tv Jose Diaz- Balart Reports MSNBC November 3, 2021 7:00am-8:00am PDT
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can tweet, they can talk on social media. but one day a year, you get to vote, the people have spoken. it's why protecting and preserving voting rights is so important. that wraps up this hour. i'm stephanie ruhle. thank you for watching. stick around all day. jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage right now. good morning. it's 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. at this hour, we continue to follow all of the election results. votes are still being tallied in the new jersey governor's race. unexpectedly locked in a dead heat. this after republican businessman glenn youngkin was elected to become virginia's next governor, in a state president biden won by ten points just a year ago. also this morning, a historic step in the fight against the pandemic. for the first time, kids ages 5 to 11 are getting their first dose of the covid vaccine. we'll talk to a pediatrician about the significance of this
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moment. and we have new world series champions. the atlanta braves win the title for the first time in more than 25 years. and we begin this hour with the aftermath of what appears to have been a devastating election night for democrats. we start in virginia, where republicans are poised to take control. just one year after joe biden won the state by ten points. nbc news projects glenn youngkin will be the commonwell's next governor, defeating former democratic governor, terry mcauliffe, a short time ago mcauliffe issued a statement conceding the race, saying that he was proud of his campaign and congratulating youngkin on his victory. we'll also keep a very close eye on new jersey, where democratic governor phil murphy is locked in a very tight race with republican jack ciattarelli. murphy is hoping to become the
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first democrat to be elected governor in nearly 45 years. with me now to take a closer look at all of this, msnbc national political correspondent, steve kornacki at the big board. nbc news correspondent rahema ellis is in new jersey. and larry sabato, the director of the university of virginia's center for politics. thank you for being with me. steve, let's start with you. what's the latest from new jersey? >> here we go. all eyes are on the garden state right now. you see phil murphy, the democratic incumbent. he leads here by just under 6,000 votes, 0.2 of 1% over jack ciattarelli, his republican opponent. look, the bad news for murphy is this was a state that obviously joe biden, as you say, won in a landslide. it's a state that republicans really struggled to be competitive in. and nobody thought this race was even going to be place. i think the suspense both democrats and republicans talking to in the last week felt, hey, is this maybe going
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to be a single-digit race? well, it's a lot more than a single-digit race. that's the bad news for murphy. the good news for murphy the vote, it seems to be coming in. the remaining vote that's out there, we're still seeing big batches or significant batches specifically of vote by mail. it looks like a lot of these counties waited until the end to count up the mail ballots. the mail ballots are the most democratic friendly, the most murphy friendly. so you see murphy's got the lead now. if you were watching in the last six to eight hours, he was slowly inching towards ciattarelli's number. he's now above ciattarelli's number. one big one i know we are waiting on is right here in mercer county. this is a pretty good-sized county, where trenton, the state capital is. you can see it's a democratic county. and we are waiting on a couple of things here. one is the vote by mail. so that vote by mail in mercer county, you expect to just be overwhelmingly democratic in murphy. get a lot of votes out of that. also, i think there's some same-day vote that was cast yesterday on election day, also
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left in mercer county. we'll see if we can get more of the vote out of there. if murphy gets what we could expect there, that would push that statewide lead up past 10,000, 15,000, somewhere in that neighborhood, maybe even higher. then it's just a question of where else on this map are there other batches of votes. and i have to say, one thing that has united republicans and democrats in talking to them in new jersey, trying to get a sense of this is, they are confused and frustrating at the reporting, making it very unclear exactly how many votes are left and exactly what kind of vote. is it that mail vote, that election day vote. what kind of vote is left? you can see a couple of pockets here where we expect there are a couple of tranches of murphy vote. it's hard to see where ciattarelli can counter that. but overall, ifmurphy, if you're a democrat, you're probably liking what you think
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is left to come here. but that confusion about where exactly the outstanding vote is and the lack of clarity from some of these counties does have you saying, well, let's see. let's see as more comes in here. >> steve, how many votes still are to be counted? >> that's the question. we don't know because we're not getting clear communication from a lot of these counties about exactly how much vote is left. about exactly how much of the vote by mail has been counted. about how all of this splits out. as i say, you're talking about -- if your talking about vote by mail in mercer county, that's probably going to be about 25,000 votes. you know, maybe a little bit -- you know, 25, 30,000, somewhere in that zone are going to be vote by mail. are not counted yet. to 25 to 30,000. murphy is going to win probably 80% plus of those. so you can identify that. that's a batch of votes where murphy will make up some ground. also, you have some same-day, election day vote left in mercer county, some precincts left there. it's a democratic county.
