this sunday, the migrant crisis. >> don't come over and don't leave your town or city or community. >> the u.s. seeing the biggest border surge in two decades. >> i think it's a policy change, honestly. >> republicans blame the biden administration. >> mr. secretary, don't tell me this isn't a crisis. >> and the administration pushes back. >> a crisis is when a nation is willing to rip a 9-year-old child out of the hands of his or her parent and separate that family to deter future migrants. >> this morning i'll talk to

alejandro mayorkas about immigration and another problem that has received less attention, the growing threat. >> domestic violence extremism poses the most persistent terrorism threat. plus, fear in the asian-american community. this premeditated act of violence is reinforcing this sense of, are we safe. >> the killing of six women of asian descent -- >> when you say things like that, it hurts the asian-american community. >> also, the republican efforts to restrict valid access. >> this is jim crow in new clothes. >> how far are democrats willing to go to protect voting rights. my guest this morning, freshman democratic senator raphael warnock of georgia and retiring republican senator roy blunt of missouri. joining me are eddie glaude jr. of princeton university, "wall

street journal" columnist joon, jon ralston and nbc news correspondent julia ainsley. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. it's fair to call the deteriorating situation at the u.s./mexican border a crisis, even if the biden administration refuses to use that word, but it's more than that. it's a political crisis for the new president with no easy way out. republicans are quick to blame mr. biden for the growing number of migrants crossing the border saying it's his rhetoric and policy shifts that caused the surge in migrants. the democratic administration says it was left with an unworkable immigration system left by president trump. conservatives want a big wall.

progressives want nothing less than humane treatment from migrants fleeing violence wherever it is, and a path to citizenship for those already here. so far americans largely approve of mr. biden's young presidency, and he wants to focus on vaccinations, covid relief, voting rights, racial inequality, renewing america's image at home and abroad. last week an intelligence report reminded us of the threat from domestic terror groups that mr. biden must confront, particularly after january 6th. 'haven't and politics have a way of applying their own pressure points. right now that pressure is pointed directly at our southern border. it's a growing humanitarian crisis, though not a no one. >> why did you cross? >> in the rio grand valley alone, customs and border protection is detaining more than 500 unaccompanied children a day with the facility at more than five times its capacity.

>> how much of an increase have you noticed in the last couple weeks? >> it's quite significant. >> more than 5,000 chin under 18 are in border patrol custody, more than 500 held for over ten days, far longer than the 72-hour legal limit. 10,000 more in hhs care. . >> it seems like we just went through this not too long ago and here we go again. >> the administration says the u.s. is on pace to encounter more migrants on the southwest border than it has in the last 20 years and is trying new, more aggressive messaging. >> now is not the time to come to the border. >> frankly, the message isn't don't come now, it's don't come in this way ever. >> i can say clearly don't come. >> that's after mixed messages on whether the president's approach may be motivating more migrants to come. >> the idea that a more humane policy will be in place may have

driven people to make that decision. >> republicans are seizing on what was donald trump's signature campaign issue. >> they caused a crisis. >> this is a crisis that is man made by one man, joe biden. >> it's more than just a crisis. >> if that's not a crisis, it will do till one gets here. >> the biden administration is pushing back. >> you said crisis on the border. was that -- >> challenges on the border. >> a crisis is when a nation is willing to rip a 9-year-old child out of the hands of his or her parent and separate that family. >> though president biden ended the trump administration's remain in mexico policy for asylum seekers, he has kept in place title 42, a pandemic-era rule which allows the administration to expel migrants without due process for public health reason. of the more than 650,000 migrants encountered at the border over the last year, fewer than 1% have been able to seek

protection, according to "the l.a. times." >> as biden works to restore faith that government is competent. >> there's not a single think we cannot do if we do it together. >> he's asked the mexican president to do more to solve the problem on friday, they announced a crackdown on the border with guatemala after the u.s. announced it will share 2.5 million vaccine doses with mexico. >> joining me now is the homeland security secretary, alejandro mayorkas. mr. secretary, welcome to "meet the press." >> thank you. good morning, chuck. good to be here. >> i want to start with sing congressman gonzalez, who represents south texas. this is what he told "the washington post" yesterday. when you create a system that incentivizes people to come across and they are released, that immediately sends a message to central america that, if you come across, you can stay.

