right now on "ana cabrera reports", an nbc news exclusive, justices on the colorado supreme court are now facing alarming

threats after banning donald trump from the ballot. we've got the details. also the political fallout. americans freed in a prisoner swap with venezuela arrive in texas. what we know about this deal, and who the u.s. handed over in exchange. also ahead, an estimated 20,000 now believed killed in gaza as fighting between israel and hamas rages on. this as talks to broker another pause in the fighting appear to stall. and today is expected to be the single busiest travel day ahead of christmas, but are the airports ready for the rush? hello, it is friday eve. we are almost there. thank you for joining us at 10:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. new fallout this morning from that bombshell supreme court in colorado, decision barring donald trump from the ballot. in the 24 hours since that decision was made public, social

media sites have been flooded with new and alarming threats against the justices on that court, according to a report obtained by nbc news including users posting the justices email addresses, phone numbers, and office building addresses, even more disturbing are the discussions about actually harming them using hollow point bullets, rifles, ropes, bombs. now some of tse posts are really graphic, but we think it's important for you to know just how threatening some of them are. one of them reads kill judges, behead judges. round house kick a judge into the concrete. slam dunk a judge's baby into the trash can. more on the threats in a moment. we are also following the political fallout as trump's political allies and even gop opponents in the 2024 race rush to his defense. let's dig into all of this with nbc's vaughn hillyard,

democratic strategist tara dar dell, and former rnc chun occasions director doug heye. also joining us is political analyst barbara mcquade. vaughn, first, tell us more about these really disgusting threats. >> we have seen the attacks, the threats made against investigators including the fbi after the search warrant was executed at mar-a-lago last year. we saw that individual attack the fbi field office in cincinnati with a nail gun. we have seen the attack on political figures, the attack on paul pelosi. we have seen the threats that have been made against the likes of district attorney alvin brag and fani willis. we have seen a texas woman who was arrested for threatening judge chutkan who was overseeing the federal election interference case against donald trump. we have seen a man arrested for threatening to hang a maricopa board of supervisors. these are justices, threats that have been made over the last 36 hours against the colorado supreme court justices that

ruled against donald trump, ruled that he should be disqualified from the ballot. this report from advanced democracy, it's a nonpartisan, nonprofit group, which is tracking these conversations online. you read one of them. another one saying, what do you call seven justices from the colorado supreme court at the bottom of the ocean, a good start. these are serious, graphic expletive conversations that are taking place, threats against the justice system. >> what's your reaction to this, tara? >> it's unfortunate, but sadly it's not surprising because this is the m.o. trump uses threats, he leverages his supporters to actualize those threats. we forgot some of his supporters have carried out a. lot of the threat we've seen online, we've seen them borne of the in reality. i'm from north brunswick, new jersey, ana, north brunswick is where a judge had her son murdered when another judge came to her home to try to murder her. and so that's what spawned these laws to protect their addresses

and identities, so this is very real, and this is something we should take seriously and it's something that shouldn't be, oh, it's just trump again. because i think because he engages in so much shenanigans and controversies always swirling around him, we sort of gloss over these things. this is a pattern of behavior, and trump is not used to accountability, and the more accountability he faces, the worse his behavior becomes, and the more he incites. >> doug, trump's campaign is in many ways encouraging the outrage. he's been fund-raising off this. he's got his gop rivals arguing against this colorado decision. i want to play a bit of what trump's former attorney general bill barr had to say. >> i think that this case is legally wrong and untenable, and i think this kind of action of stretching the law, taking these hyper aggressive positions to try to knock trump out of the race are counterproductive. they backfire. as you know, he feeds on

grievance, just like a fire feeds on oxygen, and this is going to end up as a grievance that helps him. >> legal experts can debate whether the justices got this decision right or wrong, but on the political consequences of this, is he right? >> i think he's right on the legal and the political, and he's certainly right that donald trump, general barr certainly right that donald trump feeds off of grievance. that was his campaign in 2016. that was his presidency. that's his candidacy today, and this ultimately benefits donald trump perversely for two reasons. one, it feeds into his world view and his ultimate narrative of his campaign that the system is rigged. it's rigged against him. it's rigged against you and me. it feeds that. two, and you reference this, his own opponents, and sometimes i put the words opponents in quotations, not only fail to go after donald trump when they would go after anybody else, any other political opponent in any other race, they not only fail to go after him, they reinforce

