leading the least productive congress in american history. >> the president here, i felt, was very shrewd to -- >> take the action. >> to use governor perry to say tell your party to give me the money. >> you first have to act, mr. president. that's what leadership is all about. >> he's been president for 5 1/2 years. when is he going to take responsibility for something? >> a clear divide is emerging in the republican party. speaker john boehner doesn't want anything to do with sarah palin's push to sack the president. >> of course it's not going to work. >> it is now the third day of the air strikes. >> hamas is feeling the impact and so are civilians. >> palestinians have been killed, including at least three dozen women and children. >> hackers apparently targeted files of employees who had applied for top secret security clearances. >> they say the intrusion appeared to come from china. >> it does not appear to have compromised any sensitive material. >> a new study shows that only 28% of americans think the u.s.

is the greatest country in the world. and that's only because they couldn't name any other countries. >> we begin with breaking news. and a pretty big day in the fight over immigration across this country. in just minutes, we'll hear from the president who is going to give remarks in austin, texas. texas, of course, the epicenter of that very fight. he's there for a series of fund-raisers. according to the white house, to tout the successes of some of his economic policies. but all of that may well be overshadowed by the white-hot combat going on right now on the hill over the immigration crisis. one symbol of that controversy? president obama won't be visiting the border. it's a decision he addressed in dallas earlier. >> there is nothing that is taking place down there that i am not intimately aware of and briefed on. this isn't theater. this is a problem. i'm not interested in photo ops.

i'm interested in solving a problem. >> he's interested in solving the problem, but for a feeding frenzy of politicians, it seems they agree on criticizing but not so much on what that solution is. governor rick perry has repeatedly called on the president to do more, for instance, even without congress. >> the president can send a message without even going to congress. he can pick up the phone to the dod and have 1,000 national guard troops temporarily assigned to the border and the message gets sent to central america very quickly. >> the president says the national guard is no long-term solution. and you know what? he's right. so what is the way forward? and what's the root of this problem in the first place? here with everything you need to know as we await those remarks from the president, happening any minute now, our super panel today. we've got telemundoa jose diaz ballard. his new show begins monday. stay tuned for that.

it's going to be a good one. also msnbc contributor silvia de francesco. steve ratner to talk about the economic side. and mark potter on the border and chris jansing traveling with the president. thank you all. i want to start with you, jose. this speech was intended to be about the economy as we just mentioned. but how much pressure is on the president right now to focus much more on this immigration crisis right now? >> you know, enormous pressure. and the fact is it is a crisis. and it's a crisis that is increasing every single day. every single day that passes, more and more children unaccompanied minors are crossing that border. and i've got to tell you that the act of crossing the border into the united states is dangerous. in the rio grande valley where mark potter is, you know, temperatures cross the 100-degree fahrenheit mark every single day. but it's been much more dangerous for these children to cross through mexico. henry cuellar, the congressman

from that area told me and told other people that up to 30% of the children, the girls he sees in these shelters have been raped along the way. this is not going away. this is a crisis that every day is getting worse and worse and worse. while politicians talk about it, nothing seems to be really dealing with the root problem. these three countries in central america, el salvador, guatemala and honduras, all have democracies. el salvador has the flmn in power. what is going on? why are these children crossing, and what can be done about it? no one seems to be wanting to deal with the root problem. >> that is exactly right. and these problems are getting worse and worse in central america. i want to return to that because the root causes of this are a big theme in this fight playing out on the hill. and everyone is pointing fingers in different directions. the first, steve, on this question of what was to be an economic speech is any of the economic message that would have been in those remarks going to resonate with people right now? will it just fall on deaf ears

if he starts talking about the economy? >> unfortunately, i think it will fall on deaf ears. even into the trips he's made to talk about the economy, have not gotten a lot of attention. and today, as your lead novem-i suggests, there's only one thing on people's minds. what are we going to do about this problem? >> you've said this is not a sustainable immigration problem. this is maybe a refugee crisis. >> it's not an immigration problem. these kids are not coming to america to get a job, to, you know, to work. they are coming to run away from the situation in central america, which is a ter eyebari we have a murder rate where it's 1 in 7. in new york city it's 1 in 25,000. the root of the problem is those three countries. we can do as some on the right would suggest and just try to close our border, even though legally we can't do that with these kids. put that aside for a second. we can try to keep them out of

