comcast business. built for business. right now, president obama only hours away from launching executive action on immigration reform. republicans already fighting back hard saying it's illegal, and a move that the president, they say, will come to regret. ferguson, missouri, bracing for a grand jury decision that could examine as soon as tomorrow. police say they're ready for anything as fear and tension it continue to grow. and nine feet or nearly three meters of snow could cover parts of buffalo, new york, by tonight. we will check in with the hall of fame quarterback and hometown hero jim kelly. hello, i'm wolf blitzer, 1:00 p.m. in washington, 7:00 in veena, austria, 9:00 p.m. in

moscow, 2:00 friday in beijing wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. up first, countdown to a legal and political showdown. president obama unveils his immigration plan in a prime time speech this evening but his decision to issue an executive order will result in a head-on collision with congressional republicans. on the senate floor today, the soon-to-it be majority leader mitch mcconnell said the president's actions are purely political. >> it seems to be about what a political party thinks would make for good politics. it seems to be about what a president thinks would be good for his legacies. those are not the motivations that should be driving sweeping action and i think the president will come to regret the chapter history writes if he does move forward. either way, he needs to understand something. if president obama acts and imposes his will on the country,

congress will act. we're considering a variety of options. but make no mistake, make no mistake when the newly elected represent ittives of the people take their seats they will act. >> obama administration officials say a key part of the president's plan will be to allow the parents of american citizens to remain in the united states up to 3.6 million people will be affected but it would not include parents of the dreamers, the children protected from being deported under a 2012 executive order rule by the president. other possible provisions, extend protections for immigrants brought to the united states as children, strengthen the focus on deporting criminals undocumented, expand workers visas in fields like technology and tighten border security. for more on the president's plans let's bring in our white house correspondent michele kosinski watching all of this. what do we expect to hear from the president later tonight 8:00 p.m. eastern, michele?

>> hey, wolf. we're waiting for the details and we know that some of those will be released ahead of time, and embargoed until only 6:00 p.m., two hours ahead of the announcement. how much he'll present we don't know. he could go further. we don't know what exactly will be laid out ahead of time just yet. we expect it to make the case much the same way he and his administration have been for weeks today. today we counted no fewer than six senior white house officials on national television ahead of the announcement and making that case. saying basically it's not that president is stepping out and suddenly doing this simply because he wants to, but in essence he's been pushed to do this, because of congress' inaction. we expect him to hit the benefits of what his action will entail, benefits to families keeping those families intact, in this country without fear of deportation and also ben fits to the economy. we expect him to hit some of what you mentioned this will include a piece on enhanced border security and the fact

that deportations will continue for immigrants accused or convicted of crimes. that part is sort of doubly important here. we expect that to also figure in to the legal justification of his doing this. that's been much under debate. the reason those elements are important is because they're presenting this at least as far as we foe right now as a kind of shifting of resources, reallocating, re-establishment of priorities while downshifting in other areas and that is constitutional. opponents, though, would say that the president is, in essence, not enforcing big parts of immigration law allowing the large groups to avoid deportation, not to mention they say that he's overstepping his bounds and encroaching on what congress is constitutionally supposed to do, wolf. >> michele, thanks very much. once you get more details we'll get you back up on the air. let's get some reaction now to this announcement that the president will make later tonight.

the majority of undocumented workers settle in for -- settle in the united states in just four states. those states california, texas, florida, and new york. joining us now florida republican congressman, leading voice among republicans pushing for comprehensive immigration reform. thanks very much for joining us. so what's your reaction? you basically know the outlines of what the president is going to do. are you with the president or against him? >> wolf, i've always thought we can -- we should do what we can to stop the separation of american family, help the economy, to have a fair system to folks doing things legally and deal with the folks here in a way that adheres to the rule of law. the one that has been saying, a little disagreement with your white house correspondent, the one that's been saying he does not have the legal authority to do that is not republicans. it's the president himself. who by the way, we've always heard is a constitutional scholar. so on the details, i may agree, probably will agree with a lot

