don't know what the interactions were like between law enforcement and the family. you would think they would try to be supportive and helpful but also worried about their son at the same time. i don't know enough of the details of those interactions with law enforcement to say with certainty. >> clint watts and dasha burns, thank you for joining us. also breaking news out of the senate this afternoon which is about to hold a vote on the issue many democrats say is more important than any other, and that's protecting voting rights. republicans have vowed to block the bill which appears to have the support of all 50 democrats including west virginia senator joe manchin. my colleague sahil kapur writes, the freedom to vote act would allow automatic and same-day voter registration and no-excuse mail voting. it would give states flexibility in implementing some provisions like early voting and make election day a holiday. it would also seek to protect federal election records from undue interference. democrats say those should be a straightforward way to protect the right to vote. why are republicans so eager to stop it? joining us are nbc news correspondent leigh ann caldwell and president and ceo of the national urban league, marc morial. leigh ann, what's the point of this test vote on voting rights legislation, to show what we already know to be true, that without support from ten republicans or without changes to the filibuster, there's no path forward? >> that's part of the point, geoff. the other point is to show that democrats are united. this is the first time that there is legislation that they are putting forward where democrats, all 50 of them, including senator joe manchin, are behind voting rights legislation. now, this is a compromise piece of legislation, not between republicans and democrats, but between democrats. senator manchin had been working with senator raphael warnock of georgia for several months on this. that's why you see some of the changes. this is not the for the people act. one of those changes is some sort of voter i.d. requirement in this bill. and so now that they have the support of all 50 democrats, now democrats can more accurately and correctly, i guess, have the rhetoric that the party is on the same page regarding this issue. now, there will be some clarity. and then the democrats can decide how to move forward after this. but this is an attempt to show that the democratic party is united and it's a republican versus democratic issue, and now democrats think they have the moral clarity to move forward, at least talking to their voters about it, even though nothing will have been enacted at the end of this vote today. >> marc morial, on that point, apart from the messaging, what more needs to be done on this issue? the white house says they're not abandoning hope for a legislative breakthrough but today, when this test vote is happening, the white house is focused on infrastructure. the president is in scranton to deliver a speech there. >> geoff, thank you for having me. this will ultimately come down to whether the 50 democratic members of the senate value the protection of democracy over the strom thurmond filibuster. this is a step towards that ultimate clash. and i think it's an easy call. the protection of democracy is far more important than the protection of a filibuster that has by and large been used historically to block the advancement of civil rights and the protection of constitutional rights. secondly, geoff, on the substance, it's important to talk about the substance, 70% of americans in the 2020 election voted in a way other than going into the voting precinct on election day. what this bill to say is protect a state's ability and protects the voters' ability, i should say, to preserve those options. vote by mail, no-excuse absentee, early voting, which have become popular and preferred amongst the american people, and, quite cancandidly, makes the administration of elections for elections officials far easier. that's what this does. let's not forget there is a companion piece of legislation, the john lewis voting rights act, that also needs to be passed. so this will come down to a vote of conscience, a vote of principle. is it more important to protect the right to vote in a democracy or an antiquated, outmoded senate rule that's neither in the constitution, the ten commandments, or even federal law? it's just a senate rule. mitch mcconnell put it aside when he wanted to confirm trump's supreme court appointees. so the democrats should put it aside to protect democracy. ultimately that's where this is going. >> in just the last year, you have 19 states that have enacted 33 laws that will make it harder for americans to vote. marc, what's the level of concern about the ways in which these new laws will, let's be honest about it, do what they are designed to do, suppress turnout for the next election and elections to come? >> it's a naked, un-democratic power grab by a group of politicians who cannot win an election fair and square. so when you can't win an election fair and square, you fiddle with the rules. you create false narratives around fraud. you dig deep into the well of old methods from the 1800s and the 1960s. and you seek to thwart the right to vote. america is a citadel of democracy. we've led the western world. we've sent our soldiers into battle to protect