choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. america in crisis. there are flash points here and abroad. on the border between texas and mexico, undocumented children are being detained. we'll take you there live. and the middle east is on the brink. sirens going off in israel. while airstrikes hit buildings in gaza. what does this mean for u.s. foreign policy? we'll ask congressman adam schiff. and the president is coming under fire for his handling of all of it. we'll go live to the white house to see how the administration is dealing with the issues.

hello, i'm dana bash in for wolf blitzer who's on his way to the middle east where he'll be reporting live on "the situation room" at 5:00 eastern. now, here in the u.s., the political battle heats up, and the children just keep coming. here's the latest on the surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the border into the u.s. president obama's request for $3.7 billion to deal with the crisis goes before the senate appropriations committee in the next hour. also, two members of congress say they'll introduce a new bill as soon as today. it would make it easier to send the children back to central american countries. those that don't directly border the u.s. democratic congressman henry cuellar and republican senator john cornyn are behind the legislation. and president obama and texas governor rick perry met to discuss the crisis, but they emerged with very different views. perry says border security should be the number one priority. >> we need to secure the border.

you need to put these national guard troops on there. we need to change these policies that are enticing people to come to the united states and these policies that i'm talking about are where that if you're from one of the central american countries rather than from mexico, you're treated differently. these incentives, if you will, that if you come into the united states, you can say, stop those policies and secure the border. >> as for the president, he says he's open to deploying national guard troops, but that's only a temporary fix. he says members of congress should focus on a long-term solution. >> of course, in the long run, the best way to truly address this problem is for the house of representatives to pass legislation fixing our broken immigration system which by the way would include funding for additional thousands of border patrol agents, something that everybody down here that i've talked to indicates is a priority.

the senate passed a common-sense bipartisan bill more than a year ago. it would have strengthened the border, added an additional 20,000 border patrol agents. it would have strengthened our backlogged immigration courts. it would have put nussus in a stronger position to deal with this surge and, in fact, prevent it. >> now, the tens of thousands of children at the center of the immigration crisis have one goal, to make it across the border to the u.s. let's take a closer look at the situation along the border and what really happens once they make it across. cnn correspondent alina machado is in mission, texas. alina, give us a sense of what you're seeing there. >> reporter: well, dana, there is a very strong law enforcement presence in this area, especially the closer you get to the rio grande. we are on the river right now. and the reason why there's such a strong law enforcement presence in this area is because just on the other side of the river is mexico. on the side that we are is the u.s.

now, a little while ago, i want to show you some video that we shot. it shows several boats going through the river. and we believe that on one of those boats was governor -- texas governor rick perry getting a firsthand look of the border situation here. we understand that he is in the area today. now, we've been checking out the area. we went into town into mcallen, texas, which is just about 15, 20 minutes from the river here. and we know that many of the undocumented immigrants are going through a catholic charities shelter in town, getting some food, getting a fresh change of clothes, maybe taking a shower before they're able to board a bus and continue on to their next destination. dana? >> well, you mentioned that when they reach those areas, they're able to at least take a shower. but do you know what happens next? i mean, once they get through there, once they get to that place, where do they go from there, or does every story have a different answer? >> reporter: it all depends. i know that, for example, for

the children, the unaccompanied children, many times those children, as far as we've known just from talking to some of these children, they are kept at these federal detention facilities. and then once they make contact with a relative in the u.s., they are then transferred to wherever that person may be, whether it's in miami, houston, d.c., new york. these people are all over the country. and the understanding is that once they get reunited with their family members, that they're going to go before an immigration judge who will then determine their future. >> and that's exactly the backlog that they're debating in congress, whether or not there's a way to fix that. alina, thank you very much for that report. and the reception that the undocumented women and children get once they're in the u.s. depends on where they go. two southern california towns have very different reactions to the immigrants' arrival, and children are left in heart-wrenching limbo as the crisis rages. national correspondent kyung lah has the tale of two cities. >> usa! >> reporter: the indelible image of the immigration battle in murrieta, california.