of the details the issues of the president, but we're a nation of laws and, you know, we're not a dictatorshi dictatorship. the president said he is not emperor and since he is not he was not legally able it it to do this before. so what changed between the time when the constitutional scholar, president obama said that he legally couldn't do this, to now, where he says that he legally could. by the way, as someone who does not want families to be divided, if the president who deported -- has deported more individuals than in the history of the united states and said he didn't have the authority to stop the deportations and now he's saying he has the authority to stop the deportations, then why the heck did he deport more people than any president of the united states? it's he himself who once again is contradicting his own words. it's he himself who said he is going to do something now that he said he was not legally able to do just a few months ago. >> here is how white house officials, congressman, are

explaining that apparent flip flop because the president, you're right, he did say repeatedly over the past several years he didn't have the authority, he's the president of the united states, he said he's not the emperor of the united states. the way they're explaining it today presumably what we'll hear from the president later tonight is that he didn't have the authority to go ahead and simply implement what the senate on a bipartisan basis passed that went to the house and has been sitting nor than 500 days in the house of representatives. you're in the house of representatives. he can't do what senate passed but he can take certain action on some of the specific nuances if you will. he does have that legal authority. he's asked the justice department, department of homeland security, for a legal opinion, to authorize what he's ability about to announce tonight, the nuanced difference. do you by that? >> here's the problem. my colleague, one of the leaders of immigration reform and trying to stop the deportations, for five years has been asking him to take executive action. he chained himself in front of

the white house gate asking the president to take executive action. this is before this senate bill was even around and the president has been saying this before there was even a senate bill. look, just like the president said, if you like your health insurance you can keep it, if you like your doctor you can keep it, unfortunately once again, he's outright lying. again, i will probably agree with a lot of the specifics of what the president is going to bring forward. here's what's sad, wolf. the new leadership of the new congress has said it to him they want to work, they want to tackle immigration reform. i understand there are no guarantees to do difficult issues. the leadership of the new congress has said they want to do it and work with him to do it. and then all of a sudden the president has said, no, i'm going to do it on my own even though as the president said, he does not believe a few months ago he has the legal authority to do so. it seems to me -- by the way, this is a temporary postponement. it's not going to solve the issue. we're going to have to deelt with this issue legislatively. is the president's action making it easier, more likely to do

legislative fix which we know has to happen or make it more difficult? unfortunately, i think he's making it more difficult because when the president who is a constitutional scholar, says, he does not have the legal authority to do something as president, and then he does it, it would almost seem, wolf, that he's purposely trying to create a constitutional crisis. that's not working together. that's not sitting down in a bipartisan way. >> one final question, congressman, before i let you go back over there. if the house of representatives, the speaker, john boehner, allowed the senate legislation which was passed on a bipartisan basis to come up for a yea or ney vote, a roll call vote in the house of representatives would you vote personally just you in favor of the senates passed legislation? >> wolf, there are -- i was part of a group in the house putting our own legislation together. there are parts of the legislation that i like, parts that i do not like, and asking the house it to have to swallow whole something that the senate did is, as i say, why doesn't

the senate pass whole what the house has done. that's why that's a little bit of a -- >> you know, congressman -- >> it's not a realistic question. >> you know the legislative process. you can pass a different version of comprehensive immigration reform. >> correct. >> then there would be a joint house senate conference committee, try to work out differences. that's the normal legislative way of doing it. but the speaker, your speaker, the republican speaker, john boehner, isn't allowing that legislative process to go forward. >> that's not actually -- it's not exactly accurate. the senate bill, obviously, has no legs in the house. that is not getting a vote. that's absolutely the case and that the leadership has been very clear about. a lot of us have been working on a house proposal as you know we were very close to being able to bring one to the floor and then we had the crisis partially created by the president of the united states, the crisis of the unaccompanied children on the southern border, and that frankly changed the mood not only in the house, but changed the mood in the country. so that made it frankly almost impossible or impossible to move

forward. but here's a question, we know, we know that this requires a legislative fix. does the president acting unilaterally make it easier or more difficult? i unfortunately think it makes it more difficult, despite the fact on the specifics i might like some of them but we're a nation of laws. i may not like certain reporters, but we cannot tolerate this administration trying to criminally go after reporters whether you or i like that reporter or not. that is unlawful. is this lawful or unlawful? i'm not the expert. you know who is, president obama who is a constitutional lawyer. he is the one who has said what he is about to do is unlawful. so i may agree and probably will with a lot of the specifics but the president is not above the law whether it was president nixon or president obama. >> all right. congressman mario diaz-balart, thanks very much for joining us. this debate about to escalate and we'll continue. >> thank you, wolf. we are getting this in to

