talking about that, the economy, he has a lot of good things to talk about as far as the economy goes. as we said earlier, really, record low unemployment rates or at least going back to 1969, well over a half century. so the economy, he's got good news to talk about. a lot of things going on in china. a lot of things going on with russia. he's got his plate full. it should be a fascinating state of the union address. >> do we have the utica cam? have a wonderful weekend, everybody, stay warm if you're in new england. that does it for us this morning. josé diaz-balart picks up the coverage right now. and good morning, 10:00 a.m., eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific, i'm josé diaz-balart, and breaking this morning, new reaction just moments ago from the chinese government after the u.s. military tracked a suspected chinese spy balloon

hovering over the northern u.s. plus, do you know what negative 60 degrees feels like? well, tens of millions from the northern plains to new england are under alerts for what could be some of the coldest windchills in a generation. and an nbc news exclusive, new reporting on why more than half a million migrants living in the u.s. are in legal limbo. migrants telling us quote, i couldn't believe what i was seeing. fresh outcry over another police killing. a double amputee missing both his legs trying to run from police. in just minutes, president biden expected to address those huge numbers in the latest jobs report released just this morning. what those numbers mean for our economy. we begin this hour with the pentagon on alert. nbc news was first to report that the u.s. is monitoring a

suspected chinese surveillance balloon that has been hovering over the northern u.s. a witness in billings, montana, captured this footage on wednesday the same day the pentagon says a suspected chinese spy balloon passed through the area. nbc news has not been able to confirm the footage. moments ago the chinese spokesperson said the balloon was a civilian air ship used for climate research purposes and that it deviated from its planned course and expressed regret that it unintentionally entered u.s. air space, but overnight, canadian authorities released a statement regarding another balloon over its own territory saying in part, quote, a high-altitude surveillance balloon was detected and its movements are being actively tracked by norad. in washington lawmakers are demanding answers including house speaker kevin mccarthy who is calling on the biden administration to brief the gang of eight, a bipartisan group of lawmakers who reviews top security matters. all of this happening just days before the u.s. secretary of

state, antony blinken is expected to visit china and after the u.s. announced a new military deal with the philippines to expand america's presence there. joining us now nbc's courtney kube who was the first to report this story, and general barry mccaffrey, retired four-star general and an nbc news military analyst. courtney, what are officials saying about this balloon? what really is it, and how did the u.s. learn about its presence? >> so the u.s. military first started tracking this several days ago. it moved down from the aleutian islands through canada into montana, and they were watching it during its entire track. they're characterizing it as a high altitude surveillance balloon, so something that is gathering, collecting information. they've been really particular about not saying what kind of information it can gather with the exception of the fact a senior defense official told me they don't believe it has any kind of new or different intelligence capabilities beyond some of the things that they already know that china does, like using satellites to gather

information about things in the continental u.s. so they've been tracking this for several days, but one of the differences here, this is not unprecedented. the chinese have had surveillance balloons like this, and in fact, they've even come close and gone into the continental u.s. the difference here is this one straight into the u.s. and it stayed. it hovered. in the past they've maybe come in and then left quickly. officials here at the pentagon became so concerned that on wednesday secretary of defense lloyd austin convened this meeting of senior military leaders. he was in manila at the time. he called them in the middle of the night and they talked through options. one of the options they discussed seriously was taking this balloon down, shooting it down out of the sky. ultimately they decided that given its somewhat limited intelligence collection capabilities and the possibility that a debris field on the ground from the balloon could endanger people and infrastructure in montana, they decided to recommend to the white house, to president biden not to take it out. he concurred.

senior defense officials telling me they are continuing to watch it literally minute by minute, and they keep open the option of still taking some sort of kinetic action against it, jose. >> yeah, if they'd been monitoring this minute by minute, why not shoot it down when it just enters air space? >> so they watched it, and i think that was a very real consideration. in fact, it was so real that norad brought in aircraft including f 22 fighter jets. they were used for surveillance to check this thing out to see if they could figure out what it was doing, but also that has the potential to shoot it down, to take out this balloon. again, it's enormous. i think people don't realize how big this surveillance balloon is. it's really, really high up in the sky, so if you can see it from the ground, that gives you a sense of how big it is. if you think about it, if they were to shoot it down, if it has any kind of helium in it and it were to blow up, it could leave a wide debris field on the ground and they were worried

about people. the defense officials i've spoken with about this have reinforced it's not a threat to commercial aviation at its altitude and doesn't pose a threat to people on the ground when it's flying around. again, if that situation changes while they're watching it, i think that's when we might see some sort of change in action here. >> general, what's your read on this? >> well, it's a strange, uncoordinated action by the chinese. they have been getting increasingly aggressive, harassing our own intelligence collection platforms seen in the air. this thing was hardly covert. for god sakes, as courtney explained, it's enormous. it was spotted by commercial airline pilots. it was photographed from the ground. by the way, there's a question in my mind how did they intend to recover their sensor package. to some extent it doesn't make whole bunch of sense. it is a persistent, low cost, low level collection asset.