>> go back to mexico! >> reporter: locking the station from three buses of undocumented immigrants. the buses forced to turn around. >> not in murrieta! not in murrieta! >> reporter: almost 200 miles away, planes from texas land. varying mostly undocumented women and children. they move to buses which arrived to an open and quiet border patrol station in el centro. in this town, they're moved to local charities, temporarily sheltering the women and children. >> adios. >> reporter: and even help toddlers like rudy and his motherboa board buses. two completely different reactions. demographics may explain why. murrieta sits more than 85 miles from the international border. 70% of the city is white. the bedroom community of san diego is relatively affluent with only 7% of households below the poverty line.

el centro sits a stone's throw from the border, only several miles away. over 80% of the city is latino. its economy relies on mexican tourists and immigrants and struggles with 25% below the poverty line. when you watch television and you see what's happening in murrieta, what is your impression of that? >> i think it's pretty sad. >> reporter: el centro's mayor pro tem is himself a mexican immigrant. his city, he says, is on the front line of the border crisis and sees the desperation up close. are they thinking about the people on the bus in your opinion? >> they're thinking about them, but in the wrong way, from my perspective. i don't necessarily condone the activities, but, again, it's not up to us to decide what happens to them. it's up to us to provide them with an environment that's safe and healthy. >> reporter: why is it in towns like el centro that they're not having the same sort of reaction as murrieta is? >> apples and oranges. >> reporter: murrieta's mayor says you can't compare the two cities. they're too different. he also believes the ugliest

elements of the protests are not from his residents but outsiders coming in. >> the world never got to see the compassion that murrieta has and what we're known for. >> reporter: is it possible that the buses will come and that we will see compassion here? >> well, you know, right now we're still a destination point. border patrol's still not talking to us much. >> reporter: a tale of two cities, two reactions to a border crisis that's not going away. kyung lah, cnn, murrieta, california. >> now let's turn to the politics surrounding the border crisis. president obama describes his meeting with texas governor rick perry as constructive, but perry and others continue to slam the president for not visiting the border to see the crisis firsthand. let's get straight what's really going on with our white house correspondent michelle kosinski. what are you hearing about what really happened behind the scenes? >> reporter: yeah, it continues today. the real problem is that the

president is in texas, and it's for fund-raisers. i mean, if he didn't originally have plans to go down there, i don't think that this would have been as vocal as it's been day after day after day. but, you know, it gets to the point where now wouldn't it look strange if the president sort of gave into the political pressure and then decided, okay, now we are going to go down to the border? so what it seems like -- and we talked to strategists as well -- they want to try to find it on their own terms, a way to address the problem maybe more visually along those lines but on their own terms again and not seeming to give in to this very harsh now pressure coming to some extent from both sides, dana. >> michelle, you pointed out last night after the president spoke that, you know, if he calls that kind of visit theater in a photo op, then what about all the photo ops that's he's done umpteen times over his

presidency. let's talk about the substance. a lot of discussion from the president about the fact that rick perry, the texas governor, was urging him to do things, and he said why don't you tell your fellow republicans in texas to help me in congress? you know, again, a lot of bluster, but did you get the sense that there was actually a meeting of the minds substantively on how to fix this behind the scenes? >> reporter: right, dana. i mean, it seemed congenial. it seemed like both sides there in that meeting wanted to get down to the business of this. i thought it was interesting that there was a little bit of give and take. i mean, the president saying that the governor of texas told him, why don't you just act? you need to just act right now. and the president shooting back, well, you know what? taking executive action is what has riled up so many republicans and caused the speaker of the house to threaten to sue me. so it is one of those situations, at least from the white house perspective, that damned if you do, damned if you don't. and the president laid out each of rick perry's requests or points of concern.

and the president said, hey, i agree with every single one of those. he laid out how each of those concerns is addressed in his request to congress and then took it a step further and said congress needs to act on this. rick perry is influential. why doesn't he urge house republicans to take this up and act on it quickly? and that's something that the white house has been urging for about a week and a half now, dana. >> they have. and let's talk about that money, michelle. maybe they got a sign of hope from the house speaker who this morning said but he does want congress to pass something to deal with this before they leave for august recess. do you think that -- i mean, it seems to me that the bottom line is whether or not the white house is going to convince enough members in congress to change the policy in order to get members to agree to the money. go ahead. >> reporter: oh, that's okay. no, it's just -- it's really difficult. i mean, there are philosophical differences behind there somewhat similar to the issue of

