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 to get on the ball.

>> the problem here is not a major disagreement around the actions that could be helpful in dealing with the problem. the challenge is, is congress prepared to act to put the resources in place to get this done? chris jansing is traveling with the president in austin. great to have you here. any sense that the president plans to take governor perry up on the plans in regards to sending the national guard to the border or traveling to see him before he heads home. >> absolutely not to going to the border. he will go back to washington this afternoon. they have been very clear about that. i talked to a senior white house official this morning who told me that the president would consider the national guard, but he doesn't think that's the answer. the white house has put forth what they do think is the answer. that's the $3.7 billion proposal

to deal with the humanitarian crisis. there's no doubt about it, i listened to everything he had to say, i was there when he met with governor perry and the town local and religious leaders yesterday. when he came out and he spoke, he said, look, we don't have huge philosophical differences, the governor and i. i listened to what they had to say. i understand. but the bottom line is, i have a plan out there. what i want governor perry to do is put pressure on fellow republicans to take action on this. because every day that goes by, we have a humanitarian crisis that is growing. now, we have heard from the border that over the last week or so, the numbers have been dwindling just a bit. we don't use that as a way of saying that the humanitarian crisis in any way has abated or that the pressure on the white house, on this president, is in any way less. now, in this auditorium behind me, the president has been speaking about the economy up until about three minutes ago when i came out here. he was speaking completely about the economy, and again, when i

talk to white house officials this morning, they said he will make a mention of it, but we shouldn't expect anything new or major in terms of a border crisis or immigration, joy. >> thank you very much, chris. really one quick question for you as well in talking to white house officials. are they hopeful there will be movement on the $3.7 billion supplemental as you said, they have asked governor rick perry and other texas officials to put pressure on their members of congress. does the white house feel like this thing is going to move in the next week? >> look, the white house, when congress is involved, the white house will tell you they never take anything for granted. and if you heard what happened on the senate floor yesterday, senators like flake and mccain and cornyn, they were very critical of the president. there is a major divide here about what the priorities should be. on the republican side, they're saying we have to first secure the border. the president is saying this is not a border security issue. these are not kids who are getting through the border.

these are kids who are actually running toward the border control officers. they want to go through this legal process. they want an opportunity for amnesty. what we have is a humanitarian crisis. and what the president is saying, let's deal with this humanitarian crisis. let's help these children, and have the rest of it as part of the larger discussion, which he would argue he's been trying to have, which is comprehensive immigration reform. joy. >> indeed, thank you so much, chris jansing. >> meanwhile, as congress and the president engageige the political back and forth over how to handle this humanitarian crisis, advocacy groups have filed a class action suit against the u.s. government, alleging, as the l.a. times reports, that the government is violating due process by allowing some children to navigate the complex immigration system alone, meaning without attorneys. meanwhile, communities across the u.s. remain deeply divided over whether to even temporarily house children who are fleeing their drug cartel and gang ravaged homelands. >> if we don't have a border, we

have no nation. >> they are still our neighbors. if your neighbor comes to your door and knocks on it and asks you for help, do you ignore them? >> we welcome your kids. not all of them, but if every city across the country would help out in some way, we could address this challenge. >> mcallen is happy to do this effort and we will continue to do so. but at the same token, i don't thinl it's fair for our taxpayers to bear that burden, a burden i think should be the federal government's. >> and joining me now from the border in mission, texas, is nbc's mark potter. you have been talking with border agents for a couple days now. what are they telling you? we are hearing it's slowing down a little bit, but what are you hearing on the ground? >> what they're saying is indeed as chris alluded to, the numbers are falling a little bit here along the border. when we were here a couple weeks ago, they were pretty steady at 1200 to 1300, 1400 immigrants caught a day on this side of the border in this area of the rio grande valley.