democracy. we have to protect it here at home. that's what this battle is all about. all of these laws being proposed across the state, across the nation, are nothing other than a naked power grab by a handful of politicians who cannot hold power fair and square. so i view many of these laws, geoff, is trying to cheat. let's cheat a little bit, let's change the height of the basketball goal. let's change some of the rules so that the playing field is no longer level. so we've got to see it for what it is. a democracy is the foundation of this nation. and we're at a watershed moment in american history. and the nation is watching. people are watching. and it's going to require just some basic courage to do what i think broad sections of the american people across the board want to see, democracy protected, time, manner, and place of elections, a set of standards in the united states when it comes to elections, like other western nations have. >> marc morial and leigh ann caldwell, my thanks to the both of you. leigh ann, stay close, because as you know, this senate vote is set to happen two minutes from now. ahead, the select committee recommends criminal charges for steve bannon. will republicans try to stand in the way? and the white house prepares to put shots in millions of children's arms. ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ this halloween, xfinity rewards is offering up some spooky-good perks. to unveil them to the world. like the chance to win a universal parks & resorts trip to hollywood or orlando to attend halloween horror nights. or xfinity rewards members, get the inside scoop on halloween kills. just say "watch with" into your voice remote for an exclusive live stream with jamie lee curtis. a q&a with me! join for free on the xfinity app. our thanks your rewards. the other developing news on capitol hill today, the potential breakthrough in negotiations among democrats on president biden's build back better plan. after a weeks-long stalemate, suddenly there's cautious optimism from all sides. joining us now are nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli who is in pennsylvania ahead of the president's visit, and punchbowl news co-founder jake sherman. i don't think we'll betraying any confidences, you texted a siren emoji because when president biden goes back to scranton, he means business. help us understand how he's using scranton as the symbolic venue no drive home the case for his build back better agenda in this critical moment in these talks. >> well, geoff, as i was heading into scranton today, i took the newly renamed joe biden expressway and turned left on the newly renamed biden street here. actually right behind me is biden street. so obviously scranton has always been figuratively and now it is literally associated very closely with the president of the united states as his hometown. and i think based on my conversations with white house officials, what today is about, they don't want to call it part of the closing argument because they know as well as anybody how this process could change in a hurry and they don't want to signal a finality that might not actually exist, but this is an effort and opportunity for the president to step away from all the concern and the discussion about price tag and sort of refocus the conversation about exactly what he is trying to do for middle class, working class people like the ones he grew up with here in scranton. it was in scranton during the campaign last summer where biden unveiled the beginning plank of his build back better agenda. he came back here at the key point in the campaign to talk about this idea of scranton versus wall street. it was president trump who represented wall street and him who represented scranton. with all the meetings we saw happening at the white house, i still wants to do the outside public pressure campaign. scranton was sort of an ideal opportunity and venue for the white house to sort of signal what an important moment this is and try to refocus the conversation on the "why" rather than the sort of finer points of it all. >> before i hop over to jake on the hill, give us a sense of what latest is on these negotiations, what the white house is now willing to give up. >> yeah, i think a very significant development was the reporting from our colleagues that the president told some of the lawmakers he met with yesterday that he's willing to drop the free community college, the two years of free community college because as we talk about the range of proposals that are included in his build back better agenda, that one is very personal and has been a priority of his for a long time. in fact one of the last times i was here in scranton with then vice president biden, he was talking about the importance of community college and the necessity to make college more affordable to americans. based on the conversations we're having, there is optimism across the board that that they are getting closer to a final decision point here. but obviously there's still some work to get to that final moment, and we know which senator or senators will have the final say on all of this. >> so jake, president biden is willing to get a little. what's he going to get in return, and when? >> a bill, geoff, he's going to get a bill, which is what he's been aiming at now for six or eight months. i want to inject some