the u.s. we're going to create a refugee problem in mexico. they're not going to go back to guatemala. >> we've got humanitarian spending that's for short-term crises and development spending that's on a longer term problem. the question is which is this? that's a really interesting take. victoria, when we hear steve on what the stakes of this problem are on the humanitarian side is the $4 billion, $3.7 billion, i believe, that the president requested going to go to that root problem? how much of it? >> it should. this is a very big problem that we're talking about. and i agree with steve that we are dealing more with the refugee asylee humanitarian problem. but that gets folded into the bigger issue of immigration reform. if comprehensive immigration reform were to have taken place, we would have been able to address a lot of the bureaucratic glitches which are causing us the headaches right

now. so the fact that these kids are coming over and not getting processed, and living in this limbo has to do because we've been clogged up for decades. and part of the comprehensive immigration reform package was to declog that. and in terms of border enforcement, and i know on the right that is a very popular argument. say, well, we can just solve this program, we don't need to worry about comprehensive immigration reform. let's just put more boots on the ground. that's absolutely not the solution. if anything the fact that all of these kids are getting caught is testimony to the fact that we have so much border enforcement. we need to think about how we use those dollars, that $3.7 billion in a smarter way. we need to think about the unsexy solutions of the bureaucracy part of it. the judges part of it and not necessarily getting those boots on the ground. >> this has been roughly the president's line of messaging. we have more people on the border than ever before. that's not the problem. it's going to be a thorny messaging challenge. that's what i want to go to

chris jansing on. she's been traveling with the president. chris, how is the president managing this delicate dance of expectations right now? so many people wanting him to speak exclusively on immigration? >>ia, and i think what the white house will tell you is this is always meant to be an economic speech. it will be an economic speech. the president has just met with the university of texas student. he's been meeting with people who have written to the president about their struggles in the american middle class. and so that's what he is talking to her about. that's what he's going to be talking about in the auditorium behind me. but to pick up on your conversation, the white house position is very clear on this. first of all, exactly what victoria said. if you listen to everything that the president said after he met with rick perry andy other religious and local leaders last night, what he said was this is not a border security problem. these kids are not getting through. all of these kids are being taken in. and so to talk about the national guard as if it's a kind of security problem with

criminals coming through the border is not the right thing to do. i'm also being referred this morning in my back and forth with senior officials to a "usa today" op ed piece. one of the things it said was, look, what washington has to recognize is something has to be done. you can have a discussion about how that $3.7 billion is spent or even if that's the right amount of money. but, ronan, the question is, what are we going to do and how quickly can we do it because, clearly there is this crisis and it shows no sign of letting up. >> the other question that's resonating again and again from president obama's critics is where did this crisis begin? where do you fall on that? >> well, i think you can look back to -- it depends on which part of the problem you're looking at. the larger immigration crisis comes back many administrations and various forms. and what the white house again would say to you is, we have had this comprehensive immigration proposal. the senate has passed it. they believe they have the votes in the house it would pass.

why isn't it going before an up and down vote. this has been their push for a very long time. for exactly what's happening on the border, i think i would defer to my colleague mark potter who has been there many times and has been covering this not just for weeks and months but for years. >> let's go to mark potter on that exact question of how things are on the border. chris jansing, thank you for that overview. really helpful and frames the debate in exactly the way it needs to be right now. people are pointing fingers at the last three administrations here. some people are saying the problem is just the border itself. obama says not. let's hear from you, mark. you've been there and seen exactly how the flow overlap order is looking right now. what do you think? >> well, right now, it's interesting. there has been a big up tick. in the last week, according to border control officials, some of the state officials we're talking to here along the river and others, they are seeing a slight downturn in the number of people going across the border. normally in the last couple of weeks they were seeing 12 to

1400 people a day that were picking up that many in the rio grande valley area. now it's about 1,000 a day. sometimes considerably below that. sometimes a little above, but 1,000 is about an average. an official says there's no reason to celebrate. that may just be a temporary blip but they are looking at it very carefully n wondering why this may be happening. >> thank you so much, mark, for that. a lot of people do atribute to to the border. a blame game going on. the other element that's contentious is the time frame. three different administrations in play. first up, accusations that clinton era anti-immigration legislation is to blame. that's partly because they instituted a zero tolerance policy that resulted in the deportation of some 20,000, mostly l.a.-based gang members all the way to central america. some say that contributed to this current gang culture in those countries and the current spike in violence. jose, how such that the root of the gang violence we're seeing exploding across central america right now? >> you know, i'm so glad you are

touching on these issues because these are the underneath the surface issues that really matter. you know what? we in the united states have a responsibility because we in many ways have been responsible for what happened in the past. why is it that these three central american countries are where we're seeing these kids come from? you know what's the poorest country in central america? it's nicaragua and it's not a utopia, a crime-free utopia. why aren't we seeing kids from nicaragua cross over? because the last immigration reform bipartisan project regularized those nicaraguans that had left that country and they were able to be reunited with their families. those coyotes are part of the narco drug cartels in mexico. those are the coyotes that are bringing people through mexico into the united states. and why do those cartels exist? so that americans can consume illicit drugs.