his messaging. they say donald trump's a victim. there's a two-tiered system of justice. they've done this every time he's been indicted. they do it now. what we'll see is a poll in ten days. it will show donald trump's in a bit of a stronger position nationally against republicans. we'll scratch our heads and say why does that happen. we've seen this song, heard this song so many times before. >> barbara you say this colorado decision could have seismic consequences across the country. explain. >> well, colorado's only one of 50 states, and so other states are no doubt watching and seeing where we're going. we've had a couple of states rule the other way that the 14th amendment does not keep donald trump off the ballot, but in states where cases are pending or in state where is there has been no prior challenge, i could see other states filing a similar claim, and you know, colorado is a state that has gone blue in recent presidential elections, but imagine if these kinds of lawsuits are brought in swing states and donald trump is

kept off the ballot there and so it could keep him from becoming president. i think the supreme court has to take this case up, when they do, this will be the most consequential decision they've made since bush v. gore. >> what are your thoughts, barbara, about these threats against the colorado justices? do you see this kind of vitriol and intimidation having an impact on the justice system itself? >> i do, it's a terrible assault on the rule of law. it's an inevitable consequence with donald trump banging the drum with disinformation about how justices are out to get us and in the tank on with one side or the other side. we've seen the consequences of his kind of rhetoric before on january 6th and on the other attacks that vaughn mentioned earlier when he was citing, paul pelosi and the fbi office in cincinnati. it's incredibly dangerous. i think it does a couple of

things. one, it erodes represent in the law, which leads to people disobeying the law. it causes people to take the law into their own hands, which leads to vigilante violence. all of that upends the way our system of government is supposed to work where we take our disputes to court and accept the decisions of the judges who make them. >> tara, president biden offered this response about the colorado decision when he was asked about it. >> well, i think certainly it's self-evident. you saw it all, whether the 14th amendment applies, let the court make that decision. but he certainly supported insurrection. no question about it. none, zero. and he seems to be doubling down on about everything. >> so you hear there the president's comments there, if you were advising president biden right now, what would you be saying? >> i'd be saying that he should continue that type of rhetoric because, frankly, it's factually correct. we all saw what we saw with our own eyes, right?

we saw what happened on january 6th. we know that when you take that oath to be the president, you take the oath to uphold the constitution. you take the oath to uphold the office of the president of the united states. that's literally the exact line. literally the exact line. so we know legally this decision was correct, and i think, you know, we should -- democrats should be talking more about this two-tiered justice system, but the two-tier justice system is the fact that trump has escaped accountability for over 40 years. meanwhile, eric garner was choked to death on the streets for selling loose cigarettes and literally lost his life and the right talked about how that was okay. so the two-tier system of justice is not donald trump. it's all the countless black men who have been extrajudicially shot by police while being unarmed on the streets. so that's the type of language -- that's the type of parallels that should be drawn as it relates to this two-tiered justice system. trump has had a great life, made

a lot of money and has done all these things while also committing these acts that we've seen with our own eyes and not faced accountability. >> doug, talking about where this colorado decision leaves us in terms of the elections in 2024, colorado's primary is on super tuesday, but we're now learning the colorado republican party is actually considering switching its presidential contest to a caucus if trump is not on the primary ballot. what do you make of that? >> i don't think it's surprising at all. look, the colorado republican party clearly supports donald trump as is the case in most state parties. the rnc has to stay neutral. state parties don't necessarily have that same responsibility. that's not a surprise to me. my biggest concern in all of this is the credibility of the supreme court. we've come to a point in this country where the decisions that we accepted that are legitimate are the ones that we agree with. democrats won't accept or view as legitimate decisions they don't agree with, certainly republicans do the same. this case, when this goes to the supreme court on donald trump,