from mcallen out here to mission. this is sort of the hot zone. now they say it's about 1,000 a day, sometimes below that. i think they had a day where they had 500. they're not sure how to read this, if this is just a sort of a temporary blip or this is a trend that is starting now as one official said, it's way too early to start celebrating. they're trying to figure this out. one of the things you hear border patrol agents talk about lot is a train in mexico called the beast, which brings people up, immigrants up from central america, closer to the u.s. border. it derailed last week, leave aglot of people stranded, making others unable to come up here. they think that actually may be a factor in what's happening now because that happened again back in january, and the symptoms were just the same. a quiet border for a while until they got that train fixed. they also said that the smugglers have been selling trips to people, telling them in central america, you have to get to the united states by june 30th in order to meet some sort of deadline.

it was all fabricated, but that was a selling point they were hearing a lot of in the debriefs from the immigrants here. th that date has passed. we wonder if that's a factor. they also say july, which we're in now, despite the rain here, is typically a very, very hot month and a slow month. they're also wondering whether some of the messaging from washington, the harsh messaging now about being detained and being sent back is making its way to central america. they don't know that, but they're interviewing every person who comes across, asking them these questions. they're trying to get intelligence from central america to try to figure out why this is happening. this downturn. is this just temporary or is this the start of a trend that suggests this is slowing down. they don't know, but it's much slower than it was when we were here before. >> thank you so much, mark potter at the border in mission, texas. appreciate it. >> i would like to bring in texas congressman, a democrat whose district shares a border with mexico. so congressman vela, you have heard now that governor rick

perry has said he would like the president to deploy the national guard temporarily to the border. you have also heard both chris jansing and mark potter report that we're seeing a slowdown in the number of children, the number of people coming through. is deploying the national guard something that you, as somebody who actually represented a border district, would support? is that something you want? >> no, i respectfully disagree with governor perry on that. i believe -- i have a lot of faith in the officers and agents that work for customs and border protection. i think that we here in congress need to do whatever we can to continue to support their efforts. but i don't think we need the national guard on the border. >> and congressman, speaker b e boehner and the republicans have continued to blame president obama for the humanitarian crisis. you have called that disingenuous. i want to quote something you said. it's disingenuous for republicans to blake the white house on a crisis on border

security when they passed the border security hr which is also called the mccall-thompson legislation 14 months ago. the majority leader has failed to bring the measure to the house floor for a vote. what would that legislation have done and what is its status right now in the house? >> well, that legislation has been stalled since may of 2013. and what that legislation does is it sets forth a framework so that the secretary of homeland security can establish operational control of the border. it was co-authored by a republican chairman, mike mccaul from texas, and from our ranking democrat on the committee, bennie thompson. if we had had a vote on that bill any time in the last 14 months, we would have had a border security bill in place. i think what we need to do is bring that border security bill on the floor as soon as possible and i think that's the first step that we can take in making

sure that we as a congress take action to help solve this humanitarian crisis. >> congressman vela, the other thing we have hurt bandied about is if the 2008 law that was passed unanimously, i believe on a voice vote in congress, and signed by president bush, to stem human trafficking, if that law were tweaked, somehow that would help. isn't it the case, sir, if you look at a map of where the kids are coming from and the length of mexico, no one is walking through central america, up through that luge length you see in orange of mexico. people are by definition being trafficked here. there's that train. it's got to be by rail. it cannot possibly be by foot. by definition, are want these kids victims of human trafficking, so would changing that law even apply? >> back in 2008, when that law was passed, every single member of congress except for two, both in the house and the senate, voted to put that forward. president bush signed it into

law. what i believe is that law gives us the flexibility to expedite the adjudicator process so we can make fair and due process-based determinations on whether these children should stay or go. what we have got to do is support the president's request and beef up our immigration court system so that we have enough judges. their support staff, prosecutors, and a public defender system so that the due process rights of these children deserve can be protected. >> congressman, you work in the house, which has unfortunately have to come the reputation for a lot of people as the place where a lot of bills go to die. do you think this $3.7 billion supplemental has any chance of passing the house of representatives? >> i am hopeful in some form we will be able to pass an appropriations bill to address some of the programs that the president has put forward. like i said, i see three quick steps we can take.

