t it ♪ ♪ get it, get it ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na ♪ na na na na na na na ♪ ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na... female announcer: it's a great big world and it can all be yours. here and only here. ♪ come and get it. good saturday morning. it's 7:00. we are taking a live look outside in san jose. already a sunny morning. a little bit of fog still lingering. it will burn off to about 80 degrees on this saturday. thank you so much for joining us. i'm kira klapper here with anthony slaughter, who has a

pool. if it gets to 80, i'm inviting everybody to your house. >> it is going to be warm. summerlike. if you have that pool at your apartment or home, get out, enjoy. today's the day. it will feel summerlike. you can see palo alto, yes, this is pointed at the highway near 101. you can't even make out anything right now. we are going to continue to see a few areas of morning fog as we head through the next hour. mainly along the peninsula to the north bay. a warm afternoon is headed our way. temperatures near 80 in some of our warmest locations. rain does return this upcoming week. not a huge system but by the middle part of the week we'll be tracking a few showers. leaving us summerlike mid 70s in san francisco. low 80s for those inland valleys. i'm thinking about the pool. the only problem is i've got to get the twins out to the pool with me and watch them. >> your babies. they obviously don't know how to swim yet.

baby steps. thanks, anthony. it is the silicon valley version of a peeping tom. a drone spying on residents of a downtown san jose highrise. no one knows who's controlling it. people living in the city heights condos across from san jose state are complaining about the drone hovering outside their highrise. the president of the san jose downtown residents association says one neighbor was in her 10th floor condo 10:30 at night when she noticed a blinking light outside her window. it appeared to be a gopro camera attached to a drone. neighbors have seen what they call a suspicious-looking man holding a device outside their building multiple times. when they realized he might be using the drone to film them, they turned the tables snapping photos of him. >> it's important for everybody to be vigilant. a couple of residents have gotten photos. i hope that will spar an effort

where we can crowd source an opportunity to catch this guy. >> high-tech peeping would fall under similar invasion of privacy laws. a developing story in downtown san jose. construction workers rupture a major gasoline leaving to an overnight shutdown. market and santa clara streets were closed last night and this morning as crews continue to work to restore gas in the area. 40 customers, all businesses, are without gas service. crews hope to have gas service restored by 8:00 this morning. the shutdown was a big loss for the businesses in that area on what is usually a busy friday night. new this morning, a 2. earthquake shook parts of the south bay hitting just before 3:15. the usgs reports the tremor was

centered two miles southwest of cupertino. no reports of injury or damage. a disturbing discovery in a los gatos neighborhood leads to a man's arrest. yesterday morning a homeowner called police when he found a man injured and bleeding on his door step. investigating officers blocked off streets near drakes bay avenue. as part of the investigation, police arrested another man mark plant for weapons and narcotic violations. officers aren't releasing any information on the victim. it's been one week since a young san francisco tech developer vanished without a trace. friends and family are gearing up for an organized search later today. dan ha has been missing since halloween. he was last seen by his roommate k at night rushing out with a wallet, but no bag. the day before that, last thursday, he left his job at a local start-up called metro miles complaining of a headache. he e-mailed his boss saying he was going to work from home.

>> flew the fliers we hope to get to a point where we can get someone to speak and come out and figure where he is actually at. >> we saw someone dressed similar to how he was described in a red sweatshirt with the same colored hair. we were hoping that was going to be positive and it turned out being questionable. >> family and friends desperate to find ha spent yesterday passing out fliers. his family will be in the bay area today to help with the search at 3:00 on the 300 block of brandon street in the city. a candlelight vigil held in the south bay for dozens of students murdered in mexico. the charred remains of 43 college students were found yesterday about 120 miles south of mexico city. the students were last seen more than six weeks ago when they were handed over to a drug cartel. the father of one of those students lives in san jose. their deaths have prompted protests around the world and a cross country march for justice in mexico.

officers arrested three gang members who confessed to killing the students. federal authorities accuse a local mayor of ordering the capture of the students in cooperation with a drug cartel. dna tests are being conducted on their remains. the high-profile battle that lasted several months and cost millions of dollars is now over. ro khana conceded last night. >> i called congressman honda to congratulate him on his victory after a hard-fought campaign. i wished him well as he returns to washington for another term. >> khana conceded after honda declared victory during the day. the 73-year-old honda will return back to washington. he had strong comments.