every single white, pure line of cocaine that americans put up their nose is filled with the blood of people who have died so that these people, in this country, could consume illegal drugs. we have a quota of responsibility and this is not going away whether we wish it to or not. >> and jose, you mentioned that america fuels demand. its response in the form of the war on drugs has contributed to the violence. we're engaged in brutal proxy wars frod providing funds and arms that often makes its way into some of the gangs and factions causing these problems. i want to get a look at what it looks like on the ground. jose? >> i was just going to tell you that is exactly what this is part of the problem. and it's not going away simply by putting more troops on the ground in the border or wishing it to go away. >> all right. so we've looked at this question of maybe there are deep roots in american policy that are certainly if not causing, contributing to this problem on the ground. i want to now go to guatemala to

take a look at exactly what the circumstances on the ground we're talking about are. stephanie gosk is there. she joins us by phone. you've been reporting for nbc on this. you've had really unusual access, actually, to some of these trafficking transactions that happen out of guatemala. what do you sense the trajectory is headed towards? is this getting worse or better? >> what remarkable from what we saw just yesterday, we visited a town called el naranjo on the border between guatemala and mexico. what we saw on the streets was really alarming. you had coyotes literally striking deals out in the open with young honduran kids. some of them under the age of 18, charging them money, in some cases as much as $7,000 to put them on boats and take them down the rio san pedro into mexico. in this town of el naranjo, there are drug traffickers,

human traffickers, also guatemalan military. they stand there, literally feet away from where these negotiations are taking place. and they don't do anything. it is just common knowledge that that's what's going on in the streets in that town. it has become part of the economy. and it is a big business. >> it's really a troubling set of circumstances. and, look, we've looked at the theory that maybe this was rooted in the clinton administration. the other line of blame goes to the george w. bush administration on this. that's when the william wilbur force trafficking victims protection reauthorization act of 2008 was passed. steve, hold on here because i want to get your take on how much that's contributed to this problem. the obama administration says it's a big factor. first, we have chris jansing back on the line. she's with the president and awaiting his remarks. chris, chime in on this subject of the origin point of these problems in the view of the administration? >> yeah, i think it's important that you go back to the 2008 law. i've spent a lot of time talking with top administration officials who are dealing with this law firsthand who are down

on the border, who are the people who have studied it. let me just make a couple of quick points here. one is that this was passed by voice vote unanimously as an anti-trafficking law. so the kinds of problems we're seeing, fleeing violence, are not the kind of problems that they first made this law to deal with. and when you talk to the people who sponsored the law, the co-sponsors of the law will tell you they never in a million years imagined that it would come to this kind of situation. it was never meant to handle these kinds of numbers, this breadth of people and these number of different kinds of reasons that they are coming into the united states. and so you need to look at that law and the way that they are trying to apply it and they are seeing that in so many of these cases, and this is what the president has been trying to say, the reason he's made the point that most of these children will not qualify for any kind of asylum is that they are not covered under this law. that's not what it was intended to do. >> chris, it's really helpful to hear that thinking from the hill

that this legislation wasn't intended for this kind of a problem. on the other hand, it is so hard to draw a bright line between vulnerable victims of human trafficking that were designed to be protected by this and the kinds of young people that are crossing over the border now. so a lot of confusion about where this problem comes from. we've got much, much more from our all-star panel on that exact weand on what to expect from president obama in texas when he speaks in just moments. stay with us. my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

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you're watching a live image of the podium where any minute president obama is expected to give remarks in austin, texas. this was supposed to be an economic speech touting the success of some of his policies on that side. but all expectations and all eyes in this country are on whether and how much he's going to address the immigration

crisis. that is unfolding right now and has gotten white hot for so many around the country. we've just been discussing where the origin point of that crisis is with our fabulous panel here today. we've got jose diaz balart, victoria, steve rattner on the economic side and chris jansing and mark potter, as well as stephanie gosk on the phone. a lot of different firsthand perspectives from those who know this issue. right before we broke, we were talking about the line of blame that goes all the way back to the clinton administration. and whether america deporting gang violence from l.a. down to central america is part of the root of what has become a humanitarian crisis there. and it's causing this flight into the united states. now i want to look at another line of blame. people saying that george w. bush administration is actually the origin point of this in the form of a 2008 law designed to protect victims of trafficking. making sure that they can't be deported immediately. making sure they have proper counsel. the obama administration is now saying that that is tying their