caution, everything mike said was 100% correct, there are still a lot of hurdles here. what the president and his team are trying to do here is there's trying to create movement. they're not going to stay slaves to manchin and sinema. that doesn't make any sense, because there's an entire congress that doesn't involve them. but he needs their votes. so what he's trying to do is solidify kind of unity on the left with members of the house and some members of the senate while at the same time continuing negotiations with manchin and sinema. manchin seems a lot more cooperative at this moment than sinema, but that's subject to change. if you listen to what people are saying today and yesterday, the left is a lot more calm. biden made personal appeals and pleas to all of them to give him this framework before he goes to glasgow. i spoke to nancy pelosi and steny hoyer and a bunch of members of the house today who are optimism he'll get something this week. but as we know, today is wednesday, it's the 20th, 11 days before the president goes abroad to rome and scotland for the visit to those two countries and to the climate change conference in glasgow. and so there's a lot of stuff to do. but listen, it is possible, i would say it is possible, that they just get a top line number, and then biden is able to say, and here are the policies we intend to fit into that top line -- that top line number. that is kind of a minimum viable option for the president, before he heads down to scotland. >> jake sherman and mike memoli, appreciate you both. meantime, former trump adviser steve bannon could be facing criminal contempt charges by the end of the week. the house select committee investigating the capitol riot voted 9-0 to advance a measure to refer bannon to the doj for refusing to comply with the panel's subpoenas for documents and testimony, citing donald trump's claims of executive privilege. the committee's recommendation will now move to the full house for a vote which could happen as soon as tomorrow. and if that passes, the criminal referral goes to the u.s. attorney's office in washington where the ultimate decision on charges will be made. at a rules committee meeting this morning ahead of tomorrow's full house vote, congresswoman liz cheney addressed reluctance among her republican colleagues. look at this. >> i've heard from a number of my colleagues in the last several days who say they, quote, just don't want this target on their back. in many nations, democracy has failed because those with authority would not act to protect it, because they sat in silence. history will judge those of us in positions of public trust. remember that as you cast your votes. >> joining us now is university of michigan law school professor and former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade, good to have you with us. barbara, if the house votes to recommend charges to bannon, it goes to the u.s. attorney's office for a final decision on charges. how quickly could things move from there? >> frankly, geoff, it seems like it could move very quickly. ordinarily in investigations, a prosecutor has to make sure that all of the facts have been gathered, any supplement investigation has been done. here all of the facts are known. it's a very simple case factually. the subpoena was served. steve bannon has defied it. and the basis he's given is executive privilege. i imagine lawyers will review it, make a prosecutorial decision, and i also think there would be approval as high as the deputy attorney general and the attorney general himself. >> what do the democrats and the republicans on the committee, what are they getting out of this process? is this about steve bannon specifically or is it a larger point here? >> i think it's the latter point. there are better ways to order bannon to comply immediately. instead, i think they're protecting the institutional interests of congress. steve bannon could short-circuit this any time he wants, as they say, he has the key to his own release in his pocket, by saying, okay, okay, i'll testify. but he's showing no signs of complying. i this this is about punishment. it means steve bannon has violated the law, he will be charged criminally, if convicted he will be sentenced for up to a year in prison. this is a way for congress to take its power back, to say to people who would defy subpoenas, as the trump association has done again and again, we are a separate but equal, co-equal branch of government, and we will enforce our own laws. >> i want to play some sound from steve bannon's podcast, this is from january 5, a day before the insurrection, talking about the planned event at the capitol. listen to this. >> listen, all hell is going to break loose tomorrow. just understand this, all hell is going to break loose tomorrow. it's gonna be moving, it's gonna be quick. you gotta get into raheem's twitter feed, you gotta get into posobiec's twitter feed. there's going to be many moving pieces. >> congresswoman liz cheney said those remarks led the committee to believe bannon had substantial advance knowledge about the insurrection. to say that audio give the committee any additional leverage to use against him? >> absolutely. i think so. it does suggest that he faces some potential criminal charges if he did have advance knowledge and participation in those things. and so that could be something