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depending, are we talking about the city of trenton, somewhere else in mercer? probably going to be a democratic vote as well there. another one i can tell you we're waiting on, there's probably a couple of dozen precincts in essex county, newark to newark area here, this is a core democratic county. a couple of dozen precincts have not reported their election day vote in essex, either. again, i expect whatever comes in from there. and you're talking thousands of votes, you know, 10, 20,000, somewhere probably in that range. that would be heavily democratic, as well. so where we can identify what i'm just describing to you, you see paths for murphy to pad this lead right now. we can't identify similar paths, similar sources of, you know, 10, 20,000 vote gains for ciattarelli. but again, i just caution, there is overall a lack of clarity here. so, that clouds it a little bit. >> and steve, talk to us about virginia. a big surprise there, right? >> there it is. you say new jersey, the republican right now, coming very close, but not quite over the top, as we speak in
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virginia, state that donald trump lost by ten points, the republican here, i'm showing arappahannock for some reason. here's the statewide, youngkin gets over the top, wins this thing statewide, wins the governorship of virginia. a couple of different ways of looking at this, jose. one is we said yesterday, let's look at a couple of bellwethers here, in the hampton roads area of virginia beach, largest city soft virginia. this is a place -- there's a republican history in virginia beach, but in 2020, joe biden won it. he beat donald trump by 5.5 points here. this is one the youngkin campaign wanted to win back. they won it back, won it back solidly, an eight-point margin for glenn youngkin there. you look at chesapeake, the city of chesapeake. another big one next door. similar story. biden had flipped it in 2020. now youngkin wins it back. you can see down here, these are two sort of close to bellwether cities in the state. and what youngkin did, he won them, and he basically reversed the damage that had been done in them to republicans by donald trump. i think that's a big theme you see on this map in youngkin's victory.
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a lot of the areas where republicans have really taken a hit, he reversed. not all, but some of that damage. >> and rahema, back to you in new jersey. joe biden carried that state by 16 points last year and now murphy is locked in this surprisingly close race. how did things get as tight as they are right now? >> reporter: i bet you that's exactly what a lot of people are talking about. it would be great to be a fly on the wall in the room where people are having these discussions. let me say this. it's leading to a lot of confusion among voters here. i just talked with some folks who say they don't even understand how there are more votes being counted and why weren't they counted yesterday? one of the things that people who voted for ciattarelli say they think is the reason why he was in a nail biter race at the end of when the polls closed last night, they said, because he listened to them. voters here are frustrated over the economy, over the high property taxes, over the handling of covid. the vaccination mandates and the masking.
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i'm hearing it on the street corners here in hoboken, people do not like it, the impact that it was having on small business with all of the mandates and the shutdowns. so they were voting for ciattarelli. they also were saying, some, that they didn't like the way that murphy was essentially saying, if you like the way things are going right now, don't change anything. you don't want to change captains when this boat is moving down the river. well, apparently, there were a lot of people here in hoboken and throughout new jersey who are not in favor of the way, the direction that the boat was going. that's how they explained this tight, tight race we had when the polls closed and why we're still looking at some counting being done now. a lot of people are questioning, why is there so much confusion and why are we seeing so many ballots still being counted here we are the day after the election. >> jose? >> thank you, rehaima. meanwhile, chris, republicans have already won two of the three statewide races and on the verge of winning the third. and it looks like republicans
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may take control of the virginia house of democrats. what are you hearing from democrats who haven't lost a statewide race in virginia in a dozen years? >> reporter: well, jose, last night, one democratic leader told me this was a statewide slaughter. that's pretty dramatic. but what happened is dramatic. this huge shift where i am in loudoun county, key place for the suburban voters, joe biden won here by 25 points last year. glenn youngkin cut 15 points off of that. you only saw terry mcauliffe winning this very blue county by ten. these are the things that made a difference. and we've been talking about suburban women literally for years. i've spent a lot of time on the ground here with suburban women, and i can tell you some of them saw the signs coming of a potential mcauliffe loss. these democratic women told me that they were worried about how his message on education was resonating. very worried, and we saw this in the exit polls that people were
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concerned about the economy. and so, when i talk to voters and they said, they didn't like the price of milk and they didn't think that joe biden or the democratic governor, ralph northam, was doing anything about it, you had a republican candidate here who said, i'm going to get rid of the grocery tax. and this is such a huge seismic shift here. again, 12 years of largely democratic control. i talked to a member of the house of delegates to ask her what she thinks this means for progressive policies that have been put in place. here's what she told me. >> i think, though, that if youngkin does win, i think that we're going to see a rollback of voting rights. we're going to see more restrictions on women's reproductive health care. all of the gains we've made in the environment, i think we're going to lose. and also our standing in the state as the best place to do business, as well as, at the same time, our ranking as the best place for workers. i think that is at risk.
