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expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com good evening. chris cuomo is off tonight. we begin tonight, keeping him honesty. new news about the kids taken from the border and how long they will remain without their parents. first, president trump reversing course on the policy that led to the separation.

there was not any kind of mea culpa, far from it. instead he billed what he was doing as an act of courage, his own courage, of course, as well as something of a gift. >> we're going to have a lot of happy people. >> it's unclear whether he was referring to these young people in holding pens at longer term facilities across the country or their parents being jailed elsewhere on a misdemeanor charge of entering the country illegally which the administration once falsely claimed the law required which it actually doesn't. what is clear is that by signing the document, president trump, with a stroke of his pen, demolished claims that he and his administration have actually been making day after day as hundreds more children were taken, about how little they could do about any of it. >> you can't do it through an executive order. >> we hope congress will actually do their parts. >> i want to see action by congress. >> for years and years of congress not taking action.

>> only congress can fix this issue. >> congress alone can fix it. >> congress is going to come and fix this. >> congress could fix this tomorrow. >> congress is the one that needs to fix this. >> you, congress, this is your law. >> the only option is to not enforce the law at all. >> congress is asking those of us who enforce the law to turn our backs and not enforce the law. it's not an answer. >> we need to if i can that und -- fix that with a law. you can't fix it with an executive order. >> it turns out you can, the president did it today. and some are saying the executive order wasn't even needed. the policy started with a memo from jeff sessions, the subject, a zero tolerance policy for

migrants, effective immediately, and that field offices should request additional resources required to implement the policy. whether or not the president needed an executive order, the date on that document just three months ago speaks loudly to another presidential falsehood today. >> this has been going on for 60 years. 60 years, nobody's taken care of it, nobody's had the political courage to take care of it. but we're going to take a few days it. it's been going on for a long time. >> 60 years certainly is a very long time. it's 60 years. it's a whole lot longer than 3 1/2 months, all of it during his administration that this has actually been going on. to be charitable, and to assume the president was talking about the underlying law, that's only been around for ten years and was never enforced this way until now. it's hard to see exactly what he meant. now there's the breaking news i mentioned at the top of the broadcast that the executive open order that the president signed today does not call for the

already separated families to be reunited. what happens to the 2,300 kids who are being held tonight? >> reporter: that's precisely the question, anderson. these images have played out on news for days. that's in part what's spurred the president to sign this executive order today. he caved to that political pressure. but now we don't even know what's going to happen to these 2,300 children. what we do know is they will not be immediately reunited with their families, even though the president is fashioning this as a saving grace for these families separated from their children. right now they're admitting this policy does nothing for those already separated from their families. they are not grandfathered into this executive order. essentially these children who have been taken away from their parents, put wherever throughout the united states, will remain there while their parents remain in federal custody as they move forward with these immigration proceedings. then it will be up to the parents to get in touch with

health and human services in order to try to find out where their thinner achildren are. that raises a slew of questions about what happens in the parents are deported. but the bottom line is the executive order the president signed today does nothing for the 2,300 children already separated from their parents. >> the justice department is actually saying the child separation policy might resume in less than three weeks. >> reporter: that's right. we're learning so much more about what this executive order doesn't do. and there is this 1997 court settlement that says children cannot be held in immigration detention centers for more than 20 days. now, unless that ruling is overturned by the president, by the department of justice, that's going to remain in effect. so essentially, in 20 days we could go back to the process that got us here in the first place where these children are being separated from their families. the president signed this executive order today. he blamed the democrats. he said he was doing something to stop this problem. but anderson, the bottom line is

the president created this problem because of his administration's zero tolerance immigration policy. and he didn't need an executive order to put an end to this. there are questions whether this will even do that. all he had to do was call his attorney general. >> just in terms of the reuni reunification or the lack thereof, if the parent is deported back, then do we know what happens to the child who is currently in the united states, whether the foster care or in some sort of facility, are they going to be flown back as well? >> reporter: we don't. that's the question. how would they be reunited with their parents? if this is a 4-year-old child, they don't know their parents' name, these are little children. how would they get back to their family? typically the system they have set up is for unaccompanied minors who come across the border illegally without parents with them, the system is to help children like that, not for