hands addressing this current crisis. steve, do you think that that's contributed to this for the worst? you were talking earlier about how this is a real humanitarian crisis, a refugee crisis. don't we need those protections in place? >> first of all, that law was passed, as chris said, essentially unanimously. bipartisan support for it. secondly, the -- i think the obama administration is correct that as a legal matter it sets up a process that they have to follow. and so these kids are not run away from the border patrol. they are running to the border patrol because they want to be caught. they want to go through this process. they want to claim that they are victims of anti- -- of trafficking or sexual abuse or the various things that are covered and be allowed to stay here. so let's just try to separate the issue. so it's not about comprehensive immigration reform. it's not about the border patrol. it's about 70,000 kids this year from those three countries trying to get out of those three countries and coming here. and we are then faced with a terrible choice. and this -- the obama administration has been somewhat vague as to how they want to

handle this. do they want to send them back go through this process and suspected them back and sort of deposit them back into guatemala? >> a lot of republicans suggesting that. >> well, the republicans would like to turn them away at the border and have them stay in mexico or do whatever it is they're going to do. do we want to send them back or do we want to recognize it's a refugee/humanitarian crisis and do something for them? and that's the nub of the issue. when you get done with all this atmospheric stuff, who did what to whom and what happened in 2008, right here and now we have to make that decision as a country about what we want to do about these kids. and certainly, as of this moment, we've got made that decision. and quite honestly, i think the obama administration is still trying to fig out what their position is on that. >> you mentioned the depth of this as a humanitarian crisis. when steve mentioned the obama administration, maybe still figuring out what they want to do on this, they have also been criticized for what they've already done. and that's the third line of blame for this. people blame the clinton administration, people blame the bush administration and now, of

course, they are blaming president obama and his administration. specifically because of daca, deferred action for child arrivals. jose, this has become so contention. does that contribute to the perception in central america that the u.s. is a free-for-all safe haven? >> so let's go a little bit back. so now the president is to be blamed for dealing with an issue that already existed that he inherited and that no one wanted to deal with? so now you blame someone for doing something positive when no one else was willing to do anything. and then i couldn't disagree with my colleague more. this is about immigration reform. and victoria talked about it brilliantly in the last segment. let me tell you something. if the house had passed the senate bill, which has billions of dollars of money to go right to the border, to seal that border so that not even, you

know, a centimeter could pass between one country and the other, if that had been dealt with, if the house had acted at all on immigration reform, then, under immigration reform, the salvadorans who have been here for 10 and 15 years contributing the sweat of their brow to this economy under tps, temporary protective services, would have been able to be united with their children. so it's directly because of immigration reform and the lack in the house of representatives to deal with it. but to put on their pantalones and deal with an issue that now we're seeing. who is to blame? i think all of us. and certainly not just central america. >> i couldn't agree with you more. congressional gridlock has allowed this problem to go on and on. and it's stymied solutions coming to the floor. going back to the human stakes of this, stephanie gosk joins us by phone. she's in guatemala. you have some first hand accounts of exactly that. >> i think when you look at this

question of why unaccompanied minors are leaving these countries without their parents, you'll hear people embrace one reason or another depending on their politics. but the reality that we've seen on the ground here is that this is very much in a squishy middle. there are lots of reasons why these kids leave. and we talked to a bunch of teenagers in one of the most violent neighborhoods of san pedro sula, one of the most violent cities in honduras. they said violence is a problem. gangs are a problem. also, jobs are a problem. they don't see a future for themselves. and every single one of them, also has a neighbor or a friend down the street that has left in the last few years and has been allowed to stay. whether they are in the deportation process or whether they got through or whatever it is, it is perceived down here that they were allowed in. so all of these factors together need to be addressed separately but also with an understanding that they are all contributing the issue. >> now this root problem that you are describing in guatemala is true all across the region. in honduras, this was a shocking

stat. in 2012, the number of murder victims age 10 to 14 had doubled from 2008. we're seeing these spikes all around the region. of course it does put us in a moral dilemma when these individuals arrive at the border. mark potter is there in mission, texas, looking at the border issues involved in this crisis. mark, you have mentioned that you have seen things slowing down at the border. is that a rare sign of promise amidst all these rather darker stats? >> well, officials are trying to figure out why this happened. why this is happening. it's occurred over the last week and they've come up with some interesting thoughts on why this might be happening. one of them is mechanical. that train, the beast, which is coming up from mexico bringing central americans closer to the u.s. border derailed last week. and it made it very hard for people to go any farther. and so the border patrol says they had that happen in january when it did then, the border slowed down. it's really quiet here.