immigration reform itself, and there are differences of opinion on what are the causal factors there. i mean, some who are opposed to this request say hey, not only is it a lot of money, but it's a big band-aid. the white house says, well, it is a band-aid to some extent, although there is a border security component, but the reap we they'd to do this is because there was no comprehensive immigration reform passed. so it's just the back-and-forth continues, remains to be seen what comes out of this, dana. >> absolutely. michelle, thanks for that report. and when it comes to the money, the ball is absolutely right now in congress's court as the crisis grows at the border. partisan lines, if you can even imagine, are getting even deeper. what are lawmakers going to do? i'm going to talk to a key house republican next. and israeli airstrikes exact a heavy price from palestinians in gaza. will it be enough to stop hamas militants from firing rockets into israeli cities? a live report just ahead. ♪

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what i emphasized to the governor was, the problem here is not a major disagreement around the actions that could be helpful in dealing with the problem. the challenge is, is congress

prepared to act to put the resources in place to get this done? another way of putting it, and i said this directly to the governor is, are folks more interested in politics or are they more interested in solving the problem? >> that was president obama in texas where he met with governor rick perry. he gave lawmakers here in washington a really clear message. give the administration a $3.7 billion it's asking for to deal with immigration. but the mantra ask and you shall receive isn't working very well on capitol hill. joining me now is virginia republican representative bob goodlatt. mr. chairman, thank you so much for joining me. i want to first play for you what the president said yesterday, last night, one of the many things he said last night, talking about one of the big problems he has with getting anything done on capitol hill. >> i think it's fair to say that these days in washington, everybody's always concerned about everything falling victim to partisan politics.

you know, if i sponsored a bill declaring apple pie american, it might -- it might fall victim to partisan politics. i get that. on the other hand, this is an issue in which my republican friends have said, it's urgent, and we need to fix it. if that's the case, then let's go ahead and fix it. >> mr. chairman, doesn't he have a point? i mean, i walk those halls. usually i watch what goes on or maybe doesn't go on. it's pretty hard to get anything done up there. >> well, first of all, his apple pie analogy doesn't apply to this situation. he knows that the house judiciary committee has worked with him on patent litigation reform, on nsa reform. he endorsed both the bills that we passed out of the committee to address those issues. >> yeah, but on immigration, you well know that -- i know you've passed some bills out of your

committee, four of them. >> we have. we have. >> but on the main issues that divide everybody, really, when it comes to immigration, you haven't moved, and you're not going to move this year. >> well, the issue here is stopping a surge at the border that is brought on by the president acting administratively with his pen and his cell phone to give administrative legalization to people, to not enforce the laws, to not investigate asylum fraud. we have a long list of things the president could do right now. and let's look at what the governor said to him yesterday. he said why not call up the national guard? well, the president had two answers. he said first of all, the national guard is only a temporary solution. but this problem of the surge of the children coming to the border and by the way, it's more than children. lots of parents and families coming could be addressed. the personnel shortage could be addressed with the national guard. and then the second thing he said i think was most insulting. he said was why don't you talk to the texas delegation, and

maybe we could do the national guard if the congress would pass the bills i want. he doesn't need the congress to do anything to take the actions that the law already affords him including sending a very strong message that i didn't hear during his press conference yesterday that if you come from central america to our border, you are going to be sent home. he needs to keep reiterating that point. >> mr. chairman, you know, it does sound like you're sending the white house a mixed message. on the one hand, you're saying the actions that you, mr. president, took has created, on your own, has created this crisis. on the other hand, you're saying please take actions on your own to mitigate this crisis. and on that point, i want to play another clip from the president last night talking about the conundrum that he thinks he is in with regard to executive action. >> as i indicated to governor perry, he suggested, well, maybe you just need to go ahead and act, and that might convince republicans that they should go ahead and pass the supplemental.