cnn right now. law enforcement agencies across the country are now being told they have to be on a higher alert. this as we appear to be getting closer to a grand jury decision in the shooting death of michael brown in ferguson, missouri. evan perez is getting this information for us. he's on the scene in ferguson, missouri. they're bracing for a grand jury decision as early as tomorrow. friday. then presumably there could be about 48 hours before that decision is made public. but in the meantime a lot of concern that protests could develop if, in fact, the police officer is not charged, is not indicted. the protests could be angry. let's bring in evan perez, the news for us. evan, be precise, tell us exactly what you're learning because it's not every day that federal law enforcement goes on a -- issues a warning to local and state authorities go on a higher state of alert. >> well, wolf, the concern is that the protests will go debond

just ferguson and beyond the st. louis region, but around the country. there are groups planning marches in new york and other parts of the country. and the concern is that they will be -- protests in front of federal buildings, local authorities are concerned because of what they've seen here back in august. now the -- obviously a lot of the focus will be here in st. louis. st. louis region in ferguson, in clayton, the county seat where the grand jury is meeting tomorrow, and where the announcement is likely going to come on sunday if, indeed, everything goes as planned. but, you know, the issue, obviously, here is that some of these protests here locally could have gone out of control. so out of abundance of caution the federal protective service boosted the number of personnel it has here on the ground. they are increasing the security on federal buildings and doing this nationally because they know that there's going to be protests around the country, wolf. >> the federal protective service in charge of security at federal buildings all over the

country, right? >> that's right. >> so this is -- >> they're in charge of securing federal buildings across the country. >> this is a nationwide sort of alert because the protests, if, in fact, this police officer is not indicted, the protests might not necessarily just be in ferguson, missouri, or st. louis, or in that area, these -- there could be protests all over the place, right? >> that is right. the idea is that there's -- if you just pay attention to social media people on websites talking about protests and taking, you know, taking it to the streets around the country. so the concern is, that the trouble could to the just be here, but it also could be elsewhere, wolf, and so out of basically an abundance of caution you have law enforcement gearing up to take care of those protests that people have the right to protest but no trouble makers cause problems for everybody else. >> the family of michael brown they're issuing a statement urging calm, right? >> that's right. that's right. they're doing a lot of public

announcements. we expect that you're going to see in the next day or so perhaps a psa trying to urge people to remain calm and also for this region, wolf, you know as you know, ferguson is one small part of this and you have protests in just a few blocks here, the st. louis region is going on with its life. the issue is how to make sure people can move in this area ahead, you know, beyond what's gone on here with this officer and this one shooting in august. >> all right. the country is obviously very nervous right now. let's hope for the best. evan perez with the breaking news, police being told all over the country not only in ferguson, missouri, to go on a higher state of alert right now fearing that some of these protests could get ugly. let's get reaction. congresswoman sheila jackson lee member of the house homeland security committee, the judiciary committee as well. you heard the breaking news, congressman. what's your reaction when you hear that it the federal government is telling federal

authorities all over the country, local state authorities, just take a little higher state of alert because there could be some angry and potentially we hope not, but potentially violent demonstrations? >> well i agree with you, wolf, we hope not. we hope that the grand jury does the right thing and provides an opportunity for there to be a trial on the facts as to whether or not this officer should be convicted. but if that is not the case, i applaud homeland security department and the department of justice to be able to come in and to provide protection for everybody involved and that is the petitioners of government, protesters of government and we have seens this happen through the years. the civil rights movement as you well know, the main armor protection for those who are marching under the leadership of dr. king was the federal government. so i hope their heightened alert is to create that atmosphere that yes, you can protest your government, without violence. that should mean from local law enforcement authorities as well

as the petitioners and protesters. i would also ask that faith community be engaged over the weekend and prayer services be held to keep people aware that everyone is concerned. >> and you agree with me that dr. martin luther king, jr., if he were alive today, he would issue an appeal for nonviolent protests, right? >> absolutely. and all of us are issuing the same appeal. i want to applaud michael brown's parents. i've gotten to meet them. they were at the united nations making a plea. they have a heart of peace. they have a heart of justice. they just simply want justice for their son and i stand alongside of them. i also stand alongside of them and you, wolf, watch these stories, that we must have peaceful protests because many of these are young people. i want them to live. i want them to have an opportunity to continue to peacefully protest and have an opportunity to see just results in the michael brown case.

