officers charged with civil rights violations in the killing of george floyd. and in arizona, why one voting rights group is investing six figures to unseat democratic senator kyrsten sinema. uh. and we begin with the latest on the rising tensions between russia and ukraine. democratic aides tell nbc news there will be two classified briefings today for congressional leadership aides and committee staff on the situation in ukraine. full briefings for lawmakers are expected next week, as the house and senate are on recess this week. this comes one day after the u.s. put 8,500 troops on heightened alert, ready to join a nato response force at a moment's notice, but the pentagon says no troops have been deployed just yet. >> in the event of nato's activation of the nrf or deteriorating security environment, the united states would be in a position to rapidly deploy additional brigade combat teams, logistics, medical, aviation, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, transportation, and additional capabilities into europe. >> the pentagon made that announcement, president biden held a video conference with eight european leaders to talk about the situation and how they would respond to any russian action against ukraine. >> i had a very, very, very good meeting, totally with all the european leaders. >> all of this as russia keeps building up its forces along its border with ukraine and in neighboring belarus, even though it denies any plans to invade ukraine. with me now to talk about this, nbc news correspondent, matt bradley in kiev, ukraine, and "new york times" diplomatic correspondent, michael crowley. thank you for being with me. matt, the u.s. has been sending military equipment to ukraine. what kind of equipment is that and what does it encompass? >> a lot of this, it's all part of this $200 million lethal aid set of equipment. some of this, and i don't know exactly what's going to be landing later on today. we haven't really been told, but, you know, a lot of this stuff is going to be aimed at sophisticated weaponry, fighting a ground invasion. we've been talking to sources close to the ukrainian president's office, and they say that despite the ukrainian government's attitude of gratitude towards the u.s., it's not really going to be enough, because at the end of the day, some of these items, big-ticket items, ones that have been making headlines like these javelin anti-tank missiles, russia can conduct a lot of this war just from the air. and ukrainian air assets are very weak, at best. they can do it from just by without even invading. they can almost destroy the ukrainian military without actually breaching the borders, without actually going over the berm into ukraine and that is what is making so much frustration among the ukrainian government officials who were hoping that the u.s. would step up. so you have things like these big aid -- you know, big-ticket item aid things, lethal aid, very sophisticated weapons. and at the same time, the u.s. embassy evacuates a lot of its non-necessary personnel, non-essential personnel, and its family members. and this was something that was pretty offensive, actually, to the ukrainian government. they saw it of a piece with some of the limited support that the u.s. has been providing for ukraine, by evacuating their embassy or partially evacuating their embassy before there's an actual attack, the ukrainian government was very public about this. it was something that they worried would spread panic amongst the population. and i'm not going so far to say that there's some sort of diplomatic rift between the ukrainians and the americans, but it was something that was very frustrating for ukrainian government officials, because they are trying to send the signal to their population to stay calm. and you know, right now, i've got to tell you, from what we're hearing from the ukrainian government, it sounds like their official position amongst themselves, amongst government officials, is that putin is bluffing and that in the end, he won't invade. jose? >> that's a very interesting message that they're sending. michael, i mean, there is only so much diplomacy can do. if putin, if the russians are determined to invade ukraine, there's not really much that the world can do. >> well, i think you're absolutely right. and look, here in washington, d.c., i think there is sometimes an assumption that the united states can bend the world to its will. that we can dictate events. that we have massive military and economic power and we can make things happen. you know, all too often, we really are quite impotent. the military option, the direct deployment of u.s. forces to ukraine has been taken clearly off the table by president biden early in this conflict. so we don't have that major piece of leverage against vladimir putin. and i just think that it's looking clearer and clearer that the russian president is not particularly intimidated by this massive sanctions, you know, package that we are putting together with our european allies. probably not with total unity. look, sanctions haven't changed the regime and cuba hasn't achieved our ends in venezuela. north carolina continues to develop nuclear weapons. so you know, there's often less that the united states can do than we would like to believe here. and i think that cold reality is that vladimir putin has enormous leverage here. and we are just kind of waiting to see what he chooses to do. >> yeah, i mean, and interesting, your analogy to what's happening in cuba and in north korea. sanctions don't work if sanctions aren't really instituted, right? i mean, if you have a sanctions package, and yet everybody else doesn't believe that that affects them, and they have complete negotiations and exchange with that country, sanctions don't really work. the question, i think, michael, is, you