election night. these drop boxes give voters peace of mind that they don't have to worry about mail delays and they can track their ballot once it's picked up from a box like this. >> shaquille brewster joining us from milwaukee county, wisconsin, thank you. and thank you at home for watching. that wraps up this very busy hour. i'm stephanie ruhle. my friend and colleague jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage right now. and good morning. it's 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart, and just this morning, planes carrying u.s. troops and vehicles landed in poland, as the heated standoff continues at the ukrainian border. we're going to get a live report from kyiv. lawmakers jim clyburn and joaquin castro will join us to discuss the next steps for the u.s. response. also this morning, states are quickly moving to drop mask mandates as the nation enters a new phase in the fight against the coronavirus. meanwhile at the supreme court,

justices cleared the way for alabama to use its new election map, that voting rights advocates say disenfranchises black voters. nbc's pete williams will join me with more. and happening just outside u.s. borders, we're taking a closer look at the remain in mexico policy, back in effect, despite president biden's opposition to the policy. and we begin with the latest developments in the escalating tensions between russia and ukraine. a western intelligence official told nbc news chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, the russian military buildup is not slowing down and that it appears less likely to be a negotiating tactic. the official also said russia should have the forces it needs for a complete takeover of ukraine in the next two to three weeks, if it chooses to go down that path. but the scope of any russian

attack on ukraine is still unclear. moscow continues to deny it plans to invade ukraine. meantime, the diplomatic efforts continue, with french president emmanuel macron visiting kyiv today, to talk about with russia's president -- with ukraine's president about a plan to end the russian threat, one day after macron visited moscow, where he met with russian president vladimir putin for five hours. after that meeting, putin said some of the proposals macron put forward could form the basis of future discussions. as macron and putin talked in moscow, president biden and german chancellor olaf schultz were meeting at the white house. the german leader said his country was absolutely united with the u.s. and other nato allies, and that, quote, we will not be taking different steps, but the president made it clear the nordstream 2 pipeline that would carry natural gas from russia to germany will not move forward if russia attacks ukraine, something the german leader did not take a stand on.

>> if russia invades, that means tanks or troops crossing the border of ukraine, again. and there will be -- there will be no longer a nord stream 2. we will bring an end to it. >> but how will you -- how will you do that? exactly. since the project and control of the project is within germany's control. >> we will -- i promise you, we'll be able to do it. >> with me now, nbc news correspondent, erin mclaughlin in kyiv and "new york times" diplomatic correspondent, michael crowley. erin, does the ukrainian government share the view by the senior western intelligence official, richard engel spoke with, that the russian buildup is less of a negotiating tactic and more of a preparation from some kind of real attack? >> they do not. ukrainian government officials

continue to downplay this threat, with the foreign minister recently telling people to ignore the, quote, apocalyptic predictions that are coming from the west. officials here in kyiv are acutely concerned about the impact this assessment could have on the economy here in ukraine. they're concerned about people panicking as a result of those assessments. that being said, i've been having conversations here with ukraine -- ukrainians who have been watching the situation very closely. experts. i was peaking to daria, she's a corruption fighter here in kyiv, and she said that she's taking these western intelligence assessments extremely seriously, comparing the scenario to the -- what happened just before world war ii, and given this diplomatic push that we're now seeing underway, the french president arriving here in kyiv to meet with president zelensky, she is warning ukraine and the

west to avoid the mistakes of the past. take a listen. >> our partners from the uk and the u.s., who rely on intelligence and have much more information than me, are saying, clearly, that we are at the edge of war. and it could be world war iii. and how to stop that? the history of world war ii says that you can't appease the dictator. you can't satisfy. just give him just small pieces and he will stop. he will not stop. >> reporter: i was speaking to another warfare expert and she was telling me that she believes that zelensky has not done enough in this regard. he has not done enough to thank the west for his support as well as rally support against the russian threat on ukraine's doorstep, jose. >> and michael, what more can you tell us about the french impact, the proposals which putin said could form the basis for discussions aimed at the