>> all right. well those are powerful words that we hope that the demonstrations are peaceful, assuming we don't know what's going to happen with that grand jury, but if he's not indicted, there's plenty of opportunity in this country for peaceful demonstrations. people can get their views out there. what worries me and you, a tiny handful of agitators who could get violent and that would cause a lot of disturbances. let's hope they can be contained in a peaceful way. i want to switch gears on the president's going to be making a major address to the american people tonight on immigration reform. he's going to take unilateral executive action as it's called to change some of the implementation of the policy rules, allowing 3 million, maybe 3.5 million of the workers here, the people here in the united states who don't have the proper documentation, to remain, get some sort of legal status, at least for an interim period. you strongly support what the president has to say but i don't know if you heard congressman mario diaz-balart, he says the

president repeatedly said he doesn't have the legal authority to take such action over the past six years to which your rely is? >> my reply is the president at that time is the same president of today. what he was saying is that he didn't have the legal authority to pass or do anything about establishing citizenship. which is what the comprehensive immigration law would do. what the president is doing is narrowly drawn and i'm confident having spoken to not only the administration, but the vice president, that in this instance, they have used every aspect of research to narrowly draw his authority. his ayou authority is no less broad than president truman who took it upon himself to integrate through the united states military. i'm confident in that and i would only ask my republican friends, i call them friends, wolf, read what the president will be issuing. i have read it. i have been briefed on it. they could be briefed on it. they will see that he is doing nothing more than the confines

of prosecutorial discretion and he is operating finally under the u.s. versus arizona case that justice roberts said he has the ability to issue humanitarian relief. >> i want you to listen to what your fellow texan senator john cornyn said on the senate floor this morning. listen to this. >> if the president has the authority to do this for 5 million, why not the 11 million. how does he explain that to the 6 million people who see now these 5 million getting preferential treatment and how do you explain it to the people who have waited patiently year after year, trying to do it the right way? >> go ahead, congressman. respond to your fellow texan. >> well first of all, that is the very reason why i'm supporting the president. it is because he has narrowed his authority to deal with individuals who are citizen children to allow their parents

to stay and not see them ripped away and leaving 5-year-olds and 2-year-olds. he is increasing the salary of i.c.e. officers. he is establishing task forces for border security. i think if senator cornyn, who i know means well, will read what the president has done, he will understand why it is not 11 million. as it relates to those who are standing in line, i am in agreement that they are important people. they have stood in line and this does not interfere with any of these individuals who are standing in line for green cards. they're standing if line for citizenship, they will continue to be processed. what the president is trying to do is what i said, humanitarian relief and he made it very clear as soon as congress acts he will vacate this executive order. my plea to the speaker is not to fight the president tooth and nail, but to do what he promised to do the at beginning of the president's second term and that is to put immigration reform on the floor of the house, in whatever manner it may be, let us vote on it, go to conference

and pass laws that the american people can be proud of. >> all right. we got to go. one quick final question, the 600,000 dreamers as they're called, couple years ago the president signed an executive order allowing them to stay here, the young kids that have grown up in the united states, but this new executive order apparently is not going to allow their parents to come out and openly and stay in the united states. they're still going to be illegal residents of the united states. are you okay with keeping these families separate? >> it gives dreamers three years, which is also something positive, but i am, wolf, the reason is because it keeps in line that the president's commitment of accountability. he wants to be held accountable. he wants to make sure the american people know he is not extending his authority and in this instance these children are not citizens, as citizen children are, which he is working on those families, and we understand that there are limits you can do through an executive order. you cannot change the law.

