certainly is. there are several things. you are right. it was remarkable press conference. it was the first press conference, pretty much the first time we have seen him since russia's invasion of ukraine this february of 2022. he has been talked about a lot, not really seen very much. this mobilization i think is very important for the ukrainians. they certainly now understand that this is going to be going on for a very long time. if you look at things on the front line, the counteroffensive by the ukrainians has been very difficult. one thing that he talked about is the difficulty they are having in places like maryinka. there is heavy fighting going on. i want to listen to that. >> translator: the methodology is exactly the same as pvc in bakhmut. street after street is destroyed, the fighters are buried and we have what we have. so again this is war. the fact that we have now withdrawn to the outskirts of

maryinka and in some places have equipped positions behind maryinka, there is nothing that can cause any public outcry there. >> reporter: so attrition is, obviously, a big problem for the ukrainians. on the russian side a lot of people being killed and wounded as well. a lot of ukrainians have been fighting in this war since february of 2022 and a lot of them are very, very tired. certainly the ukrainians looking to replenish some of their forces. >> fred pleitgen with the reporting. thank you. and "cnn this morning" continues right now. >> this is unacceptable and it's just an unfair, unethical situation what's going on here in eagle pass. we feel ignored by the federal government. >> the federal government said to new york city we're not going to do our job. you do our job. >> good morning, everyone. so glad you are with us. from the texas border towns to right hear in new york city,

mayors slamming the biden administration over its handling of the migrant crisis as top white house officials head to mexico today. and vivek ramaswamy halting tv ads spending weeks before the first primary contest. he says it's only for candidates with, quote, low iq. and a star found dead in the middle of a drug investigation and claims he was being blackmailed. this hour of "cnn this morning" starts now. we begin this morning with the crisis at the southern border where president biden is sending some of his highest ranking officials to confront the surge. right now a caravan of at least six through migrants, including thousands of children, moving from southern mexico hoping to reach the united states. the leaders carrying a banner reading exodus from poverty.

>> secretary of state antony blinken, homeland security mayorkas and others will meet in mexico city to discuss case to stem the tide. this comes after president biden's conversation with mexico's president last week where they agreed more enforcement at the border is needed. >> this is the situation at the border right now. 11,000 migrants still waiting in shelters and camps in mexico as u.s. border patrol officials say they are struggling to cope with thousands crossing already every day. >> we begin with cnn's pricilla alvarez at the white house. you have been breaking a lot of news on this. what do we expect from u.s. officials as they head into these meetings today? >> reporter: they have specific requests to drive down the numbers at the u.s. sorouthern border. this meeting of high-ranking officials, including secretary of state antony blinken and homeland security secretary alejandro may orkas. officials say these asks include, for example, moving

migrants in the northern border of mexico south, controlling railways, which are often used by migrants to more quickly get to the u.s. southern border and providing incentives for migrants in mexico to avoid that irregular migration to the u.s. southern border. all of this an extension of that phone call between president biden and the mexican president last week to provide some relief to these border towns growing restless. in the seven-day average for december was 9,600 encounters. the month prior, 6,800. so clearly, the numbers have continued to grow and it remains a pressing challenge for president biden who started the year in mexico talking about migration and how best to handle it will with his mexican counterpart. we are now at end of the year and they are having the same conversation as they try to grapple with this record migration.

>> how much can be done quickly without congress acting? you covered the border so extensively and the white house. if they make agreements today, what can actually be done? >> so these agreements, if they make them today, could be done pretty quickly and we could start to see the results soon thereafter. the question is how long with the results hold when there is limited capacity in mexico to begin with. they are also stretched with their resources. ultimately, and this is what the white house continues to say, there needs to be reform in congress because at the end of the day despite policies put in place this an immigration system that decades old and cannot absorb or handle the migrant that we are seeing today. >> thank you. also this morning we are waiting to see what may come from an hours-long meeting last night between senior biden administration officials and a close confidant of prime minister benjamin netanyahu. they hmet what secretary of stae