children who come with their parents, sometimes very young children, and who then get separated from their parents when they're detained for crossing the border illegally. it raises a slew of question of what will happen to these questions if their parents are sent back to honduras or whatever and they're back in idaho, it raises so many questions about that. the administration tried to answer questions about this, they held a call with the counsel for the attorney general. during the entire call, anderson, they didn't answer the questions about the logistics of the entire situation. while the administration is going to say they have fixed this, it is just raising more questions with this executive order here tonight. >> thank you very much, appreciate it. the president spoke at a rally in duluth, minnesota. our jeff zeleny joins us now. so what did the president say? >> reporter: anderson, the president is now on his way back to washington. he left the rally a short time ago. i can tell you for all the

consternation back in the west wing, for all the heated rhetoric, for all the concern among republicans and the revolt in the party, the president here tonight addressed this very little. this is the entirety of what he said about the executive order here tonight. >> today i signed an executive order. we're going to keep families together. but the border is going to be just as tough as it's been. [ cheers and applause ] democrats don't care about the impact of uncontrolled migration on your communities, your schools, your hospitals, your jobs, or your safety. democrats put illegal immigrants before they put american citizens. what the hell is going on? >> reporter: so taking some familiar jabs there at democrats for, you know, what is going to be a midterm election message. but what was left out of that, anderson, was in fact the

concern among republicans. that is what drove the president to do a major about-face today in washington. the biggest one that i can remember since he has taken office. but no mention of the consternation among republicans. even though house majority leader kevin mccarthy was here in minnesota with the president, they're trying to win these house seats here. zero mention of that. >> it's interesting, though, you were saying it's a big reversal for the president. you would certainly never get that sense from having listened to the president today. >> reporter: no doubt about it. we have covered so many rallies that candidate trump has had, president trump has had, really for the last three years. anderson, i'm not sure that i can remember one where immigration was less of a focus than it was here tonight. yes, there was some talk about building the border wall. but really in passing. the president likes to tout his accomplishments, talking a lot about that singapore summit last week, talking a lot about the economy. very little discussion at all about the executive order. the reality here is, republicans

and the white house realize that immigration is a driving issue for this base. it's less clear if this reversal today fits into that. but anderson, i was struck by that, as he was here in minnesota, even saying that this is the state that he wished he would have won more than any other. this is the first state he's come to that he didn't win, actually, in 2016. he said he will carry minnesota in 2020, anderson. >> jeff gzeleny, thank you very much. to help sort through the legal questions, the former acting director of u.s. immigration and customs enforcement, joins me, also cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin. the president says there will be, quote, a lot of very happy people. the executive order doesn't have anything to do -- or it doesn't address the kids who were already separated from their parents. the ones who are already in custody. >> which is an enormous,

enormous issue. because not only are these children in discussed, but as i understand it, the recordkeeping of their relationships, of where their parents are, whether the parents know where the kids are, is murky at best. and the executive order itself does not say that those children should be returned with their parents. it only is forward-looking, not looking back at the children who have already been incarcerated. what happens now? i mean, it is very much up to the government to try to sort it out. but certainly today's action doesn't tell us what they're going to do. >> john, you're someone who's dealt with this issue for a very long time. has the executive order really changed anything, has it resolved it? >> the intention was to change things. i think there's a lot of confusion. frankly i think the way the

order is drafted is not executable. it says we're going to continue to prosecute everybody but we're not going to separate children from their parents. the whole point of the separation policy was because we didn't hold them in department of justice custody and keep families together. it talks about building massive detention camps, there's no money for that in i.c.e. i was shocked to see they're not going to reunite the kids. i thought that was the whole point. it's disappointing to see the 2,300 separated won't be reunited with their parents. >> the flores settlement mandates the kids can only be held for 20 days in detention. if the administration is not able to reverse the flores settlement, which is a court issue, then it seems very possible that even if families are held together, if they can't reinventors t