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>> a republican told me conversely, jose, that it looks like the first black women and the first latino had been elected to statewide office here and they are republicans. and one final note, you mentioned that statement that was put out by terry mcauliffe, a concession. i just heard from his campaign. they say that is his concession. do not expect a formal concession speech or to see him on camera today. jose? >> chris, thanks. and larry, what were the issues, the main issues that made a difference in virginia? >> well, it was a combination of national and state factors. the national factors are obvious to everybody, that president biden has become rather unpopular in virginia, mid-40s, a little bit higher than his national rating but not much higher. and he carried virginia by ten points just a year ago. and i think even more important was the complete inaction and almost keystone cops behavior of the democrats on capitol hill in
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the house and senate, and you know, you decide whether you want to blame the moderates or progressives or both. but it looked terrible, it was terrible, it sent a message to democrats that election promises were not being delivered and therefore it wasn't that important to vote. and boy, having gone through precincts as well as all the city and county results, i could see it right there. republicans had sky-high turnout. democrats at best, middling. lower in many black areas. tiny for the college communities where young people had voted in large numbers last year in the presidential contest. so it's a combination of that, plus the issues that came up in virginia, like parental rights in the schools. >> larry, i mean, it's just amazing to think that one year ago, things were so different at that state, right? >> absolutely. but that reminds us, it's a year
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to the midterm elections. so while we can see some hints and all of them are disturbing hints for democrats, a lot can happen in a year. so i think we have to be a little bit humble about this. it's tough to be humble, but we need to do it. >> thank you all for being with me this morning. appreciate it. and just this morning, a huge moment for parents and families in the fight against the pandemic. as you can see, let's take a look at the video. children are now getting their first covid vaccines after the cdc gave its final clearance for that smaller dose shot just last night. cdc corrector dr. rochelle walensky says she encourages all parents to talk to their kids' pediatricians to learn about the vaccine. joining us now, nbc news correspondent, cal perry, live from children's national hospital in our nation's capital. also with us, dr. irwin redlener, a senior research
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scholar at the earth institute at columbia university, also an nbc public health analyst. thank you for being with me. cal, what are you hearing from parents as they get their children in line for the shot? >> reporter: yeah, parents are incredibly grateful. good morning to you, sir. this is an historic day in this pandemic. think about where we were a year and a half ago and what we would have given for vaccines for children ages 5 to 11. again, this vaccine has an efficacy rate in children of 91%. they'll be given about a third of the normal dosage, twice over the course of three weeks. but again, grateful parents who wanted their kids to get vaccines are already seeing jabs go into arms. i had a chance to talk to 8-year-old carter and his father, brian, take a listen. >> i think the last thing i would say is, you know, we've been through, since they closed schools in 2020, we've been through about 600 days -- >> 602 days. >> not that we've been counting. and every parent can tell a story about what that's really been like. it's been hard on all of us.