know, europe has a lot at stake, as far as receiving from russia, you know, natural gas and oil. it's tough for them to make a change. >> absolutely. there's rarely unanimity around the world on how to treat different regimes, so you're absolutely right about sanctions being hard to enforce across the board. and in this case, the big problem you have is whereas the united states has virtually no economic ties to russia, or at least they're very minimal. they're not, you know, cutting off economic ties to russia is barely going to affect the daily life of most americans. europe is hugely dependent on russia, particularly for energy. and particularly as a country like germany is phasing out nuclear power and moving away from coal. and they need oil and natural gas more than ever. they are hugely dependent on russia. and if they are in an economic war with russia, they are going to suffer a lot of collateral damage. we are not, and that's why we're seeing, i think, more hesitation and concern among western european allies in particular than in washington. >> michael crowley, thank you so much. matt bradley in kiev, thank you for being with me this morning. now to continue our conversations, ambassador douglas lute, former u.s. permanent representative to nato, now chair of the international and defense practices at the bgr group, and garry kasparov, russian pro-democracy leader, founder and chairman of the renewed democracy initiative, former world chess champion, and author of "winter is coming: why vladimir putin and the enemies of the free world must be stopped." gentlemen, thank you for being with me. gary, some say putin is doing this because, well, biden is in a weak position here at home. the europeans, all of the countries have their own internal political problems and that this is putin thinking, this is a good time to strike. >> yes, i think putin senses the american weakness, meeting biden in geneva. because instead of aiding ukraine and making very that the cost of the aggression in ukraine will be too high, biden and his administration made a terrible mistake by entering this negotiations that convinced meaut that he could go away with not sanctions, but basically, lip service. i couldn't disagree more with the previous speaker, who talked about cuba and north korea. cuba was on live report from the soviet union. and now it still received oil from venezuela. and north korean nuclear technology comes directly from russia, as we've found out recently. and putin would do whatever he could get away with. and if the cost is too high, he wouldn't cross the ukrainian border. now the cost is getting gradually higher and higher for him, but he still believes he can get away, but this recent crisis reveals the depths of the crisis in europe. this is 20 years of policy, special lasting 16 years, of building this. germany kept dependence. but even today, europe buys about one third of its gas supply from russia. russia sells more than 80% of its gas to europe. who has the leverage here. it's more about corruption and lack of political will than about real economic problems. and if you have a conversation, so there's always a cost to pay. >> right. there always is. but garry, ukraine is not part of nato. what -- the united states is over here, seeing what's happening over there. what else should the american government have done that you think they haven't done to make you think that it's in a weak position. >> we have to start not now, go back, because putin is in power for more than two decades. and for all of this period, people like myselves, shouting loud, putin is going to be your problem. we could see the signs of his intentions to rebuild a soviet empire, spread influence across the borders. and it did happen. so much time has been wasted. and now we found ourself in a very precarious position. but it's still not too late. putin doesn't want war with nato. knights that he will lose badly. and ukrainians are willing to fight. hopefully now we heard it, secretary blinken making some very strong statements. but now clearly, america is leading the alliance and they should not listen to the corrupt voices from poland or other western european countries who are trying to secure their deal with putin. because if ukrainians are native, that's the end of the global order. >> 185 troops on heightened alert, would be part of a nato response force. how do you see it and how would that force operate, or as garry is kind of saying, it would be tough to see any reaction by nato. >> look, 8,500 u.s. troops that have been mentioned over the last couple of days are just a small part of a 40 nato rapid response force. this is the u.s. national contribution to a nato response force. and of course, the other allies contribute the mermaid of the 40,000. and the idea here is to step up the readiness of the nato response force, both as a signal to putin that nato will do as it always has done, and second of all, as a message to nato allies themselves, that this is a time for nato to stand together and contribute to the nato response force and assure those allies, and particularly those that have a land border with russia. the three baltic states and poland in particular. this is both about a message to poland and an internal message to the alliance itself. >> ambassador lute and garry kasparov, thank you so much for being with me this morning. >> still ahead, dr. anthony fauci joins me with the latest covid developments. and after a wild ride on wall street, margar markets are down again. down 680 points. stephanie ruhle and ron insana are here to break down what's behind all of this volatility. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." f this vol. you're watching "jose you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports. the journ. when the road is all you need, there is no destination. uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destinatio this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her 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don't know. i thought that the markets gave up on volatility. what this is is sort of a rerp to fundamentals, jose. we have a few things going on. at the beginning of this year, markets were hitting record highs. we are in an economic recovery. however, we're also hitting a 40-year high in terms of inflation. and over today and tomorrow, the federal reserve is meeting and we're mostly likely going to get an announcement that they're raising rates. what does that mean? they're going to raise rates, because they want to cool down the economy a little bit to try to get a handle on inflation, and in doing so, the stock market doesn't necessarily love that. remember, when the rates are at zero, there's nowhere to go for investors but stocks to make money, for companies and individuals, it's easy to borrow and grow your business. but what the fed is doing now, rightfully so, is taking this security blanket away. and now businesses are going to have to stand on their own. and that's causing shaky markets in addition to obviously what's going on in term of geopolitical risks with the united states and russia, the situation in ukraine. that's got investors unsettled. what do you think, ron? >> yeah, ron. there you go. >> i think i can't do that thing with my hair that stephanie just did when she started talking. >> neither can i. >> i think stephanie laid it out exactly right. big corrections or bear markets historically have been triggered by two things, one, rising interest rates typically by the federal reserve in the united states or the potential onset of war and we're staring down the barrel of both potentially here. and i think a lot of this, a lot of what the fed does may well be dependent on what happens in ukraine. if we get into a situation where oil prices, for instance, should rocket higher, then the federal reserve might go on hold. but right now, there are a lot of different wall street experts suggesting three, four, maybe even five interest rate hikes from the fed. that really has the market spooked. as stephanie said, when you're levered effectively to zero and rates start going up, the cost of capital goes up, and that affects businesses, and the valuations, which have been extremely lofty in the stock market, has a negative impact on those, as well. >> and so stephanie, more than half of americans have some investment in the stock market, 401(k)s or a mutual fund. what do you tell all of us who don't do a daily checkup on wall street, but we're seeing these kind of volatility ups and downs. what do you tell us? >> i would say two things. a day trader and an investor are two different things. there's no reason to ever be looking at your 401(k) three times a day. and long-term, over five-plus years, investing in the stock market is a net positive for those who are long-term investors. for people who want to play the markets, who want to buy some stocks so they can save up for a vacation or an addition on their house, that is a fool's game that oftentimes doesn't work out well. and for those getting panicked about interest rates going up, the last time we were in an inflationary environment like we are right now, rates were around 5%. we're at 0 right now. we've got places to go. for those saying, what about mortgages? people have been refinancing their mortgages aggressively over the last couple of years and if you weren't, you should have been! >> and ron, do you see this 1,100 drop, 1,200 gain happening for some time? >> well, i don't know if we'll get that order of magnitude, jose, on a daily base, but the market has been at lofty levels. we had some speculative excesses in some of the big cap technology names, in some of the social media names, in mean stocks and cryptocurrencies. in those areas where a lot of money was used to goose various investments, they have all come crashing down. there are a couple of hundred stocks that are down anywhere from 10 to over 50%. we're in the midst of a violent correction right now. listen, when everybody says, volatility is coming back, if you look at the history of wall street, volatility has always been with us. it is a feature of financial markets. whether it continues to this exstent is an open question, but i think until we have more information about the fed's intentions, and more clarity around ukraine, we will see a lot of backing -- moving back and forth in the equity markets. and in fact, that's true globally, as well. >> ron and stephanie, i could talk to you guys all day. i am so grateful to have your time with you. thank you so much. >> thank you. good to see you guys. >> namaste. right now, the federal civil rights trial is back underway for the three former minneapolis police officers who were at the scene of george floyd's murder. they're accused of depriving floyd of his civil rights by failing to give him medical aid. all three men have pleaded not guilty. and we've learned that thomas lane, the officer who held down floyd's legs during the fatal restraint plans to testify in his own defense at some point. nbc's shaquille brewster joins me now. shaquille, good morning, what can we expect today? >> we expect to see more of that body camera video that will be officially admitted into evidence and into the record. but it comes after those hours of opening statements that the jury heard yesterday, where we learned not only the prosecution's case against these three ex-officers, but learned really for the first time how these officers will be defending themselves. for the prosecution, they're arguing that this is about what the defendants didn't do. their inaction, as derek chauvin was murdering george floyd, according to the