antony blinken and jake sullivan. a white house official tells cnn they discussed the need for israel to focus on high value targets, improve the humanitarian situation in gaza and the future of gaza after the war. israel says they are intensifying operations. joining us former spokesperson for the u.s. mission to the united nations a former director of the white house national security council. i appreciate your time. when you heard ron was going to be in washington meeting with the top two deputies for president biden what did you think? >> well, first, it was a blast from the past. when i was at the white house we used to be on the phone with ron almost daily. >> when he was the ambassador to the united states? >> right before that. weighs senior advisor to prime minister bibi netanyahu at the time. so this is the year 2010 to 2011 and he was our main interlock tear. he had a direct line to netanyahu. he was netanyahu's closest confidant and adept at the white

house system, washington, d.c., circuit and we had a close relationship with him. when i heard that my thought was, wow, nostalgia. also, it's important because while they are probably talking to him daily as it is, not meetings to happen in person means these are going to be working meetings where they are going to sit down and strategize at the u.s. is going to press ron dermer very hard on what it sees as its national security interests. so transition to low intensity operations. expediting humanitarian said. making sure that the body that controls gaza after is the authority itself or the palestinian authority has a role and not some newly fabricated body. >> ron dermer, somebody who really knows washington, no knows how to operate, knows the players. to that point, everything you just listed off in terms of shifting the types of operations into a lower intensity, what

comes after, even on humanitarian aid, there has been some give there. seems like israel and the u.s. are in very different places at least publicly. is there something different behind the scenes here? >> well, so the u.s. -- first, israel is a nonnato ally of the united states. has been since 1987. that's not gonna change. that doesn't mean they will always be on the same page. i was at the white house when we had numerous disagreements about the peace process at the time. the issue is that we have a close enough relationship where we can press them. that doesn't necessarily mean they will always do what the u.s. says and they are not very ceptive when being ordered but they are row ceptive to the u.s.' perspective. they pay attention in general. and we have an ability to shift it. ron dermer specifically is quite stubborn and difficult and, yes, has gone against wishes of the u.s. government particularly under the obama administration when i was there. he orchestrated netanyahu's address to congress against the

iran deal at the time. there is a little bit of bad blood there. but not entirely. we work with everyone. he is somebody that the united states works with very closely. i would say that those meetings, it is the greatest chance to influence decisions because determiner has the greatest influence on netanyahu's decision-making be but, you know, it doesn't mean it's a slam dunk all the time. >> important point. to a person outside who is saying the u.s. is the number one ally to israel. the u.s. provides more in military hardware and assistance than anybody else. without the u.s., israel's in big trouble in terms of capacity, capabilities, allies in the region, to which they don't have a ton. why doesn't the u.s. have more leverage here? >> i would take issue a little bit with the idea that israel what be nowhere without us. we give $3.8 billion a year in military aid, that's 16% of

their budge. it's not the majority. it's not a multiple that is created or shaped bit united states. they are very strong in their own right. that's how they became an ally in 1980s because israel showed its own strength that it did not because we created it. so that said, israel and the psyche, the jewish psyche, of the israel government, is very dependent they cannot rely on other countries. the argument to them when president biden for example said you need to really stop bombarding indisskrimnently because you are going to lose the support of the international community, they view themselves as being on their own in the wilderness in a place where everybody is hostile to them to begin with and they survived and succeeded thus far. while the relationship is very successful and we should have a lot of leverage and i would say that, by the way, of any country we give a lot of aid to, we give a lot of aid to julian phillips

and jordan and they are not taking refugees from gaza. it helps. it's not perfect. it's how diplomacy works. >> thanks so much. appreciate it. >> yeah. really interesting conversation. revenge power, dictatorship, words that voters are using to describe a potential second donald trump presidency and trump amplifying them on social media. and new over vivek ramaswamy's stopping tv ads before iowa and new hampshire. his explanation -- he has one -- ahead.