could make bush versus gore look like a walk in the park. >> vaughn, "the new york times" writes this, quote, a number of the issues the court is now confronting could drastically affect the timing of the proceedings against mr. trump. the scope of the charges he should face, or his status as a candidate with potentially profound effects on his chances of winning the election. and the justices could easily become ensnared in several of the questions simultaneously, so the fact is trump's criminal cases may not all be resolved by the time the 2024 election rolls around. how big of a problem could that be? >> it could be a huge problem if he gets into the white house, of course, he could toss these case against him on the federal level. if he does not win the presidency, it puts the stakes of potential conviction and jail time all the more real, but i think that the time line here is so important because of this republican primary that is take ing place. the supreme court has before them three major decisions entering 2024 that could impact

donald trump, not only the 14th amendment, but also there's the qution about the presidential immunity that they are expected to take up, potentially bypassing the u.s.irit court of appeals in this first week of january. and then the third one is a january 6th defendant has appealed to the u.s. supreme court the argument that he should not be charged with obstruction of an official proceeding. those are one of the charges against donald trump, and so for donald trump, he's looking right at the supreme court and his supporters, i can tell you, i just spent the last week on the ground with him out at campaign events. they are very much in tune with his legal battles in the minutia and who is ruling with him and who is ruling against him. and donald trump has not held back from attacking the supreme court justices. in the past when they have ruled not in his favor. >> very quickly if you will, barb, how quickly could we see rulings from the supreme court? >> well, they're going to act very quickly. one thing they could do is issue an administrative stay.

they are staring at a january 5th deadline for colorado to certify its primary ballots. that's because they'rear of the super tuesday march 5th primaries was so one way or the other they have to act very quickly. unless they enter a stay, they have to act by january 5th. i think that's unlikely. i think they've got to act within the month of january so colorado can do what is necessary administratively to put trump on or off the ballot. i think we're going to see a quick decision from the supreme court. >> vaughn hillyard, barbara mcquade, thank you all for that conversation. we have more legal trouble to tell you about for rudy giuliani, the former trump campaign attorney has been ordered to immediately pay the $148 million awarded to two former georgia election workers who sued him for defamation. ruby freeman and shaye moss. immediately, as in right now. that's because a judge found that there is no good -- or there is good reason to assume that giuliani is not going to comply. let's get the details from nbc's

ken dilanian. how immediate is immediately and what happens if giuliani just doesn't have the money? >> it's pretty clear he does not have the money to pay $148 million judgment, ana. he's being sued by his former lawyers for legal fees. but what the judge appears to have done here is given freeman and moss a chance to get in line with the other people that rudy owes money to to get some kind of compensation. this judgment puts them in a much better position to start collecting now. they can put a lien on his income. they can get a piece of any assets that he's selling, and we know that his new york city apartment is on the market for $6 million. it gives them a better chance to collect something. you know, because we know from documents released yesterday in part of his criminal investigation, in which he was not charged, the southern district of new york, that his wealth has been diminishing for

years. but even if he files for bankruptcy, ana, he is not discharged from this judgment. bankruptcy doesn't protect him from injuries that he inflicted willfully and maliciously. this $148 million judgment will be with rudy giuliani for life, and the question really is how much money, if anything, will freeman and moss collect? >> they're not letting up. thank you very much. now to breaking news overseas, police in the czech republic say they are responding to a deadly school shooting in prague. let's go right to nbc's molly hunter. what more do we know? >> reporter: we know very little. the police in prague have just alerted just about 45 minutes ago there is a shooting. we have two statements actually from the czech police, very limited information at this point. the first statement says we're currently responding to a reported shooting in a school. at the moment we are providing intervention to this spot. they are responding. it says the entire area is being