first, put mccaul-thompson on the floor for a vote. second, we need to give customs and border protection help at the detention facilities because they really need support from the standpoint of processing the number of children who are coming through, and i think we need more space, we need more people, we need more computers and that sort of thing. >> all right, congressman vela of texas, thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> after the break, an award-winning filmmaker shares his perspective on what's really driving central american immigrants into the u.s. to begin with. and we continue to monitor capitol hill where the senate appropriations committee will conduct a hearing on the president's $3.7 billion request to address the humanitarian crisis at the border. shoulder pain... ...and a choice take 6 tylenol in a day which is 2 aleve for... ...all day relief. hmm. [bell ring] "roll sound!"

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the united states has a unique burden and responsibility when it comes to figuring out a solution to the refugee crisis on our southern border. and that's in part because for decades, we had a hand in creating the environment that's driven immigrants north from south and central america. the three countries from which many of those 57,000 children are now fleeing, el salvador, guatamala and honduras, share a common problem of gangs and drug trafficking. problems only exacerbated by a history of foreign policy that found american presidents driven by big economic interests backing the perpetrators of civil war where some of the top military officials who led these outrages were even trained at the united states controversial school of the americas. it's not a comfortable subject, but it's one that's important to address. and it's something our next guest did with his film "harvest of empire" in 2012.

>> i had never seen anything like els salvador. i was more frightened there than vietnam. what was going on there was the slaughter of the innocents. >> edwardo lopez is the co-director and co-producer of "harvest of empire." and thank you for being here. first of all, your film is fantastic, if people haven't seen it, i highly recommend doing so. one of the things you do is go back through the history of the united states magnet that drew a lot of people from central america because of conflicts that we sewed in their countries. talk a little bit about, particularly when it comes to el salvador and guatemala. >> thank you very much, joy. i think it's important for people to realize that in the 1980 census, there were fewer than 100,000 salvadorans here in the united states. now, just 34 years later, we're at 2 million, and last year, the census officially declared that salvadorans are now the third largest latino group in the country.

el salvador is the smallest nation in all of the americas. how could this huge massive shift in migration happen? well, you can clearly see that when the war started, supported by so many billions of dollars in u.s. aid, much of that aid, much of those guns are now the same guns that are used by the gangs, by the way. when that civil war started, that's where the spike in immigration occurred. so there is a very direct connection between our involvement in el salvador and guatemala and honduras, and immigration crisis that we're facing right now. >> i mean, one of the other things in your film opens with talking about some of the ironies of people saying that they essentially don't want this population here. when the u.s. annexed whole swaths of mexico leading up through california, colorado, texas, with a goal in part of having mexican labor for one thing, to replace slave labor because you still needed cheap labor for the agriculture industry, you talk about the attempt to decide whether to import african-american slaves

into texas or just use mexicans. we have a long history of wanting this cheap labor but not wanting the people. talk a little bit aboutabout that. >> that's exactly right. most our fellow citizens are completely unaware of the fact that immigration is really the unintended consequence of aeroown country's long history of intervention in latin america. and this is a very, like you said, it's a very uncomfortable fact for a lot of us to accept because we are so used to knowing our country as the good guy. but unfortunately, our relations with latin america have been quite different. and so from the very beginning, as juan gonzalez, the author of "harvest of empire" the book that we based the film on, he says from the very beginning, the labor of the west depends on mexicans. and that's quite true. because we did not have enough settlers to work the land, so from the very beginning, from the very first moment that we started our country going west, we depends ed on mexico.

actually, very few people today are aware the border with mexico was drawn by our u.s. congress in 1848, we basically conquered mexico and we could have really annexed the entire country. but our congress driven by tremendous bigotry, decided to draw the border with mexico just north of every major mexican population center. so that decision reverberates today because you can imagine the effect of having that border so close to all of these mexican population centers, while at the same time, knowing just across the border, there is this tremendous need for labor. >> and the other issue that you guys talk about, too, is just this duality, even in modern times where you still have a great deal of the southwestern united states, very much dependent on the labor of people from central and south america, particularly central america/mexico, but at the same time, having this dichotomy of not wanting people to be citizens.