prosecutors, amounted to a violation of george floyd's civil rights. we have a quote here from those opening statements, where the prosecutor said, these three cpr-trained officers stood as chauvin killed the man, slowly, in front of their eyes. they chose not to save mr. floyd. she went on to say, they watched as mr. floyd died a slow and agonizing death. for the defense, you heard some of their strategy. they're pointing the finger at george floyd. they're saying that his resistance, his drug use, made his death more likely. that there was much more than that body camera video and much more than that witness and that bystander video to the story. for the attorney of officer king, they're focusing on the training, saying that officer king was at a disadvantage, because of the failed training and the poor training in the words of that attorney, of the minneapolis police department. and then lane's attorney called him a gentle giant. you really got the sense that he was trying to personalize his client and said that he did care about the medical attention, even giving george floyd cpr in the ambulance after the situation, jose. >> shaquille brewster, thank you so much for that update. still ahead, senator yrsten sinema's troubles within her own party are growing. what one voter registration group is doing to unseat her. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. r you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. it's still the eat fresh refresh™ and subway's refreshing everything like the new baja turkey avocado with smashed avocado, oven-roasted turkey, and baja chipotle sauce. it's three great things together. wait! who else is known for nailing threes? hmm. can't think of anyone! subway keeps refreshing and re... hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this. your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, like asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee. yeah i should've just led with that. with at&t business. you can pick the best plan for each employee and get the best deals on every smart phone. 28 past the hour. we turn now to the push to change how elections are certified. the bipartisan group of senators trying to reform the election certification process has now doubled in size to 16 members, including key moderates on both sides. one of those moderates, arizona democrat kyrsten sinema is facing backlash from within her own party after voting against filibuster changes to advance the voting rights bill. joining me now is nbc's leigh ann caldwell in sinema's home state of arizona. punch bowl cofounder, jake sherman from the hill, and maria teresa kumar of voto latina, she's also an msnbc political analyst. maria, it's great to see you, your organization is launching an adios sinema ad campaign. share with us about that. >> it was something that was a difficult decision, but we had conversations with senator sinema. we were very clear that if she did not allow for the voting rights to come up to the floor for a vote, she was going to disenfranchise potentially millions of latinos in her home state. this is actively happening in arizona and across the country. unfortunately, she chose to side with the minority that jim crow law that actually has roots in the segregationist movement. and we had to take a stand. we had to be very clear that we are on the side of the american voter. everyone, regardless of political party, should be concerned that little "d" democracy is being unraveled right before our eyes at the state level and that the federal government is not available to create universal voting capacity. she was on the wrong side of history. >> so what are you doing about it? >> we're launching the adios sinema campaign, being very clear that we registered and turned out 35,000 arizona voters. for folks that are keeping tabs, biden won that state with less than 12,000 votes. adios sinema is a campaign saying, looking, senator, we are very clear that we need to make sure that every single arizonian, every latino, every native american, every person that can participate should. and we will make sure that the public understands that you just were not there for the franchisement of democracy. >> leigh ann, tell me about how people in arizona are feeling. >> reporter: well, jose, it's clear that the base of the party here in arizona extremely frustrated with the senator on her vote last week, regarding the filibuster and that blocked voting rights from advancing. and this is all happening in the backdrop of the state legislature. just yesterday, advancing a new series of voting rights legislation or voting legislation that democrats say will make it much more difficult for people to vote. and so, the base of the party is extremely frustrated, as i just said, and i spoke with the head of the arizona democratic party, she said that she is just speaking -- the party speaking for the voters. let's listen. >> people knocked on doors, people put their confidence in her. and we are mindful, you know, that she did work towards the american rescue plan and the bipartisan infrastructure bill. but when it comes to protecting our voting rights, it's something that people feel very important. and so the fact that she got in the way of seeing a voting rights bill move forward was something that people have been very upset about. >> reporter: that was raquel and she said that she remembers during the fight over immigration in 2010 that senator sinema was the person who bought the activists pizza. that's the senator sinema that she remembers and so many people around here remember and they are just not happy with her at this point, jose. >> jake, talk to us about arizona. what is senator sinema going to be facing? maria teresa was telling. i mean, president biden won that state by just a hair. >> well, one thing she's going to be facing is, could