completely closed. we have seen video on social media, unverified, people running out of the area, a very large police presence at the scene. we can confirm there are dead and injured people at the scene. we urge citizens not to stay in the immediate vicinity and not to leave the house. the police response is ongoing. it says now the shooter has been eliminated. that was just about 15 minutes ago. when the story first broke, it was believed to be an active shooting situation. the second update from the czech police, they say the entire building is currently being evacuated and there are several dead and dozens injured. that is all the information we currently have. we believe and the police have not said exactly where the shooting has taken place at charles university, again, in the old town in prague. 46,000 students, of course, it's the week before christmas, excuse me, no idea exactly how many students might have still been in class or on campus, how many professors are still there at this time, so we're certainly

calling the university to try to get additional information on czech tv, on social media. there are reports about students hunkering down in classrooms. we will chase all of that down. we are trying to get in touch with people actually on the ground, and the only other additional piece of information i'll share with you, the british embassy in prague has sent out an alert to british citizens who are living there, just to say if you're in the vicinity of the faculty of arts at charles university, follow the advice of local authorities. so stay put. do not leave. we are following this very closely. no indication yet of motive, whether it was a terror attack. we have no additional information from police yet. >> yeah, lots to learn, but again, the latest reporting from authorities is that the shooter has been eliminated. there are several dead, dozens injured. when we're back in 60 seconds, ten jailed americans released from venezuela, but who did the u.s. trade in this deal? plus, border battle, how texas governor greg abbott is

stepping up his fight over the southern border yet again. also ahead, holiday travel kicking into high gear. what's happening at one of the world's most bustling airports on the busiest travel day ahead of christmas. and later, ho ho hold on, why are santas taking over this florida town? (mom) please forgive him. (carolers) ♪ it's all good - just a little awkward. ♪ (soloist) think we'll wrap this up. (vo) it's your last chance to turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium and ipad and apple watch se - all on us. that's up to $1700 in value. only on verizon. sometimes your work shirt needs to be for more than just work. like when it needs to be a big soft shoulder to cry on. which is why downy does more to make clothes softer, fresher, and better. downy. breathe life into your laundry.

the tsa says today will be the busiest travel day with more than 2.5 million passengers heading through u.s. airports. nbc's marissa parra is with us for miami's airport which expects to smash travel records this holiday season, so marissa, people already expect crowds, possibly long lines, the old advice has always been to arrive two hours before your flight. does that still hold? and what do people need to know? >> reporter: it absolutely does still hold.

i want to mention, we talk about how we expect records to be broken. we saw this during thanksgiving, we are expecting once again for numbers we haven't seen since before the pandemic in 2019. and in fact, here in miami international, we just found out fromhe airport that they broke a single day pseer record on sunday, so if that'sot a sign of what's to come. i don't know what is. take a look at some tips we've compiled, but as we've talked about, you are not the only one taking to the skies over the next week. you're going to want to get to the airport earow the rules about liquids and carry-ones. make sure you are puttingou liquids inside of travel friendly, carry-on friendly items and then containers. when it comes to gifts, make sure that you're not putting in wrapping. that is going to stop you as you're going through security, it's going to make your weight even longer, and then liquids, whether it's eggnog, whether it's mine, make sure you're putting that in your checked bags if it's anything bigger than 100 milliliters. we went to the authority, the

big man from the north himself on tips you should know depending on where you're traveling so that you can have a smooth traveling experience. take a listen. >> at least international at this time, three and a half hours for international at least. check in on time, allow extra time for security check points. somebody's coming for christmas. . >> reporter: things are looking really good right now, ana. in terms of cancellations, it's pretty minimal, delays just about 200 something averaging today. we've seen whole lot worse on days like today in years prior but really good tips from santa. i'm glad he's able to make some time for us. who better to talk about international travel than him. >> i'm sure he's brightening spirits there, i'm glad no grinchs so far seen around there as far as -- or scrooges, just santa? >> reporter: just santa, so far, so far. so far so good here.