how ironic that the same dynamic exists of wanting the labor but not wanting the people? >> well, unfortunately, in our country, we don't know much about history. that's why we made the film. because we thought it was extremely important as latino immigrants, i'm from el salvador myself, to really set the record straight, because if we don't know the history, you continue to repeat the same mistakes. and so again, as juan gonzalez says in the book, there's a long history of the united states recruiting labor from mexico when we needed desperately, for example, in world war ii, when we needed labor, and then kicking people out. and so over and over again, we used labor when we need it, and then when we don't want it, we kick people out. >> yeah. i want to quickly before you go, play a quick clip from your film that is one of my favorite quoteses of time from former president ronald reagan. >> i believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots, even though they may have entered illegally. >> the quintessential republican

president directly gave amnesty to tens of thousands of people in the 1980s during his term. there's this huge drift now in his party of not wanted to discuss the idea of immigration reform. what do you think has changed in that 30 years? >> well, i think unfortunately, the level of bigotry has increased tremendously. i think president reagan, he not only gave amnesty to thousands of people, there were actually nearly 3 million people who became legalized under the irka act of 1986. and so i think that what happens now is that our political system has become so polarized that we don't see the reality. the truth is that unfortunately, our country does have a moral responsibility to react to the immigration that we have in fact helped to create. and so our national conversation about immigration really must be undertaken under more humane

terms and much less punitive terms. we really must come to terms with that fact. we have, in fact, been very much a part of creating the wave of migration that we're looking at today. >> yeah, indeed. toppling governments, annexing territory, grabbing puwaiter or rico, it goes on and on. the book is "harvest of empire." the co-producer, co-director, edwardo lopez, thank you for being here. we're keeping our eye on capitol hill where minutes from now, there senate appropriations committee will hold a hearing on the president's emergency funding request for unaccompanied children on the border. homeland security secretary jeh johnson and hhs secretary sylvia burwell are both set to testify. and tomorrow on "the reid report," the trayvon martin case. it's been one year since a florida jury delivered a not guilty vict in the killing of the miami teenager. tomorrow, we'll take a look at how the case changes our culture, our laws and our awareness of the judicial system.

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it's time for we the tweeple. you're tweeting about the people of the humanitarian crisis on the border using these hash tags and you're debating this photo of president obama with texas governor rick perry discussing their fate. tweets like this one reflect perry's deep frown. others imagine these words coming from president obama. you know what would have prevented this surge of unaccompanied children at the border? immigration reform. but some are offering solutions. secure the border then get illegal immigrant kids already here adopted to u.s. families who can afford them, love, and raise them. okay. instead of using border children to further political agendas, seek the truth and do what is right for our nation and fellow human beings. and you're hoping to remember our nation's first immigrants who only thrived with help from

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sense. >> that was president obama moments ago in austin, texas, calling out congress and its inaction on immigration reform. and the humanitarian crisis on the border is the focus right now on capitol hill, where a senate appropriations committee hearing is just getting under way. in just a few moments, two cabinet secretaries will testify about president obama's $3.7 billion emergency request to handle the flood of unaccompanied minors crossing the u.s. border. jeh johnson and health and human services secretary sylvia burwell, both relatively new to their jobs, will testify before the committee. nbc's luke russert joins me from capitol hill. you heard the president getting a little -- in a little bit of a honey badger mode, laughing at congress and saying they don't want me to do anything, and they don't want to do anything. what are your hearing on capitol hill about whether they will do something with this supplemental, meaning pass it? >> with the supplemental, joy, it is dead on arrival on capitol hill.