>> we sent a message this election could not be bought by super pacs and right-wing millionaires and billionaires. my opponent wasted more than 5 million through this campaign super pac to replace my progressive voice with someone who would do their own bidding. >> honda says he is not done. he will seek another term. khana wants to take time off before deciding on his future plans. there's controversy silicon valley. the registrar's office is being investigated after a whistle-blower came forward concerned votes were loss due to problems with the county's computers. also being looked into, the i.t. manager who abruptly resigned right before the election. we broke that story thursday. the registrar says up to 106,000 ballots still need to be counted. a final tally won't be ready for several weeks. no alcohol nor drugs were involved in the death of robin

williams. that's the conclusion from the final autopsy report released yesterday. williams died from asphyxiation by hanging. he battled addiction for decades, according to the coroner. williams may have been deeply depressed at the time of his death, but it wasn't caused by alcohol or illegal drugs. the report also says that williams was suffering from early stages of parkinson's disease. much more ahead. coming up, a dog stolen and later thrown in the trash, but we have the emotional reunion. >> plus -- >> i'm not getting calls back from anybody. it's been an absolute nightmare come true. >> a south bay man's cherished childhood memories disappear. why he's blaming the postal service and why it could signal a larger problem here in the bay area.

welcome back to you on this saturday morning. you're getting a live look at levi stadium. temperatures across the south bay nearing 80 degrees today. the package arrived but never showed up at one south bay man's house. he says there is a delivery problem with the u.s. postal service. right before the holiday rush, the post office is now looking into his complaint. here is "today in the bay" ian cole. >> like so many people here brian cooper moved to the bay area for work. he is originally from georgia where all his family lives. even though he's been here 1 1/2 years, he is terribly home sick. >> these pictures mean the world to me. >> he only has a few photos of his family. to bring home to him cooper's mom sent him thousands of pictures from his childhood, originals. >> not every picture is on an iphone. >> the package never arrived. according to the tracking

number, it took four days to reach california from georgia. it never lefd the richmond distribution facility. cooper fears the worst. >> i'm not getting calls back from anybody. it's been an absolute nightmare come true. >> usps spokesman says the richmond site is heavily mechanized, similar to this site in san jose. he says it's probably still there and finding it is now a top priority. >> the key executives at the highest level of our districts are looking into this matter. >> cooper says online message boards show hundreds of others experience similar problems. ruiz says they'll investigate to see if there is a trend. >> i'm not sure if we have a systemic problem or this package. >> as cooper continues to unpack the few pictures he does have, hoping others arrive, he's

missing home and wishing tonight it was a little closer. a chihuahua is back home with its owner this morning. animal control officers continue their search for the person who threw the dog into a dumpster. someone stole caylee from her owner's car in august. last saturday someone found the dog in a san francisco dumpsters, battered, but alive. animal control says the dog was in shock and suffering from eight broken ribs and head trauma. she is recovering after being reunited with her owner. >> she would let the children pet her and no one tried to do her any harm. so for someone to do something like this to this dog or anybody is mean, mean thing. >> mean indeed. the dog's micro chip helped animal control officers find her owner. much more ahead on "today in the bay." comedian jerry seinfeld makes a

personal admission. it's earning a different kind of applause. judge. >> tracking clear skies in the south bay this morning. a little bit of fog, but not as thick as it was yesterday.

7:16 on this saturday morning. look at that spectacular view. a clear beautiful morning ahead of which should be a beautiful day. we were seeing fall temperatures recently. now looking at 70 in the city of san francisco. jerry seinfeld shocked his fans yesterday when he said he believes he's autistic. he told that to nbc's brian williams. it's getting a lot of reaction.