>> okay, fingers crossed, thank you so much, marissa parra. >> up next on "ana cabrera reports," the leader of hamas is in egypt for talks. what that means for the possibility of another hostage deal. plus the americans free instead a prisoner swap with venezuela and the impact. wap with venezuea and the impact 5% apy? that's new! yup, that's how you business differently. [coughing] copd hasn't been pretty. it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open and prevents future flare-ups. and with one dose a day, trelegy improves lung function so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems.

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welcome back. ten americans no longer held prisoner in venezuela this morning, and we're learning more about who the u.s. had to give

up in exchange. here you see six of those americans who the state department says were all wrongfully detained arriving in texas last night. >> free at last, free at last, thank god almighty, free at last. >> there's no way to understand what it's like to be in prison unjustly and not have any way out. >> now, in exchange for their freedom, the u.s. swapped a close ally of president maduro's who was facing money laundering and other charges here in the u.s. the deal can be seen as the latest sign of improving relations between washington and caracas with the biden administration almost recently rolling back sanctions in exchange for the promise of free and fair elections. here was president biden when he was asked about criticism of the deal. >> it's okay because we freed americans, people who were held illegally and made a deal with

venezuela that they hold free elections. so far they maintain those requirements and that's it. >> joining us now nbc's gilchrist is at the white house, and hagar she mali, former spokesperson for the u.s. mission to the u.n. is with us as well. what else are we learning about the ten americans who were freed and the negotiations that brought them home? >> we have six americans the u.s. has described as wrongfully detained. those are the people landing in san antonio at a military base late last night, and four other americans that the state department has chosen not to describe or name for us at this point or give us any detail really about why they were being detained in venezuela, but we obviously have seen this video now of the six americans getting off this plane. we know that sort of the typical thing that would happen here is obviously they would be reunited with their families, also there would be a time for them to spend at this military base

receiving medical care, and receiving sort of a debriefing, if you will, psychological care that might need to be happening as a result of some of these men having spent more than a year in some of their cases in a prison in venezuela. we believe a few months, still there is an opportunity for them to reacclimate to their homes, but you can imagine that they'd be going back to their actual homes in time for the christmas holiday and the new year. we know that the negotiations for their release took months. this was something that at least spanned several months involving the secretary of state tony blinken as well as the national security adviser jake sullivan, rather with the qataris acting as intermediary, the same as we've seen with hamas and israel, helping to create this negotiation space for the u.s. and venezuela to see these men freed and also see that one person returned to venezuela. ana. >> so hahagar, we mentioned tha the u.s. released this ally of

maduro's, alex saab, and this is after spending millions to capture him. the u.s. even apparently sent a navy warship to west africa after he had been captured in cape verde to try prevent his escape. he was still facing charges. was it the right move to let him go? >> well, so the biden administration is trying to experiment, if you will, with the u.s./venezuela policy to see what they can get out of it. it remains to be seen if it's going to be successful and go to work. the fact that you're getting these americans released i think is always a win, in my opinion, when you capture these detainees and prisoners for their crimes, yes, you want them in prison, yes, they've done wrong things, but if you can get something really good out of it, and in this case i'm a big believer we should do everything we can to release americans that are wrongfully detained. that's a good thing to do. but i want to put this in the bigger context, which is that since biden took office, he's been pursuing a different policy

with venezuela than trump, and even than obama. they want to effect policy changes by trying to work with them more. they've done the sanctions relief for six months only, in exchange for maduro promising free and fair elections. there's a lot of skepticism as to whether maduro's going to do that. he just announced last week he was going to try and take over two-thirds of his neighboring guyana in an oil rich area, and a lot of people think that was his ploy to get, you know, stronger public support in advance of these so-called free and fair elections. so a lot to be -- a lot remains to be seen, but this is a win. >> but as you point out, venezuela has all kinds of human rights abuses and maduro has basically squashed opposition ahead of these elections, so can the biden administration trust him at all? should they be negotiating at all? >> so to answer your first question, no, they cannot trust him at all. they know that, and that's normal in diplomacy. they work with unsavory