the president is not changing the law. he's simply extending an olive branch to the republicans and to america showing that he has a compassion and the ability to be responding to the cry of so many. i think he is doing the right thing. i'm excited about it. i feel confident knowing that he is operating under article ii of the conis sti tution. i ask my colleagues to walk amongst the many imeny grant families i have done, touch them and understand they are not here to be criminals or do wrong none of those will be allowed in, they're here to be good americans. let's get them started in the right way. >> sheila jackson lee of texas, thank for joining us. >> pleasure to be with you. >> quick break. when we come back more on the breaking news out of ferguson, missouri. the federal government issuing a recommendation to local, state authorities including federal authorities all over the country, to go on a higher state of alert, fearful some of the demonstrations in the aftermath

of a grand jury decision in ferguson, missouri, could get violent. more on that story. more on the huge immigration debate up folding here in the united states. right after this. unleash the holidays at t-mobile with a tablet on us. starting saturday, when you get a new data plan, you can also get our most popular seven inch tablet. that's right! on us!

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million insurance polices ... put our free service to work for you at no charge. call this number - without cost or obligation. call now. back to the breaking news. the federal law enforcement authorities are telling local and state authorities be on a higher state of alert right now in the aftermath of what could come as early as tomorrow, a grand jury decision in ferguson, missouri, and whether or not to indict the police officer who shot and killed michael brown, the teenager there. there could be very, very angry demonstrations not only in ferguson, st. louis, in that

area, but, indeed, elsewhere around the country. and now evan perez, our jis tis reporter, telling us the federal protective service in charge of protecting, for example, federal buildings here in washington, indeed all over the country, the federal protective service, is preparing for possible protests at major are federal facilities and the alert has gone out. let's bring in tom, our law enforcement analyst, former fbi assistant director, joining us on the phone right now. it's not every day you get an alert from this from washington to be on the lookout, higher state of readiness in what could happen after this grand jury decision presumably if they don't indict this police officer. >> no. that's true, wolf. it certainly sounds like they're expecting bad news immediately at this time putting everybody on high alert and the decision apparently has mot been made but if that's true they're going to decide tomorrow or a day after and put the word out, sounds

like they're not expecting good news. >> they're saying that this could happen in several major cities across the united states, activist groups as you know, they've been calling for demonstrations and all of us hope those demonstrations are peaceful, but what worries law enforcement is there could be some agitators out there who come with weapons or whatever and that could spark who knows what. that's the great fear, right? >> that's true. that's happened and doesn't matter if the protest is about a racial matter or the international monetary fund or world bank or some other excuse, there are a group of hooligans that travel from one city to another, some cases one country to another, merely because there's going to be a emotional crowd gathered for some reason and that's a good excuse to come and fight with the police. unfortunately that does happen and that's what they're braced for. >> i don't remember a time, maybe you do, when this kind of

federal warning has gone out in the -- even before a grand jury decision, even before the demonstrations were to begin. this is pretty extraordinary, sentence it? >> well, i think it's definitely extraordinary circumstances. we don't have a situation where we know if the decision comes out a certain way it will have an emotional response and then that creates the environment where violence could happen, even though the protesters in ferguson and michael brown's parents and others don't want it to happen, but as i said, there are others that certainly take advantage of the situation like this to cause violence. >> tom fuentes, thanks very much. we'll stay in touch with you. to ferguson right now, stephanie elam on the ground for us. stephanie, the indications are the grand jury will reach a decision as early as tomorrow but there won't be any announcement for 48 hours, right? >> right. that's what we're expecting. what we are expecting, wolf, is

that law enforcement and schools in the area will get the head's up, at least 48 hours in advance to take measures to protect children, to protect neighborhoods, protect critical buildings, all of that being part of the plan is what we're understanding which means that if they do make a decision tomorrow, then we would likely hear about it no earlier than sunday. obviously what plays a part into this is how the weather is going to behave. it's supposed to be pouring rain on sunday. i've been here before when it's poured. the protesters do not care. they've been out in the rain no matter what the elements are. also, wolf, i can tell you the people i've spoken to, the demonstrators, telling me they do not believe that darren wilson will be indicted. and they're saying that no matter what happens, they're going to be out there even if he were indieted they plan to be out there beyond when this ruling is made. i can tell you if you go around to parts of clayton the county seat where these proceedings are happening when you're there the

people of clayton are fed up with a lot of the protests that have been there. i've heard people yelling from their cars, tifs with people, so in general there's fatigue about this story here and there's a sense that people would like to move on no matter what the decision is. as far as the protesters are concerned they're not going anywhere. >> i understand that five protesters were arrested outside a police station there last night. what's the overall mood in the community? >> it's funny, sort of a tale of two different fergusons because you've had the protesters who are here, five people that were arrested, for blocking the street, for protesting and blocking traffic here on the street, that's actually right here behind us, so that happens but it's not every night that is happening anymore. when you talk to people in the community, i've tried to get a lot of people to go on camera they will talk to me on the phone but they will not go on camera. they're very afraid of being retaliated against for whatever they'll say about the protesters. this is from people who are black and white.