i understand on humanitarian grounds the policy change on unaccompanied minors here. are you concerned that a market efficiency has been created where folks have decided, look, my kid's got a shot at getting in the united states if i don't go with them. >> chuck, our message has been straightforward and simple and it's true. the border is closed. we are expelling families, we are expelling single adults and we've made a decision that we will not expel young vulnerable children. i think we are executing on our plans and, quite frankly, when we are finished doing so, the american public will look back on this and say we've secured our border and upheld our values and principles as a nation. >> how can you say the border is closed if there is this, what some would look at as a loophole. i understand on humanitarian

grounds. if the goal is to get these asylum seekers to seek the asylum in home country, honduras, guatemala, el salvador, for instance, how do you get them to do that if our policy is to let them in at the border? >> chuck, we have a short-term plan, a medium-term plan and a long-term plan. the president and i have spoken to this repeatedly. please remember something, that president trump dismantled the orderly, humane and efficient way of allowing children to make their claims under united states law in their home countries. he dismantled the central american minors program. so we are rebuilding those orderly and safe processes as quickly as possible. but in the meantime, in the meantime we will not expel into the mexican desert, for example, three orphan children whom i saw

over the last two weeks. we just won't do that. that's not who we are. >> okay. i understand that. is this current policy, though, sustainable? or are you concerned that the word will go out and you'll get unaccompanied minors from all over the world trying to come to our southern border? >> well, it doesn't work that way, chuck. the system is a complex one. but let me just say we are operating on parallel tracks. we are safely processing the children who do come to our border. we strongly urge, and the message is clear, not to do so now. i cannot overstate the perils of the journey that they take, and regrettably i'm all too aware of the strategies that have occurred and continue to occur along that journey. in the meantime and in parallel, we're rebuilding those orderly systems, both in mexico in close

partnership with the mexican government and in the countries of guatemala, honduras and el salvador so they, in fact, don't need to take that dangerous journey. we're working in parallel streams to rebuild a process that has been entirely dismantled. >> do you want to get to a process where unaccompanied minors do not come to the border? >> we certainly do, and we're working expeditiously to achieve that, in partnership with the northern triangle countries and mexico. we've had tremendous partnership thus far, and we're the only building on that collaborative effort. >> i want to put up a tweet -- you visited the border yesterday, i believe in el paso with a bipartisan group of senators, including senator chris murphy, democratic. i fought back tears explaining through a translator how terrified she was having been separated from her grandmother and without her parents.

he also said he saw overcrowded facility and, frankly, i guess my question is why can he see it and not the american public and certainly not the news media? >> so, if i can address a number of the points you made, chuck, number one, can you imagine expelling that 13-year-old girl whom senator murphy held in his hands crying? that's not who we are, number one. number two, we have dedicated fema, the federal emergency management administration, to assist health and human services to build the capacity so that we relieve the pressure on the border patrol stations which i have said accurately, quite frankly, that's no place for a child. third, we are in the midst of a pandemic. we are focused on our operations. in removing children from those crowded border patrol stations to the health and human services

facilities that can best shelter them, and we're also working on providing access so the american public can in a safe way, without jeopardizing our operations, see what is going on. we're working on that. >> what does that men? right now we have no access to or photos of the conditions in the facilities, no ridealongs with agents, all inquiries routed through washington, strict controls on sharing data, local border patrol folks feel like they can't even talk to our folks down there. is there a gag order? >> there is not that. is unequivocally false, chuck. let's be clear here. we are in the midst of a pandemic. we are, because of the extraordinary leadership of the president, climbing out of it more rapidly than ever before. but we are still in the midst of the pandemic. there is central cdc controls in place, and border patrol agents are focused on operations, on

securing the border, on addressing the needs of vulnerable children. we are not focused on ride-alongs right now. >> speaking of the pandemic, title 42. senator kamala harris thought it was unconstitutional. it is still in place. why? >> chuck, title 42 is a public health authority of the center for disease controls. it is not an immigration tool. and in the prior administration it was used far differently than we are using it now. we have made a decision to serve the public health imperative, to continue to expel families, to continue to expel single adults because of the pandemic, but we have made a decision that we can address the public health imperative while addressing the