characters all the time. they negotiate with unsavory characters. it's why i never pursued diplomacy, and i pursued sanctions instead. that said, while i'm supportive of them giving this a chance, i'm just not a big believer this policy is going to work. as you said, maduro at the end of the day, he's a dictator, a human rights abuser. he's going to do everything he can to rig this election, even though he has said he agrees to them being free and fair. he agrees to international monitor, but he's a dictator at the end of the day. >> for him to say it's what does he do. aaron, in addition to the americans who were wrongfully detained there in vennvenezuela fugitive defense contractor known as fat leonard at the center of that massive pentagon bribery scandal. he bribed naval officers with money, favors, sex workers for helping getting navy ships to use the ports he controlled in southeast asia and other areas. how central was his return in these negotiations? >> this was a guy that the u.s.

government wanted back, ana. this is leonard francis is his name, and he goes by fat leonard as you said. he was awaiting sentencing here in the u.s. a little over a year ago when he was able to cut off his ankle monitoring bracelet and leave san diego, somehow get out of san diego and make his way to venezuela. as we understand it, he was at the airport on his way to russia when the venezuelan police arrested him and he had been detained there in venezuela from last fal up until this very week when he's been sent back. and so at this point, the u.s. vernment, as you noted, has said he was involved in a bribery scheme tthe tune of $35 millio ultimately, but in particular had pleaded guilty to using about half a million dollars to bribe u.s. officials, navy officials into activities that would help his businesses, and so the u.s. government wanted him back. they want him to be sentenced and we'll be looking out to see what more gets tacked onto the

sentence, given his escape. >> thank you so much, aaron gilchrist and hagar she mali. a brand new accounting on the toll of the war between israel and hamas in gaza. 20,000 people have been killed since the start of the war. that includes 8,000 children and 6,000 women with an additional 6,700 people still missing. and there are tense negotiations underway today at the united nations, which is set to vote on a new cease fire resolution after being postponed yet another day. nbc news foreign correspondent molly hunter has more on all of this. molly. >> reporter: as sirens sounded in tel aviv this morning, according to our team there on the ground, the u.s. is still pushing for talks according to president biden. according to john kirby, they are very serious, but this comes as hamas just released a statement that they will not engage in any talks about hostage releases until an agreement on a comprehensive cease fire. take a look.

>> this morning the u.s. pushing far truce so more hostages can be released, but no deal yet, and now new revelations about those israeli hostages killed by the israeli army ramping up the pressure. the israeli military now revealing the three men who were shot by israeli soldiers while waving a white flag actually escaped from hamas five days earlier, surviving on their own. now there's unreleased the israeli military says from a military dock at the scene. the go pro recorded the hostage's voice. avi sha mere is the father of 26-year-old alon previously told hallie jackson he wanted to see the video. >> and i asked the idf investigators to see the movie, if there is any movie. i know it's supposed to be somehow. >> reporter: the army chief of staff said on hebrew tv said the idf protocol does not allow

anyone to open fire on anyone waving a right flag. last night the mother of 28-year-old yotam granted her forgiveness in a voice note widely published blaming hamas. i love you all, she says to the battalion in the recording. i know what has happened is not your fault. as anger grows at prime minister netanyahu's government, secretary of state blinken says firmly by israel. >> i hear no one saying, demanding of hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms. that it surrender. >> reporter: today the 2 million civilians continue to bear the brunt of this grinding war. our nbc news team on the ground as drone strikes hit rafah. it was meant to be safe, displaced from his home in the north, this man asks where is safety. mustafa tells our team, these

are all civilians. i came to find a bite of bread to eat, and this little girl says i want to go home. i want to kiss my mom. also this morning the w.h.o. inside gaza is raising the alarm about the lethal combination of infectious diseases and malnutrition right now in gaza, people are dying of treatable diseases, and there are no fully functioning hospitals in the strip. i'll send it back to you. >> it's all heartbreaking. up next, how texas governor greg abbott is escalating his battle over the border again. plus, new details on that breaking news of the deadly shooting in prague. in prague