>> we have kids on the spectrum. they can be low verbal, nonverbal up to the high end asperger guys who are nonverbal. >> they teach skills to teens and adults who are on the autism spectrum. a spectrum comedian jerry seinfeld says applies to him. >> i don't see it as dysfunctional. i think of it as an alternate mindset. >> seinfeld told nbc's brian williams he struggles socially, only feeling comfortable with comedians. >> they are the only people i feel completely relaxed around. every other social interaction i have is somewhat of a management. >> on autism speaks facebook page, reaction to seinfeld's claim he is autistic is getting mixed reaction. >> i'm very happy jerry seinfeld

has opened up the conversation to say, hey, look, there are these other guys on the spectrum. >> she says while autism is a scary diagnosis, his clients are more like you than you think. >> there are many aspects of autism are exaggerations of feelings and difficulties other people have routinely. that's definitely a good conversation to have because it makes the things autistics encounter, makes it understandable. >> understanding autism opens doors to learning and living. >> they start to go out on their own, get a job. >> their 19-year-old autistic son is in college living away from home, one of many success stories they hope people will learn about because jerry seinfeld started a conversation. checking in with anthony slaughter with with a look at your weekend forecast. it's so weird, a week ago today we were sitting here saying it's november, it's going to be fall weather today.

now it's like summer. >> we are going backwards on the calendar. talking about temperatures in the 80s today. enjoy. >> i can't wait. >> we started off mild this morning. in san francisco, we are at 55. 50 in san jose. a different story. last weekend we had some of our coldest air of the season. our coldest was hillsburg at 36. nothing like that this weekend. we are very mild and already very sunny in san francisco where you can actually see the city this morning. in fact, you're looking at the airport. we have low clouds out there. overall, not forcing any flight delays this morning. in palo alto, this is what we saw yesterday. thick fog. this is around 101. you can barely make out the highway down below. if you look close you can see a few cars traveling down there ov overall the thick fog will be with us. you can see we cleared out on the south bay expecting temperatures from the upper 70s to low 80s there. you can see a nice afternoon

once we get rid of this fog. 77 in the east shore. 75 for today. san francisco 74. tri-valley will be another warm spot. 81 expected for today. a little bit of a boost temperatures considering how cool we were the past couple of days even though we were above average. we are starting our big climb into the 80s now. we are expecting generally clear skies once we get into the afternoon hours. same for tomorrow. we have a little coastal fog for tomorrow morning. overall, expecting to see plenty of sunshine just like we are waking up forward to right now. it will be mainly sunny in the south bay today. plenty of sunshine expected there. in the north bay again, morning fog will burn off. this is where you will see warmer weather. 83 expected there. peninsula waking up to that patchy fog. 77 this afternoon. east shore 85 later on. san francisco, that fog already burned off. 74 for your high today. in the tri-valley, one of our warmer locations, 81 expected now. if you are looking for things to

do, jack of all trades market happening today. this is the place to be. one of the largest across the bay area. as you drive over 880, you can see it off the highway. really a good activity to do. family-friendly thing to do. if you've got the day off, want to hit the beach, it's not overly warm. the water is still cold. with plenty of sunshine. can soak up rays. monterey up to 80. santa cruz, mid 70s. not overly warm, but still nice. board wall will be open. ocean beach 70 today, 71 tomorrow. a warmer day is expected tomorrow. this is the euro model keeping the rain far north of the bay area. the gfs model is pulling it even farther north. wednesday night we may get a little sprinkle activity. thursday, that's the day to

watch for any shower activity. you'll notice it's very light. we are not going to talk about a huge storm. the main system will stay north of the bay area and make its way over to the pacific northwest. our next chance of rain not going to be a huge deal, but a few rain drops still good news considering we are in this drought. a warm weekend on tap especially for tomorrow with temperatures going up a couple of degrees. monday, tuesday, wednesday, clouds start to increase. wednesday evening in san francisco, you'll see showers. thursday again the day everybody else will be looking at rain. overall, not a huge storm. of course we'll continue to track this because just as well as i do, we are in the rainy season. eventually one of these systems is going to pick up and change our pattern to hopefully instead of 70s and 80s, 50s and 60s with more rain. >> we need the weather to match the calendar. much more ahead on "today in the bay." >> you do something awesome, keep it up. i've gotten a lot of that.

it makes me feel warm inside. >> the youngest person ever to receive venture capital money. his big idea that's wowing investors will also make you bay area proud. vegetables and tender white meat chicken. apology accepted. i'm watching you soup people. make it progresso or make it yourself some people think vegetables are boring. but with green giant's delicious seasonings and blends, we just may change their minds. ho ho ho green giant!