that's used to negotiate, kind of immunity in exchange for agreeing not to prosecute you for any role you had in this, to share forthrightly all the things you know about the planning here. i think that's one piece of leverage they have. the other is, to the extent that anyone wants to argue that the exercise of power here by congress is in any way improper, i think that statement shows that they do have a tight nexus for commanding the testimony of steve bannon. this is not a political witch hunt in any way. there is a very legitimate and strong factual basis for wanting to hear what he knew that caused him to say those words before the january 6 attack. >> and that full house vote on this doj referral is expected tomorrow. joyce vance -- or excuse me, barbara mcquade, good to have you with us. next, new york's mayor is taking the weekly testing alternative to covid-19 vaccine mandates off the table. and the need for a few thousand more truck drivers. ore. but we lose control. ♪ ♪ ♪ should i stay or should i go? ♪ and we need insights across our data silos, but how? ♪ if i go there will be trouble ♪ ♪ ♪ wait, we can stay and go. hpe greenlake is the platform that brings the cloud to us. ♪ should i stay or should i go now? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪♪ things you start ♪when you're 45. or should i go now? ♪ coaching. new workouts. and screening for colon cancer. yep. the american cancer society recommends screening starting at age 45, instead of 50, since colon cancer is increasing in younger adults. i'm cologuard®. i'm convenient and find 92% of colon cancers... ...even in early stages. i'm for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. johnson & johnson is the world's largest healthcare company. building a future where cancers can be cured. strokes can be reversed. joints can be 3-d printed. and there isn't one definition of what well feels like. there are millions. we're using our world to make your world a world of well. the white house announced plans to rapidly roll out covid vaccines for younger children. they expect fda approval for the vaccine in children's 5 to 11 to come in the next few weeks. meantime, the white house says they've secured enough doses of the pfizer pediatric vaccine for all 28 million children in that age group. in a statement, the white house says, quote, our planning efforts mean that we will be ready to begin getting shots into arms in the days following a final cdc recommendation. now, while they wait for vaccines, schools are relying on testing, and they're relying on it heavily. in massachusetts, 200 national guard members have been deployed to assist with testing in schools there. joining us now are nbc news correspondent rehema ellis who is outside a school in gardner, massachusetts, and former obama white house health policy director dr. kavita patel. dr. patel, our team was talking about this this morning, before covid, there wasn't really a nationwide vaccine system in place for adults. that had to be built from scratch. but that infrastructure is already in place for vaccinating millions of kids. that's been there for generations. so this should go relatively smoothly, one would expect. >> we would hope so, geoff. i think the part that's going to be kind of difficult to know and assess is, there's going to be a lot of parents who are going to want to have conversations, rightfully so, and that could potentially take time. the biden white house pointed out today they'll be able to deliver 15 million of these doses to pharmacies and clinics one week after authorization, as you mentioned. so we're looking at probably like the week of november 10, kind of around that time, because the cdc is meeting on the 2nd. but you're right, the children's infrastructure for pediatric immunizations is something we should try to mimic and copy. i do feel like it will take weeks for this to really kind of settle in across the country. >> when you talk about convincing parents, there's no polling from the kaiser family foundation. it showed the majority of parents would not rush to vaccinate their younger children, 34% said they would vaccinate right away. how do you convince those skeptical parents, parents who aren't anti-vaxxers, but you can imagine they're concerned about their kids. >> we're trying to plan for this now, trying to do broader outreach. we know it will be pfizer. we've already seen some of the top line data. but we want to have a conversation early and then continue them. what i would say to any skeptical parent is just that, geoff, that we're dealing with a vaccine that we have a lot of experience with. different adults, children are not little adults, you've heard me say that, but it's similar and different. and we can kind of put together what we know about the vaccine. second, we can talk to the parent very honestly about, what is it they want to wait for? it's a question i often ask. what are you looking for that will help you? sometimes it's just time, geoff. and sometimes they come up with other questions that really help. and then the responses, they stop and think, yeah, i do want this, i want my child to have it now because we're heading into the holidays and we want to be able to have grandparents around and friends around. if the whole household is vaccinated, it takes a little bit of that stress off. >> rehema, let's turn to what's