reverse the flores settlement after 20 days, those kids will have to be separated. >> it does, certainly if -- the flores settlement is pretty clear. i can't imagine the judge who oversees that settlement will reverse her order of a couple of years ago. i guess we'll find out in 20 days. one would hope they would release these families under an alternative to detention. the problem would be solved and we would have a more humane policy. >> one way of complying with the flores settlement is after those 20 days, releasing both the children and the adults as opposed to separating them out. that is inconsistent with the message that the trump administration has been sending about being tough on this. but i mean, it's important to point out that is a possibility, especially since it does seem unlikely that the flores settlement is just going to be

overed in a couple of days. >> jeff, "the washingtonpost" is reporting that the administration is preparing to litigate the flores settlement. they have a better chance in court, they think, then doing anything legislatively. does that make sense to you? >> i mean, certainly legislation appears to be going nowhere. the house of representatives can't even agree on what they want to do. and in any event, anything they want to do is very unlikely to pass the senate. so there doesn't seem to be any legislative solution in the immediate offing. going to court, i mean, this is a settlement, the flores case. this was a satisfactory resolution to this problem. and now, you know, what is there to persuade a judge to upset it? just because the president is in

political trouble? that's not something a judge will take seriously. >> john, in terms of catch and release, so-called, how bad was the rate of people coming back and appearing for court? the department of justice figures i saw was 75% of people would come back. is that your understanding? and are there other options like ankle monitoring, which some republican lawmakers have talked about. >> i understand people's frustration with this. catch and release, what was going on on is when a family unit was arrested, we would release them but not let them go, they still had to come back to immigration court. they're not really immigration courts, they're an arm of the department of justice. the immigration courts consistently deprioritize people who are not detained. so those family units would be released and their hearings would be pushed out three, four years. i understand the border hawks, that feels a lot like amnesty. there's a simple solution. prioritize the cases on the

docket, put an ankle bracelet on. the stats i saw was that 99% of people wearing an alternative detention like an ankle bracelet would show up for immigration court. put an ankle bracelet on them if you're worried about a flight risk. if they win asylum, great. if they lose asylum, move them back to their country as a family unit. it's humane, cheaper, more efficient, and less controversial. >> according to i.c.e., 99% of the people with ankle bracelets would return to court for their hearing? and i imagine the monitoring of an ankle bracelet is a fraction of the cost of actually, you know, detaining somebody in a federal facility. >> anderson, the bed rate for a family unit is $350 per person per day, because you have to have all the things you need to detain kids and comply with flores. the average daily rate for an ankle bracelet is $1.75. families want to show up for court because frankly they think they're going to win. a lot of these people are

fleeing persecution in central america. they're already incentivized to show up, they don't want to go back to guatemala. they want to go win a green card. >> it's so interesting to hear this, jeff, from john, who has been involved in this for a long time. we had reverend scott in the last hour who said nobody shows up, they just disappear into the country. >> and ted cruz, not exactly a dove on these issues, actually had a serious proposal of adding judges. add more immigration judges so that you could process these cases more quickly. but the president completely dismissed that and he said we don't need judges, we need people -- more arrests. but we do have due process of law in this country, even for people who are not citizens. so if you are not going to have some sort of system which has a decent number of judges to process these cases, they're just not going to happen, and you're not going to get these people out of the country.

>> john, jeff, appreciate it, thank you very much. next, our political panel's take on what could be serious political fallout from the president's policy, his reversal of it. also later, stories of survival. migrants speaking out about what they have endured, and the future they're hoping for. brad's been looking forward to this all week, but how will his denture cope with... a steak. luckily for brad, this isn't a worry because he's discovered super poligrip. it holds his denture tight and helps give him 65% more chewing power. leaving brad to dig in and enjoy the tastiest of t-bones. super poligrip, helping you enjoy the foods you love. at&t gives you more for your thing. your getting serious thing. that moving out of the friend zone, moving in together and getting two of everything thing.