humanitarian needs of vulnerable children. we're using it as the title 42 authority was intended, and not as a bludgeons tool under immigration law that the prior president used. >> you have enough test kits down there to test all the unaccompanied minors in these shelters? >> the unaccompanied minors are, in fact, being tested. they -- when they arrive in the shelter of health and human services, they are tested, isolated and quarantined, all of them. >> finally, this interview has been all about one part of your job at dhs which is the southern border and immigration. can we expect dhs to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time with this current crisis at the border, also dealing with the rise of domestic extremism?

>> never underestimate the talent and dedication of the department of homeland security workforce. most certainly we do. we are very focused on domestic violent extremism. it is the greatest threat, terrorist-related threat we face in our homeland. we're very focused on it. we've done a tremendous amount already. we have plans to do more. i must say, when you mention that, chuck, i have to express the fact that our hearts and prayers go out to the victims of the tragic killings in the area surrounding atlanta. >> secretary mayorkas, i do have a lot more to ask. you've got a lot of your plate. i'm out of time. i appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us. thank you, sir. >> thank you very much, chuck. coming up, the shootings in georgia that were just referenced have refocused referenced have refocused attention on when you buy this plant at walmart, they can buy more plants from metrolina greenhouses so abe and art can grow more plants.

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welcome back. president biden and vice president harris traveled to atlanta on friday to show solidarity with asian-americans there after the shooting deaths of eight people, six of whom were women of asian descent. mr. biden made a point of highlighting the rise of violence against asian-americans over the past year. >> they've been attacked, blamed, scapegoated, harassed, verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed. >> in a moment, i will be speaking with republican senator roy blunt of missouri. first i'm joined by freshman democratic senator raphael warnock whose home state of georgia was the site of the violence. senator warnock, welcome to "meet the press," sir. >> thank you so much. great to be here with you, chuck. >> i appreciate it. i want to start with something the fbi director said this week. director wray said it does not appear the shooting was racially motivated, so this is now the fbi director, we've heard local

law enforcement. are you hearing the same thing from law enforcement that you've been speaking with? >> first of all, let me say that our hearts go out to these families as they are dealing with unspeakable loss. i think it's important that we center the humanity of the victims. i'm hearing a lot about the shooter. these precious lives that have been lost, they're attached to families, connected to people who love them. we need to keep that in mind. i know that -- look, law enforcement will go through the work that they need to do, but we all know hate when we see it. it is tragic that we've been visited with this kind of violence yet again. i'm going to be doing everything in my power as a united states senator to make sure that families don't have to endure this kind of violence in the first place. >> is there a necessary legislative response here? is this a -- president biden said, look, we've got to change

our heart, and there's no doubt there's a morality aspect to this. but is there a legislative change you'd like to see made? is there reporting of hate crimes, gun reform, police reform? >> i've long pushed for hate crimes laws here in the state of georgia. it took entirely too long to get one on the books here. thankfully we do have that law on the books right now. in addition to that, we need reasonable gun reform in our country. this shooter was able to kill all of these folks the same day he purchased a firearm. but right now, what is our legislature doing? they're busy under the gold dome in georgia trying to prevent people from being able to vote the same day they register. i think that suggests a distortion in values, when you can buy a gun and create this much carnage and violence on the same day, but if you want to

exercise your right to vote as an american citizen, the same legislature that should be focused on this, is busy erecting barriers to that constitutional right. >> do you think if you were not a u.s. senator right now, these changes would be going through the georgia legislature? >> well, look, i can tell you this. the people of georgia stood up in a powerful way and they sent the first african-american senator and the first jewish senator to the united states senate. when they did that, that was revolutionary, not just for georgia, but in a real sense, they saved the country. we would not have passed the american rescue plan had i not been elected. i think it's unfortunate that some politicians have looked at the results and, rather than changing their message, they're busy trying to change the rules. it will not stand, which is why i'm pushing through the for the