unlike when we were here a couple of weeks ago. and they say it happened in january. they think that might be a factor now, too. the smugglers also, that stephanie was talking about in their sales pitches were telling people you had to be here by june 30th to meet this deadline. part of the fraud scheme they were involved in. that date has passed. the officials are wondering, maybe that's caused a slowdown. july is typically a slow month because of the hot weather. there are questions about whether the tough talk in washington now, the messaging is getting through. and so what they are doing to get answers is they are interviewing everybody coming across to see what they've heard, what they are doing. what are their reasons? and they are trying to gather intelligence in central america to see if this is just a temporary blip or if this is a trend. it's pretty clear that right now it's a lot slower than it was a couple of weeks ago. >> so a lot to sort out there on the border. thank you for keeping an eye on that. victoria, what's happening down there is having all these political echoes. it's ramping up expectations for this particular speech we're waiting on. any minute, president obama will start speaking there in texas.

we -- i want to go to you on this question of what those expectations are. we mentioned republicans really pilloring the president, not offering much by way of solutions but saying president obama doesn't have the answers. there's also been criticism from within the democratic party. i think we have some sound that's a good illustrative case of that. take a listen. >> i hate to use the word bizarre, but under the circumstances, when he has shown playing pool in colorado, drinking a beer and he can't even go 242 miles to the texas border. >> i mean, look. that is maybe an unfair critique. the president has legitimate economic issues he's been championing and these remarks during his current tour. but that said if there is that perception of a lack of moral leadership, what can he do in this speech to regain that? >> first of all, ronan, perception is reality for better or for worse. and even though the president wants to keep his focus on the economy, he is in texas.

he's in ground zero of this problem. and optics matter. so the fact that he is not down at the border in my personal opinion, politicizes this issue more. republicans want to politicize this issue. and i think what needs to happen on the democratic side and especially with the administration, is to show that human face. that this isn't about politics. rs, ds. it's about women and children, and it's about our american values of embracing these vulnerable people. so i think that what's happened is we've gotten too politicized on this issue and this is ultimately going to overshadow the speech that the president wants to focus on the economy on. >> that is exactly the dilemma he faces. sfe steve, is there a way to bridge these two issues? can he talk about the immigration stakes and is that a real factor sneer when we talk about this kind of a deep humanitarian crisis, is this something we have to say, you know, can we afford it, or is this something that no expense

should be spared on? >> certainly we can afford it. the cost of dealing with these people, the costs of helping the three countries that are sending most of them here, all those things are well within our means. i think what you are seeing going on here is not really an economic argument, it's a human argument, frankly, between people who don't want those people in this country and people who don't want to send them back to the countries where they would be at risk. and as i said, that's the dilemma that we're facing as a country where the president doesn't seem to have exactly decided what to do. the republicans have a clear point of view. liberal democrats have a clear point of view they don't want to just send them back. but i don't think we've really come to grips with that. >> you say exactly that. there has been pushback from a lot of republicans saying 3.7 is too much. we can't afford it. you know, certainly there's this question of sound fiscal policy in the midst of all of this. >> it's money. it has to be pad for. we can afford it. it's $3.7 billion. the question of the security of the border is not the issue here. the border is securing -- these

people have been caught. they aren't escaping from the border patrol. they are running to the border patrol. we can seal the border, but these people are going to be sitting here trying to get -- as long as that 2008 law has been in effect we have a legal obligation to put them through a process. and that is part of the problem we face at the moment. >> more national guard troops won't address those root problems. so that's the challenge here. chris jansing, we've just learned the president has arrived on site there. so we're getting closer to his remarks. you know, we've seen in recent weeks a marked shift in his messaging. this has been unacknowledged. they haven't called it an about-face but he's saying pointedly, individuals in central america don't expect your children to be able to stay when they come to this country. that's certainly a contrast to the kind of more welcoming message we saw around the d.r.e.a.m. act and other earlier pieces of legislation. have you sensed a shift, chris in covering this administration? >> yeah, look, there's no doubt that there's been a shift on that. and they would argue that these

are separate issues. that what's happening on the border needs to be looked at very specifically but there's no doubt about it. top administration officials just last week, jeh johnson was on "meet the press" and would not directly answer a question about, are most of these children going to be deported back? and then you saw a turn around and josh earnest, the press secretary, coming out to the podium. there was this tremendous outcry about why he didn't answer the question saying, yes, they will go back. this administration will follow the letter of the law. and i think when you look at what he's going to talk about today in terms of the economy and what he's going to talk about in terms of the border and overall immigration you'll hear one theme, ronan. and that is congress. he's going to push hard on congress. he's going to say they have a job and they haven't been doing it. what have they done? they keep criticizing my administration. i have a proposal out there. the senate passed an immigration bill. i put forward in great detail a $3.7 billion plan. let's talk about that. let's negotiate that. but you don't get to say i'm not