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welcome back. texas governor greg abbott take ago new step in his fight against the federal government's border policy, chartering a plane to fly migrants from texas to chicago after chicago began impounding buses of migrants driven up from texas. now, abbott's office has bussed more than 75,000 migrants from texas to six democratic leaning cities this year. nbc's guad venegas joins us from eagle pass, texas. guad, governor abbott has been sending these migrants to different cities for months now, we've been covering it saying that the federal government just isn't giving texas the help it needs. but these charter flights are new. >> they are. this is all part of the program here in texas. the lone star program where

they're using buses, where they're policing the border, and yeah, they had been busing migrants to new york, to chicago, also to california and other cities. because of these restrictions that were imposed by the city of chicago to try to stop those buses from unloading the migrants, now the governor has informed that they are chartering flights. he shared a tweet yesterday around the platform x, he shared information with a video of one of these planes where we were able to see a migrant entering the plane including that texas will now be using charter flights as they deal with this surge. you can see behind me in this field, migrants continue coming, getting on buses, and many could make their way to areas where they could be flown to other cities. >> guad, help us understand what's happening then in this field behind you. is this just where they're being brought before they are loaded onto buses? is this where people are just camping out?

are they sleeping there for days? what exactly is this? >> reporter: so ana, let's look at the big picture, for the third day -- so monday, tuesday, and yesterday, wednesday, for the third day, immigration officials reported a record number, it's 12,000 migrants apprehended at the southern border. what does that look like? it looks like this. this is a field in eagle pass right next to the international bridge where customs and border protection has been placing the migrants crossing from mexico as they wait. why? because they don't have enough officers to process these migrants to take them to the facilities. just here in eagle pass, we've learned that the processing centers are at three times their capacity. at some point yesterday, congressman tony gonzalez said at some point they had 10,000 migrants in their processing centers, so they just can't take any more. some of the people you see here arrived this morning, there's a line right now of migrants that just crossed the river down at the far end.

some of them were here yesterday. we don't know who's been here for a day, who's been here for two days. as more come, some of them are lined up and then taken to another area under the bridge where they then get loaded up to buses, and we presumably think they go to the processing centers. so they can be here anywhere from a few hours to maybe a day. it just depends on how long it's taking customs and border protection to process them. >> guad venegas, thank you for your reporting. back to our breaking news this hour, a deadly shooting in prague, and we've just gotten this image of a barricaded classroom door at charles university trying to protect the students inside. i want to bring back nbc news foreign correspondent molly hunter. molly, what more have you learned? >> so we know from police there has been a shooting at charles university at the faculty of arts. it appears they have been very vague about the exact specificity of the location of the shooting. they have said the entire area is locked down. we actually did just get some new information from the

spokesperson for the emergency services who was just told nbc about 30 wounded. dozens injured, several dead. the shooter has also been eliminated and now emergency services are saying 30 wounded. that is giving us a sense of the scale of the scope of this shooting. we know when police first responded, that went on twitter, now x, saying they were responding to a shooting. they were locking down the entire area. they were urging anyone in this area to stay inside, that picture showing the barricaded classroom is showing students inside. this is the week before christmas. charles university is smack dab in the middle of prague in the old town. 46,000 students, but i'm not sure, and we have been trying to get in touch with the university, how many students, how many classes were still in session. how many professors were still actually there the week before christmas. it's very prominent in that area of town. when you look at pictures, it is

a massive police presence. we have a statement from the prime minister who have canceled his plans due to tragic events, and he's returning to the city. >> tragic event indeed, thank you, molly hunter. we'll let you get back to news gathering, come back to us as soon as you have more information. up next on "ana cabrera reports," food insecurity in america. we're at one food bank seeing a huge increase in need this year. get this, close to half the recipients say this is their only source of food. plus, the u.s. economy's biggest moment this is year from strikes and bank collapses to taylor swift and barbie. o taylor swift and barbie.