john boehner and the house gop conference view it as a quote/unquote blank check to president obama that addresses not the kausz of the problem, just throws more money at the problem. john boehner today calling for the national guard to go in. democrats say that even if you do put the national guard in on the border, it doesn't do anything to alleviate the problem because the national guard are not training for child care. that's really what the issue is at hand, and to speed up the legal process, which is where the $3.7 billion supplemental will go forward. the question is can something be agreed upon between the gop s n conference and democrats in the form of money to alleviate the issue. it's difficult to answer. from where we stand right now, i would say no. a lot has do with politics. while certainly folks are aware of the humanitarian crisis going on at the border, there's a real political struggle. a lot of rnens view this as president obama's problem, and anything they do to help

president obama they think will reflect badly in their conservative district. they say the president brought it upon himself with what he did with the dream act. he reaps what he sows. quite shocking, but that's the way business goes on in the capitol. >> you put your finger on something important boss you have the makeup of a lot of these districts. a lot of republicans don't have a lot of latinos in their district. there really isn't anything in it politically for them to help out. calling for militarization sounds good. what are democrats saying? do they feel they have any bargaining chip, anything they can give or offer to republicans to change that calculus? >> the only thing that's really being talked about is a clanj in a 2008 human trafficking bill, which would allow the children here from central america to be sent back without going through the legal hurdles that they have to right now. under that bill, if you were supposedly a migrant from canada or mexico, you could be sort of

sent on a bus and processed back. the other countrieseri, you wert allowed to do that. that was to cut down on child sex trafficking. now, more liberal progressives say, why are we going to give republicans this? they're not giving us an inch. we don't want to send the kids back to these horrific gang infiltrated environments. there are other democrats who say we should do that because it would alleviate the crisis and tell people not to come up north on the trip. that's something that could by done. in actuality, that's the truth, there's two things. how do you quantify border security? we have never gotten a straight answer from the house gop, and the comprehensive bill last year, corker said it was overkill. number two is, okay, so assuming border security is not adequate in this regard, why would they move on this when only about 40 gop members have 20% or more lutoneoes in their district? most of these districts are

conservative. they're white, they're not reseptembr receptive to immigration reform, and any movement to compromise is seen as amnesty, especially in light of what happened to eric cantor in his primary, there's no one who wants to take that step. it's easy to sit back and throw barbs at the president rather than addressing the problem. >> eric cantor strikes fear in the heart of every single republican member of congress. and joining me now, founder and editor in chief of the wise latino club, and real riez, contributor, that kind of sums it up. you have republicans with no political incentive to do anything about it, other than calling more militarization at the border. border security is like 100%, and then at the same time, you do have republicans feeling like this issue hurts the president in their districts, at least. it's a good issue for them to leave as is. >> right, but when i step back, what -- to me, what seems very

troubling about where we are with this crisis right now, i believe both the obama administration and the republicans are at risk of repeating the same strategic mistakes they made in the overall immigration debate. obama pursued a very aggressive immigration enforcement strategy with hopes of winning some gop support u which he did not get. all he got was record deportations and disaffected e teen o latino voters. that same pattern is happening now. the president is going to congress, trying to crack down, get rid of the kids as quickly as possible. republicans are going to say no. the rhetoric is increasing, and their outcome very likely and unfortunately is going to be the same, which is sng, a standoff, and the crisis will continue. >> that is striking, that the only things we seem to be discussing in this debate are how fast can we deport these cisout and how much can we militarize the border. those two themes seem to be the only dynamics at play here. do you think there's room or space for somebody to come in

and maybe go for a third option, which is compassion for these kids might actually be helpful to one or the other party when it comes to american latinos? >> so the answer is in our political culture, no. and yet it's really important to keep in mind, joy, that there really are a lot of voices that are saying just this. just even the u.s. conference of catholic bishops has said, look, we need to treat these children not as common place immigrants but as children who are fleeing severe cases of violence in their country. the question, of course, is going to be, what is going to move the needle, particularly in these gop districts that luke referenc referenced? while it may be true that there are some republican lawmakers that have absolutely no incentive because of the low numbers of latinos in their district, that is a key on two levels to move this forward. one is mobilizing eligible latinos to ledgister because there are latino voters and