welcome back. he has been to the white house. he's helped the blind and won plenty of awards. he's only 13 careers old. the young teen is wowing investors for his technology. garvin thomas has today's "bay area proud." >> this man has been on our radar for a while. we introduced you to the then 12-year-old who created a braille printer out of a lego kit. he wanted to figure out how to help the visually impaired. with what happened on tuesday, he is one giant step closer. the pieces may have changed.

but the puzzle, the 13-year-old has spent the past year trying to solve hasn't. ever since learning last fall just how expensive braille printers are, he has been tinkering with ways to make a low-cost version. his first attempt made out of a lego robotics kit and named brego printed somewhat slowly, but boy did interest in it and him spread fast. >> i don't know how it happened. >> it's been a whirl wind of a year. conferences followed by fairs, on top of events where people wanted to learn more about the device and the young man who created it. the highlight of it all? >> oh, yeah, going to the white house. i was like about 15 feet away from the president of the united states.

>> reporter: still, in spite of the accolades, he knew he wasn't done so he kept tinkering. now has come up with brego 2.0, no longer a lego hack, but a consumer product. if only he had the venture capital funding to get to the next stage. but what 13-year-old could get that? >> that's in braille. >> can you read braille? >> no. >> how does this work? >> i googled it. >> in southern california, intel capital announced they would invest in braigo labs and its founder. by their research, the youngest person ever to receive vc funding. >> that's a big thing. there are 200 million people in this world today on the verge of being blind. >> reporter: a big thing, sure. but he is quick to point out it's only a means to achieve the best thing, what he really wanted to do all along, help others.

hearing that he is doing that. is the best news of all. >> they say you are doing something awesome, keep it up. i get a lot of that and it makes me feel warm inside. >> reporter: the money intel capital is investing is considered seed money. there are still many months of development left, but he says he would love to see a printer come to market next year, and no one should bet against him. garvin thomas, nbc bay area news. >> if you know of someone doing something nice for others, garvin would love to hear from you. go to nbcbayarea.com and search bay area proud. much more ahead. they escaped drug cartels and death squads and ended up here in the bay area. the immigration crisis rarely talked about. >> who is standing up for the little guy? some claim the booming economy is now pushing out small businesses on the peninsula.

welcome back. just shy of 7:31 on this saturday morning. a live look outside from emeryville facing towards the city of san francisco. and treasure island there. it will be a beautiful day. temperatures in the 70s in san francisco. good morning, thank you for joining us. i'm kira klapper along with anthony slaughter. >> just look at that picture all day. get a nice mimosa, sit back. >> i'm there. soon as the show is over. >> this morning we are waking up to clear skies in san francisco. not in palo alto. right now you can see we are fogged in. maybe a different story. you may want to grab that down comforter and snuggle up for another hour or so. after that warm sunshine expected everywhere from the city down to the south bay, even the east bay and north bay today. expecting 70s and 80s now.

enjoy today and tomorrow because rain is in the forecast this upcoming week. especially wednesday and thursday. the cold front for all this warm weather is high pressure. that will turn our wind out of a northerly direction today. that offshore wind means we warm up quickly. 74 in san francisco today. mid 70s everywhere else. close to 80 in the south bay. we have rain in the forecast. we'll tell you more in my next report. >> thank you, anthony. we have breaking news to tell but this morning. the white house announced americans kenneth bay and matthew todd miller have been released by north korea and are on their way home. they are accompanied by james clapper, director of national intelligence. miller was from california serving a six-year jail term on charges of espionage after he ripped his tourist visa and

demanded asylum. bai is a korean american missionary with health problems. he was serving a 15-year sentence for alleged anti-government activities. it's the silicon valley version of a peeping tom. a drone spying on residents of a downtown san jose highrise. no one knows who is controlling it. people living in the luxury condo city heights are complaining about the drone hovering outside their building. the president of the san jose downtown residents association said one of his neighbors was in her 10th floor condo about 10:30 at night when she noticed a blinking right outside her window ten stories up. it appeared to be a gopro camera attached to a drone. neighbored that seen a suspicious-looking man outside their building multiple times. they realized he might be using the drone to film them, they took out cameras and snapped photos of him. >> it's for everyone to be vigilant. a couple of residents have