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serve say the food provided to them by food and friends is their only source of sustenance. let's bring in nbc's shannon pettypiece at the food and friends food bank in d.c. that's alarming. what are you flaring the people there and broadly, since this is such a big issue nationally? >> reporter: yeah. it is, ana. and you know the holidays are always a really busy time for nonprofit groups. this year, they say the need is just going up and up, despite some of the positive signs we have seen in the economy, when it comes to unemployment and it comes to wages going up. so for instance, this organization here, food and friends, they will give out nearly double the meals this year that they did compared to before the pandemic. they have only seen the need continue to increase and i talked to the executive director about why that is. here's what she had to say. >> we know inflation is real, the cost of food has increased.

a lot of other food assistance programs that were present during covid have sunseted. we're the only option for people who are -- and a lot of the other programs don't exist anore. >> reporter: so inflation, shrinking benefits, and it is an issue across the nation. whether you look at theber of people who receive snap benefits, food ps, there is an additional 1 million people receiving those benefits this year compared to last year. and i spoke to one woman who receives her food from a here, her name is donna lawson, she spent 20 years as an educator, as a principal and administrator in virginia schools, but now her health is preventing her from working and she is dependent on those benefits and this food. here's what she had to say about that. >> i receive snap benefits. but snap benefits, i'm very grateful for them, do not last an entire month of grocery shopping. and so the delivery of food and

friends supplements what foods i need to eat. >> reporter: and one thing i would add, ana, even with this increase in demand, organizations like this is a they're seeing fewer volunteers come, and fewer donors giving money. so the demand is going up, costs are going up, yet the support, nonprofits are receiving, they say is also going down. >> well, thank all the people behind you working so hard to get the food ready for those in need. thank you very much, shannon pettypiece. 2023 was a busy year in the world of business, starting with the bank collapses, financial scandals, and then ultimately dominated by strikes. nbc news business and data correspondent brian cheung walks us through the biggest moments. >> reporter: it was the year of picket lines, and barbie. the economy steered clear of a recession, the biggest theme of all, worker power. across the country, over half a million teachers, pharmacists, fast food workers and more went on strike. the biggest ones targeting hollywood and the motor city.

tv and movie production halted when the writers gild first walked out in may with actors and performers joining two months later. in fall, members of the united autoworkers forced stops at the big three automakers. >> an attack on a worker anywhere is an attack on workers everywhere. >> reporter: after months of shutdown, the question is who came out better on the other side? the hollywood stand still cost $6 billion in lost wages and business impacts. ford, gm and stellantis lost over $3.5 billion in profits together. pay bumps were significant with actors wages rising more than 7%. writers, up 12.5%. autoworkers, a whopping 25%. >> inflation is easing. >> we're still talking about inflation. >> annual inflation is slowly coming down. >> reporter: still, high inflation showed signs of improving, dropping from over 6% to about 3% by year's end. some things got cheaper compared to a year ago, gas, down 34

cents a gallon. prices cracked on eggs too, over a buck cheaper per dozen. the cost of living, though, continues to keep inflation readings high, though with median rents down 2%, hope affordability will improve next year. in 2023, it was high drama on wall street. when silicon valley bank collapsed in march, becoming the biggest collapse since the 2008 financial crisis, overshadowed weeks later when first republic failed as well, exposing bad bets made by poor managers. and in the crypto world, sam bankman-fried, the founder ftx was found guilty on charges of fraud and money laundering, now facing up to 110 years in prison. but it wasn't all bad blood this year. it was the ladies who may have kept the economy upbeat. >> welcome to the eras tour. >> reporter: taylor swift's eras tour grossed a billion dollars

with spending at tour stops injecting up to $5 billion in local economies. queen b grossed over half a million dollars on her tour. and, of course, the iconic doll, barbie, raked in $1.4 billion, the highest grossing film of the year. >> hi, barbie. >> hi, ken. >> reporter: all part of an eventful 2023 in the world of business. >> brian cheung, thanks so much. that is going to do it for us today. thank you for joining us and for being with me throughout the year. wishing you a happy and healthy holidays. i'm off for the next week or so. i'll see you in the new year. for now, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage next. from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage next.

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good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we start with an nbc news exclusive, the colorado supreme court justices now facing a