eligible latino voters in absolutely every district in america. and sectly, and this one is actually more important, is creating really broadening out that coalition to include a lot of the people who are right now completely terrified of illegal immigrants, calling them illegals, for example, you know, classifying any kind of a comprehensive immigration reform as amnesty. i think, joy, about the 50-year anniversary of the civil rights act, and last summer, we were tu talking about the march on washington. the reason we were able to move forward on this historic legislation was not just because of the heroics and the leadership in the african-american community, but because 25% of the people who marched on washington were white. were people who said, i completely believe in this. this is not america to have two types of people, and i'm going to march and let my voice be heard. >> yeah, and you know, we were talking in the previous segment to the co-producer of harvest of

empire. dr. king at a certain point actually started to reach out to farm workers because he realized that the same hands, right, that are now picking the crops and feeding the country in the southwest, it's the equivalent of what african-americans were dealing with share cropping in the south, these were one and the same issue. when you have latinos voting at less than 40% in the state of texas, is there any chance of creating the political momentum is even possible? you have an undervote of 60 persz? >> yes, but one reason latinos particularly in texas have voted at low levels is part because the immigration rhetoric in texas is not the same at other parts of the country. things have been relatively mild, but now, the rhetoric has increased so we may be seeing the type of pushback that we saw in places like arizona, in colorado. but you know, this is such a new crisis. you have to say, there's so many aspects of it that are very bizarre developments. when you someone like glenn beck of all people saying he's going

to go to the border and help the kids out, and hillary clinton saying send them back. when you have people in red-state texas welcoming and coming forward and offering charity, and in california, they're rioting in the streets. there's a lot of uncharlterred territory. for politicians and the administration, it's still trying to figure out the middle ground, what's acceptable to the public and what would be feasible for them politically. >> okay, stay right there. we're going to have more when we come back. and coming up next, we're going to put politics aside and we're going to focus specifically on the vulnerable chinch whose lives have been left in lem bow. that's next. try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. (vo) ours is a world of the red-eyes. (daughter) i'm really tired. (vo) the transfers. well, that's kid number three. (vo) the co-pilots.

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and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. we're back now, and keeping an eye on the senate appropriations committee hearing on the nearly $4 billion request for emergency funding to help handle the influx of unaccompanied children and adults into this country from central america. and as we listen in, there is a detail we really can't mention enough when discussing this humanitarian crisis.

that is the majority of these families are fleeing the kind of deadly gang-driven violence that creates dire refugee situations. back with me, the wise latina club's vivian and real. you have these special circumstances. these aren't kids coming in here to work. some of them are 5 years old. they're coming here because there is tremendous gang violence in their countries. yesterday, senator john mccain of arizona on the floor was railing about the administration and saying it was obama's fault. he said a suggestion. why don't these kids, these people who are trying to flee this violence go to the consulate? we have a map and we want to show the viewers where the consulates are. so these are the nearest consulates to where -- to the united states in various cities on the border between mexico and the united states. unfortunately, if you look at a bigger map of central america, guatemala, el salvador, honduras are really, really far away from the border between mexico and the united states.

mexico is huge. so the idea that these kids could somehow get from way down there, if you look at that map, there's honduras way at the bottom, get all the way up through mexico and somehow get to a consulate, you can discuss. let me turn that to you. what do you think of that idea? >> i think one of the things that's going on here is precisely this relationship with our foreign policy. and with another thing called our drug consumption habits that has been completely absent from this debate. the thing about it, joy, is comprehensive immigration reform exists with our foreign policy towards central america. we have 1.3 billion dollars that goes towards development in humanitarian aid. we have about $675 million that goes towards military aid to these three central american countries where a lot of the children are coming from, honduras, el salvador, and guatemala. it seems to me that some of the conversations that need to be had -- to happen between the