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and to know that we're about to begin a new day is just such a giant sense of relief. >> reporter: now, where do parents stand nationally on this? we can put up some statistics. this is from kaiser family foundation. 27% of parents say right away for their kids, they will get the vaccine. 33% say they will wait and see. 30% say definitely not. separate those statistics out from adults. if you are an adult who hasn't been vaccinated or haven't gotten that second dose, carter, that 8-year-old with diabetes, he's the reason to get vaccinated. those are the people who we're trying to protect. and hopefully as we're seeing this morning outside of this hospital, those kids will start to get vaccinated today. >> carter has a great memory and knows those numbers of exactly how long they've been out of school. dr. redlener, give us a sense of the significance of this moment. >> well, this is a moment that we've been waiting for, jose, because of everything that
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you've just been talking about. you know, there's been almost 7 million cases reported of the covid-19 infection occurring in children since the pandemic began, about 600 pediatric deaths and thousands of hospitalizations. just last week, there were 100,000 new cases of covid-19 reported in children, 400 plus hospitalizations, and 16 children died last week of covid. and now we have children back in school now for a couple of -- for the last couple of months, where we're now getting into the winter season. a lot more time indoors, and of course, the holidays spent enjoying those occasions with relatives and friends and so on. so we have a period of concern that's coming up right now in terms of children getting infected. and even if they don't get very sick, they have the chance that if they get infected of transmitting the virus to others that might be vulnerable in their own homes like older
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relatives and so on. so i think this is a very, very good news. there's a lot of information on the internet that is, let's say, you know, not accurate, to say the least. it is much, much more dangerous for children to get covid-19 than to get the vaccine that would prevent it. and we really have to be mindful of those facts as we say to parent, please get your children vaccinated. and i think that we're going to be successful, ultimately. but we're going to have to do some clear explaining to parents, which we are prepared to do, about why it is so important that their kids get the shot. >> it's so important that you say that. thank you, dr. redlener and cal perry for being with me this morning. and a programming note for you this morning, as well. andrea mitchell is going to be speaking with dr. francis collins today about this. that's at 12:00 p.m. on "andrea
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mitchell reports," 9:00 a.m. pacific. the director of the nih about the vaccine for kids. that's today on "andrea mitchell reports." we'll talk to congresswoman norma torres about where negotiations stand, next, right here on msnbc. and happening now, the u.s. supreme court is hearing a major gun rights case. the eventual ruling could be the most consequential gun rights decision in a decade, clarifying how much protection the second amendment provides for carrying a gun in public. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. watch this. that was in these clothes...ugh. but the clothes washed in tide- so much cleaner! if it's got to be clean, it's got to be tide hygienic clean
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and flexible it is. head to bespokepost.com and get a free gift with your first box when you enter code free. just about 23 past the hour. let's go to capitol hill where democrats are still pushing toward an agreement on a huge bill to reshape the social safety net, despite last night's election results. senate majority leader chuck schumer says he hopes to hold a vote on the legislation the week of the 15th of november, just after announcing a deal on a plan aimed at lowering prescription drug prices. it also has the support of arizona senator kyrsten sinema, who was a holdout on this issue. with me now was nbc news capitol hill correspondent, ali vitali. great seeing you. what's the mood among democrats in the wake of the election, and does it change anything? >> jose, i think this changes everything and it changes nothing.
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because the mood here does range from democrats who think that if they had acted sooner on these two infrastructure bills, that things could have been different for terry mcauliffe and other democrats in virginia. then there are others who say this emphasizes the need to actually double down on the issues that are still on the negotiating table for that larger social spending package. things like prescription drug prices, which we saw senate democrats come to agreement on last night. but really, i think what this means in terms of not changing anything is we still think, and we heard from speaker pelosi this morning, who underscored this, that they are still writing the bill text, we still believe that the rules committee is going to meet tonight. it's still entirely possible for the house to try to vote on these bills by the end of the week or even over the weekend. but one of the key democrats to listen to on this in just a few minutes is virginia senator tim kaine, who really didn't mince words about what he saw in last night's results. >> congressional dems start -- i'm going to be blunt, it's humbling to say it, but if we
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had been able to deliver infrastructure reconciliation in mid-october, we could have sold universal pre-k, affordable child care, infrastructure, creating jobs. and we're going to get both of those bills. >> and look, there is some skittishness among democrats now, as they look at not just this election in virginia, but also up in new jersey and of course, the poll that nbc released just over the weekend, that showed democrats with a really steep hill to climb ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. some senators even saying that they're concerned about their upcoming elections in previous blue states. kaine himself saying that this could be a case of being the ghost of christmas future if democrats don't actually unite and get this package done. jose, it sort of underscore what president biden himself said to democrats at the end of last week before he went overseas, when he said that this bill and this package really does hold the fate of these.