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contra costa college is free for full-time students, which makes you free to explore all the incredible opportunities unleashed by higher learning. start your future and apply today at contracosta.edu/free welcome back. donald trump leaning into concerns some voters have and critics about his retaking the white house. the former president sharing a word cloud that features the words like revenge, economy, power, dictatorship. the word cloud is from a survey of a british newspaper. it shows some of the most common words people use to describe what they think a second trump term would be like. >> he has promised supporters to be retribution if elected. he would appoint a special prosecutor to go after president biden and hi family and suggested that he would weaponize the department of

justice against his enemies. here's what else he said. >> for those who have been wronged and betrayed, i am your retribution. i am your retribution. we will root out the communists, marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. >> under no circumstances you are promising america tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody? >> except day one. he says you are not going to be a dictator, are you? i said, no, no, no, other than day one. >> back with us, cnn national correspondent christian holmes and former special assistant to george w. bush scott jennings. you informed us with your reporting a couple hours ago. there was no strategy behind trump putting this up, right? i mean, this word cloud was, you know, about how people feel about him and how he is running his campaign.

what are your thoughts on this? >> yeah, that's right. i think this is threefold. one is that the main word is revenge and donald trump, as you just showed in various clips, has made it clear that part of his campaign messaging is revenge. so that is part of posting this. the other part is he is trolling his critics. there has been a lot of talk in the media and he has gotten more attention since he said those dictator comments, he would only be a dictator day one. this is his way of trolling his critics, trolling the media, any of his rivals, putting it out there without any context. the last part is that some of the other words on there, power, economy, those are words that he believes his republican base wants to see, the voters want someone who is strong. so he is looking at those words as well. but overall, this is more of a trolling strategy than an actual political strategy. >> and it's effective because scott is sitting there begging us to talk about this.

good morning. scott, i mean this in all seriously, a really great piece in "the new york times," a poll search, friend of the show, friend of everybody at cnn who goes through the dynamics of race, talking about chaos versus non-chaos candidate and comparing why biden one in 2020, a through line from afghanistan to now. if this becomes a contrast election where trump is trolling and trump is chaos and all the things that he is using to create effect in the primary, how does that benefit him in a general election? >> well, the way he is going to run the race is to have a referendum on joe biden and to the op-ed's point, if we have that and hold him to his own promises, i will calm everything down, have a boring presidency, be an adult, eliminate the chaos

of the trump years. if you think about did you fulfill your promises, that's how trump would want to run race. if i'm joe biden, try to get people to run that the trump years weren't all that calm and that they were chaotic as well, the problem is right now if you look at the polling, a lot of people are having nostalgia of the trump years, particularly on the economy. that's biden's challenge to get people to remember that this wasn't as good -- this wasn't as good as you think it was or that you remember it being. on the word cloud, the word that i -- jumped out to me is power because i think one of the republican arguments this year is that biden is too weak to control the border, too weak to manage these international crisis situations popping up everywhere, too weak to control inflation. so it's really less about here is my policy prescription and more about, you know, you are too weak to do anything about any of these problems and we have to eliminate that. so it's sort of absolves you of

having a policy platform if you project strength over weakness. >> vivek ramaswamy, who is not critical of trump but still running against him to be president, replied to a tweet about him stopping off tv ad spend less than a month out from iowa and new hampshire. this is what he said. it's not smart to spend money that way and called candidates that do basically people who have a low iq. is this strategic in terms of not having enough money to spend on tv left, but also i would like a position in a trump cabinet should he win? >> first of all, vivek ramaswamy promised he would spend far more money on television than he has. he spent over four million dollars. but i am certain he said he was going to spend ten digits. now, in terms of whether or not this is low return -- return on interest, you know, yeah, low --

that's probably an accurate statement a lot of people believe this way of reaching voters is antiquated. donald trump in 2016 relied on earned media. that's not an option had time around. when it comes to ramaswamy and potential cabinet positions, it's too early to talk about that. however, we can note that senior advisors on both campaigns are in communication, the two of them, ramaswamy and trump, have sat down on multiple occasions and trump i am told really likes him. he enjoys being around him. so that could be a down the road conversation, but he certainly of all the republican candidates has been the most careful not to step on donald trump in any way. >> scott, as somebody who has been involved in a number of campaigns in the past, if you pledge you are going to spend ten million, spend over two, pull your ad spends down and say the reason why is because you found a new way to do things and