doing anything and i don't have a plan if you don't come back with something. so i think you'll hear, as you did last night it was really interesting to me, ronan, that he had almost nice things to say about texas governor rick perry. he said, look. we don't have huge philosophical differences, but congress on the other hand, they need to do something and one of the things he said he told the governor is, i need your help in pushing republicans to get this done, ronan. >> you mentioned he's likely to push hard on congress on this. certainly it's easy to point fingers when this congress is as unproductive as it is. and let's actually look at the perspective on the other side of that conversation. as we await these remarks, the president speaking any minute now in texas, we're joined from capitol hill by texas republican congressman ted pope. thaunk you for being here. you've been critical of the president's emergency funding request for the border. what are you hoping to hear from him today? >> well, i hope the president balances the problem. and the problem is, of course,

that people just cross into the united states and are not stopped. that is the problem. so i hope he addresses the issue of border security, how to prevent people from coming into the u.s., unless they legally come in the u.s. of course, we need to deal with the humanitarian issue as well. but the humanitarian issue will never go away unless we stop the flow of people coming in. so i hope that with his proposal, his legislation that he wants congress to look at, that congress then balance both of those issues. his legislation, unfortunately, only deals with the results of the problem, which is people coming in, the humanitarian issue. doesn't deal with the problem of the fact that people can just walk into the united states without permission. >> congressman, how much is this 2008 legislation that prevents immediate deportation, that provides the protection of access to counsel, to young victims of trafficking that come into the country to blame for the current situation? the white house had said it's part of the problem. >> i agree. it is part of the problem.

that legislation was specifically designed, of course, for those primarily young children that were sex trafficked into the united states. it's being used now by the drug cartels to bring all kids into the united states from guatemala and honduras because they know that they are treated differently than people from mexico or canada. i agree with the president. we need to fix that legislation. to make sure that we don't promote this current problem in the future. and i think that will be part of the solution that the house passes probably next week. >> and that solution would be to add these other central american countries to the list of exemptions to those protections. i want to also ask you before we part ways on this congressman. the president has been under so much pressure to physically go to the border. he says that's theatrical. if he goes to the border it's for a photo op and it's not substantive. does he have to go? >> i would hope he goes. i agree with congressman cuellar of laredo that it would send a

message to the americans who live across the border or on the border, that the president looks at this as a real priority. but that's the president's choice. if he wants to go to the bord ehe's accepted. he's wanted there. if he doesn't want to, that certainly is his choice. i would hope that he would come down there and see firsthand that situation. >> congressman, appreciate your insights on this. we'll be watching closely and hope to getti your reaction at some point after the speech. of course, behind all of this is a philosophical question. how welcoming is america as a country? give us your huddled masses? or turn them away. at least one well-known conservative voice is getting a lot of blowback for saying he plans to help immigrant children at the border. take a listen to this. >> this is a crisis. and anyone left or right seeking political gain at the expense of these desperate vulnerable, poor and suffering people are reprehensible. the fundamental transformation

of america happens the minute you go cold inside. so may i suggest we help the children. through no fault of their own, they are caught in political crossfire. and while we continue to put pressure on washington and change its course of lawlessness, we must also help. it is not an either/or. it is both. we have to be active in the political game and we must open our heart. >> reaction from his conservative fan base was swift and exacting. they said he jumped the shark and boo his, he's helping obama. can you imagine such a thing? party lines should never be crossed. steve, there's this movement called christians against illegal immigration. is it a christian thing to do to be welcoming and compassionate? why aren't we seeing more support in that group given the argument that glenn beck is making there? >> i'm not sure i ever thought i'd see the day where i thought anything glenn beck said made something behind it. >> yet there you have it. >> i think you have to focus on

this. when you heard the congressman before, what he was saying was, close the border. repeal the 2008 law. at least of these three countries. and so these kids would either end up on the other side of the border sitting in mexico for the their lives or get murdered back in their home countries. i don't have that solution right here and now but i don't think that the solution of just turning them away and saying go figure it out yourself is a very humanitarian thing to do. >> as tense as that conversation is around his comments, at least we're seeing some bipartisanship out of it. speaking of the lack of bipartisanship, jeb bush got heat for some equally compassionate comments about immigration. iconically saying this is actually a human issue. it's about love. it's about families wanting to cross the border. is there no room for that kind of a centiment in the current conservative movement? >> no, the conservative movement, no. there are some republicans in the house that have been working, many of them for years, to try and get some bipartisan