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changing direction, he framed it as not changing direction, as an act of political bravery. the framing aside, the expectation was it may lead to the reunion of more than 2,300 kids with family members. tonight, as we've been reporting, there's a catch or perhaps a catch-22. today's order does nothing for the 2,300 kids already in custody. joining me to talk about it is gloria borger, david gergen, and mike shields. gloria, this administration, in president was saying days ago, an executive order wouldn't work, and now this reversal. >> right. look, he said it was up to congress, that it wasn't up to him. and of course, anderson, we know he didn't really need an executive order. he could have just picked up the phone and said do this, reun uu these families. even with his executive order, it doesn't do anything, as you've been pointing out, for the families already split up. that is because this was an ad hoc policy of zero tolerance that was reversed, sort of, in an ad hoc way.

it was a crisis the president created. and then he said he fixed it. but he didn't really fix it. and that's because there is no plan here. and so maybe in a couple of days we'll find out that they've come up with a way to reunite these families and maybe we won't. but as of right now, it's up to the adults to try and find their children once they are out of protective custody, once they're free. and that's ridiculous. >> mike, do you think this, a, has been rolled out in the appropriate way, the zero tolerance policy to begin with, and also the president's reversal today? >> no. clearly not. and i think, look, the first thing to do when you're in a hole is quit digging. i think the president did that. and i think on the 20-day issue, he's really -- we're sort of heading where he's been trying to go, let's head this to

capitol hill. when republicans are talking about security at the border, we're winning. that's a winning issue for us in race after race. when we're looking at children in cages, we're obviously losing, okay? so we're trying to move away from that and get to capitol hill. and there's going to be two bills on the house floor tomorrow. and one of them in particular is what a lot of democrats want. and it includes a daca fix. it's going to permanently fix this within the 20-day window that we're talking about. and if 197 democrats follow nancy pelosi and in unison vote no and it goes down by ten votes, there will be an opportunity for republicans to say, wait a minute, yes, we've gotten past this, we've put this on the floor to try to have a fix for a problem that vexed us for years, it vexed president obama, president bush, president clinton, and you're still voting no when it could help the children you're talking about. that allows republicans to start messaging more on security and actually getting things done and getting away from the current problem that we have. >> but david, are republicans on the same page on this?

>> no. i think they're at sixes and sevens at the moment, anderson, trying to see which takes this is going to cut. in my judgment, the president reversed course just in time before this would have become another katrina. and had it gone through the weekend without repairing this, reversing course, i think he would have had a crushing blow to his presidency, not unlike what happened to george w. bush in katrina. but even so, what people will remember is this is an episode that reeks, that reeks, not only of cruelty but of incompetence. the administration put this policy into place, which they badly executed. they turned their back on the suffering, tried to avert their eyes. they then lied about how to fix it. and finally they reversed course. and i think all of it, everybody has looked at this and said, oh, my god, how can they have done this? my judgment, even though this is not a katrina, it will leave an indelible stain upon the presidency. >> what's worse is they tried to use it and to use these families

and these children as a way to gain political leverage so the president could get the funding for the wall. and they thought that this would give them leverage. instead of getting leverage, they got these pictures coming out, and this travesty that people were watching, and people were outraged about, including members of the republican party who were upset about this and rightly so. so the president even failed in his own, you know, political calculation here. and if he knows anything, he knows bad press when he sees it. and he was watching television along with everybody else. but is this a real fix? absolutely not. >> mike, if the president can't get his own party, which is the majority party, on the same page, how can he blame democrats, to your point, for congress not taking action? >> yeah, i mean, this has been going on in washington for quite a while. this is what the real fights are. let's say the house leadership