happening in massachusetts where you are where they've actually called in the national guard to help with covid testing in schools. how is that being received by school staff and by the parents? >> well, some think it's a good idea. the state here thinks it's a great idea, that the national guard is providing a vital service. take, for example, what's happening at this one school. there are 480 children here from second to fourth grade, along with teachers and staff, all of whom are eligible for this free in-house testing program. there are some parents who have mixed feelings about this. but the superintendent of the school told me today that before this program, they only had one nurse in this school to help them. and with 2,200 schools across the state eligible for the program, they needed some help. take a listen. >> so the national guard has come in because our nurses aren't able to do this testing program, it's too large. >> so i think it's a wonderful idea that the school is offering a covid-19 testing right here onsite. >> and you said no why? >> because he's scared, he doesn't want to do it. >> 55% of parents have opted in for their children to be tested in school, the others have not, that's a split. one national guardsman told me today he has children of his own and he tries to assure them that he's not there to distract them, he's just a parent like them but in different clothes. >> is this being paid for by the state? >> the state is taking care of this for the most part because they don't want this to be a burden on parents, because they want them to be willing and not feel that they have to come up with out of pocket expenses. they want it to be something they can come to very easily and without hesitation, without any added costs. geoff? >> thanks so much to the both of you, rehema ellis and dr. kavita patel. if you've ventured to the grocery store the last few days, no doubt you've noticed all the empty shelves. it's called the everything shortage because just about everything is in short supply, yet another example of the supply chain crisis plaguing the country and now hitting really close to home. one of the leading reasons for that crisis is a nationwide shortage of truck drivers. the trucking industry is short about 100,000 drivers, which marks a new record high. and it's expected to get worse before it gets better. >> when covid hit, supply changed quite a bit because we could not put as many people in the classroom. a lot of 50-something-year-old drivers were retiring early, they didn't want to be on the road risking their life. on top of that, stimulus checks hit, e-commerce started booming, so now you needed more drivers than ever before and we had less drivers than ever before. >> where you are, the containers, i can see, are stacked up high, waiting for pickup. what's being done to recruit more truck drivers to do that work? >> hi, geoff. yeah, that's an important question. the biden administration has pumping resources into the supply chain. we now they've expanded work on the west coast to 24/7. you need commercial licensing to drive one of these massive trucks. you'll see a lot of these trucks pass behind me. right now the guidelines are you need to be at least 21 years old to drive a commercial truck across state lines. many applicants in the industry are trying to lower that age to 18 so that more drivers can be available. that's not the case now, but i have been at a trucking school here in savannah, georgia and was very impressed with the diversity of age, gender, and race of students. let's take a listen to what they have to say. >> i came in knowing nothing about a truck. so within the four weeks, i came in not knowing nothing, and now i know everything about it. >> whether you're male, female, it doesn't matter. there's definitely room for everybody to come into here and learn all the components of the truck and what's up under the hood, how to move a truck, back up a truck. there's definitely space for everybody. >> and so much of the work that these students are learning is technical. they're learning maneuvering techniques and safety techniques. also they can graduate, get that commercial driver's license and hit the road. once they do that, they'll end up in places like we are right now, right now we're in the howard shepherd container depot. there are 150 trucks that come in and out today and over 400 containers. what happens is these containers come from the savannah, georgia port. as you mentioned, it's the third largest port in the united states. they bring the containers here and another truck will come, take the containers and take it to the final destination. clearly we need trucking schools like this one to be revving up the next generation of drivers. >> and those product shortages will exist as long as there aren't drivers to bring them. great to have you as part of the nbc team, a big welcome to you. ahead, tensions boil over at the border between guatemala and mexico. and we're live on the ground in haiti where a gang is demanding millions in ransom for american missionaries. strugglir type 2 diabetes knocking you out of your zone? 