crisis ending, and now we see macron today in kyiv. >> yeah, jose, i think we're seeing increasingly central to this drama is high-level context between putin and european intermediaries. interestingly, president biden that we are aware of has not spoken to putin since december. it is possible that the german chancellor has been going to moscow. other military leaders have been in touch with mr. putin. this is where a lot of the key action is happening right now. and vladimir putin did make some, you know, offer some encouraging response to his meeting with the french president, but that would also be consistent with somebody who is playing for time to move his forces into position, to get all the final preparations ready for an invasion. you can say that's better than the alternative of him saying,

i'm done with this, there's nothing left to talk about, but you can't put too much stock in it, particularly because vladimir putin is not exactly known as, you know, an honest and transparent negotiator in context like this. >> interesting, because, remember, you know this better than anybody else, that with those meetings in geneva, the russians asked for nato proposals and even u.s. proposals on things that could help minimize this crisis going forward. the russians received those proposals. but so far, there has been very little things that we can see coming out of moscow that would, in fact, show his cards, one way or another, michael. >> yeah, and look, you know, we're all focused on those promise and it makes sense, and they are things that are tangible that we can look at. but i think that that's not really -- it's almost a divergent at this point. there's really no overlap between what the russians have put out on paper and what the u.s. has returned on paper. it's just kind of impossible to

see how those, that exchange of documents is going to lead to something. i really think that an analyst that i trust are telling me, this is going to require presidential-level engagement, and i don't just mean president biden, obviously, i'm talking about european leaders like president macron. these public papers are not going to do it. >> michael, what can these leaders give to russia, that would satisfy putin? i mean, it's not like ukraine is doing anything proactively towards the russian side or anything. there's been nothing to prompt this from the ukrainian's perspective. >> that's exactly the right question, jose. and i have not heard a good answer to it. you know, some people talk about some assurance to putin that ukraine will not join nato in

exnumber of years, but that's already kind of a reality, that putin understands. ukraine is far from meeting the qualifications that would allow it to be admitted to nato. and you know, his grievances are purportedly so much larger than that. one possibility is that he's playing for some kind of leverage in these ongoing peace talks within ukraine that are trying to resolve the separatist war that has been underway there since 2014. and that he wants better terms or more engagement by europe and can the europeans to gain more of an advantage in the conflict that's already underway there. that would be a hopeful interpretation, but that's really all that he wants. but i have to say, this is kind of -- this is a lot of sound and fury just to achieve that. >> and it's so fascinating to look at history and what was going on. for example, 31st of august, 1939, versus the first of september, 1939. on the 31st, there was still the possibility of negotiating with hitler to see if he wouldn't invade poland, and then look what happened a day after, you

know, prompting world war ii. erin mclaughlin and michael crowley, thank you so much for being with me this morning. with me now to talk about this is house majority whip, south carolina democratic congressman, jim clyburn. congressman, it's always a pleasure to see you, sir. thank you for your time. let's start with ukraine. a bipartisan group of senators is set to be on a deal with severe sanctions on russia. some lawmakers would like to see some of those sanctions take effect immediately. others, such as house foreign affairs committee chair, gregory meeks, oppose that because they say it would give putin little incentive not to go into ukraine. where do you think the situation should be as far as sanctioning russia? >> well, thank you very much for having me. you know, listen to the president's comments yesterday and i think president biden is doing the right thing to really work in concert with our allies and to make known to putin

exactly what the standpoint of this country is. i have not discussed this with gregory meeks, although i trust his government on this issue. i wouldn't like to get too far in the weeds when it comes to foreign policy. i would rather stay back and let those people who are entrusted with those responsibilities to act upon their best information, which is usually much, much more information than i have. >> thank you, congressman. i want to turn now then to the supreme court. you've made no secret of your desire to nominate michelle childs to fill the seat of retiring justice stephen breyer. the white house has said she's being considered. have you had an opportunity to make your case directly to the president? >> no, i have not. i've talked with the president about these issues two years ago. the feelings that many people

have about the diversity of the court. we want to diversify everything about our government. we want every one in this country to feel a real part of this country, irrespective of its circumstances of birth. and so that's the kind of thing that i talk to the players about and i talked with everybody here in the congress about. nobody should field, if my family can only afford that i go to a public school, that sets my out of aspirations for anything or for limited aspirations, should i say. so that's the kind of thing i talk to the president about. and i am sure that he will make the best decision for the country as it relates to this issue. >> and you've also said the