people act, which i'm co-sponsoring, which will make it easier, not harder for people to vote. it's the reason we have to pass the john lewis voting rights act. >> h.r.1 and the version you just said, a big comprehensive bill that frankly has a lot of -- there's folks that argue even on the left side of the aisle that it maybe needs some changes. the voting rights -- the updating of the voting rights act, that has been something that has been fairly easy to get done in a bipartisan way in the past. should that be the focus first? >> well, i like the fact that you point out that voting rights traditionally has been bipartisan. the last time we reauthorized the 1965 voting rights act, george w. bush was president, and it passed the united states senate 98-0. i think the onus is on my colleagues to explain why

they're not supporting voting rights. voting rights is not just one issue alongside other issues. it is fundamental. it is foundational. it is who we say we are as an american people. it's the covenant we have with one another. one person, one vote. we've got to do everything we can to pass voting rights. >> is that -- i understand that. what does that mean with the filibuster? you said you'd like to see a carve-out. have you had a conversation with senators manchin or sinema about the idea of a democracy carve-out? >> i'm talking to my colleagues all the time. i've been in the united states senate a few short weeks. chuck, i have to tell you, i know folks are focused on the filibuster. this language about the filibuster is language much too puny as an appropriate frame to talk about something as vital and as precious as voting rights. we have to pass voting rights no matter what, and it's a contradiction to insist on

minority rights in the senate while refusing to stand up for minority rights in the society. as someone who served as the pastor of congressman john lewis who literally laid his life on the line crossing a bridge in order to secure that right for us, i'm going to do everything in my power to convince my colleagues to support voting rights. it's the only reason why any one of us is in the senate in the first place, somebody voted for us. right now in realtime, we've got 250 voter suppression bills all across our country. we cannot allow this to happen. we have to secure our democracy. >> i want to ask you about the controversy regarding comments senator ron johnson made. he defended himself saying he wasn't afraid of the insurrectionists that were there, but he would have been if they had been black lives matter and antifa protesters. this is what he wrote in the "wall street journal."

he said, it was also sadly predictable that liberals would hurl the accusation of racism. this isn't about race. it's about riots. the rioters who burned kenosha, weren't of any one ethnicity. they were united by their radical left leftism. what would you say to him? have you had a chance to explain to him why you believe what he said was racist? i'm a pastor and happy to talk to my colleague. he's clearly misguided. chuck, i'm one of only three african-americans in the united states senate. in 2021, only the 11th black united states senator elected in the history of our country. i think part of what this underscores is that representation matters. when you are inside of a kind of privileged echo chamber, you can say things and not understand the implications of what's going

on. this is the reason why we've got to stand up for voting rights in our country. we've got to make sure that people from diverse backgrounds with their life experience, that they bring this to the great debates about the direction of our country. and that's why we've got to pass the john lewis voting rights act, and we've got to pass the for the people act. >> senator raphael warnock, a new democrat from the state of georgia, thank you for coming on and sharing your views with us. i know on most sundays you have another job you do. i appreciate you spending a few minutes with us. >> headed to church, chuck. great to be with you. joining me is the chairman of the republican senate policy committee, roy blunt of missouri. senator blunt, welcome back to "meet the press," sir. >> good morning, chuck. >> i want to talk about the insurrection itself and why is it that we cannot get a bipartisan sort of 9/11-style

commission here? i understand the republicans saying it wasn't equal. let's assume it's equal. why can't we get past that? it seems like we can't get past the scope, forget the makeup of this commission. >> chuck, as you know, the rules committee i've chaired that now i'm the top republican on, and the homeland security committee, we've held two hearings on this so far. i'm for holding more of those. i'm not opposed to a commission, but speaker pelosi has never suggested after her first suggestion that it would be overwhelmingly controlled by one side that there would be a bipartisan commission. i'd also think in terms of securing the capitol, whether the police board is functioning or not -- not the capitol police, but the board that in my

opinion got in the way of decisions that needed to be made that day, we know those facts, and i think congress itself could move forward and make the changes that need to be made. it's unlikely that the next thing we need to be worried about is going to be exactly like the last thing we needed to worry about, but clearly security from either domestic terrorists or outside terrorists are things we should be concerned about. i think congress itself has the capacity here to move forward. that doesn't mean i'm opposed to a commission. frankly, i would believe that the commission would probably be a reason to wait and not do the things that we know we need to do right now. >> i am curious, do you believe any commission that, the scope should be about specific security measures for the capitol, or should it also dive into what motivated this crowd of radicals to do this?