and i had to remind him, i'm getting sued right now by mr. boehner apparently for going ahead and acting instead of going through congress. well, here's a good test case. >> mr. chairman, i know you've been working with the speaker since january on a lawsuit. i'm not exactly sure what you're going to see him on. how do you respond to that? >> well, first of all, article 2 of the constitution, it gives the president's powers very clear. the presidential faithfully execute the laws. and that means enforcing the laws that have been passed and signed into law and not creating new laws or changing laws that already exist. there are laws on the books today that the president is not enforcing that would solve this problem. so he's being very clever to try to mix these two issues. but the fact of the matter is that when it comes to calling up the national guard, when it comes to investigating asylum fraud, when it comes to not giving administrative legalization, when it comes to

messaging, that this is something that's not going to be rewarded by admission to the u.s., that people are going to be turned around. all of those things can be done by the president within the law right now, and they would stop this problem. now, if there is targeted funding that's necessary, the governor is correct. the congress will find the appropriations to do the things that are necessary. but not $3.7 billion. not pass the entire senate comprehensive immigration reform bill which actually is a part of the cause of this problem. but people believe that they're going to be admitted to the country because other people are being given legal status without enforcement, that's a huge problem. >> mr. chairman, real quick, yes or no answer. given -- i understand what you said about the white house and the president doing what he's doing. will congress act on anything the president wants in the next month, particularly with regard to the crisis and the money he wants? >> i think that we will do targeted appropriations, and we are willing to sit down and work out targeted tweaks.

but now the speaker -- the former speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, the leader in the senate, mr. reid, and others have said that they don't support changing the 2008 law. so we're willing to work with him to do those targeted changes that may be necessary to help what he has to do to carry out the law, and we are willing to do targeted appropriations. but we have a list of practically ten things that he can do right now before anything else happens, and they would be the number one thing to do to solve this problem. >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. i appreciate your time. and we've been talking about immigration. it's just one of many issues republicans accuse the president of bungling. and many of their complaints could be detailed in an upcoming lawsuit we were just talking about. just ahead, house speaker john boehner speaks out about his plans to sue the president. and again in the middle east, hamas rockets fired into israel provoked ferocious and deadly airstrikes by the israeli military. cnn correspondents are live in jerusalem and on the border between israel and gaza.

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israeli airstrikes in gaza have killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 500 others over the past three days. the offensive is aimed at stopping hamas militants from firing rockets into israel. those attacks have made wailing sirens and dashing for shelter a daily occurrence in israel. no israelis have been killed in part because of israel's unique iron dome defensive network which has successfully blasted many of hamas rockets out of the sky. as for palestinians in gaza, they're burying their dead including women and children killed in the airstrikes. benjamin netanyahu said civilian casualties are unavoidable because of hamas's tactics. >> we'll continue to protect our civilians against hamas attacks on them. now, hamas, by contrast, is deliberately putting palestinian civilians into harm's way.

it embeds themselves in coschoo, hospitals and apartment buildings. it targets israeli civilians while hiding behind palestinian civilians. this operation could take time. we resolve to defend our families and our homes. >> the prime minister's words seemed to suggest military action could grow beyond airstrikes. let's bring in senior international correspondent ben wedeman who is in gaza city and our becky anderson who is in jerusalem. ben, let's start with you. what's the latest there? >> reporter: well, it does look at this point, dana, that perhaps a ground incursion is on the way. we were in the northern part of the gaza strip where apparently the israelis haven't informed local inhabitants that if they want to leave, they have to leave on a specific road out of the town and that it's probably better if they leave all together. but what we saw was that some people had indeed left.

they had locked their homes up. but others i spoke to said not only do we refuse to go, we have nowhere to go, which is really the problem. so they are just staying put, keeping close to their houses. there isn't a lot of people traveling between one town or another. but there is the feeling that trouble is to come. now, while we were in the street, we saw four rockets streak over our heads. i do believe those were rockets that were aimed at jerusalem. two of them were intercepted by the iron dome. two just hit empty ground. but certainly it doesn't look like there's a deescalation on the cards at this point. everybody here in gaza is bracing for the worst. dana? >> ben, thank you. now let's go to jerusalem to becky anderson. and becky, we talked about the iron dome, which has been enormously effective in blunting hamas attacks. how confident are israelis that they're going to -- that

those -- the defense system is going to keep them safe? >> reporter: yeah, i think things are very, very tense here. just about 2 1/2 hours ago as i started my show on cnn international, the sirens went off, and we could hear them behind me here in jerusalem. people started running for shelter. and those sirens indicating incoming fire. now, ben absolutely correct to point out that the rockets that he clearly saw over his head where he was were those fired from gaza. two of them were intercepted by that iron dome military defense system. clearly one of those, and these are movable feats, of course. nobody never knows quite where they are. clearly one of those set up outside jerusalem to knock out of the sky any incoming fire towards the city. we saw the plumes of smoke just behind me out of the window as those sirens went off. and people clearly here in jerusalem running for what are shelters. in those big buildings they'll have shelters.