president's nominee should be someone who can get republican votes, even though democrats can push any nominee through as long as all 50 democratic senators are onboard. why is it important, you think, that the nominee get some republican support? >> i think that we ought to be as broad as we possibly can with all of our issues. i don't think that you hold it against people for reaching out to the other side. that's what we're all about. we are about trying to bring this country together. i want to see a future for my children and grandchildren, much different than it was with my parents and grandparents. and to do that, we have to all work together. the president has talked about that, doing things, as much as possible in a bipartisan way. and selecting justices, as well as judges, we ought to try to do it in a bipartisan way. that's all i'm saying. this country is too big, too

valuable for us not to bring as much of the forces together as we possibly can. >> hey, congressman, just hearing you talk about how the past should remain in the past, but we should learn from it and go towards a better future, i'm just wondering, what is your -- are you hopeful about the future? congressman? >> yes, i am. i'm a south carolinian through and through. i live by our state's motto. as i breathe, i hope. but i tell my folks all the time, south carolina has a second motto we don't talk about too often. prepare in mind and resources. and south carolinians are prepared in mind and resources. and we demonstrate that as much as we possibly can every day. so, sure, i'm very hopeful about the future of this country. and i'm going to do everything i possibly can to help all of the

elements in the country to bring it together, to move forward together, to save this democracy from any threat that may come from a foreign power or from domestic insurrections. that is what we're sworn to do. to protect, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. >> congressman jim clyburn, it's always a pleasure to see you. i thank you very much for being with me this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up in what could be a pivotal moment, several states are lifting indoor mask mandates. we'll ask one doctor why she said those mandates no longer add up. and later, president biden once campaigned against it. now due to a court order, his administration has to enforce it. we'll take a closer look at the trump-era remain in mexico policy in the biden white house. you're watching "jose

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19 past the hour. this morning, public health officials are responding to the sharp drop in covid cases across the nation. new jersey, delaware, connecticut, oregon, all moved to relax their mandates. as a new poll from axios ipsos shows that americans are now coming to terms with living with covid. but as axios points out, there's lack of a consensus on how. people nearly evenly divided into our groups. some advocating for more mandates, others say precautions should be dropped altogether. joining me now is nbc news correspondent, gabe gutierrez. gabe, good morning. what more can you tell us about why these states are relaxing mask mandates now? >> hi, there, jose. as you mentioned, there seems to be a shift in public perception about how long this pandemic

will last and that axios poll that you just mentioned, it had americans moved into four different camps, all between 20 and 30%, advocating different extremes of whether mask mandates should be kept. also according to that poll, this is surprising, jose, nearly one in three americans actually think that they're going to get covid within the next month. only one in ten actually believe that the pandemic will be eradicated within one year. so, jose, this kind of feeds into what the governor said yesterday. you mentioned new jersey, connecticut, delaware, and others announced plans to relax their mask mandates. also in schools, new jersey governor's phil murphy basically saying that we'll have to learn to live with this. and jose, i found this when i went yesterday to some schools in ohio. i went to two school districts, one troy intermediate, as well as warrensville heights just outside of cleveland. troy intermediate had just let

its mask mandate expire. they still recommend masks, but they now say that, you know, this is probably something that they're going to have to live with. now, warrensville height also just outside of cleveland, about 30 miles away, they on the other hand have kept mask mandates in place. so, jose, this is still extremely divisive around the country. what school districts will do in the coming weeks and months, as for the white house, they were asked about this yesterday, and press secretary jen psaki said that mask wearing, according to the cdc, is still recommended in schools, but ultimately, it will be up to local school districts to decide what to do. so we seem to be in phase where public perception, public opinion is shifting on covid restrictions. and different organizations, different states, different school districts are trying to sort this all out right now, jose. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you so very much. for more on this, i want to bring in dr. lucy mcbride, a contributor"the washington pos."