gotten photos. i hope that that will really spawn an effort to crowd source an opportunity to catch this guy. >> city officials say police can make an arrest if someone is spotted spying with a drone. there are no specific laws regarding drones next to residential buildings. high-tech peeping would fall under similar invasion of privacy laws. new this morning, a 2.9 earthquake shook parts of the south bay hitting before 3:15 this morning. the usgs reports the tremor was centered about two miles southwest of cupertino. no reports of injury or damage. another student from the school shooting in washington state a few weeks ago has died. 15-year-old andrew fryeburg passed away last night. his death brings the toll from the high school shooting to five. three 14-year-old girls died after suffering critical head wounds. andrew fryeburg was a cousin of

the shooter who committed suicide at the scene. president obama today will nominate federal prosecutor loretta lynch for attorney general replacing eric holder. lynch is currently the u.s. attorney for eastern new york. she reportedly has considerable experience with civil rights and corporate fraud cases. if confirmed by the senate, loretta lynch would be the first african-american woman to serve as head of the justice department. there is a new push in palo alto to protect small businesses in danger of being pushed out by cane stores. hundreds of people have signed a petition to put a cap on the number of franchise chains and office rentals allowed on top lar california avenue. some locally-owned retailers say something has to change or they'll be priced out of the market by skyrocketing retail rent prices. >> competition is good, but small business is also good and very difficult to compete with big stores.

>> the city council will hear from the public during its meeting on monday, and a decision could be made early next year. much more ahead on today in the bay. coming up, raiders in the middle of a tug of war. what oakland's new mayor planned to try to keep the silver and black from moving to the lone star state. - ( helicopter whirring ) - ( roars ) ( siren wails ) ( pop music playing ) ♪ when you're ready ♪ ready, ready, ready ♪ come and get it ♪ get it, get it ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na

♪ na na na na na na na ♪ ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na... female announcer: it's a great big world and it can all be yours. here and only here. ♪ come and get it.

7:38 saturday morning. a live look in oakland. a little bit of fog. the coliseum is quiet right now but we'll be rocking tomorrow when the raiders host the denver broncos. as fans wait, they are getting new reasons to worry. their beloved raiders could soon call another city home. yesterday, san antonio officials were in town hoping to convince raiders' ownership to head to the lone star state. today in the bay's kimberly terry tells us what's at stake and what the new mayor plans to

do to keep the raiders here. >> i've been a raiders fan since i was 5 years old. my grandfather had season tickets. i survived the move to l.a. i don't know if i could survive a move to san antonio. >> raiders aren't commenting about a visit from san antonio officials intent on luring the team to texas. fans and oakland city leaders have plenty to say. >> oakland raiders should be in oakland. >> reporter: no san antonio raiders? >> no, no, no. >> reporter: the team's current lease ends after the season. mayor elect says she is focused getting a new long-term deal with the team. >> this is a proort. i am going to be working closely with the current mayor over the next two months while she does finish out her term to make this happen for oakland. >> something needs to be done if we are going to keep these teams, including the oakland as. we need a new stadium. we are decrepit.

>> reporter: any new deal has to include a new stadium. thises the only place left that houses a pro football and baseball team. >> the history, the winning history of the raiders are in the city in which i am proud to say i line in 2. so it is important to that loyal base of fans that have always been there for the raiders. i certainly hope mr. davis takes that into consideration as they explore their options. >> reporter: kimberly terry, today in the bay. much more ahead. coming up -- we investigate the crisis at our border. we follow refugees as they search for safety here in the u.s. waking up to clear skies. in some locations a little bit of fog hanging outside the bay area. we'll warm you up quickly.

welcome back. 7:42 the time.

waking up to mild conditions this morning. last weekend was very chilly. we saw some of the coldest air we saw all season. not today. all of us hanging out near 50 degrees. in san francisco right now, you can see the fog has already burned off, looking at clear visibilities as far as the eye can see. a different story in palo alto. still looking at fog. this is going to lift and burn out of here within the next hour. you can see this is our palo alto sky camera pointing down towards the highway. you can barely make out the highway. this bill burn off in the next hour or so. temperatures today going to be warm. 79 in the south bay. mid 70s in the peninsula. san francisco cooler but with light winds today going to feel very comfortable. north bay expecting low 80s for daytime highs. expecting generally clear skies for the next 24 hours. we'll see the fog burn out of here. tomorrow morning, we are going to wake up to mostly sunny skies across the day. the fog will stay up near the closeline because offshore winds