state department and these nations is accountability and benchmarks that's going to root out impunity of these criminals as well as government corruption. and also strengthening the judiciary to get that violence under control. but you know, it's also really important to talk about what is fueling that violence and that is our drug consumption, most of which the worldwide drug consumption is coming from the u.s., as well as the southward flow of guns. >> indeed. >> it's a really complicated conversation and one that the congress is not willing to have. >> there's $300 million in the $3.7 billion supplemental trying to deal with these other countries. >> the problem with this proposal the president is putting forward, even in the unlikely event that congress approved it and he got approval to change the law, we have other laws that have designated el salvador and honduras as countries where their citizens are eligible for something called temporary protected status. that's where you're from a

country where there's been a disaster or a conflict, like haiti after the earthquake. >> i hate to interrupt you. we want to listen to sylvia burwell who is speaking now. she's the hhs secretary. let's take a listen. >> conditions that are difficult for many of us to imagine. oftentimes, they are preyed upon by smugglers who have made it their business to bring unaccompanied children across the borders. i had the opportunity to meet a few of these children last week as the chairwoman mentioned. we visited a customs and border patrol station along with a temporary shelter at an air force base in texas. we met the remarkable americans who are caring for these children and supporting this mission in other important ways. some of the folks work for cbp, fema, and hhs, others are grantees and community members, all going above and beyond. the children had heartbreaking stories to share. a teen-aged girl told us how she had fled her home when her uncle

had been murdered in front of his house. sadly, the story is not an anomaly. many of these children are escaping violence and threats by gangs and they and their families are being preyed upon by smugglers. a situation of this magnitude calls on all of us to work across government to enforce the law and to care for these children in a manner that honors our values. federal law says that hhs's role is to feed, shelter, and provide medical care for unaccompanies children until we're able to place them in a safe and suitable setting with family members or a sponsor while they await immigration proceedings. as the number of children has grown, our resources have been stretched thin. and fiscal year 2011, an estimated 65,000 aaunaccompanied children came into our care. this increases to 13,600 in 2012 and almost 25,000 in 2013.

as of july 6th, over 50,000 children had been apprehended and placed in our care in fy '14. to address the associated challenges, hhs has put together a two-prong strategy for our part. one is first to drive down the length of time the children remain in shelters. the other is to expand our shelter capacity. when it comes to time that children are in our care, we have made significant progress. since 2011, when it took 75 days, we have reduced that time to 35 and are continuing to try and make progress so we move even more quickly. on permanent shelter capacity, we have added about 1700 beds since january. and we have also opened temporary shelters with three military bases across the country. while temporary solutions -- >> that is hhs secretary sylvia burwell testifying on capitol hill in the senate appropriations committee, and they're discussing the president's $3.7 billion funding

request to try to deal with the immigration crisis at the border, the crisis at the border which a lot of people are saying is a refugee crisis. real is with me, viviano. before we went to break, i rudely interrupted you. but we were talking in the break about something both of us would love to bring to the table. you were talking about this issue of temporary protected status. explain. >> temporary protected status is available to people to countries where there have been natural disasters or an on-going armed conflict. those are approved by the u.s. government. this is the law. on that list are el salvador and h honduras. even if congress approved what the president wanted to, do we still have laws protecting those kids. when you look at the immigration law, it's a whole alphabet soup of visas, but there are multiple ways the kids could qualify to stay. there is a u-visa for kids who are victims of violence, victims of trafficking, special juvenile

immigrant status. there's all these different ways. there's real conflict playing out internally in the obama administration. they're trying to do the right thing. at the same time, the language of aggressive deterrence, that's not the language of a humanitarian response. >> indeed, it's not dealing with the legal issues. let's listen to jeh johnson testifying now on capitol hill. >> i think senator shelby asked the right question. what will it address? what am i being asked to pay for? from my perspective, this request has the right focus on deterrence, added detention, and removal, and removal more quickly than we have done in the past. from my perspective, the supplemental seeks $1.1 billion for immigration and customs enforcement, $879 million of which goes to adding detention capacity for adults who bring their children, family units, as we refer to them. we have already begun the