everybody who buys tv ads is an idiot, do you feel like he found a new way to do things, or he doesn't have any money? >> well, he is doing a lot of self-funding. i guess he has all the money he wants to spend. i suspect they found out his campaign is dead. he has no chance to win. and so he doesn't want to spend his own money on these tv ads that he claimed he was going to do just a few weeks ago. it is true that what they are talking about, this targeting of ads, you know, using addressable advertising mediums, social media, digital spend -- campaigns do that, but usually in conjunction with tv ad spending. i expect what he is doing is planning an exit strategy, trying to save as much of his own money he can and figuring out the right time to get out of the race and please donald trump the most. he has functioned as a trump surrogate or stand-in on the debate stage throughout this campaign. i have no reason to believe that won't continue. >> kristin, scott, thank you.

a perfect ten. your christmas decor is very solid. >> elite. >> we know you put that up yourself. >> yeah, my wife gets this all set up for every holiday. it's amazing. >> so, obviously. thanks, guys. well, new details surrounding the death of a star. "parasite," including a 19 hour long interrogation and his claims he was going blackmailed ahead. new york city ramping up security ahead of the new year's eve festivities. how tension over the israel/hamas war is impacting all of thihis preparatation.

there is a lot of information out there. hamas is a terrorist group oppressing the palestinian people. hamas refused a continued ceasefire, a continued pause in fighting and more aid from israelis in exchange for just freeing more hostages. instead, hamas resumed attacks. not to protect the palestinian people or obtain peace, only to destroy israel. we must stand against hamas and stand with palestinians and israelis for basic human rights.

new overnight south korean actor from the oscar-winning film "parasite" lee sun-kyun was found dead in his car in seoul. police say the cause of death is presumed to be a suicide. >> he was questioned last week about a drug investigation he told police he was being blackmailed. cnn live again in hong kong this morning. very sad news, obviously. a big star. what else do we know? >> yeah, poppy, good morning. of course, this news about lee

sun-kyun's death is very tragic for his fans within south korea and, of course, globally. what south korean police have told cnn is that they presume his death is a suicide. we also know that around the time of his death lee was being questioned over alleged illegal drug use. this is since october of this year. now, most recently, he was brought in to question by the police on december 23. he was held 19 hours and released on christmas eve. now, it's important to note that throughout this investigation lee's drug tests have all come back negative and he has denied ever noaa knowingly taking drugs. he says instead he was tricked and blackmailed into this. now, he has filed a lawsuit against his alleged blackmailer. >> for people who are trying to figure out a 19-hour interrogation, what was going on here about the potential blackmail, how strict are drug laws in south korea?

>> reporter: yeah, south korea has some of the strictest drug laws. citizens can be charged for taking drugs abroad, for using and distributing drugs. the sentences can be from a minimum of six months to a maximum of 14 years. in the past, stars have had to retreat from stardom because they have been caught using drugs. they have had their releases of movies, tv shows stalled because also they were involved with drugs. now, it's also important to note that the government is currently trying to crack down on how many people are using drugs within the country. the president has declared a war on drugs, so to speak, within his own country in terms of trying to kind of take back and try to steer down the number of cases here. >> tragic story. thank you. right now new york city authorities are increasing security and preparing for new year's eve celebrations. mayor eric adams says they are set to employ several new

strategies, including limiting the number of officers who stay at incidents so they aren't pulled from their posts for prolonged periods of time. >> tensions heightened. andrew mccabe joining us. we appreciate your time. to start with, what are law enforcement officials looking at right now given some of the increased concerns? >> phil, i its a really broad threat. i think nothing sums that up better than the joint intelligence bulletin, jib as they are referred to in the business, released by fbi, nctc and dhs. and that bulletin, if you read, it's very broad. the language is open ended. that reflects the fact that our counterterrorism experts believe that the threat could come from any number of directions. it could be racially motivated, lone offenders, it could be folks motivated by the