be, ruben gallego, the fourth term democratic member of the house from arizona, who as we reported this morning in punch bowl news, was up in new york over the weekend, meeting with some of sinema's voters, donors, rather. gallego is a popular figure in arizona, somebody who the left is definitely interested in running against sinema. and he said that he's gotten interest from senators, from the base, to run a primary campaign against sinema. listen, sinema is making the bet that the base will see her as somebody who delivers on some issues, but is willing to have a maverick streak on other issues, much like john mccain did. but arizona, as everybody here knows, is a much different state than it was, than it has been in the past. it is the democratic primary electorate has changed, the general electorate has changed, and she's going to be running in an election year, in a presidential election year. so -- and she's also, i would have to imagine, betting that much of the states to the background by 2024, when she is up for re-election. only time will tell how those calculations work out, but you know, we could be in a much different political universe in 2024, and that's what some people around her are saying. >> and maria teresa kumar, arizona is no doubt changing. i think back to 2010, with sb1070, things have changed in arizona, but maria teresa, is arizona is a place where, a primary from the left, to sinema, is that something that you think could have widespread support? >> so just to. it what jake just just said, by 2024, we're going to have 162,000 additional latino youth who have turned 18 who are eligible to vote that were not in the last election. and we're going to work our hearts out to make sure that we are registering to them street. with a primary, i will tell you that it's going to get crowded. we have gallego and others that we are floating. but he's a veteran, and you have other really rising stars. so you're going to see a hard primary, where sinema is going to be dividing not just the left, but a lot of the moderate republicans. and a lot of the moderates. i would say, the small business association sent out a letter saying they were not in support of her not supporting the filibuster. because businesses know if we do no have a functioning, thriving democracy, it goes and spirals into an autocracy and opens the door for corruption. jose, you and i could have a long conversation on what corruption means when only a few people decide our government. we both come from countries where that's expected. this is what, i would tell you, we do not step into this slightly. we recognize that sometimes people say that voting rights is just any issue. it is the issue. if not every single person has access to the voting booth, we do not have the leaders we need or the policies we need or the regulation that may be needed. that is what we stem from. we deeply believe that everybody should be debating ideas and ideology and that every american should have an equal right to access to voting. >> maria teresa kumar, jake sherman, leigh ann caldwell, thank you for being with me this morning. appreciate it. coming up, pfizer makes an announcement about a new vaccine that specifically would target omicron and other covid variants. we'll talk about that. is it going a game changer? dr. fauci is going to be with us next. doctor, it's good to see you. we'll talk in just a second. to u we'll talk in just a second. 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>> well, if omicron, when you say it peaks and comes down, if it turns out to be the dominant variant at a low level in the community, which is certainly one of the possibilities, we're seeing it peak and come down in cities like new york and in the upper midwest. we still have an issue with it in the southern states and some of the western states. what the company is trying to do is that if, in fact, it becomes the low-level dominant variant that you would want to protect people from breakthrough infections and you might want to boost them, it makes sense to think in terms of at least having ready an omicron-specific boost. we may not need it, so it doesn't go without saying that we absolutely are going to need this. it may not need it at all, but i think it's prudent to at least prepare for the possibility that this may be a persistent variant that we may have to face, even though it's at a very low level. and for that reason, they're going ahead and doing the experiments you just described. >> doctor, so we had delta, then omicron. it seemed like pretty close, right? one after the other. can we expect that kind of frequency for other variants in the future? >> you know, we don't know. i would have to be perfectly honest to you. you can surmise, you can project and guess, but we don't know. what likely happens, when you have waves of this, that after a while, there's enough background immunity, either from infection plus boost, or vaccine plus boost, or just plane infection and recover from infection. when you put it all together, you could have a degree of immunity in the community such that even if new variants emerge, they don't take that surge effect that we've seen, with the four, now five surges that we've seen since the early 2020. so i don't believe we're going to be seeing that indefinitely. i think it's going to come down and down, and quite frankly, the more people that we get vaccinated and the more people we get boosted, the less, the likelihood that we'll be seeing these return of variants that keep challenging us. >> so is it that covid is here to stay and we're just going to have to live with it? >> well, you know, when you think about outbreaks of viral illnesses, you know, you have a pandemic and then it decelerates. you can get a degree of control. you might be able to eliminate it or you couldn't even eradicate