not just white people here saying that. and they're afraid of being retaliated by protesters. another point, too, that i have to point out that the protesters, demonstrators are not all black either. it's a diverse group of people you see out there every day. >> stephanie elam, we'll stay in close touch with you, she's there for us in ferguson, missouri. please be sure to tune in later tonight when erin burnett "out front" speaks with the ferguson police chief about the pending grand jury decision. the unease in his city. 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. meanwhile, a defiant president obama ready to go up against republicans on immigration reform. they say he's acting more like an emperor than a president. we're going to discuss what's at stake for both sides. you think you take off all your make-up before bed.

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the world. i'm wolf blitzer. the imperial president, the au to crattic leader, how some republicans are describing president obama. they're furious over his plans to issue an executive order tonight on immigration reform. the president outlines the plans in a prime time speech 8:00 p.m. eastern. cnn will have live coverage. our chief congressional correspondent dana bash and chief political analyst gloria boringers, both chiefs with us today. what's behind the timing of the president's decision. >> i think the president put himself in his own situation. he had an opportunity early on in his presidency, the first two years when he had democratic control of congress, could have done some kind of immigration reform, did not do it, now he's got the democratic base and latinos saying to him, this is your opportunity, you have to do something now. it's obviously something he would have rather done through legislation. the senate passed a dibill and e house did not act on it.

you put that together and this is a moment he believes in which he can use his executive discretion and do what he's going to do tonight. >> the question i asked congressman mario diaz-balart, i think it's a fair question if i say to myself, why didn't the house act on it, they don't have to pass what the senate passed, come up with their own version that happens all the time, they go to a joint house/senate conference committee, the house appointments the senate, they go into a room, spend a few days, weeks, whatever and they come up with something both sides can agree with and then go back to the floor of the senate, they go back to the floor of the house and they pass something. >> how a bill becomes a law. >> and then send it to the president. why didn't the speaker of the house even allow that kind of action to go forward? >> 2014 election. he had promised, i've been in meetings with him and briefings with him in public and private, leading up to 2014, he said he wanted to do it, planned to do it and then he just got so much

push back even from pro-immigration reform republicans. meaning, republicans who wanted to go as far as to pass the citizenship saying let's not rock the republican vote before the election. and what happened. they actually grew the majority in the election. the plan was, to get through november, this past election, and then to say you know what, guys, i'm the speaker speaking to the republican rank and file now, we have a presidential coming up, we can't, you know, push this under the rug again. we have to deal with this. that was his plan. but the white house simply didn't believe it. who can blame them. they did not believe that even with maybe even especially with this expanded republican majority if the house and senate, that the speaker was going to be able to convince enough republicans to go along with anything, even a watered down version, so that's why the white house set this. >> it's not too late. they can do it in the new house of representatives. >> they can. >> they could do what the legislative process, in the

aftermath of what the president is doing tonight, but they could come up with language the senate could come up with language, jointly meet and come up -- >> they're not talking about the broad legislation that president really wants. they're talking about work visas, you know, more border security, but they're not talking about what happens -- >> it might not go as far as what the president wants but they could come up with something the president could sign into law. >> let me say this, they need to come up with something. if you want to win a presidential election, george w. bush, had 44% of hispanics voting for him. mitt romney had 23% of hi his panics voting for him. you cannot win a presidential election if you alienate an entire hispanic community in this country in states like florida, colorado nevada. >> i want to play a little clip, senator ted cruz of texas, quoting the roman philosopher cicero on this issue. listen to this.