israel/hamas conflict. could be folks who are just opportunistic actors and looking to take advantage of large events in which -- that will grab a lot of media attention and which we're always concerned about this time of year. as you know, there is one factor that's really the wild card in the deck this -- at the end of this year and the threat picture, and that is, of course, people motivated by the israel/hamas conflict. >> you talk about this joint intelligence bulletin and really changing in a matter of weeks, that there was one draft that came out the 5th of december and one the 21st of december, dramatically different. how is it different, why is it different, and what does to tell you as we head to new year's? >> the one that came out on the 5th was vo focused on folks who might be motivated to take action based on the conflict in israel right now. it's important to note that that's not just, you know,

describing or referring to people who may be motivated to strike out against muslims or people who may be motivated to strike out against jews directly related to that conflict. also opportunistic actors like operators from isis or connected to iran or connected to al qaeda who are looking at that conflict as an opportunity to push their own agenda, to grab attention for their own group. so that december 5th jib is very focused on that threat specifically. the jib on the 21st is broader saying, hey, that is the threat we are probably most concerned about, but can't forget about the threat from domestic violent extremists, racially motivated extremists, people motivated by immigration issues and those sorts of things. we are telling law enforcement you have got to really keep a wide aperture this new year's and focus very closely on your

gatherings, large gatherings of people. >> does the bandwidth exist for an aperture that's that wide? >> you know, that's a great question, phil. the answer is different depending what piece of the law enforcement infrastructure you are focused on. so the fbi certainly has the bandwidth -- you know, those resources are in place permanently at the bureau. they can always add to the resources by pulling from lower priority programs. the place where the rubber hits the road though is tough. state and local police agencies of which, you know, we have 18,000 police agencies in this country, they are strapped. they are having a hard time recruiting. their folks are joer worked as it is. so to add an additional threat picture that they really need to address on top of all of the stuff they do every day really pushes those state and local resources to the very limit. >> andrew mccabe, thank you so much. happy new year.

>> thanks, poppy. you, too. this just in. michigan supreme court rejecting the insurrectionist ban and keeping trump on the 2024 ballot. we will have the details ahead. also be joined by the mayor of chicago. how they are responding to the migrant crisis next.

this just in. michigan supreme court has just rejected an attempt to remove former president trump from the michigan ballot in 2024. this decision, obviously, is in contrast to colorado's high court last week ruling that trump is ineligible to appear on the ballot. katelyn polantz with more. so many states considering this now. this is a crucial decision in a crucial sta state in this election. tell us more. >> very crucial state. one of the states that donald trump wanted to contest after the 2020 election. here in michigan the michigan supreme court is saying this isn't something that we want to even look at. the lower courts sided with donald trump previously, and the justices today in michigan this morning say we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court. that is what their opinion held. that is essentially them saying we are not touching it. what happened so far stands, and, thus, trump is going to

remain on the ballot in the state of michigan. this follows a couple other major lawsuits he has been successful in keeping his name on the ballot wherever there have been major challenges to him. minnesota, new hampshire, arizona are where are the other states have had that, had that success. very different from colorado. in colorado, not only did the supreme court there take up the case. they had a fully fleshed out case to look at and in one of the writings from the justices today out of michigan, they noted that michigan state law is much different than colorado. colorado law essentially says that the primaries, you have to be qualified and show that you are legally able to be on the ballot. in michigan, doesn't have that law at all. so just highlighting how all of these states have such different procedures for who is on the ballot in their states, why they are am cog down in different ways, handling the cases differently, legally, colorado

submitting out from others and why the supreme court may want to take this up. >> i think it is surprising that colorado goes one way, michigan's high court isn't taking it up, maine's secretary of state gets to decide. it's very different. thank you, kaitlan, for the reporting. this morning u.s. customs and border protection monitoring a caravan of 6,000 migrants set to leave southern mexico on its way to the u.s. and advises these groups move slowly and splinter before they reach the u.s. border. it is the largest migrant caravan since june of last year. at the same time. president biden sending top officials to mexico for direct talks on efforts to curb mass migration at the u.s. border. secretary of state antony blinken, homeland security alejandro mayorkas and liz sherwood randall. they will meet and talk about the border crisis, which on the policy front is critical. what about the political front? where do voters stand? harry enten is going to tell us. harry, what do voters think