bill fails by ten votes tomorrow and 197 democrats voted against it, of course democrats will say republicans are in charge of everything, they could have passed their bill. but there is going to be an argument to be made, if you're going to be intellectually honest, when democrats are on television crying about children and crying about daca and they couldn't get ten of their members to vote for something that would have fixed it, this will be the second time that the president and the republicans have put a daca fix up for a vote and democrats wouldn't work with them. and so it just hardens us back into our partisan corners. it's a better political argument to make than what we've had in the last couple of days, which is let's ask the democrats what their solution is. if we're not going to let people bring their children up and use them as an excuse to get into the country and we'll let people come in, what is your answer on border security if it's not an open border? because president obama had a very similar problem, he had a migrant crisis. he had family detention centers. and he backed off from it when he had a similar backlash. only one in five people in that

circumstance were then prosecuted during obama's term. that's partly how we got president trump, because people were sick of seeing that. there was 80% chance that you would bring a child and get into the country which would help child traffickers and all sorts of things. today was at least a step towards getting to the debate. >> david, i saw you shaking your head. >> i just think that the president and his administration right now have lost a lot of credibility on whatever they have to say about immigration. they are not in a commanding position now on legislation. they're going to have a lot of democrats who won't want to cooperate with them on any basis. because they think they're dealing with people who are not playing straight up. and in this case i think what the democrats will argue and a lot of people will buy into is doing the same thing with the daca kids that he did with these young children who have been locked up in cages, that is he's

holding them as hostages to get what he wants on legislation democrats will not sign off on. >> david gergen, mike shields, gloria borger, thanks very much. coming up, inside a migrant center along the texas/mexico border, where dozens are now living. gary: i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. i bet i'm the first blade maker you've ever met. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making our thinnest longest lasting blades on the market. precision machinery and high quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. it's about delivering a more comfortable shave, every time. invented in boston. made and sold around the world. order now at gilletteondemand.com. gillette, the best a man can get. you might or joints.hing for your heart... but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement

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life in the united states. take a look. >> reporter: the migrant shelter sits inside this compound in a ramshackle neighborhood on the edge of the rio grande. there are nearly 50 migrants inside. more than a dozen were children. it's where we found christian ortiz cleaning up the mattresses soaked by an overnight rainstorm. ortiz showed us the slashing scars on his back. the beating drove him north, leaving his two sons behind. he says these are the scars where he was whipped by gaining members in honduras and his family threatened if he didn't join the gang. ortiz says he left his two sons to request asylum in the u.s. but in if recerecent weeks the administration has made it more difficult for central americans to win asylum cases. >> he says he doesn't have the documentation of what he went through, only the scars. that's the only thing he has to show them. he's not convinced that would be enough to get asylum in the

united states. >> reporter: he feels like the only option he has is to cross the rio grande illegally. now he plans on how to cross the river on a raft. for weeks, trump administration officials have urged migrants to seek asylum at official ports of entry. this is the bridge that takes you into hidalgo, texas. not only are migrants telling us they often get turned away in the middle of the bridge by u.s. customs officials, but they're also telling us that mexican customs officials aren't even letting them set foot on the bridge. patricia florez says she's been turned away at this bridge twice in the last two weeks, and that mexican authorities threatened to deport her if she tried again. florez and her 7-year-old son are from el salvador. she says she's scared of being separated from her son but doesn't think god will allow that. she says her son saw a man who was shot in the eye outside their home. and that one of her son's favorite imaginary games is to

run around with a make-believe bulletproof jacket and pretend he survived the gang members' gunshots. i see you're getting emotional, when asking her why s does this, and she says it's worth the hard journey. these migrants sit in a form of purgatory, straddling a life between north and south. christian ortiz says one last thing before we leave. he's saying that he hopes the stories of immigrants like himself and others will change president trump's heart. anderson, really the question is, and it continues to be, whether or not this zero tolerance policy is serving as any kind of deterrent for migrants still coming from central america and other parts of mexico as well. the pastor of that shelter told me that he has seen in the last few weeks a couple of cases where families have just given up and turned back around and decided to go back home to