will keep that out towards the ocean. today's highs very comfortable in the south bay. gilroy, san jose 79 today. patchy fog expected for the north bay. by the afternoon 83 expected there. the peninsula dealing with that fog. 77 late they are afternoon. east shore will be at 75. foggy morning for san francisco. that fog has already burned out of here. 74 expected for your high there. in the tri-valley, a warm day. low 80s expected for places like livermore, pleasanton and danville. we are getting our peak fall foliage across the bay area this weekend. these are santa cruz mountains. we are looking at very nice trees out there. as we head towards the afternoon with the fall foliage over 17 or santa cruz, temperatures near 72-77 at the beaches. will be very nice to hit the beach.

maybe not the water, but to soak up the rays. talk about our next chance of rain coming in. a system lines up to our north. the bulk will stay to our north. northern california will get clipped by this. maybe light showers wednesday night. thursday morning will be the time frame where we see the bulk of the rain. i don't think it will be a heavy rain, more of a light mist, maybe drizzle and light showers. friday it's out of here. it will set the stage for cooler weather. this is what we need this time of year. once we can get one or two of these systems to bring temperatures down, maybe we can get into a cooler pattern. you notice wednesday and thursday, temperatures go back from 82 tomorrow in san jose back to the 60s by thursday. hopefully if some of these systems can continue to roll into the bay area, we'll track more rain in the coming weeks. unfortunately for us this week, the only thing we've got to look forward to is plenty of warm sunshine and maybe a few showers as we head towards wednesday and

thursday. >> we'll enjoy it while it lasts. much more ahead -- coming up, invisible people living in our communities. they are desperate and breaking the law to flee their circumstances. we take you behind the scenes in undercover to see what is really going on in america's immigration crisis. ♪ good morning, usher! hey! did you know bees communicate through dance?

me too... we're practically twins! you have made my life special by being apart of it.enough. (everyone) cheers! glad you made it buddy. thanks for inviting me. thanks again my friends.

for everything, for all your help. through all life's milestones, our trusted advisors are with you every step of the way. congratulations! thanks for helping me plan for my retirement. you should come celebrate with us. i'd be honored. plan for your goals with advisors you know and trust. so you can celebrate today and feel confident about tomorrow. chase. so you can. it is 7:48 on this saturday morning. you are getting a live look outside at levi stadium where at 9:30 this morning a 4.9 k run and fitness challenge will take place. if you participate you get a 49ers rush t-shirt, a finisher's medallion and you can receive a prize. three miles, if my math is correct. one of the most polarizing

issues in this country. what to do with the thousands of people, many children, coming across the border illegally. a lot of them end up here in the bay area. investigative reporter stephen stock spent two months with them and now takes us behind the scenes. >> reporter: the federal government's own statistic shows this has become a humanitarian crisis. just in the last fiscal year alone, 750,000 people not from mexico have been picked up by the u.s. border patrol along the u.s./mexican border. many of those same people are dropped off by federal authorities at local bus stations and released into communities across the united states. where they now live in the shadows. >> when i left by honduras, i was abused by those guys. they raped me.

i felt like they would kill us, everybody. >> reporter: this 19-year-old still fears for her safety. we'll call her sophia. she hides her face but wants you to hear her story of escape and survival from death squads in her honduran hometown. >> they beat up my father a lot and placed a gun over my baby's head. >> reporter: they were members of manna 18, one of the most violent gangs in honduras and the world. come to their home to collect extortion money from her family. >> we can't pay any more because my father has no job to pay it. >> reporter: sophia's father asked to be called roberto. after his wife and daughter were raped, his life threatened, he and his family fled honduras, unsure of their future. but sure he would die like his friend and neighbor if he stayed.