about immigration now? >> it's a real top issue here. the top issue facing the nation. the economy is still number one. was number one in the august. it's number one now. the immigration/border security was 11% in august. look where it's hopped to now. 19%. so it's closing in on the economy and a number of different polls i looked at immigration and border security is running a closer second place to the economy as we head into 2024. and you might be thinking, phil, okay, this is just republican voters who are feeling this way. take a look. i think this is rather interesting. the most google searches for migrants by state, look at all these states, phil. they are all blue states. illinois is one. new york is two. massachusetts is three. new jersey is four. colorado is five. of course, there has been a lot of talk about the migrant crisis in illinois and new york and seems like even voters in those states, blue states, states that democrats win general elections almost always, focusing on this issue as well. >> massachusetts governor also

calling for a state of emergency. so one of the questions democrats have always kind of raised is language matters. when people are harsh about migrants or immigrants, that could help us politically. is that true? >> not necessarily. this is one of the most interesting numbers that i have come across. so i looked at the last two cnn ssrs polls. this is immigrant voters. who they say they are going to vote for president. look here. look at this wording. no clear leader. of course there is no clear leader if one guy is at 48% and the other at 48%. this is a race that has been within the margin of error in a number of our cnn polls and this is vastly different than what we saw in 2020 in which joe biden won that race by 20 points. now, you mentioned the last week immigrant voters are diverse. what issues are they concentrating on? what is immigrants' top issue? the economy. immigration/border again number two at 14%. but the fact is immigrant voters

are concentrate on a lot of things and the views on the border are diverse just like immigrants are. >> fascinating. harry enten, thank you. one of the cities facing a surge in migs is chicago. over the weekend some 90 migrants arrived by bus interest texas to the suburbs of chicago before taking the train into the city and earlier this month chicago passed an ordinance preventing buses from dropping off migrants in the city without a permit. last week texas governor greg abbott escalated efforts and flew more than 120 migrants from el paso to chicago, saying chicago's mayor is, quote, failing to live up to his city's welcoming city ordinance by targeting the migrant buses from texas. he explained why texas is flying some migrants instead of busing them. since last year, texas has bussed more than 80,000 migrants to cities across the united states. the mayor of eagle pass, texas, which is rate on the border, you're looking at images from

it, said on cnn last night. >> our city here in eagle pass we have been getting slammed with two to 3,000 people a day and it's just an unfair, unethical situation what's going on here in eagle pass. we feel ignored by the federal government. >> joining us is now is chicago mayor brandon johnson. i wonder if you feel -- >> thank you. appreciate having me. >> of course. i wonder if you echo those sent ms, if you also feel like chicago is being ignored on this front from the federal government? >> well, since taking office over seventh months ago, my administration has responded to this humanitarian mission with a full force of the government. we have roughly 15,000 people living in shelters, temporary shelters here in chicago. nearly 27 shelters total. 4,500 children in our chicago

public schools system providing health care, also making sure that we are screening individuals as they come through the city of chicago, providing, again, on-site vaccinations at all of our shelters, and this certainly has been an remarkable challenge that my administration has had to face. a challenge that we are experiencing all over the country. let me say this, make this very clear. what i have said repeatedly is that we have to have coordination. since taking office, we have had an uncoordinated approach. what i have worked to do instead of having chaos is provide structure and calm around the situation and without significant federal support, this is not sustainable. >> i know you partner with governor pritzker in october and talked to high-ranking white house officials this and what chicago needed. if you are saying you are using the full force of the local government but this isson uncoordinated approach, this what secretary mayorkas told me when asked about the criticism