it. i don't think there's a chance that we're going to eradicate this. we've only done that with one virus, and that's been smallpox. through very important and effective vaccine campaigns, from this country, we've eliminated polio and we've eliminated measles, except for an intermittent outbreak in undervaccinated populations. so what i think we're going to be able to see is not an eradication or elimination, but a level of control that's low enough that it really gets integrated into the regular type of viral infections that we tend to deal with. parainfluenza, flu, respiratory interstitial virus, if we can get covid down at that level, where it doesn't really challenge us and threaten us from a public health standpoint, that would would be an acceptable, quote, living with the virus. but not at the level that we are right now. because we still have 150,000 hospitalizations, 2,000 deaths, and about 700,000 infections. that's too high a level to accept to be living with. we get it way, way, way lower than that, then i think it would be acceptable to go along and not be disrupted in society. >> doctor, the fda revoked the emergency use authorization for regeneron and eli lilly covid-19 antibody treatments, saying they're unlikely to work against omicron. after the decision, florida announced it's closing its monoclonal antibody sites. talk to us about that decision. what about people who have covid, but not omicron? >> well, if you look in the united states, about 99% of the isolates are omicron. so it would be extremely unusual for someone to still have a lingering delta infection right now. i think a month or two ago, that was different, when omicron was replacing delta. but now when you look at the isolate throughout the country, they're very, very high. literally close to 100% of the isolates now are omicron. that's the reason that the fda made that decision, since these two monoclonal antibodies don't work against omicron, that it would not be a good idea to administer to anyone, because you would you would have is the risk of a potential adverse effect with essentially no benefit from the actual therapeutic effect. there is a monoclonal antibody that actually does work against the omicron. and that's a monoclonal antibody made by gsk. >> doctor, quickly, i know shortly we're going to have access to, i think, three 95 masks per person, they've been sent out. is that three masks a week, three masks a month, three masks per lifetime? and how effective is this? >> well, first of all, the n95s are the most effective mask, you know, no doubt about that when you look at it. if it's well-fitted, properly worn, it's highly, highly effective in protecting you from getting infected and protecting you from transmitting it to someone else. they'll start off with three right now. there are going to be many, many more masks that are going to be produced, and that will make it much more of a regular availability of it for everyone, essentially. so the goal of the administration is to make as many masks as people need ultimately available to them, together with a lot more testing, as you know, there's a half a billion tests that will be coming available and are available right now. not all half a billion of them, but certainly several million of them. and then as we get into the subsequent months. it's going to be another half a billion tests that will be available. so tests and masks and antivirals. as we will see very clearly in the next month or so, we'll be scaling up to a very, very high level. >> dr. fauci, normally you and i speak on telemundo, and i have to translate and do two languages. this has been so pleasant to be able to have a conversation with you in one language. let's continue this. thanks so much. appreciate it. >> i look forward to it. thank you. good to be with you. >> thank you. likewise, thanks. still ahead, the backlog of cases in the u.s. immigration court system is at an historic high. we'll talk to an immigration attorney about why this is happening now. and who and why are specific people being deported. you're watching jose diaz-balart on msnbc. eported. you're watching jose diaz-balart our past for power, we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. we can create new ways to connect. rethinking how we communicate to be more inclusive than ever. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change. faster. vmware. welcome change. i've been telling everyone... the secret to great teeth is having healthy gums. crest advanced gum restore. detoxifies below the gumline... and restores by helping heal gums in as little as 7 days. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone? 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ask your health care provider today about once-weekly ozempic®. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ you may pay as little as $25 for a 3-month prescription. your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire the united states deported 120 people to haiti yesterday, including 52 children, almost half of them under the age of 2. immigration activists report that the u.s. has sent more than 180 deportation flights to haiti under president biden, this as the u.s. immigration system faces the biggest backlog it's ever seen. syracuse reports that more than 1.5 million cases are currently pending in immigration court. joining me now is the president of the american immigration lawyers association. it's a pleasure to see you. thank you for being with me. 1.5 million cases pending. what does that mean? >> that our system isn't working correctly, that we did not do the appropriate things on the infrastructure. part that have backlog started when we were having analog courts in a digital world. then we had an administration that broke all the systems and then we had the virus and now we are where we are