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[coins clinking in jar] ♪ you can get it if you really want it, by jimmy cliff ♪ [suitcase closing] [gusts of wind] [ding] wealth is your first big investment. worth is a partner to help share the load. wealth is saving a little extra. worth is knowing it's never too late to start - or too early. ♪ ♪ wealth helps you retire. worth is knowing why. ♪ ♪ principal. for all it's worth. nbc news has now confirmed the demand of $17 million in ransom from a haitian gang for 17 american and canadian missionaries. the demand was made to christian aid ministries which operates the orphanage outside port-au-prince that the group was visiting. the ransom amounts to $1 million a head for those hostages, the youngest of whom is 8 months old. it's the latest example of how bad things have gotten in historically troubled haiti, especially after the july assassination of that country's president and a string of natural disasters. we'll get to gabe gutierrez in a second. but we'll turn to another story now, a migration bottleneck at the border of mexico and guatemala which has led to violent clashes between people seeking a better life in the u.s. and mexican police trying to seek to prevent them from traveling north. joining me is justice correspondent julia ainsley. julia, break this down for us, you've been following this story closely. what's sparking this? >> it's desperation. we have immigrants coming from cuba, haiti, venezuela, nicaragua. mexican officials are being told to keep those people within their borders and keep them from coming to our borders. that leads to intense clashes. desperation overflowing in mexico between mexican officials and migrants held at the mexico/guatemala border, many of whom have been waiting there for weeks or months. the mexican government says those who attempt to leave the city will be met with legal punishments. some migrants taking that as a threat. the clashes foreshadowing further tensions across latin america as tens of thousands are on their journey north. in mexico, officials have reported over 140,000 migrants in the country in the first eight months of 2021, three times the number seen last year. over the weekend, migrants from countries all across latin america held a vigil in mexico. there are thousands there, praying for a safe journey, as they prepare to join the next caravan, set to leave on october 23. selena is a honduran migrant. she has faith that she will make it to the united states. but they're not just looking for divine intervention. they're also trying the mexican legal system. almost 2,000 migrants asked for social aid in mexico so they wouldn't be detained or deported. one organization said the caravan will be massive. but the biden administration does not want to be caught off-guard. nbc news obtained government plans to build an intelligence cell that would monitor and predict migrant movements toward the u.s., just like the nearly 30,000 that arrived in del rio, texas last month. one of the main tasks is to focus on misinformation and social media that is pushing many to take the dangerous journey. a senior dhs official telling nbc that once they arrive in mexico, it's too late to intervene. but for those who are already in mexico, they're getting desperate. despite the dangers, many still risking it all to reach their final destination. the united states. >> and julia, while we have you, i also want to ask about this other reporting you've been doing about how dhs is going to begin tracking these migrant caravans so they're not caught off-guard moving forward. that's something i thought they were already doing. >> actually that diminished under the trump administration, which is surprising, the office responsible for doing that stopped producing reports. so now they want to build an intelligence cell to be able to look at algorithms for social media, figure out when people might be coming here. and it's coming now as we can now report that the fiscal year 2021 was actually an all-time high. we just obtained the september numbers at nbc. now over 1.7 million crossed the border in the past fiscal year. so the biden administration is looking for ways to be more prepared for who might be coming to our border and where they might be coming. >> julia ainsley, thanks for joining us with that great reporting. let's turn back to that story in haiti, 17 american and canadian missionaries held hostage by a gang. the gang is demanding $17 million in ransom, that's $1 million per hostage. our own nbc news correspondent gabe gutierrez just arrived in haiti this morning and joins us now live from port-au-prince. gabe, the fbi has been on the ground assisting with negotiations there. what did you see when you arrived today, and what more do you know about the attempts to get these folks back safely? >> reporter: hi there, geoff. it's been well-reported that gangs are controlling an increasing part of haiti. it's estimated they now control about half of port-au-prince. and actually they set up checkpoints across some parts of the city, so it's actually very difficult and dangerous to get around. now, earlier today, though, we actually spoke with a missionary from florida, just arriving back in this country. he has been here for the better part of a decade after the 2010 earthquake. he is returning to an orphanage he runs outside of port-au-prince. he told us a harrowing story from several months ago of being attacked himself. take a listen. >> the same day the president was assassinated, i was robbed at gunpoint two miles from my home, and i just thank god i'm still here to