that governor pritzker had about the federal government on this front. listen. >> with respect to governor pritzker, we provided him with tremendous assistance not just financially through our shelter and services program, funding that the president achieved, but also in providing technical advice. >> is it enough? or by uncoordinated do you mean we need more from the federal government? >> well, what i mean by uncoordinated, what governor abbott is doing is quite frankly reckless. i had a delegation to actually go to the border and see firsthand the challenges that are bordering states and our bordering cities are experiencing. what i called for repeatedly is a coordinated approach between state and local municipalities to address this crisis. as far as what the federal government is doing, i have said we need more resources. i have asked for $15 billion for

the entire country. i know i have congressional delegation -- a congressional delegation here in illinois that asked for $10 billion. look, the technical support that we received from the federal government, we appreciate that. work authorization to put pete on the pathway to sustainability, i appreciate that, and without real significant investment from our federal government, it won't just be the city of chicago that won't be able to maintain this mission. it's the entire country that is at stake. in no way what the state of texas is doing is helping the cause. as much as we recognize that there are challenges, significant challenges at the border, and we need real substantive immigration reform and policies that allow us to have a structure and a pathway to citizenship, but again sending buses all over the state of illinois and all over the country is reckless and, quite frankly, dangerous. i met with 80 mayors slast fridy to have a more coordinated

approach for the state of illinois along with county officials. that's what is required. a sophisticated coordination while also pushing the federal government to provide the resources and support to sustain this mission. >> mayor -- >> anything short of that is reckless. >> i have a couple of questions about what is happening in your shelters in chicago right now. a 5-year-old boy, his name is giancarlos martinez rivero died in a migrant shelter before christmas. three others transported to hospitals. >> are children safe in the shelters right now? >> well, what we have seen is again repeatedly is that when the migrants are arriving in the city of chicago because -- or new york, anywhere else, for that matter, there is not a real coordinated approach to make sure that migrants and those seeking asylum are getting the services that they need at the border. >> but, sorry, mayor, because you are the mayor of chicago, away apologize for jumping in, i am asking about what is happening in the shelters in

your city. i hear the point you are making about your frustration with governor abbott and with the federal government. the biden administration. but what about what's happening in these shelters right now? >> well, it's all connected. it's not an isolated dynamic. what i said -- >> i understand. >> the lack of coordination -- i'll get to it. it's causing stress. individuals who have suffered miles, thousands of miles of treachery, quite frankly, to get to the border. and so what we've seen and i expressed this here is that lack of coordination caused tremendous stress. as far as this little boy that unfortunately passed away, i have offered and continue to offer my deepest condolences to the family and there is no evidence at this point and we are still waiting as more and more evidence, as we go through the investigation here, as more and more evidence comes to fruition, there is no evidence that the condition of the shelter caused the death of this

young boy. >> okay. our thoughts, of course, with his family. i do -- i know you are about search months in as mayor of chicago. i want to ask you about crime in chicago just pouring through the latest data from the chicago police department, the murder rate is down from 2022, but all other forms of violent crime are up from a year ago, up 17% overall. are chicagoans going 2024? >> well, what i built within these last ten months in order for us to have a better, stronger and safer chicago, it really requires the full force of government. as you've indicated, homicides are down, shootings are down, but, yes, what we've experienced in the city of chicago, cities all over the country are experiencing and i've just released my full-out community safety plan that not only gets at the root causes of violence in the city of chicago, but we're making critical investments. those investments look like what i've presented in my last budget. a quarter of a billion dollars

to address homelessness, $100 million for violence prevention. we added 80 million more dollars to our youth employment program of which we hired 25,000 young people just this summer, that's a 20% increase from the previous year. i'm going to hire 4,000 additional young people this summer. we have stood up an entire office dedicated to re-entry. so individuals who are returning to our communities who have been incarcerated, because of failed policies, will have a welcoming space for them. i've added a half a million dollars for restoration and reparations to address, again, the cycle of violence, what looks like school closings, closing of mental health facilities, of which i've invested in now. we're going to open up two mental health clinics that were closed from two previous administrations ago. in order for us to build a better, strong, safer chicago it requirements investments. a budget without raising property taxes and we are just getting started in the city of chicago.