central america. by and large, over and over, as we've traveled these border communities, we hear over and over from these migrants that going through the immigration process, the uncertainty of what might happen is far better than returning home. anderson? >> ed lavendera, thanks very much. ahead, despite the rough reception she got last night at a mexican restaurant, dhs secretary kirstjen nielsen is getting praise from an important critic. we'll show you who, next. benjamin franklin captured lightning in a bottle. over 260 years later as the nation's leader in energy storage we're ensuring americans have the energy they need, whenever they need it nextera energy. i'm a tin can tied to your bumper, cause.... i don't think enough people heard about your big day. but nothing says "we got married" like a 12 ounce piece of scrap metal. yo! we got married! honk if you like joint assets.

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last night in washington, before today's oval office signing ceremony, dhs secretary kirstjen nielsen was at a mexican restaurant and was interrupted by an advocacy group furious at the president's family separation policy. >> shame! shame! >> end family separation! >> if kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace!

>> that dinner came after secretary nielsen delivered a resolute defense of the policy at a white house briefing. later president trump praised her for doing what he called a fabulous job. >> we will not apologize for doing our job. we have sworn to do this job. >> reporter: kirstjen nielsen has emerged as one of the most loyal foot soldiers of the trump agenda. in week, trumpeting its policy of separating families at the border to a gathering of sheriffs, then unflinchingly defending it that miamid a barr reporters' questions. she repeated over and over the false line that it was a law that only congress could change. >> congress and the courts created this problem and congress alone can fix it. >> reporter: this is nielsen's second tour of duty in the government. after serving in the bush administration, first working at tsa, then overseeing the

withoutwithouhite house's response to domestic disasters. she faced one of the country's darkest chapters, the catastrophic response to hurricane katrina. she was named in congressional reports along with other top officials for failing to act on dire warnings of the approaching storm. nielsen left government and beme a cyber security and risk analyst at george washington university and the world economic forum. after trump won the election, she served on the transition team before being named chief of extra of to then homeland security secretary john kelly. they grew close, and when he moved to the white house, nielsen briefly followed at his deputy before being promoted to head the agency. >> there will be no on-the-job training for her. she is ready on day one. >> reporter: critics argued she is unready for the cabinet role and accused nielsen of appeasing the president by focusing on immigration over issues like

terrorism. >> to distract the american people from the president's own problems. >> reporter: for all her loyalty, there have been flickers of daylight between nielsen and president trump. >> technology, as you know, plays a key part and we can't forget it. >> reporter: telling congress one of the president's prize goals, wall with mexico, isn't entirely necessary. >> there is no need for a wall from sea to shining sea. >> reporter: nielsen has clashed with president trump, who has reportedly accused her of being softer on immigration than he would like, including over the child separation policy. in may, "the new york times" reported that nielsen had been driven to the brink of resignation, even prompting her to draft a letter which she never submitted. >> if you cross the border illegally, we will prosecute you. >> reporter: when he reversed it, praise from the boss and a place in his good grazes -- for now. alex marquart, cnn, new york. ahead, dr. sanjay gupta has

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i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. ts week we're telling the extraordinary stories of people and organizations that are making a big difference in a special series called "champions for change." did you know right here in the united states, more than 41 million people have to choose between putting food on the table and paying for other basic necessities? it's a reality that's unacceptable to our dr. sanjay gupta. so he decided to find out what can be done to try to solve america's hunger problem. >> reporter: when i first heard the story i'm about to tell you, i really didn't believe it. it starts with these adorable children. four out of five kids in this classroom are food insecure. not sure when or if they will get their next meal.