agreement. and apparently the leadership of the republican party in the house is simply not interested in dealing with this very serious and imminent issue. i just wanted to point one thing out. you know, criticizing this 2008 law because it was made for trafficking and exploitation. these children are trafficked. these children are exploited. they are raped in their hometowns and along the way. i'm not sure that the problem is a 2008 law. i think it's the lack of immigration reform because these kids don't come here by themselves to be taken to disney world. these kids are coming by themselves to meet family members that are already in the united states of america. so why don't we deal with the issue. immigration reform. close the border. when latin americans know that that border is uncrossable and at the same time, that those who are already here in the united states can bring their immediate family members, 6 and 8-year-old children, that's the moment that

things can change. but blaming a 2008 law or throwing more money to central america, let's just remember that a couple of years ago, the ex-president of el salvador, one of the three countries is accused of stealing $12 million that an asian country gave to el salvador to help its poor. >> right. these are not reliable partners to work with. and they are few signs this crisis is going to get better on the ground. maybe it's more important than ever that we have a compassionate regime that responds to those problems. jose, that is such an important point that in fact, we risk a lot if we lose all the protections of that 2008 legislation. it passed with such broad bipartisan support for a reason. this is a real problem. young people are being trafficked into this country. they're vulnerable. they also need our protection, even as we need to sort out this problem. we're going to take a quick break. we're still awaiting remarks any moment now from president obama. he's in texas. and to what extent will he speak on this immigration criseis? stay with us.

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welcome back. we are awaiting remarks from president obama in texas. there's a lot on the line here. how such he going to address the current unfolding immigration crisis. but first we've got some breaking news from another part of the country. back in washington, justice correspondent pete williams is with us. always a pleasure to have you here. there's some serious breaking news you have exclusive new information on. tell us about that. >> i'll be quick because i know we're waiting for the president. this involves the shooting last october of a woman at the u.s. capitol here in washington, d.c. after she tried to drive her car on to the white house grounds, got into a shooting incident with the police at the foot of capitol hill and then she was finally shot near a senate office building and they later discovered she had no gun and that her child was in he car. now we understand that a federal investigation by the u.s. attorney's office here in washington, d.c., has concluded that there's insufficient evidence to pursue either civil

rights charges as the surviving members of her family wanted the government to do, or criminal charges. now this report doesn't say whether the shooting was justified or not. that wasn't its mission. but this is as close as you can get, i guess, to an official conclusion that nothing here was done wrong. so this was an unbelievably visible event. it all went down very quickly. over in seven minutes as this woman tried to drive her car into the white house, then around the capitol, led police on a high-speed chase and was ultimately shot to death. controversial because she was unarmed. raises questions about shooting at a car. but in any event, that's what the conclusion is. no charges, no civil rights investigation, ronan. >> thank you so much, pete. this is a story that's obviously developing fast. we appreciate your update on it. keep an eye on it for us. >> i want to give you an update an what's happening in texas. that's the student speaking now who is going to introduce president obama. he is expected to speak any

moment now. she's in the midst of her introduction. we'll sbring you tbring you the live when he starts speaking. i want to go to stephanie gosk in guatemala. she's on the phone. where did this immigration crisis come from? more and more young people flowing across the border. we don't have stephanie on this right now, tough line there. but we want to pursue this line of questioning about where people are pointing the fingers and how correct they tor do so. that's a big fight on the hill and a big conversation across the country. stand by. it looks like actually we'll have the president shortly. and he is entering now. so we'll resume those questions after. take a look live right now. the president will begin talking about the economy, but maybe also about the immigration crisis. take a listen. >> hello, austin. hey!

hello, austin. all right. everybody have a seat. have a seat. it's good to be in austin, texas. can everybody please give kenzie a big round of applause for the great introduction? i -- you know, that's because i love y you. everybody knows i love austin, texas. i -- every time i come here, i tell you how much i love you. i love austin. i love the people, i love the

barbecue, which i will get right after this. i like music. i got good memories here. i've got good friends. i was telling somebody, the last time i walked a real walk, where i was kind of left alone, was in austin, texas. right before the debate here during the primary in 2007, 2008? must have been 2008. and i was walking along the river, and nobody noticed me. and i felt great. and then on the way back, somebody did notice me and secret service started coming around and -- but that first walk was really good. so let's face it, i just love austin. love the people of austin. i want to thank a proud texan,