also with us is dr. natalie azar, rheumatologist and msnbc news medical contributor. dr. say czar, new jersey, delaware, connecticut, all planning to end mask mandates in the next several weeks. what's your reaction to these decisions? >> i can tell you, i feel like my reaction is as mixed as expert reaction has been, if you've been following any of the public health experts that we've been following for the last two years. and this is where i think the argument falls along a couple of lines. public health tools, such as masks and mitigation strategies are to be used during surges and relaxed when cases go down. but some experts have said, well, okay, yes, we see the cases going down, but we also have to think about spread. yesterday, we had the highest number of cases since last april. we still have over 2,000 deaths per day. and if we're talking about the protection the vaccines afford, well, only 22% of kids ages 5 to 11 are vaccinated and about 56%

of kids 12 to 17 are vaccinated. and so those are the groups especially in school that we're talking about. the other issue, of course, always with the public health intervention is benefit versus risk. and we know that masks definitely help, indoor masks definitely helps to mitigate spread, but is it really, really helping in our grade school kids, who aren't wearing medical grade masks because they don't exist and maybe aren't wearing masks correctly. so you can see, jose, there are a lot of different issues, a lot of different arguments to be made, quite frankly, on both sides. i want to make two points, finally, is that this is ant mandate to take masks away. this is simply letting local districts and school districts make decisions that are appropriate for their communities, and it does by no means mean that people can't wear masks. and especially for staff and teachers, they can definitely wear medical-grade masks and they will still remain protected, jose. >> and talking about schools, dr. mcbride, schools across the country continue to face major staffing shortages, and are

struggling to stay open in many cases. a study from the cdc shows that the consistent use of face masks was associated with a lower chance of a positive covid test. is masking an effective tool at keeping schools as normal as they can be for now? >> so, i'm glad you ask that question, because when you look at the amount of data we have, we really come up dry when we're looking for data that suggests that there's a real-world benefit of masking children in schools to reduce transmission. i'm not saying masks can't work, i'm not saying that high-grade and well-fitted respirator-type masks don't work and shouldn't be used for high-risk individuals, i'm saying that the oath that we take in medicine and in public health is first, do no harm. and when you have an intervention, whose benefits are questionable, at best, in the setting of a school, and whose harms are non-zero, the burden

of proof is on the intervention to show that the benefits outweigh the harms. and at this moment, as natalie elegantly said, when we of course try to balance risks and benefits, and as omicron is slowly retreating, in various parts of the country, in a patchwork fashion, and as vaccines are widely available to anyone who wants it over age five, and as kids, we know, after 22 months of accumulated data, kids face the lowest risk in general for severe consequences from covid-19, we really can't wait any longer to think about mask-optional policies, when we have a mental health crisis in this country. the surgeon general and aap have come together to say, this is a mental health crisis for kids and teens who are facing, you know, 22 months of disruption, particularly kids who have been disproportionately affected by covid-19, kids who are in minority groups who have faced unbelievable losses, also have faced unbelievable losses due to

widening education gaps. so, you know, yes, i believe that masks when they're appropriate and perhaps during a surge, yes, i believe in the vaccines, but at this moment, at this watershed moment, it's time to really, really think hard about putting undue burden on the lowest risk population, kids, to protect our most vulnerable, those patients and people can get vaccinated. >> yeah, and i'm thinking, dr. azar, california is taking a different approach to all of this, announcing it's dropping indoor mask mandates beginning the 15th of this month, but leaving schools out of this for now. so it's the adults can take their mask off, but kids should keep them on. is that -- how do you feel about that, dr. azar? >> yeah, right, i know, it does feel like the kids are bearing the burden of protecting society. gosh, i don't relish, i'm very happy that i'm not the one has to make these decisions, for my kids in new jersey and for

americans at large. this is really difficult. i think the one concern that i would have about, you know, a blanket, no-mask -- and again, this does not mean that you don't have to mask. our school district in new jersey may very well decide to keep my kids masked, and if that's the case, that's the case. i think what's missing here is a little bit better guidance from cdc on what to do about exposure. i know there's been a lot of pushback from, you know, parents and mostly parents, actually, who say, listen, the guidance right now, if your child is exposed, if they're masked, there's a test-to-stay policy. what happens now if no one is masked? does that mean that everyone now needs to do, if they're -- you know, if they're vaccinated, do they do a quarantine? do they not need to quarantine? i think we need to have a guidance before lifting all of the mask mandates, because i think it's going to feel a little bit chaotic, and if our number one goal is keep our kids

in school, i think that more than anything needs to drive any particular policy change, and to the degree that it can be, it needs to be as evidence-based as possible. i know i'm stating the obvious and i'm happy i'm not the one who's ultimately making the decisions, because it's not going to be easy. >> dr. mcbride, is it a situation according -- your thoughts. is it that we will never see the end of coronavirus? we're just going to have deal -- >> coronavirus is here to stay. coronavirus is here to stay. we don't want it to be. it continues to take lives and cause unnecessary suffering. but it is here to stay, that's the reality. so what we need to do is mitigate the risks by getting vaccinated, by staying home if we're sick, getting tested if we're sick, but i want to just ask -- so to talk about what dr. azar just said, you know, she said, i don't envy people who have to make these decisions. i would say, if not, doctors making these -- or helping public policy decision makers make these decisions, who?