that's why they now live in the shadows. the entire family, five people plus one infant staying in this one small room here in the bay area. and this family is not alone. according to the u.s. border patrol, more than 68,000 families have been apprehended crossing the southwest border of mexico so far this fiscal year, compared to 15,000 families last year, an increase of 361%. that corresponds to a spike in gangs, violence and lawlessness. in honduras, guatemala and el salvador. the three countries where the majority of these refugees come from. >> i ended up doing several thousand hearings. >> reporter: he served as assistant u.s. attorney prosecuting immigration and immigration defense attorney before retiring as a border patrol attorney this past july. >> the immigration policies in the united states tries to

accommodate two inconsistent ideas. one is we are a country that provides refuge for people who are suffering persecution. the immigration law is only designed to protect the homeland. >> reporter: the numbers of people fleeing central america have become so large, there is no room in court or in holding facilities. so after picking the refugees up along the border, federal agents re-released them back into the u.s. if the immigrants have relatives already living here who can pay for a bus ticket. in exchange, these refugees agree to report to local immigration authorities once they get to their relatives' hometown. >> the president is committed to taking executive action to fix our broken immigration system. >> reporter: while admitting the current system is broken, jeh johnson insists the number of these refugees peaked back in june and have now declined to levels last seen in january 2013. >> bottom line of all this is in

recent years, the total number of those who attempt to cross our southwest border has declined dramatically. >> reporter: even though, the number of these refugees dropped off at local bus stations created a crisis, overwhelming local resources. >> in the last six months, it's been thousands of individuals. >> reporter: she serves as director of operations in catholic services in tucson, arizona, one town hard hit by the number of refugees being dropped off at the bus station. >> they are leaving truly desperate situations. they are making the kind of choices i might make in their situations. >> i only see the people who make it. >> reporter: the demand for resources grew so intense catholic community services hired gayland hundred dollar an americore worker whose job is to house, clothe and care for the people. as many as 40 refugees a day. >> many we are dehydrated,

hungry, clothes were torn and dirty. >> reporter: over the course of several days, the investigative unit documented family after family arriving at this bus station in tucson. young mothers and their children, even a father and young daughter traveling alone. we talked with many of them, all of them feared for their lives. >> they rolled the dice to come here. >> reporter: we rode the bus with several immigrants headed to places like atlanta, los angeles, new jersey, even eureka in northern california. >> if you stay there, you will be killed. that's why we are here. >> reporter: sophia and her family rode the bus for three long days just to get here to the bay area. >> we're here because we are saving our lives. >> reporter: now sophia and her mother make the trip to san francisco to report into immigration authorities once every two weeks. honoring the agreement they made in order to get that bus ticket

to the bay area. they may be scared, but they admit they feel safer here than back home, if not entirely secure. because for them, a judge issuing a deportation order back to honduras would be issuing them a death sentence. >> just saying get back, he's killing us. >> reporter: as we mentioned, these aren't the only people who live in the shadows among us. we talked to dozens of people directly involved in this imxwrai immigration and refugee crisis. over the next several weeks we'll introduce you to several of them, including those who just fled to the bay area who are children. stephen stock, nbc bay area news. much more ahead on "today in the bay." get your skis ready. the first resort to open for business in california, how they

are working around the drought. looking for one of these? yoplait. smooth, creamy, and craved by the whole family.

can't wait to hit the slopes? good news, the boreal ski resort is now open. the first resort to open this season in california. it opened yesterday. tahoe got several inches of snow recently. workers are running 20 snow-making machines to add to the powder. skiers were sure happy yesterday. >> we are in the snow on november 7th, you can't complain. we are all having a good time. >> all summer long you're waiting for it to snow. >> we are impressed with the conditions. we were talking about how boreal stepped it up. >> boreal's 50th anniversary this year. christmas arrived in new york city. yesterday a crane hoisted this 85-foot tall norway spruce at rockefeller center. the 90-year-old tree was trucked in from pennsylvania. the next step is decorating it with thousands of l.e.d. lights. on the top a swarovski star.

beautiful. have a great saturday. thank you for starting your day with us. enjoy the beautiful weekend. i'll be at anthony's pool. we'll be back tonight at 5:00 and 6:00.

♪ when you're up in outer space ♪ ♪ and searching for the greatest place ♪ ♪ where everyone's a friendly face ♪ ♪ astroblast ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, here is your crew-- sputnik, halley, radar, jet, sal, and comet. ♪ astroblast yeah! whoa! aah! look out for the robots! whew! yeah! take that! and once again captain super duper saves the city from almost certain doom. "thank you, captain super duper." "you don't have to thank me, ma'am.