if they don't have shelters, they will have stairwells. i don't want to be disingenuous here but i want to be clearly transparent. it's now 8:30 in the city, and it's just after rush hour here, and things are happening again. you know, clearly in this sort of region, things just sort of -- people get on with things. people are out and about. but certainly a tense situation. and people very much concerned. and it is very much, dana, a wait-and-see scenario now. >> absolutely is. becky and ben, stay safe. thank you so much for those reports. and we want to come back to the united states here to capitol hill where california democrat adam schiff is joining us. he's the member of the permanent select committee on intelligence. and congressman, you just heard those reports. let me just ask you flat out, do you support the israeli airstrikes as a way to respond to what's been going on? is this the right approach by israel? >> well, i don't think israel really has any choice, as long

as hamas continues to fire rockets into israel and put israelis at risk, israel has to respond in some manner. i don't think israel wants to go to ground and have a ground invasion. they may be compelled to do it if the rocket attacks continue. but i don't think that netanyahu could politically or otherwise sit on his hands while his citizens are being threatened in this way. so i'm not sure the israelis have much choice. i hope that given the fact that hamas has lost a lot of its pay dr tr patrons. >> what about sending in ground troops? 40,000 israeli military reservists have been notified. the president shimon peres told our becky anderson that it's entirely possible. is that something that you, the united states congress, will continue to back israel on? >> well, if ultimately that's necessary, then yes. i think the united states will support israel. we'll continue to have israel's back in this. but again, it's obviously not something the united states is

eager to see. it's not something israel is eager to do. but i think that if they conclude there's no other way to stop these missile attacks and rocket attacks and hamas now has rockets that can go as far as 70 miles and threaten large parts of israel, they'll do what they need to do to protect their country. this is not something i think the united states can play much of a mediation role in. it's not a dispute really between netanyahu and mahmoud abbas. this is between israel and hamas. so there's not much we can do. we can certainly urge restraint. but at the end of the day, israel's going to do what it needs to do to protect its citizens. and if that means that they need to send? ground troops, i expect that's what they'll do. >> that's interesting that you say that there's not much of a role for the u.s. here. that was going to be one of my questions. and i should say that of course you're right, that missiles coming from gaza are reaching much further into israel than ever before. but when it comes to a cease-fire or a potential cease-fire, benjamin netanyahu

said today it's not even on the agenda. the last time we saw something escalate even close to this in 2012, it was actually the egyptian leader at the time who's no longer there, morsi, who helped negotiate because he had some leverage with hamas. do you see the current leader of egypt or anybody in the region being able to broker a cease-fire if the u.s. can't? >> well, egypt is still the logical player. they have a relationship with hamas, although that relationship has markedly deteriorated. and sisi has not much regard for hamas. he may be in a lesser position than morsi was to negotiate this, but he can probably still play a constructive role. and i think the fact that egypt has been shutting down these tunnels and putting a lot of pressure on hamas will limit the degree to which hamas can continue this without a patron. but they are probably still the logical player. they may have a little less leverage with hamas now.

but i think they could play a more constructive role than we're likely to play in this. >> very interesting. before i let you go, as we said, you are a member of the house intelligence committee. today something pretty dramatic happened in germany where the u.s. intelligence chief in berlin was told to leave the country for allegedly spying on behalf of the u.s. on german leaders. do you know anything about this? can you shed more light on this? >> well, it's not something i can comment on, but i can say this. you know, we are seeing -- and this began back with the reports of spying on the cell phone of angela merkel, the real costs that you can pay when you spy on allies. and i think the united states really has to weigh, without getting into the merits of these most recent allegations, whether the benefit we get from that information outweighs the damage that it can do to an important alliance. >> what do you think? >> i think it's unlikely, if these allegations are correct, it's unlikely that we would be