congressman sheila jackson lee, for being here today. we appreciate her. it is great to play at the paramount. i i finally arrived. i have enjoyed the last couple days. just getting out of washington and we started in colorado. in denver, and then went to dallas, and then came down here. and each stop, i have been able to just meet people and talk about people's lives, their hopes, their dreams. i just had some coffee, as kensy may have mentioned, at the magnolia cafry, which was very nice. it was fun, too, because i had a chance -- there were a bunch of folks there. some emt folks were there on their break after their shift, and there was a group of high

school kids who were -- who were getting together. they were about to go on a two-week-long service trip to peru. which, by the way, reminds you, you should be optimistic whenever you meet young people because they're full of energy and idealism. they were going to do this service trip and go for two days to mauchchu picchu, and i said, always wanted to go there. and they said, you can come with us if you want. and i said -- i said i'm really tempted, but i think there's some things i have to do. but i got them in exchange for a selfie with them, they promised that they would send me a picture of them when they get there. so i'm going to hold them to it. we got their e-mail. if i don't get it, i'll be upset. anyway, so i was talking to kensy, because she wrote me a

letter. and i wanted to reply in person. because as some of you may know, every day, we get tens of thousands of letters or correspondents, e-mails at the white house. and ever since the first day i was in office, what i have asked our correspondents office to do is select ten of them for me to read every night. and these letters, people tell me their stories. they talk about losing a job or finding a job. they talk about trying to finance a college education. they talk about, you know, challenges because maybe they're the children of immigrants and they're worried about their status. and they talk about the hardships they're going through, successes they had. things they hope for, things that they're afraid of. when it comes to the future and their lives. sometimes people say thank you for something i have done or a position i have taken.

and some people say you're an idiot. and that's how i know that i'm getting a good representative sampling because, you know, half the letters are less than impressed with me. so kensy wrote me to tell me about her family. her mom was a preschool teacher, her dad was an engineer. together, obviously, they worked really hard, raised a family. they were responsible, did all the right things. were able to put their kids through college. then they lost their jobs and because they lost their jobs as, you know, midcareer persons, a lot of the resumes didn't get answered. and their savings started to dwindle. and kensy works to pay for school, but it's not enough. and she told me that she's

always been passionate about politics and the issues of the day, but after last year's government shutdown, all this stuff has happened with her family, it doesn't seem like anybody in washington is thinking about them. you know, she wrote, i became a disgruntled citizen. i felt as if my government, my beloved government that is supposed to look out for the needs of all americans had failed me. my parents have always supported my siblings and me, she wrote. now it's my turn to help them. i want to be involved, president obama, what can i do? so i wanted to meet with kensy to let her know i had heard her, that i listened to what was happening with her family and i was thinking about her parents, and i was thinking about her and her sisters and i'm here today because of kensy. and i am here today because of every american who is working

their tail off and does everything right and who believes in the american dream. and just wants a chance to build a decent life for themselves and their families. and you and folks like kensy are the reason i ran for president in the first place. because your lives are the lives that i lived. [ applause ] when i listen to kensy, i think about me and michelle trying to finance our college education. you know, when i think about -- >> we have been watching president obama speaking to an enthusiastic crowd in austin, texas. he seems to be focusing on the economy, we'll keep an eye on this to see if he ends up pivoting to immigration, as so many have speculated he might. first, we've got to go to a brick. we're going to be watching this, and "the reid report" will bring you all the latest as this unfolds. do we have joy here? we do not have joy, so stay

tuned after the break for her and the rest of the analysis after the president's speech. fm the healthcare you deserve. at humana, we believe if healthcare changes, if it becomes simpler... if frustration and paperwork decrease... if grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home... the gap begins to close. so let's simplify things. let's close the gap between people and care. ♪

it's impact on the immigration debate takes center stage. >> they're people. these kids, they're human. >> i want them back where they came from. i am not responsible for their children. >> i saw what is happening to these children. the american people do not trust this president. >> this isn't theater. this is a problem. >> this is saproblem of the president's own making. >> i'm interested in solving a problem. >> when is lee going to take responsibility for something am. >> we'll have the latest from the border and the trip to texas and we'll explain the roots of

the problem which i are closer to home than you may think. >> then we'll go to capitol hill where jeh johnson and other administration officials wig make the case for the preside president's $3.7 billion request to help fix the immigration crisis. first, president obama is delivering an economic speech in austin. over an hour from now, he'll be on his way back to washington from texas where after meeting with the president last night, governor rick perry is at the border today issuing two challenges to the commander in chief. send in the national guard and meet him in mccalen before coming home. >> he can pick up the phone to the dod and have 1,000 national guard troops temporarily assigned to the border and the message gets sent to america quickly. air force one is a speedy airplane. i would make a decision to come on down. >> the president is pointing the finger squarely at congress. telling them g