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they're licking their lips at the chance to go up against democrats this november because they feel good about what they saw in last night's results. >> thank you so much. joining me now to continue our conversation, is norma torres, a member of the hispanic congressional caucus. what's your understanding of where things stands in terms of finding an agreement on the reconciliation bill? >> it's good to see you this morning, jose. i think we have an agreement when it comes to house members of congress. we are ready to vote for this bill. the issue has always been that we are negotiating within our party. that the republicans have been absent from the table. they refuse to allow anything that might make the president or the democrats look good. their job is to obstruct.
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their job is to continue to divide this country. their job is to continue to promote racial wars against neighbors against neighbors. we need to refocus our message and start talking about what we have already delivered and what we're getting ready to deliver. yes, we have some work to do, still, in the senate, to negotiate with our two senators that, you know, have been pushing back on some of our agenda. it's not just the democrats' agenda, it is the president's agenda that really can't continue to be gummed up, you know, by people that think we're going too far. we're not going far enough and we're not doing enough to sell to the american people what we are doing. we've been so focused on saving lives, and republicans have been focused on getting people out of their homes and into, you know, very dangerous situations where
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now children are getting the coronavirus. >> congresswoman, you say that democrats are not going far enough. what more do you think needs to be done? >> what more needs to be done is we need to get these bills passed. we need to get infrastructure passed. we need to get the child tax credit done for our families that are struggling. we need to get kids in school. the kindergarten portion of the bill is so big for districts like mine, and just because we lost, you know, this one gubernatorial race yesterday, look at california, where republicans failed miserably at the recall, on the same issues. the difference in california was that we were focused on the message and what we were delivering. and i think that that is what democrats need to be engaged in, all of us. not just a few of us.
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>> and congresswoman, talking about delivering, as you know, the senate parliamentarian has twice rejected democratic efforts to put something on the reconciliation bill. how important is it to you that immigration be included in any one of these two very important and massive bills? >> it is very important. it is so important that i have worked really hard to ensure that the hundred billion dollars that is in this bill stays in this bill. and that is money that is already targeted for an immigration reform bill, to ensure that funding is there wherever we get this legislation done. it's not just about saying, you know, we're going to get a pathway to citizenship, we're going to get people out of the shadows. it's about putting the money behind that actually gets these applications processed and whether the senate is able to agree or the parliamentarian is
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able to agree on our plan, a, b, or c, this money will remain there and we will continue to fight to ensure that we expand processes like expired visas. we need to reset the clock on those. we need to ensure that citizenship is affordable and that the people that are ready to become citizens are able to do it and promote those issues. and also, temporary visas for our workers. >> i'm just wondering about the issues of the legalization of the 8 or 11, 12 million people that are here, that have been living here, that have been contributing to this country. many of them for many years. is it an important thing to include some legalization or some pathway to legalization? >> it is incredibly important to include some legalization. not just for districts like
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mine, but for very republican districts that are dependent on these workers to continue to be the frontline workers, saving people's lives and saving the economy. this is why it's so critical for us to begin to talk about the failure of republicans to engage in this process. it's simply unacceptable that they can get away with sitting on the sidelines and not adding anything to this dialogue. >> congresswoman norma torres, it's always a pleasure to see you. thank you for your time. >> good to see you. still ahead, facebook makes a major announcement. privacy concerns. the program it's shutting down, next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. ♪
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35 past the hour and time now for a look at some other headlines. facebook is drastically scaling back its facial recognition system after years of criticism over the technology and its usage, the tech company will delete more than a billion user's facial templates. for more on this, i want to bring in nbc's erin mclaughlin, who is in los angeles for us this morning. erin, what is facebook doing now? >> hey, jose.
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well, this move comes amidst what by all accounts is a massive headache for the tech giant, already embroiled in a pr storm surrounding leaked documents. the facial recognition feature has been heavily criticized by privacy advocates, concerned it could be misused. it's also been the subject of a class action lawsuit. in illinois, facebook settled for $650 million after accusations it had collected millions of facial photos without proper consent, violating illinois state law. yesterday in a blog post, the company's vice president of artificial intelligence cited a lack of regulation as a reason to stop this kind of data collection, saying, quote, we need to weigh the positive use cases for facial recognition against growing societal concerns, especially as regulators have yet to provide clear rules. the post also noting this change will represent one of the largest shifts in facial recognition usage in the technology's history, adding the system will be shut down in the coming weeks.