receiving anything so valuable as to jeopardize one of our strongest alliances and one that's of particular significance given what russia is doing right now. so i have to think the administration is calling the intelligence community leadership in to find out exactly what's going on. and if we have the kind of cost benefit analysis we have to have with such an important ally. >> very interesting. thank you for all of your insight on multiple issues across the globe, mr. schiff. thank you so much. and president obama is facing mounting criticism from republican lawmakers who give him a failing grade on everything from border security to upholding the constitution. house speaker john boehner is even planning to sue the president, claiming his use of executive orders is unconstitutional. he talked about that lawsuit today. take a look. >> let me make this clear. this isn't about me suing the president. it's not about republicans versus democrats. this is about the legislative

branch that's being disadvantaged by the executive branch. and it's not about executive actions. every president does executive orders. most of them, though, do them within the law. with a we're talking about here are places where the president is basically rewriting law to make it fit his own needs. >> joining me now from philadelphia is michael smerconish, political commentator and anchor of cnn's own smerconish. boehner isn't revealing any details about this lawsuit. and i can tell you from our reporting is because he doesn't know what the details are yet. they haven't figured out exactly what they're going to sue about, which executive orders. even when they figure that out, they want to have the house authorize it so it's not boehner versus obama. it's the house of representatives versus the executive branch. but let's just talk politics here. what would be the political impact on this in the short

term, which is what matters, and that's november's midterm elections? >> well, dana, i don't think that it has a harmful impact with any con stin wency within the gop because because the more antagonism that can be shown toward this president, the more that it seems to drive their core constituency. the issues, the downside that i see, number one, what does it do with regard to the ongoing relationship between the speaker and the president, and maybe you would say, well, it can't get much worse than it is today. but to your question, how does it play with independents? not how does it play with the core constituency with the gop, but how does it play with those individuals who are going to determine who controls the house and the senate going forward? and therein i think lies the risk for speaker boehner because he'll fire up his base. he'll bring them to the polls, but i think he's going to turn off some folks who are frankly tired of this level of behavior between the house and the white house. >> but doesn't that just speak to the reality of this election

in november? it's a midterm election, and you talk to people on both sides who are working the campaigns, it is a base election. so do you think that it also might have the flip side effect and that yes, they're going to fire up the republican base, but they might also fire up the democratic base in favor of the president, in favor of their democratic candidates, because they might be so angry about this? >> well, i don't know. you know, i completely buy into you saying that it's a midterm election. therefore it's a turnout election. and an election like this is going to be won or lost based on passion. it's completely different from what will unfold in 2016. but if you're asking me, i think the passion more lies on the republican side of the aisle. and so if i were whispering in the ear of the speaker, i would be saying, you probably are going to drive more of your constituency, and on a balancing scale, you'll antagonize fewer democrats who will come out in response. so politically, i could see it

being a net gain. i don't think it's a net gain for the country. >> very interesting. for you, let's turn to immigration. in the past, the immigration issue has cost the gop votes. right now it is causing major division within the party. conservative commentator glen beck who i know you have a few opinions on says he's been ridiculed by his fans because he's announced that he wants to bring food and toys to thousands of the unaccompanied children. he explained his position on the crisis. take a listen. >> my heart is with anyone who is suffering. my brain is with the law. the law must be enforced. my heart is where i have mercy, and there is no justice without mercy. you have to have both of them.

and right now the conservatives only look like they just want judgment. and the liberals only look at it as mercy. you cannot have a rule of law if it is nothing but mercy. you cannot have justice without mercy. you need both. and so now i am not popular on the right or the left. so be it. i said last night and people, my fans, are mocking me on facebook and that's okay. believe me, i went into this one wide open. i know exactly. i know exactly where i'm going. i know exactly who i am. and i know exactly what the consequences of that could be. and that's fine. >> wow! what's your reaction to that? >> it's hard for me to take it seriously. i think we've reached a point

where there needs to be some accountability for those who have created a climate in which substance doesn't matter. and frankly, he belongs in that category. the law that applies in this case is the law of unintended consequences. and the law of unintended consequences seemed to flow from that wilbur force law that was passed in 2008. and what frustrates me is that i don't hear much conversation and substantive dialogue about that law and are we really about to change it? because it seems like the federal government is hamstrung. and you know, i look at the way that this is being presented on both the left and the right, and i think it bears very little resemblance to reality, and both sides are using it for their political advantage and caught in the crosshairs are 50,000 kids. >> yep. and growing. michael, thank you so much. you're right about that 2008 law, but they are talking about it on capitol hill. let's see if they can figure out what to do about it, if anything. i know you're going to dig deeper on the crisis this weekend on "smerconish oi."

talk to one of the congressmen who wrote the law. catch it all saturday at 9:00 a.m. eastern. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life.