tell about it. they had a gun at my head and the cartridge fell out of the gun but they had a gun on my friend that works for me and they told me if i didn't give them everything that i had, that they would shoot him. because normally they won't shoot american people here. the people of haiti are good people. they just want to work, they just want to take care of their business and families and everything. and it's just terrible that the gangs have concentrated and just are controlling the streets, literally you have to pay when you pass. >> reporter: so the gang that's believed to have kidnapped these missionaries, 400 mowaza, we spoke with a local politician who represents the area where those missionaries were taken and he says that the gang has really come to power in the last four years or so, and their intensity has ramped up really in the last few months last fewe assassination of haiti's president. we spoke with haiti's justice minister today and he says that, yes, the gang did ask for $1 million a person. now experts say it's common for these gangs to actually start at that or at a high price and then negotiate downward. but it's unclear the status of those negotiations. again, the white house confirming that the fbi is involved in the coordinated effort to get these u.s. citizens home. but all this as their families in the united states and ohio and michigan are praying for their safe return. jeff? >> yeah, i can imagine, a desperate situation. gabe gutierrez, our best to you and your crew in haiti. coming up next the nfl under pressure to reverse a policy that uses race as a factor to determine who receives a concussion settlement. we'll tell you about coming up next. ussion settlement. we'll tell you about coming up next ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ i always had a connection to my grandfather... i always wanted to learn more about him. i discovered some very interesting documents on ancestry. this is the uh registration card for the draft for world war two. and this is his signature which blew me away. being able to... make my grandfather real... not just a memory... is priceless. his legacy...lives on. is priceless. alberto and i don't fit into those other family plans. that's why we love visible. they do things differently. yeah, it's wireless with unlimited data and if you join a group it's as low as $25/mo. all powered by verizon. 5g included. woo! just get together and save! we look goooood! what's everyone's handle? visible. unlimited data, as low as $25/mo all-in. powered by verizon, 5g included. wireless that gets better with friends. a major change is set to take place in the historic nfl concussion settlement that was agreed upon four years ago. today is the day for former players in the league to submit a new agreement on how claims are evaluated. that's after the first set of protocols were criticized for being racist. here's nbc's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: aman gordon played defensive line for eight years in the nfl. do you have any sense how many concussions you may have gotten? >> i have no idea. innumerable amounts. >> reporter: in 2015 he was diagnosed with dementia at the age of 33. now he suffers panic attacks, anxiety and sleepless nights. >> wake up in morning and imagine your brain being frozen until about noon. >> reporter: but he has never received any of the nearly billion dollar settlement for concussion related injuries. you think it's because he's black. >> i absolutely think it's because he's black. glr last summer the couple learned the protocol to qualify for the settlement included race norming. based on age, education and controversially race. black players had to score lower than white players to qualify to be paid. even though the process for distributing the settlement was originally agreed upon by both the nfl and players lawyers many players say they weren't notified. now some experts say they are oversimplified and perpetuate systemic racism. >> i happen be lucky right now but who knows what's coming down the road for me. >> reporter: he doesn't have cognitive issues yet, but last year he and his wife took action when they heard about race norming. >> i took a petition and asked my friends to pass it long. it ended up getting over 50,000 signatures. we're all somehow celebrating this but that's like someone stole your purse and then volunteers to help you find it. >> reporter: new lewis and jenkins are cawing on the department of justice to investigate possible rights violations. the league denied there was discrimination but agreed the race based norms should be replaced. roxy see thises as an opportunity for the nfl. >> i'm hoping the nfl will look at these people and their families and do what's right. our thanks to stephanie gosk for that report. the senate is now voting on that voting rights legislation we told you at the top of the show. garret haake will bring you the news on that and other headlines after a quick break. news on that and other headlines after a quick break. growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway, there were three things my family encouraged: kindness, honesty and hard work. over time, i've come to add a fourth: be curious. be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort. so, should all our it move to the cloud? 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