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jose? >> and erin, they say there's no crying in baseball, but for fans of houston, well, they may disagree with that. however, in atlanta, it's celebration. >> reporter: that's right, jose. plenty of tears last night in houston. the atlanta braves claimed victory over the houston astros after first baseman's freddy freeman solo home run left field put the score 7-0. it's atlanta's first world series title in 26 years. jose? >> erin mclaughlin in los angeles, thank you so much. and a shout-out to jorge solare, what an extraordinary player. he's the world series mvp with a three-run homer in game six that was just amazing. he's the second cuban-born player to win mvp at the world series following hernandez in the marlins in 1997.
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still ahead, a tough reality for many child migrants who have made the tough journey to the united states alone. they go on to represent themselves in court, some as young as 2 years old. we'll talk to a retired immigration judge, next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. " diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. this is a cold call! nfl teams are turning to cold with tide, will you? that will never work! if it works on nfl jerseys it'll work for you. seriously! just perfect! and it'll save up to $150 a year. and it's cold! so you will turn to cold? fine! i'll turn to cold! that guy needs to chill out! this was a cold call! bipolar depression. it made me feel like i was trapped in a fog. this is art inspired by real stories of people living with bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place... ...and be hard to manage. latuda could make a real difference
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but you'll notice the difference. and now, miracle-ear is offering a thirty-day risk-free trial. you can experience better hearing with no obligation. call 1-800-miracle right now and experience a better life. we shine a light this morning on the harsh realities children, children face in our current immigration system. in a practice that's been ongoing since at least the early 2000s, unaccompanied kids who cannot afford a lawyer are required to defend themselves in u.s. courts. no matter their age. in the fiscal year of 2021, now, 78% of children did not have legal representation. in a recent op-ed, former immigration judge sarah burke writes, quote, how can a child
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understand the complexities of immigration law, the burden of proof and possible defenses against deportation? the short answer is, they cannot. sarah burke joins me now. judge, i can't thank you enough for being with me this morning, and for shining a light on something that many people aren't aware of, but that happens more than many would think. you just wrote this op-ed where you describe how little kids have to defend themselves in court, without parents or even representation. how does this happen? >> well, unfortunately, it happens all too often. the real problem is that immigration is a civil proceeding, it's not a criminal proceeding. the only right to universal representation is in criminal proceedings. and therefore, that distinction
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has left immigration proceedings without a right to universal representation. of course, you're entitled to a lawyer, if you can pay for one. but if you can't, you're on your own. unless you find a pro bono organization to represent you, you're going to represent yourself. of course, when you're dealing with children, i think -- >> i'm sorry -- >> i'm sorry. >> just wondering -- when you're dealing with children, how young? and please continue. >> the children can be of any age, up to the age of 21. so the -- it doesn't really matter. i mean, i had -- i had young children in front of me and i've
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never seen a child, you know, an infant, but certainly, very young children who have no concept of american justice should be in front of any court without a lawyer. to me, it's an abomination. >> it's just -- and take a look at these numbers. just think about this. a little kid, maybe 8, 9 years old, who along -- you know, came along and went through central america, through mexico, seeing horrendous conditions and then all of a sudden is taken in front of a judge in a language they don't know, in a environment they don't know. they don't have anybody they know along with them. and they're expected to fight their case for asylum in the united states? sarah burr, i thank you for being with me this morning. i hope that we will continue this conversation and see if there is anything that should
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change on this very real issue. yes? >> thank you so much for having me and for shining some light on this issue, which i feel very few people know about. >> and just to kind of wrap it up, as of right now, nearly 12,000 children are in american government hands, right? >> yes. >> that's separate from the nearly 97,000 kids that have an immigration process looking forward in the next months and years. those are some startling numbers. thank you for being with me this morning. >> thank you very much. >> coming up, a night of election firsts. we'll break down some of the most historic races next. you're watching jose diaz-balart reports on msnbc. s next you're watching jose diaz-balart reports on msnbc tide pods child-guard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. to close, twist until it clicks. tide pods child-guard packaging.