>> well, i don't know. that's certainly different than any commission we've ever had where you have a commission that tries to become psychoanalysts of what went on. if you're going to look at what happened, why it happened, where the problems were, that's one thing. i think that suggestion really steps this up to a very different level and certainly a level that the congress shouldn't wait on to decide how we move forward with the security needs of the capitol and the country. that's not the kind of commission, i don't believe, that's been discussed, and i haven't heard that discussion. >> i want to play sort of two different takes on what happened on january 6th, both from republicans, senator blunt. take a listen and let me ask you about it on the other side. >> i knew those were people that loved this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law. so i wasn't concerned.

now, had the tables been turned and president trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of black lives matter and antifa protesters, i might have been a little concerned. >> i was disgusted. i was sick to my stomach, evan, to see our nation's capitol being stormed by hostile forces. >> i'm sure you recognize both voices. senator ron johnson was the first voice. former president george w. bush there. ron johnson called the insurrectionists people that love this country. former president bush called them hostile forces. what's your view of this? >> i'm much more in agreement with george w. bush's view of this. i think it was a terrible day for america. i think it was absolutely unacceptable and we can't let that kind of thing be repeated again in our country. all over the world people saw that -- what people around the world would see as the citadel of democracy.

two weeks later i'm standing at the exact spot where that fighting occurred at the inauguration itself. totally unacceptable. we need to understand that's an underlying principle of what happened on january 6th that we don't need to try to explain away or come up with alternative versions of. we all saw what happened. we know what happened. we know we can't let that happen again. >> well put there. i want to put up a quote you said on the day you announced your retirement. you said this, i think the country in the last decade or so has sort of fallen off the edge with too many politicians saying, if you vote for me, i'll never compromise on anything, and that's a philosophy that particularly does not work in a democracy. it struck me, though, when i heard you say that, senator, you're more likely to be replaced by somebody who has a philosophy that you are saying isn't constructive. how do you stop this trend?

in your own state, you and josh hawley view this very differently. >> missouri voters get to decide who replaces me. you and i have talked about this before, the idea in a democracy that you run for office saying this is exactly what i'm for, i won't accept anything different than this. i don't know how people even begin to think that's a position you can logically take in a democracy. a democracy is very diverse people coming together and trying to reach the solution that can be reached at that time. i hope we get back to that. now, you know, if there are two or three things because of your life history and your faith that you know you can never compromise on, that's one thing. but when you come up with a long list of things that it's either my way or nothing happens at all, you basically ensure that nothing is going to happen at all. this is a -- democracy is give

and take just like, frankly, at work, at church, at home. if you're not willing to have some give and take, you're not going to have a very successful, satisfying life or in this case not a very successful or satisfying united states of america. >> how much of this change in how politics is conducted here in washington influenced you in not seeking another term? >> well, i don't think it did. i'm optimistic about the future. i'm grateful for the chances to serve. i've actually been able, particularly in this last two years to get a lot of things done, a lot of things related to the vaccine and testing, mental health reform is moving dramatically in the right direction, health care research, what we're doing to try to do a better job figuring out how we can keep up with the chinese and others. at the end of this term, i'll have been in the congress for 26 years, and 20 years in missouri politics before that.

if 15 general election victories is not enough to satisfy even the most needy politician, i don't know what would be. >> the voting rights act has been supported bipartisan for a long time. i know where folks are on h.r.1. i'm not asking about h.r.1. the voting rights act, are you going to support this if it comes to the floor? >> i'm for the voting rights act and always have been. i'm for people participating. what i'm not for is a federal takeover of the election system. i believe the election system works as well as it works because of local responsibility and diversity. and i'm for that. in this bill, there are a lot of things that go beyond that. there's a partisan federal elections commissions, where for the first time ever, instead of equal number of republicans and democrats, it's three on one