we are so politicized. we are so polarized. you know, i put together with 15 other doctors this urgency of normal tool kit to help put into the hands of policy makers facts and information and a framework to make complex decisions. we are parents, we are physicians, we are scientists, we have no political ideology or ties. we're not backed by any financial institution. we are purely citizens, scientists, and doctors trying to make sense of a complex situation, take politics away, put facts in the driver's seat, to help our own kids. if doctors don't lead, who will? >> yeah. dr. azar? >> absolutely, i agree with that. i think i'm simply saying, for many of us who don't have a battleground in epidemiology and public health, there are a lot of factors that going into making these decisions.

i agree with dr. mcbride that we are seeing patients firsthand and doing our best to try to explain and offer guidance based on the science, this is what we do for a living and every day and with our own families, but on a larger scale, i think it's a little bit of a bigger challenge. and one thing that i do think has happened, which i think is important, is that rather than making it a state law or a state mandate, that that is being relaxed, so that local districts can make decisions for their communities, which are appropriate based on metrics like hospital capacity and icu capacity. the types of children in their school district. are there children with learning disabilities who are faltering, because of these mandates. you know, there's a lot of nuance here. and sort of a blunt instrument, like a mask mandate, to have or to not have, i think, oversimplifies a very, very complicated situation. >> and i just want to thank both of you, because the more we

learn from you, the better we as a society can be able to deal with this. dr. mcbride and dr. azar, thank you both for being with me this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. coming up, we're live in ukraine with how the country is planning to defend itself if russia invades. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. russia invades you're watching "jose you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. t with lipton. because sippin' on unsweetened lipton can help support a healthy heart. lipton. stop chuggin'. start sippin'.

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35 past the hour, ukrainian forces are urgently preparing for a guerilla-style war, as workers refurnish ir soviet-era tanks to be ready for the battlefield. joining me now from eastern ukraine is nbc news foreign correspondent, matt bradley. matt, what's the latest on the ground there? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, jose, that's kind of the baffling thing about this, is outside of kyiv and the diplomacy, there is no latest on the ground. the official line from the government in public and in private is that there won't be a russian invasion, so we're not seeing massive preparations, but i went to that tank factory today. it was really interesting. we got to see them sort of refurbishing these old soviet-era tanks and this is littered with these old tanks,

and turning them into what they call new nato-quality tanks with advanced communication systems and weaponry. but some defense officials said that the main strategy here is going to be an insurgency, a guerilla-style campaign, because they are ware of the really glaring weaknesses of the ukrainian military. they won't be able to beat the russians in a face-to-face battle in a conventional war fought on a battlefield. and we saw in that assessment that came out from u.s. intelligence, that, you know, kyiv, the capitol, could be taken within 48 hours of an invasion. so what they're saying is that the strategy -- not just a strategy, but the strategy is for an insurgency led often by civilians. now, this sounds crazy, but remember that u.s. military was humbled in iraq and afghanistan by civilian insurgencies. and this won't necessarily be a civilian insurgency per se. while there are civilians who are arming themselves and training all across the country, in training sessions, they are also going to be fighting with the conventional military that's going to be using guerilla-style

tactics. that's something that defense officials told me is something they're actually going to be doing, you know, just using essentially a harassment campaign against an occupation force by the russians. that's the bottom card. and it's the main option that the ukrainians have to defend against a russian incursion. jose? >> matt bradley, thank you so much. and with me now from frankfort, germany, is ben hodges, now persian chair for european studies. it's a pleasure to see you. i understand that you were in kyiv just last week. you had an opportunity to meet with president zelensky. what's your assessment of the situation there? >> well, jose, thank you very much. and by the way, i'm also a fellow floridian, so good to work with you right now. >> likewise. >> i've been to that tank factory where matt was just reporting, and it's an amazing place. what they're doing there, but