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it goes on clear and dries quickly. no mess. just the soothing vicks' vapor for the whole family. introducing new vicks vapostick. 50 past the hour. i'm going to highlight some of the historic firsts from last night's election. starting in boston where voters there elected michelle wu to be the first woman of color to be the city's mayor. in virginia a republican is the first woman and first person of color. lieutenant governor in the state. at the local level, new york and boston both made history with their first ever muslim city councillors. >> heidi, you're in virginia for us. turnout was supposed to help democrats. what happened to the core groups
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and what are democrats saying about it? >> reporter: well, democratic assumptions about high turnout were just kind of shattered. they assumed that high turnout means mcauliffe wins. we had epic turnout. the turnout was older, whiter, fewer on the democratic side and it came down to independent voters. the same independent voters who gave biden a win by 19 points swung to youngkin by about 10 points. democrats for their part are acknowledging the wind, but in washington they're saying it's not going to affect their agenda. take a listen to the house democratic leader just moments ago. >> oh well the people have spoken. we respect the results. terry mcauliffe was a great leader. >> reporter: does it change the agenda for the house? >> no. >> reporter: jose, let's talk about one demographic in one, white women. the same kind who might have
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worn pink hats in 2016, there was a huge education mall divide. women who had some college went by 75% for youngkin. women who have college education, they swung 24 points for mcauliffe. that's suggesting some of the more moderate women or women who considered themselves more moderate were offended by trump, went back home to republicans in this race and are independent voters who made the difference. >> thank you, heidi. >> some of the races came down to two candidates who would have made history either way. right? regardless of who won. what does that tell us about trends of who is running in office? >> i think this is the story we're missing in looking at the high level goubtorial and in virginia we see our communities of color slowly by surely make progress gresz. what we saw in boston last
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night, we know that the aapi community is coming off two years of anti-asian sentiment and that we see this impulse of the community to make their voice heard and we saw that last night in the electoral results. both in boston as well as in cincinnati and some other places. what we see here is advances both in terms of communities of color and the other thing i want to underscore here is that we see women, women of color, being one of the fastest demographics in terms of gaining a foothold in elected office. i think this is something that has been under the radar, but in 2018 we saw a big push. and this is going to only continue far into the future. >> thank you both for being with me this morning. still ahead, a dire advisory from the state department warning anyone traveling to ethiopia must draft a will and leave dna samples before
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this travel advisory. >> yeah. well, the situation there is bad and getting much worse. basically just a few hours ago the ethiopian human rights council issued a joint report saying there's evidence on both sides of the conflict of acts of atrociies to various extents to some of the things they're reporting on as evidence of extrajudicial killings, tortures, rapes, and also attacking refugees. so the situation is quite bad and stands to get a lot worse, especially as rebel forces approach the capitol. >> rebel forces have now taken to main cities other than the capitol, so clearly there is a problem there that may be continuing. matt, there was an attack yesterday outside a military hospital in kabul. what more can you tell us? >> so the group taking responsibility for this attack is an off chute of the islamic
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state. isk, the group operating in afghanistan. this was a deadly one. it began with two large explosions outside of the hospital grounds and was probably followed up by a rush of gunmen. about 20 confirmed killed so far and 16 injured in the gunfight as well. the taliban confirmed this was isk and also took credit for thwarting the attack with the second base special forces unit apparently dropping in from a helicopter. so there were witnesses on the ground that did report helicopters were in the area. but that's basically in broad strokes what we know at the moment. >> matt in moscow. thank you very much for being with me. that wraps up the hour. thank you for the privilege of your time. craig melvin picks up with more news right now. good wednesday morning. this morning finger pointing and
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election blues for democrats that has them seeing a lot of red. literally. in new jersey that governor's race still too close to call right now. democrat incumbent phil murphy facing off against jack ciattarelli. biden won in 2020 by a wide margin. votes still being counted as we wait. in virginia, glen youngkin edged past mcauliffe, flipping another state that biden won by a sizable margin. steve kornacki standing by at his big board. he is following it all for us. we're going to get the latest from steve in moments. also right now these big races putting an even bigger microscope on biden's agenda and the dialing up the urgency among democrats to get something, anything done. in the last 15 minutes, we got a major update
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