side and two on the other. money out of the federal treasury for politicians for their campaigns. there are a lot of things to talk about here that don't have anything to do in my opinion with access to the ballot or security or knowing what happened on election day is what voters actually wanted to see happen. >> that's why i wanted to split out the h.r.1 conversation in my question there. i'll let you go. senator roy blunt, republican from missouri. did sound like there's room on the voting rights act itself. i think that's where there's going to be room here. we shall see. senator, thank you. >> the voting rights act is the voting rights act that i've voted for in the past. that's the one i'm talking about now. >> fair enough. good to know. thank you, senator. how will president biden tackle the two crises, the retirement income is complicated. as your broker, i've solved it. that's great, carl. but we need something better. that's easily adjustable has no penalties or advisory fee. and we can monitor to see that we're on track. like schwab intelligent income. schwab! introducing schwab intelligent income. a simple, modern way to pay

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welcome back. the panel is with us, etd dee glaude jr., princeton university, peggy noon noon, jon ralston and nbc correspondent julia ainsley. julia, the border, immigration has been your beat. i want to start first with the media situation. he says there's no gag order -- no official gag order there. he also said they're not prioritizing ride-alongs. did you find that a bit dissis mick mulvaney? >> i did. as we know, there was no memo that went out. we know in the past there have been ride-alongs, had access to facilities where children have been held. yes. we are in a pandemic, but local law enforcement is allowing media to do ride-alongs. at the very least we get pictures, even if they're

government pictures of the conditions inside these facilities, specifically the overcrowded border patrol stations where there are more than 5,000 children in custody, far past their capacity. we know in rio grande valley had they had over 3,000 immigrants in a facility built for 250. are they getting outside? it's hard to do that without access. at the very least we could get pictures or ride-along. the numbers i just gave you, that's data we have to dig for. those are internal numbers, those are not freely given up by this administration right now. i think it comes down to them not wanting to make this a central issue. they have so many things they wanted to accomplish in the first 100 days. this is the issue they were handed. more transparency i they is what would be in the interest of everyone right now. >> i'm going to play a bite from former president bush about immigration. it may be the understatement of

the show, peggy noonan. take a listen anyway. one of the problems is immigration has become overly politicized. it's really a rebuke of congress's inability to come together to get something done on immigration. >> like i said, peggy, maybe an understatement of the year with that when it comes to this issue and congress. they've had all these shots at it, and they always find a way not to do it. >> yeah. they've been finding a way to mess it up, actually. i was thinking the other day, for more than a generation, for at least 20 years. the party leadership in washington just hasn't been able to get their hands around this. i have wondered in the past if it's because they really don't want to. donors feel one way, the base feels another. there's lots of disagreements,

not just between reps and dems but inside those parties. chuck, it seems to me, the first thing is this is a real crisis for this 3-month-old administration which has been tooling along okay and has had a big bill passed and has had much to talk about in terms of mood. this is a crisis. here is one thing i think we forget, and then i'll throw it back. immigrants, legal and illegal to the united states are intelligent. they are smart. they're hardy. we know that. they follow things, pick up on what's going on, keep a sense of what's going on politically in america. you know from the moment donald trump was defeated that they concluded that illegal -- that those who want to come here illegally had concluded that illegal entry is more likely to

work now, and so they came. they figured it out. this was based on evidence. so we've got the biggest surge in 20 years in the middle of the pandemi and with u.s. unemployment kind of high. i think the president really should step in in a different way here. i think, first of all, he should stop the press blackout. americans don't like that when they see that's going on, and also admit you got it wrong, something was coming. he couldn't see it. he sees it now. >> eddie, is this -- is there error here in not anticipating this, or is the error in sort of messaging and communication? >> it might be a combination of both. i don't want to suggest they didn't anticipate it.