>> when president obama, do you mean to cease abusing our patience? how long is that madness of yours still to mock us? when is there to be an end to that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now? >> that's a little far krcry fr green eggs and ham that he recited involving the filibuster but his point is what? >> remember back in 65 b.c., the conspiracy. >> we all do. >> right. you covered that, right? i say that with love. but look, he's trying to make the point that this has been an issue ta goes back to the beginning and the birth of democracy, that you an emperor at that point, who was taking it too far and at that point the roman senate was saying we want to reel you back in and there are parallels between that time 2200 years ago and now.

he's trying to do it with lofty rhetoric but goes back to the core of the problem that republicans and the white house have and they are going to continue to have, which is a trust deficit. i mean, this really is the fundamental problem in that the president doesn't trust the republicans as we were talking about, will go at all far enough to do any kind of legislative immigration reform which is why he's saying i'm just going to do what i can do but republicans at the same time are saying, you know what, we know that you're asking us to do this legislation, but at this point you've angered us so much we're not going to do it. >> this doesn't go back to cicero with respect to ted cruz. it goes back to focus groups and polling they took during the midterm elections in which the notion of an imperial presidency was either at the top of the list with republican voters or number twop. it ranked above obama care because they were making the point that the president with

the phone and the pen or whatever he was talking about, was overreaching and this notion of executive overreach is very important for republicans as they head into a 2016 election. he's making the case, as did cicero, that the arrogance of this president, causes him to overreach and he's, you know, preaching to the choir right there. i mean look, people have already decided how they feel about immigration reform. and what you see in this country, by the way, is that most people support the president in what he's trying to do to get some kind of answers to this. >> but now how he's going about it. >> they don't like the process. that's what ted cruz is talking about. the public with him on the process. >> you will be here throughout the night covering all of this, this note to our viewers, cnn will bring you live coverage tonight as president obama unveils executive action on this major issue that's divided the nation. our coverage of the prime time presidential address to the nation begins 8:00 p.m. eastern

later tonight. and nfl hall of famer one of the many buffalo, new york, residents caught in a monster snowstorm. the former buffalo bills quarterback, jim kelly, he updated us on what was going on yesterday. he's coming back today. momentarily with a new update. we'll speak with jim kelly in just a moment. for over a decade, doctors have been prescribing nexium to patients just like you. for many, prescription nexium helps heal acid-related erosions in the lining of the esophagus. there is risk of bone fracture and low magnesium levels.

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the death toll from a snowstorm in the buffalo area has climbed higher. authorities say eight people have died in the storm for them with heart attacks shoveling snow. before the storm is over which is likely some time tomorrow parts of the city and suburbs could be buried under seven feet, more than two meters of snow. brian todd is on the scene for us. you've got more breaking news over there. what are you seeing, brian? >> wolf, we have an active evacuation scene. the garden gate nursing home

outside buffalo. they had to evacuate about 180 residents from the nursing home because they're concerned the roof may collapse. i talked to one of the fire chiefs a moment ago. he told me that they are concerned that the roof could collapse because residents in the -- one of the dining halls noticed cracking in the walls, boeing of the roofs, and other possible compromises to the building and then they brought in building inspectors who noticed the same things and decided they better get them out. you can see some heavy snow building up on the roof over there. they've already evacuated probably about i would say three ambulance fulls of elderly people and they brought in a bus to evacuate. there are no injuries, but this is the kind of situation you're facing all over the buffalo area. roofs are collapsing in this area throughout the region and in the nursing home like this one they've got to be safe, get these people out, fairly quickly, wolf. >> they're expecting a lot more

snow in the coming hours. brian, we'll stay in touch with you. the snow is certainly trapping many people in their homes including one of buffalo's most famous residents, jim kelly, the legendary hall of fame quarterback with the buffalo bills, spoke with jim yesterday, joining us once again on the phone. are you very far away from chicktawhatga? where are you, jim? >> i am in orchard park about five minutes from the stadium and yes, i am right in the snow belt, so whenever you see the heavy bands and the six, seven, eight feet of snow i have it right in my backyard. >> yeah. it's pretty -- yesterday you were givings us a gloomy picture. how does it look today? has it changed much? >> well, my driveway, to be honest with you, mario williams and david kurtz, two of my buddies plowed yesterday thinking it would help out which it did and last night we got two feet of snow and looking out my window it is sfoeg as hard as it was two days ago. we're in for probably another