his assessment, i think, is accurate. and when i spoke to president zelensky last week in kyiv, he made it clear to me that he fully understands the threat. he understands that the existence -- the survival of his government as well as the survival of the sovereignty of ukraine is at stake, because of the danger put in place by russia. but he also is having to balance his economy -- i mean, they're bleeding money right now, which is part of the intention of the kremlin. and so they're trying to find a balance on preparation, but also the economy. and i tend to agree that there will be an attack by the russian federation forces, but it is going to be a much lower-level, almost a continuation of what they've been doing, not the large, massive assault, and for sure, the russians would not be able to overrun kyiv in 72

hours. >> yeah, that would be so, so difficult. i mean, the might of the russian armed forces and especially the 130,000 troops that they've put in those different border areas, it would be massive, although, you know, let's remember, the soviet union had an issue with finland, and they thought that they were going to be able to take finland, and look what happened. finland was able to fight back. meanwhile, the white house has been pushing the message that the u.s. and its nato and european allies are united when it comes to dealing with the russian threat. the president sought to project that yesterday when he met with the chancellor of germany what are -- from the european side, what's the view of how the united states and the allies are dealing with this. is everybody on the same page? >> well, look, i was actually very impressed with the diplomatic effort by the biden administration, the most comprehensive and intensive diplomatic effort that i've seen

by any administration, probably since 1995, in the dayton peace accord. so we are probably closer to each other in most of the parts that really matter. the differences are on what should the responses be. i would say this, i was impressed with chancellor schultz yesterday. i had the chance to meet him in hamburg a few years ago when he was the burgermeister of hamburg. and of course, he's moved up through the ranks of the spd, which is a complicated party in the german political scene. he has a challenge from his left flank, just the way president biden does also. but yet, he repeated over and over and over yesterday that he is in step with the united states, and so i'm actually quite confident that germany in the end is going to apply the diplomatic and economic pressure on the kremlin that's needed to make the kremlin hesitate. >> retired lieutenant general,

ben hodges, it's a pleasure to see you. i thank you so much for being with me this morning. >> thanks for the privilege. up next, voting rights on the line after a new supreme court order. our pete williams joins to us break it down. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." down. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports. aleve it... and see what's possible. [♪♪]

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the supreme court reinstated alabama's contested congressional map, which a lower court stopped for violating the voting rights act by diluting the power of black voters. the court split 5-4, five of the more conservative justices voted to put the lower court decision on hold. chief justice roberts siding with the three more liberal justices. joining me now is pete williams. what does this tell us about how the current court sees the voting rights act? >> it's an ominous sign for people who hope the voting rights act would create more

minority/majority districts, especially in the south. remember that states do this after every census. they take into account shifts in population, increases and decreases, and they adjust the boundaries of political lines. this particular case is about the a congressional line. two judges said that alabama should create a second district in which black voters would have a majority. they tend to vote cohesively, but they've been so split up that they can't elect the candidate of their choice. the supreme court put that ruling on hold. the court didn't give any explanation as for why it did this. two of the justices said, the reason we don't want this new order to create another district to go into effect now is that it's too close to the election and would cause chaos. but the second part of what happened here, jose, is that the supreme court agreed to hear alabama's appeal of this lower court ruling, this lower court

that applied the voting rights act in deciding that alabama should create a second district. so this is the first of this census redistricting chores to be done since the mid-60s, in which the preclearance requirement of the old voting rights act is gone. states no longer have to get permission in advance, so they make these changes and then they get sued and that's how this case came to the supreme court. the fact that the case would agree to hear this case would suggest that they are correspond about the voting rights act and that's why it's a bad sign for people who were hoping that the voting rights act, what's left of it, would allow the creation of more districts in which black and minority voters would have a majority, jose. >> pete williams, thank you so much for clearing that up. appreciate it. >> you bet. coming up, congressman joaquin castro joins me to discuss what needs to happen next with the crisis in ukraine and also the latest on the