if they didn't, of course, that's a problem. the messaging is really clear here. it's important that -- you can't simply add the adjective humane to the noun detention, of children and think that settles matters. we must understand it takes a lot for a parent to send their child away. something is happening in guatemala, something in happening is honduras, something is happening in el salvador. we need to understand, i think i need to get a better sense in terms of the messaging are what are the underlying principles of the biden administration? what is he keeping and why is he keeping it from the trump administration? what are holdovers from the obama administration? more importantly, what are the fundamental principles guiding immigration policy on the part of the biden administration? he needs to make that clear as we move forward. >> jon ralston, the fact of the matter is, immigration is -- can

be political kryptonite at times. your state -- it can move politics for a short period of time. does biden have something to fear here politically? >> i think so, chuck. i think the real issue is that he's using his rhetorical bully pulpit in a different way, talking about being humane and talking about having a heart. i was struck by how the secretary said this is not who we are, this is not who we are. that's certainly better than implying that there's murderers and rapist and every undocumented immigrant is a member of ms 13. anyone who has covered this for a while knows how complicated it is, while the rhetorical tools of administration are important, it's a hopelessly complex problem. a few years ago you had marco rubio talking about a path of citizenship. that kind of talk right now would be banned.

you can't even do that now. you have the political shackles and then you have the actual substantive shackles on making good policy here. >> both excellent points there. i'll pause it here. when we come back, president biden figured his 36 years in biden figured his 36 years in the senate wou needles. essential for pine trees, but maybe not for people with certain inflammatory conditions. because there are options. like an “unjection™”. xeljanz. the first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose

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welcome back. this week gave -- brought home to the fact that we've had a rising issue in this country with asian-american hate incidents. i want to put up a graphic here to just show. even though hate crimes were down overall in 2020, they were up over 100% when it came to asian people, as you can see here. 42% reported by chinese americans, two and a half times the reportspáixp

of the pandemic. it really took the rest of sort of collective political intelligentsia to take notice after the tragedy of this week. >> right. look, that community has always had to deal with two kind of contrasting notions, being viewed as a model minority and being viewed as a permanent foreigner. we see when there's these moments of crises, the idea of them being permanent foreigners subjects them to a kind of attack. let me say there's a through line to the show, from immigration, voting rights, dni reports and now, that's the panic of the whiteness of this country. we have to understand that within this frame, chuck. >> peggy, respond to that. look, there are times i look at these debates we're having, and it's like we've been having them since the founding of this country which is who is an american and who can be an american.

>> yeah. and certainly asian-americans have been under stress in this country and under various laws and strictures many times over this century. one of the things i think, bottom line, is when a people tell you that they are feeling more threatened and that their position has become less secure in america, just stop and believe them. people don't report that for no reason. there were rallies around the country this week. that sounds sort of pro forma. i don't think so. i think it was a very good thing. what is needed very much now, as we go through this huge cultural reckoning, is a sense i think, not only of affection and respect, but a sense of we've got your back. you can't say it enough. we've got your back. we're all in this together. that's one thing. another thing, very quickly, is

that every time we deal with one of these violent episodes, it reminds me that we are in a mental health crisis in america. gun control won't solve everything. we're in that crisis, and at the center of it is our young men. >> jon ralston, being on the west coast, there's certainly the asian-american populations are larger, more integrated, and yet we've been seeing these hate crimes out there, too. >> we have indeed, chuck. it's all very distressing. even though, as you pointed out, it's unclear whether the atlanta shootings were a hate crime or not, it's good this discussion is occurring. eddie said there's a throughline in this program. i think it is that words matter, chuck. while this existed long before donald trump, the fact that he had an utter lack of empathy during covid and that he was so desperate to escape political

responsibility, that he continually used phrases like the china virus that clearly has exacerbated these problems based on the stats that you just put up there, chuck. and no law is going to solve that. this is a place where joe biden and especially kamala harris can do a lot of good i think. >> look, unfortunately i'm out of time. all these elected officials, when they talk about china, the country as a rival and an adversary to this country, be careful of your words. that matters, too. i know there's a lot of fear that, as the rivalry heats up with china, these hateful incidents will increase here. that's all we have for today. thank you for watching. enjoy the first full day of spring because if it's sunday, it's plets.

spring break in miami. maskless crowds defy the local curfew as police, including s.w.a.t. teams come out in force to disperse mass gatherings of people looking to blow off some pandemic steam the weekend provided a multitude of demonstrations against anti-asian violence as more americans are speaking out. >> many of us in our community are very scared, and i understand that. and one way to kind of go through and get through our fear is to reach out to our communities. >> we've got the