foot and a half of snow from what i hear until it slows down about 6:00, 7:00 tonight. >> have you been able to get out at all? >> just on foot. i mean being able to go out and of course try to get snow off of parts of like gazebos and some of my trees, bushes that are really you don't want them to snap in half and break, you try to get as much snow off as possible and trying to get a little exercise. i'm blessed. i have my wife who does her exercise outside and my brother ray who does a good job of doing a lot of things that i can't do, so -- but we're still -- we're having fun. we get back in but there's a lot of other people out there not having fun in this. if you kids they get to go out and enjoy the snow but don't let them out there too long. >> a lot of us are worried about we saw brian todd's report of the nursing home that they were fearful that the roof could collapse because all of the snow is on the roof.

i assume you have a ton of snow on your roof at your house as well, right? >> oh, yeah. i think everybody in the area where i am, you know, lancaster, lackawanna, east aurora, all the areas that usually get hit with the heavy snow from the lake-effect snow, are used to having maybe two or three feet on the roofs but not six, seven, eight feet. there's a lot of i worry aboute low-lying areas that are close to creeks where once it does start to melt those creeks will rise and a lot of flooding will start happening. so we might be going through pared of time with the snow right now which is bad but i think in two days, three days from now it will be worse than we've had. >> i take it that sunday game the buffalo bills are supposed to host against the new york jets that's not going to happen in, right? >> no way. if it does no fans in the

stadium because there's five, six feet of snow in each seat and for them to remove it, what i understand it takes for every foot of snow it takes three days. they are in for a lot of work and a lot of people trying to shovel a lot of snow out of there. i don't see how they can play a game on sunday in buffalo, new york. >> pass along, jim, our best wishes to our fellow buffaloians. they are going through at that rough period but we'll continue the report this story. good luck to, jim, your family and the entire buffalo area community. thanks so much for joining us. >> real quick, you know, if you look at my wife's -- she retweeted something of an article, a little tweet about what buffalo is all about. so if anybody out there wants to see what buffalo people are all about and just look -- i read it and it hit me at home. >> what is the name of the

twitter account again? >> it's hjkforever. >> hjkforever. we'll take a look at it and read it for sure and if you want to follow jim kelly follow him @jimkellyinc. one of my heroes. led the buffalo bills to four super bowls. still to come college cost and student debt still soaring while opportunities for college graduates are limited. a new cnn film explores this important question, is college worth the cost?

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only at panera bread. >> tonight 9:00 p.m. cnn explores tissue in a one hour special called ivory tower, college worth the cost. here's a preview. >> some universities are starting to look like resorts with pricey amenities like spas, rock walls and swimming pools and passing along the bill to students, tuition expenses have risen more than 1,200% since 1978. but blackburn college in illinois is keeping tuition costs low thanks to a little thrift. >> this is a renovation project. stunt work crews help pay for it. you can see where students for years have been literally laying the bricks.

>> we domain taken a pretty lean organizational staff structure and that's done with the expectation we use students to supplement those labor needs. >> not just construction jobs. 90% of the student body work ten hours per week on campus in everything from gardening to security to administrative positions in exchange they get tuition credit. >> what do you say to parents i don't want my student to go to school to work. >> we do have that. parents question that piece of it. what we explain to them this is an enhancement to their overall portfolio that will make them more marketable upon graduation. >> don't miss "ivory tower" tonight 9:00 p.m. eastern. that's it for me. thanks for watching. for our international viewers christiane amanpour is coming up next. for our viewers in north america, newsroom starts next right after a quick break.

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. i'm brooke baldwin. thanks for joining me. you're watching cnn. breaking news on a story that has so much of the nation on edge right now with what this ferguson grand jury will decide. we still don't know. we know that the panel is deciding if officer darren wilson should be dited for shooting and killing that unarmed teenager michael brown a couple of months ago. multiple agencies across the country have been put on alert ahead of this weekend. let's get straight to our justice correspondent evan perez who is live in ferguson and on phone with me is a crisis response agent for fbi. we'll get his perspective. evan, to you first. just start w-tell me what you know. >> reporter: the concern goes beyond here, beyond the streets here in ferguson,