covering hunger, even widespread hunger, famine, have been some of the most emotionally tough stories i've covered in 17 years as a journalist. welcome to the front lines of famine. i'm in kenya, in one of the largest refugee camps in the world. i wasn't ready to believe how bad the -- 1 in 8 americans, 1 in 6 children struggle with lunger. >> so what i have found is poverty lives next door to all of us. it can happen to anybody. it happens due to some sort of event that you're not expecting. >> the face of hunger would surprise you. it surprised me. charity mills, mother of five, her husband, back in grad school retraining after the recession. every meal depends on the

generosity of others. >> there was when he were 100% dependant on it, it was a difficult time. >> today, the organization feeding america is all about feeding charity mills and her family. >> you do this every morning? >> yes, sir. >> it's incredible work. >> here in colorado, springs, we are on a mission to collect food that will go to waste. >> there is food today that will keep people fed. >> yes, sir. >> 40% of food goes to waste in this country. how do you live in a society where 40% of food goes to waste and people are hungry? i think when people recognize the waste that happens in the fields, on the docks, in stores, in people's homes, they'd feel empowered to do something about

it. >> today paul and i bring back thousands of pound of food to be inspected and sorted. >> i think it's a surprise that meat in a can will last that long. >> so five years after the expiration date? >> yeah. i didn't know that. >> when you spend time like feeding america and meet some of the volunteers, you quickly realize everyone here has a story about hunger. like mary lash. >> i know the pain in the stomach, the sadness, you're scared to say anything. you know, my parents worked at a five-star resort in the poconos, my dad was a chef. but yet his kids were hungry, because of abuse and neglect he didn't feed us but he feed hundreds of other people daily, but not his own kids. >> how much is what you went

through at that time is part of what you're doing now? >> that is what drives me. if i can make a difference in one child's life a some day, i feel that my work is done. >> this is it, this is feeding america. it feels like you're actually doing something worthwhile. >> we're going to dig some potatoes. this is what a potato plan looks like. >> this is it? >> this is it right here. don't forget food comes from the ground. >> it's amazing. >> former green is my commanding officer today in the farm in san antonio. >> we got this basket we harvested this morning. >> the one thing i hope you will remember, if we simply stop wasting food we can absolutely feed america. remember those kids, the food we're passing out and will feed them and their families was food that might have otherwise gone

to waste. >> when i get the food bags i -- they're really heavy and that heaviness is love. >> it's hard to hear about these kids. you can't believe that a kid would be hungry, first of all. that i have taking food home for their family, it's a lot of responsibility, i think. and i, you know -- it's like we can do better. >> it's the reason i wanted to tell the story of feeding america. matt nods is the organization's presiden >> i think it's a solve bl problem. we're working the scale to solve that problem to get food from every point in the u.s. supply change from farm to fork. to capture that food and get it to people who need it most. >> people like charity mills.

the food we picked up earlier made its way to this pantry and charity's home. >> spaghetti, which is a typical family maeal to us. >> if you would have stepped back and thought about how many people you've likely helped feed now? >> i haven't, but i don't feel like it's been enough yet. how ever i can help, as long as i can help do it. >> sanjay, you said by some account, 40% of food is wasted in this country. it's an incredibly high figure. how does the problem get solved? >> part of it, there's not the respect for food whether it's in the crops, stores or people's homes. we all tend to waste a lot of foods. i think from a consumer standpoint, that's a big part of it. consumers who resolve to go ahead and eat ugly fruit and produce, that stuff doesn't get sold in stores. and also the use by and sell by

date, i don't know if you pay attention to that. people will throw away their foods if their a sell by date. there really is no basis, people know when their food is spoiled, don't eat it then. meats in a can can last five years. >> we'll continue to share this story all week long. you can watch "the champion for change" hosted by sanjay group that this saturday. we'll be right back.

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thanks for watching "360" time to hand it over to don lemon. "cnn tonight" starts right now. this is cnn tonight, i'm don lemon. we do have breaking news for you. with the trump leaving washington after a stunning reversal on his own immigration policy. giving in to overwhelming pressure from all sides but still trying to blame everybody else for the mess he made himself on the border. >> so the democrats want open