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court-ordered implementation of the remain in mexico program looks different now under president biden than it did trump. "the post" says compared to the 300 to 400 people sent away each day at some point in 2019, president biden has only sent back about seven asylum-seekers daily. joining me now texas democratic congressman joaquin castro. always a pleasure to see you, sir. what's the reaction to the mpp and how it's being implemented now? >> well, i strongly disagreed with the remain in mexico program when it was put in place by the trump administration. i think it's an inhumane program. i think it takes away the united states' role as a north star in the world and how you handle and treat desperate, oppressed people, asylum seekers who are petition is to live in a country. the united states historically has h been a leader in, that and so i'm disappointed that the biden administration expanded it

in some ways, and hopefully they will end it and wind it down here in the coming months. >> how do you do that though? i mean, the court ordered it to be reinstated, so the administration really had no choice but to readminister is. the issue, is you know, the migrants that are in the border, i mean, just yesterday, the mexican government moved a camp in the tijuana area. i mean, it's such a difficult reality for so many, hundreds of men, women and children. >> no, you're right, jose, and there's an administrative process that the biden administration has to go through in order to properly wind down that program, and they need to do that swiftly because they expanded the program from the trump years to not only include spanish-speakers, but people coming from other nations as well, and so the last thing we want to see is more people

subjected to the same inhumane program. that being said, the boyden administration has been a lot better on other areas of asylum and immigration than donald trump. donald trump was a seine phone and led with his bigotry in terms of his politics. that is president that right away put forward legislation to allow a path for citizenship for dreamers and other undocumented immigrants, so in that way president biden has been very different than donald trump, but on title 42 wand on remain in mexico, those are two troublesome programs that have carried over. >> shifting subjects, congressman. you're a member of the house foreign affairs committee. we have officials warning that russia could completely take over ukraine in a matter of weeks. is it time for sanctions now before a possible russian invasion of ukraine? >> i think the important thing is the threat of sanctions, if russia takes that action, and russia and vladimir putin have

to understand that their economy will be decimated if they decide to invade ukraine. financially their economy, which is not very strong also, will be on the brink of collapse. their plutocrats and oligarchs will be sanctioned around the world, and they will feel a real economic devastation. it's not just going to hurt economy there. it will also lead, i think, to the largest protest marches against his leadership that vladimir putin has ever seen in russia and threaten his very leadership of the country so that's what's at stake directly for vladimir putin and for russia. >> and do you think -- and putin is clearly more concerned about deeds than with words, right? so he sees, for example, 2014. he went in, yeah. there were some back and forth but in the final analysis he was able to carry out his desires. look what he's done to poison opponents, you know, not only inside russia, you know, but in the uk and elsewhere.

i'm just wondering. i mean, is the threat of, oh, you know, things will get ugly for you, if he doesn't see in the past any kind of unity and cohesion, in the past, can he be convinced? >> no, he raised a good point, but i think that the response this time would be very different and the diplomatic effort that the united states has led to make that clear has been very different than last time, and so the world will stand against russia if it invades ukraine, and the reason for that is not just because it would send a signal and threaten other nato allies of ours, but also because the world has tried hard after world war ii to stop sovereign nations from invading sovereign nations, because of human rights, to respect sovereignty, but also when that happens it encourages other nations to do that, so the stakes are high for russia but also for the world in what happens here. >> congressman castro, always a

pleasure for seeing you here. always a pleasure seeing think morning. >> good to be with you. >> that wraps up this hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you so much for the privilege of your time. chris jansing picks up with more news next. chris jansing picks up with more news next. why does walgreens offer prescription copays as low as zero dollars? ♪♪ so you won't have a medicare in the world. ♪♪ fill your medicare prescriptions with walgreens and save. what happens when we welcome change? fill your medicare we can make emergency medicine possible at 40,000 feet. instead of burning our past for power, we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. we can create new ways to connect. rethinking how we communicate

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yeah...uhhh... [children laughing] doug? [ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has easy-to-use tools and some of the lowest prices. get e*trade and start trading today. good morning. i'm chris jansing in for craig melvin other at msnbc headquarters in new york. right now an escalation in eastern europe. a western intelligence official tells nbc news that russia could have the forces it needs to launch a full invasion in the next two to three weeks. these new details coming from nbc's richard england who will join me live with ukraine ahead. the supreme court deals a massive blow to voting rights advocates letting alabama proceed with a congressional map that a lower court