the last thing that i will say on this, look, my wife and i we're raising our three children on the west side of chicago. it's a beautiful part of the city. we love it but it also has been the side of the city of chicago that experienced gross dis investments from school closings, lack of transportation, lack of investments. so i wake up every single day in one of the most toughest parts of the city. so there is no one in this city that thinks about public safety more than someone like me, raised in a family on the west side of chicago. i'm very much committed to investments so that the better, stronger, safer chicago that we are hoping for we can see the full fruit of our laner >> i spend a lot of time in the city and i'm a going phan of chicago. please come back in the new year and let's check? >> i promise. happy new year. >> you as well. college football bowl season is on. we will break down some of the biggest matchups. the detroit pistons made history, not the kind of history any team wants.

there is a lot of information out there. hamas slaughtered more than 1200 innocent people, holds innocent hostages, and raped countless innocent women. and now hamas is trying to hide sexual violence against women. they don't want those women to be able to talk about

what happened to them stand with palestinians and israelis for basic human rights. stand for all women. inside the 20, the 10, the 5, touchdown!

60 yards for the score and the lead! you didn't think you would say rock jock jayhawk in football. that's kansas quarterback jason bean leading the jayhawks to a big win in the guaranteed rate bowl last night. the college football bowl season is in full swing and the next few days are jam packed with the biggest games. >> louisville will square off with usc tonight, arizona plays oklahoma tomorrow and in the alamo bowl missouri will take on ohio state in the cotton bowl on friday and kwa will take on florida state in the orange bowl on saturday. with us cnn contributor and host of the carrie champion show, carrie champion. good morning. >> good morning. good to see you. >> i guess we have to talk about ohio state because -- >> i was saying to him i wanted to really get into it. phil and i off camera had a really good point. college football, especially around bowl season, it used to be this situation where everyone loved to come and play the game because it was for the team and for the pride, but with the

advent of nil, name, image and likeness, these kids are businessmen now. they are like, no, i'm not going to play, i may injure myself, you go ahead and play these bowl games. most of the bowl games in my opinion are going to have a little less because these kids aren't playing. the bowl game, though, that everyone should be watching for and you and i talked about this when we were here, orange. because it's georgia and it's florida state and you know that everyone thinks that florida state was robbed, if you will, and they're going to see if the college football committee got it right. >> to that point, though, half of florida state's best players are opting out, 18 guys have already gotten in the transfer portal for georgia. it's a fascinating time we need to do a four-hour special on. >> we need a four-hour special on it. >> you are my nba sherpa. the pistons not doing so great. not exactly making the history you want to make right now. what is going on in detroit? >> 27 straight losses, that is a record for consecutive nba

losses and no one wants to have that record. what has happened is that that franchise for the last maybe 15 years has been awful in terms of how they've drafted, in terms of people they decided to trade, and they haven't even tried to fix it. they went and hired a coach and paid him one of the biggest contracts ever in nba history, but here is the deal, this particular franchise is unlike any other. they have bad boy pistons, won three world championships. i can count on two fingers how many teams in the nba have won three or more championships. so the distance between the bad boy pistons and what they are today is really sad and the nba is suffering for it because you need all your teams to be competitive. >> they had the rip, they had two great teams. at least they have the lions. >> over three decades. >> why are you doing that to me? lions? who beat the vikings?

>> did they beat somebody this week. >> he thought wearing a purple tie it would make up for it. we have another shot in two weeks. >> they do deserve something. >> you are doing awesome stuff. on new year's eve, you have to be watching on new year's eve. >> thank you, friend. >> some other person you're hiding out with. >> sara sidner. we will have fun on new year's eve, i hope you will be watching and to that end happy new year. so good to see you both. >> likewise, i'm bitter i wasn't invited. i will hope for next year. cari champion, thank you as always. we love you. "cnn news central" starts right now. ♪ >> if we can stay up past midnight. ♪ president biden is about to leave the white house, just as his secretary of state is on a mission in mexico to try to find some agreement t