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that's why i always choose the fastest intern.r slow. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. i'm interested in him looking at the kids, the kids that i have talked to, little innocent little boys and girls that have come across, have

traveled over 1,000 miles. one-third of the girls have been raped. the last kid was an 11-year-old boy from guatemala that died of dehydration. that is a face that i want him to see. don't take any cameras, mr. president, but go down there and see what we're facing. >> that's texas congressman henry cuellar, a democrat who's been unrelenting in his criticism of the administration when it comes to border issues. now, another house democrat from the border is my next guest. arizona's ron barber and congressman, thank you so much for joining me. i want to first place for you what house speaker john boehner said just a short while ago. >> listen, this is a problem of the president's own making. he's been president for 5 1/2 years. when's he going to take responsibility for something? >> now, you're the president's fellow democrat, but as we said, you are a border district congressman. do you think the president has done enough to protect the border?

>> no, i don't. and neither do i think that the congress has done enough. this problem has been going on for a long time. and now it's been exaggerated by this humanitarian crisis that we have with thousands of children coming into texas and into my state, into arizona. >> what should he have been doing more of? and have you been given where your district is on the phone with the white house writing letters to the white house trying to get the president to do more? >> absolutely. >> before even this crisis happened? >> well, yes. i've been pressing for changes in our border security strategy and policy and for us to fix the broken immigration system. as a member of the house committee on homeland security, i'm very pleased that we have a very strong bipartisan effort there, but it needs to come to the floor. we need a bill that will help with increased border security, and we need to fix the broken immigration system. both of those ak actions have been done, and it's a fail you are of both the presidency to

not deal with a problem that's been going on way too long. >> congressman, your district in arizona represents 83 miles of the border. i know you're one of nine border district house members. what are you seeing in your district on the border? >> well, first of all, the people that i represent who live and work along the border, the ranchers, the businesspeople, folks who have retired and are living down there, every single day, they feel unsafe in their homes because the drug cartels are coming through their land, bringing drugs, heavily armed and putting our constituents in danger. we need to stop that. and one of the things we need to do is to troops, more agents on the border, more technology on the border. i've been pressing for that since i got here. and hopefully now, unfortunately now, because of this crisis, we're finally getting the attention of washington and the white house. >> now, one of the key questions on capitol hill right now is whether there needs to be a policy change, specifically about a 2008 law that allows children from central america to

stay in the country, get a hearing before they go back. that's maybe gumming things up, for lack of a better way to say it. do you think that that law should be repealed? >> i don't believe it should be repealed, but it needs to be modified. let's remember, the bill was passed in 2008 for a very good reason. it was to address the issue of human and sex trafficking of children. we have to stop that. we have to do everything we can to prevent it. so we need to modify the law so that these children who are coming here from guatemala, honduras and el salvador are able to be returned home expeditiously. their parents need to have them back with them because these children are facing danger when they come across mexico on the top of freight trains. they're in a situation here in arizona that's creating immense pressures on my community and the people that i serve. we need to be able to get them back home. and that law is unfortunately standing in the way. >> congressman, one more question, just raw politics here. you are somebody who is an

endangered democrat. you have a very tough re-election ahead of you in november. and in all candor, is the president making it harder for you to get re-elected? >> i don't really think about that in that way. i think that what's important to the people i represent is that they know that i'm listening to them, that i'm their voice in congress. i'm home every weekend. i'm down on the border a lot. i've been on the border for the last two years as a member of congress and before that as a zriblgt dire district director. i know what they need and i'm fighting here in washington to get it done. >> congressman barber, appreciate it. thank you for your time. now let's turn to iraq. islamic militants have gotten their hands on some nuclear material. sound