today and this administration has the power to fix it, the same way we do in criminal court. >> how do you fix a backlog of more than 1 million cases? >> well, the first thing you do is you get rid of some of them, and the best way to do that is get rid of all the ones related to marijuana possession. that's not really a big issue anymore. close those cases. no reason to deport those people when in many stays it's legal. any case opened for five years which is the general statute of limitations, let those individuals go. if you haven't taken action against them in five years, that's a regulatory time and just time to say we're not going to move on those cases anymore so let's move away from those cases. anyone with a end abouting case for relief bucis, why are we dealing with those cases? back during the former administration he opened 330,000 cases just on a whim to punish people. let's close those cases immediately and then we're back down to under around a million bases on the numbers that i just gave you, and while we're doing that lets do exactly what representative lofgren did last week saying let's move the immigration reports away from the department of justice. make them a free standing court which will give them the discretion to do what they need to do and not a political arm of the government that is used against migrants. >> you know, so clear these points that you're bringing up. it seems like if someone was listening they could do that kind of quickly and start this movement going. al, you regularly tweet the number of haitian migrants deported from the u.s. who are they, and what conditions are they being deported to? >> right. as we know, haiti has only 1% of level of people who are vaccinated for covid, that's first against all the infrastructure problem that they already have and the political instability that we know about politically so the question is why are we deporting people to a country that's unschnabel dhs early on in the biden administration had someone who actually said we shouldn't be deporting people there so the question is why are they doing it, and i tweeted every day to make sure people follow up the story from september 19th saying these are individuals, these are poem and they matter and specifically the children matter and while they may not be able to stay always, may not be final relief, we don't need to be deporting them to a country that's unstable that's about to have its first election februaripth coming up so it's really a choice that this administration is making and it's a bad choice against black immigrants which we already know is a growing population in the united states. >> do you see disparities on who is deported and how they are treated? >> we see disparities across the board in every level of immigration based on race. immigration is no different than any other parts of the american economy or the system where there is this constant thing of anti-blackness and the we really do see this in the immigration. early on people were getting deported without having an opportunity to talk to an opportunity and many are language barriers and this mass deportation is something different that i haven't seen before ever nor have i ever seen the number of haitians appear at any port of entry at one time as they did earlier last year, but even when you go to court cases, cases are denied faster, right. the bails are set higher, and these are things that are shown in the numbers so it's something very quick to correct. in addition, even families that were separated, many of them were black immigrant families. >> thanks so much for being with me. thank you for all that you do. i really appreciate it. that wraps up this hour for me. thank you for the privilege of your time. craig melvin picks up with more news after this quick break. up news after this quick break. ♪ who would've thought printing... could lead to growing trees. ♪ new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today. new vicks convenience pack. whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. dayquil severe for you... and daily vicks super c for me. vicks super c is a daily supplement with vitamin c and b vitamins to help energize and replenish. dayquil severe is a max strength daytime, coughing, power through your day, medicine. new from vicks. it's your home. and there's no place like wayfair to make your reach-in closet, feel like a walk-in closet now that's more your style. make the morning chaos, organized chaos. and make sure everything's in it's place. so nothing is out of place. however you make it, make your home a place like no other. it's still the eat fresh refresh™ so subway's upping their avocado game. we're talking just two great ingredients. perfectly ripe, hand-scooped hass avocados and a touch of sea salt. it's like a double double for your tastebuds. subway keeps refreshing and refreshing and refreshing... yep, it's go time with wireless on the most reliable network. ok, that jump was crazy! for your tastebuds. but what's crazier? you get unlimited for just 30 bucks. nice! but mine has 5g included. wait! 5g included? yup, even these guys get it. nice ride, by the way. and the icing on the cake? saving up to 400 bucks? exactly. wait, shouldn't you be navigating? xfinity mobile. it's wireless that does it all and saves a lot. like a lot, a lot. and a good tuesday morning to you. craig melvin here. right now major developments on a number of crises. first of all, literally just moments ago a shipment of u.s. military aid just arrived in ukraine as that country continues to prepare for a potential russian invasion. you can see the plane live here on the tarmac. this is the scene just east of kiev. the shipment itself being described as munitions and equipment. again, a live picture on the tarmac just east of kiev. the united states is pulling all the