process of building an increased detention capacity for family units in new mexico where i'm going tomorrow. we need money to build additional family unit capacity. $109 million goes to i.c.e. for working with the three central american countries from which this migration is coming. to expand their own resources. with respect to the customs and border protection agency, $433 million is requested, $364 million of which is for added border patrol agents overtime and the like, for their capacity, as doj will point out, there's a $64 million request, $45 million of which goes to more judge teams and to an increased case load of 55,000 to 75,000 cases a year. the deputy attorney general and i have already agreed that with

this added capacity, the recent inflush daex. >> jeh johnson testifying before the appropriations committee in the senate. i want to give a final thought to both of my guests and i'll start with viviano. your final thoughts on what you have heard today so far. >> well, i have to say, joy, as i listen to the secretary, i'm really disturbed. without a doubt, the immigration courts are completely overburdened, and it takes more than almost 600 days to process immigration cases. many don't show up. it's just an absolute mess, but i am very concerned with these so-called speedy deportations, particularly of children. it's completely flouting the law. it is against our principles and our values. and you know, what store are we going to be reporting on in six months when we do these speedy removals? are we going to talk about child and sex traffickers at the border picking up, rounding up these children and selling them into some kind of a horrible

ring? i really fear that. and we're on a slippery slope. >> agreed. it's very troubling where we are right now because for all the talk on both sides about this being a humanitarian crisis, both sides really are proceeding as though it's a political crisis. let's wrap tup, let's expedite it, get the kids out as quickly as possible. the great challenge for the obama administration is they're looking for a short-term solution. there really is not one with this problem. there is not one. >> indeed. my favorite sort of saying is congress exists, and people, i think a lot of times forget congress exists. and the president can't wave a magic wand. you have the governor of texas saying just do x, y, and z, and then the congress saying if he acts alone, then we're going to see him. the president oftentimes is in a no-win situation, but congress is in a position to do something. >> it's their responsibility. >> what could they do that would be helpful? >> they could authorize the president to allow some humanitarian efforts within the confines of the dhs system. allow groups like the red cross

to take over within some of those detention facilities so the kids are not sleeping on the floors. there are plenty of humanitarian gestures they could make, that they could allow. >> yes indeed. let's hope we get to some solutions rather than all this talk of militarizing the border and deportation. that does wrap things up for "the reid report" today. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. eastern. be sure to visit us online. "the cycle" is up next. so what's this? check it out. i just saved 15% on car insurance in 15 minutes, so i took a selfie to show everyone how happy i am. really? because esurance saved me money in half that time. can i...? oh you can be in it! no need to photo-bomb me. hashbrown. selfie.

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where you can explore super destinations and do everything under the sun. 12 brands. more hotels than anyone else in the world. save up to 25% and earn bonus points when you book at wyndhamrewards.com. cycling right now, the mayor of lower massachusetts calls this a sad day for his city. seven people were killed and other had to leap from windows to escape a massive apartment fire in a boston suburb. the red cross is helping out many families who are now homeless. a victory of sorts for marriage equality in colorado. the county clerk can continue issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite the state banning those marriages.

their attorney general argued the clerk was, quote, causing legal chaos while the ban makes its way through the courts. and a water slide taller than niagara falls and the statue of liberty is open for business in kansas. it's a 168-foot drop in under 20 seconds and you thought "the cycle" was a thrill ride. >> and we start with this afternoon's breaking news. congress holding its first hearing on president obama's nearly $4 billion emergency request to handle the kid crisis on our border. the u.s. government has 57,000 children who cross the border since last fall. many without their parents. and it's up to us to figure out what we can do about it. it's expected that number will swell to 90,000 by election day if nothing is done. the white house emergency request is two-fold with some of the cash going towards caring for these children. the rest is aimed a