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that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. an unnerving development in iraq. officials there say militants have stolen nuclear materials from the university in mosul. arwa damon joins us live from baghdad. arwa, what do you know about the amount and grade of the stolen uranium? >> reporter: well, it's about 40 kilograms, say around 80-plus pounds of this material. it is uranium. however, the u.s. and the iaea are saying this is not enriched uranium. they do not believe it would pose a potential threat. that being said, it is understandably quite a disturbing development with the iraqi government reaching out to the united nations for assistance in this matter. the iraqi government has really

been trying to drum up international support in its ongoing battle for isis. it's now been a month, dana, since isis first took over mosul iraq's second largest city. the security force is struggling along these various front lines, barely keeping isis away from the capital. cnn.com's chelsea carter took a trip to a hospital in baghdad, where she managed to speak to some of the wounded iraqi soldiers coming back from the front lines, telling harrowing tales of what they witnessed, painting a different picture of the battlefield from what is being told by the iraqi government. a lot of stories about how they did not have enough weapons, enough ammunition, logistics supply lines completely falling apart. so the iraqi government at this stage really trying to reach out to various international players, gain that support. we also know they're relying very heavily on shia militias to keep isis fighters away from the

capital, dana. >> arwa damon reporting from iraq, thank you so much. and still to come, the cultural phenomenon that helped define a generation. of bill flanagan of vh1 joins us to look back at the british invasion and how it changed everything. ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and are proven to taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you.

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♪ >> their appearance on ed sullivan in 1964 was literally the beginning of the british invasion. you can relive that experience tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern when our documentary series "the sixties" airs. now, bill flanagan, author of "written in my soul: conversations with rock's great songwriters," joins us. bill, a very simple question for you. why did the british invasion matter so much to america? >> well, you know, everybody w romanticizes the music that was big when they were kids, frank sinatra or kanye west. but the thing about the mid '60s music that has us talking, it's a moment when innovation was valued so much. the beatles went from "i want to hold your hand" to "strawberry fields forever" in three years. amazingly rapid growth. and kind of like the

impressionists or, you know, hemingway and fitzgerald and joyce, they were all spearing spurring each other on, the beatles made a leap and the stones and stevie wonder and bob dylan and jimi hendrix, everybody trying to top each other. it was that rare, rare moment where the most innovative stuff was also the most popular stuff. the best music was also the best-selling music and we're still living off the fumes of that. >> look, i wasn't born in the '60s. but i grew up -- >> but i get you feel like you were there. >> i feel like i was there. really, i grew up to my mother singing me "i want to hold your hand" one of the first things i played for my newborn was "i want to hold your hand" and the entire beatles collection. that's part of it. it has staying power. >> it has staying power. why do we care about john wayne? some stuff lasts. some doesn't. no offense meant, talking about the dave clark 5 or jerry and the pacemakers. that was music of its moment. but some of this stuff

transcends its moment. >> that's about the music. what about those screaming girls and the cultural and social change that the british invasion brought on? >> well, it's interesting, because you get the peak of the teenager, you know. here's this baby boom bunch of kids suddenly people realize they can sell stuff to kids. and then that very quickly becomes the counter culture. you know, as those kids go from being screaming 14-year-olds so being 18-year-olds, screaming about the draft in the vietnam war, just as the music accelerated, so did the cultural radio, the cultural message that went in it. it starts out as just stuff for teeny boppers, and within a very short period of time, it becomes social commentary. >> absolutely fascinating. i want to sit down with you when we have more time and ask about all your interviews with some of my heroes. >> my wife and kids have no interest in hearing about that, so we'll -- >> i do, i do. >> okay. >> we'll do that another time. maybe over a beer. but be sure to tune in tonight

for "the sixties" at 9:00 eastern. and wolf blitzer will be back at 5:00 eastern on "the situation room" anchoring from israel. that's it for me. "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. dana bash, thank you so much. happy thursday to all of you. i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for watching cnn. have to begin with this gruesome story, gruesome murder scene, police chase. this three-hour standoff, absolutely has rocked this suburban houston neighborhood of spring, texas. ron lee hasankle is charged in the deaths of two adults and four children, a family who police say were killed execution style. police say he apparently pose oh ed as a delivery driver, entered this home of one of his estranged wife's relatives, gathered up the children, waited for the two adults to arrive and shot all seven