it was parked right over maelstrom air force base 331st missile wing, nuclear equipped, so there was a target it was collecting on, and it probably was more effective than a suborbital chinese satellite at 300 miles, but again, it's a provocative action. it lands just before secretary blinken comes to china this weekend putting that in some jeopardy, and it's sort of an obvious collection asset, so who knows? we have very high altitude near space balloons ourselves that we use for research. i have no idea if we've ever sent one across china, but our satellites are so good it's really not a symmetrical advantage for us. so that action by the chinese, their recovery is in progress right now trying to brush over

this. >> yeah, and i'm just wondering, i mean, is there any kind of tech on that balloon that maybe it would be interesting for the u.s. to get a look at? >> you know, it's probably not anything cutting edge. apparently the take on it was this is some of their standard equipment. the only real advantage they have on this is that these balloons operate 100,000, 150,000 feet. as courtney explained, well above commercial and military aviation, but low enough and slow enough and persistent enough to possibly give them a better picture of one of the three u.s. nuclear silo fields. but i can't imagine we're going to shoot it down. it's no active threat to people on the ground. i also don't believe it was much of a threat shooting it down to people in montana, you know, mountainous low population. we could have brought it down. i doubt we will.

i'd be interested to see where does it come down? are these things being detonated over the ocean? are they trying to recover them with a ship. it's somewhat of a mystery and a bad option by the chinese. >> courtney kube and general barry mccaffrey, i thank you both for being with us this morning. you know, it could be the coldest weather in a generation. this morning tens of millions of people across the northeast and northern plains are bracing for a weekend of record windchill. in parts of maine, it could feel like minus 60 degrees. meanwhile, in the south, more than 300,000 are still without power after a deadly ice storm killed at least eight people this week with the energy supplier in austin, texas, telling customers cannot say when power will return. dangerous conditions persist with ice still coating roads after wreaking havoc on travel and key infrastructure for days now. nbc's emilie ikeda joins us from boston this morning, which is already under a cold emergency.

emilie, good morning, how cold is it going to get there? >> reporter: hey there, jose, we're watching the temperatures rapidly plunge. when we started reporting around 7:00 a.m., the temperature hovered around 23 degrees. since then hour-by-hour we've been watching the mercury tick down dropping 9 degrees over the last few hours. now we are in the teens, and it's only going to get worse. it will feel like minus 20 in chicago today. 30 below in boston tomorrow, and as you mentioned, that jaw-dropping minus 60 in parts of northern maine where the national weather service is calling it an epic, generational arctic outbreak. these frigid temperatures have resulted in the closure of several district school districts in new york and here in massachusetts, including boston schools. so we've seen people a little bit quieter of a morning here in boston throughout the day. and these frigid temperatures come as the south is still falling out from its week-long

ice storm that claimed the lives of at least eight people and resulted in just a tangled mess of power lines and trees. hundreds of thousands of people are still without power in the south central region. austin energy telling its customers last night that they can't say for sure when power will be restored. and jose, back here in buffalo, again, we're facing -- we will be facing possibly minus 30 windchill, but you put that in perspective, you think about it, that's actually kind of mild compared to nearby new hampshire's mount washington, which is bracing for minus 100 windchill and 100 miles per hour wind gusts, so some stunning numbers there. as these frigid temperatures set in, a few things to keep in mind. officials urging people to limit their time outside and wear layers. remember when windchills are well below 0 degrees, frostbite can set in within just a matter of minutes. also, never use your gas stove to heat your home. instead rely on warming centers.

a lot of parts of the region opening those up this weekend, jose. >> emilie ikeda, i thank you so very much. and joining us now to kind of tell us what we can expect oaf over the weekend is meteorologist angie lass man. these are frightening numbers. >> it can be very dangerous, it only takes a couple of minute when is we see temperatures like what we're expecting for frostbite to set in. we still have 54 million people that are under these windchill alerts at this hour. it stretches from the dakotas to basically parts of maine, and even if you aren't under an advisory or a warning right now for windchill, it's still down right cold basically everywhere from, again, the dakotas to maine. minus 27 for what it feels like right now in burlington. 5 below for what it feels like in detroit, and windchills as low as minus 24 and northern parts of michigan. again, that cold arctic air has settled in place. this is going to be something that we deal with for not just today but as we get into tomorrow.

really the worst sets in for parts of the northeast. we'll likely see record lows being broken tomorrow. we have the potential in places like boston, at jfk airport, laguardia airport, in parts of new hampshire to see these record lows in places like boston were set back in the 1800s, those could be broken, and you see why. minus 30 is what it's going to feel like as you get up and out the door, or if you're taking my recommendation, just stay in bed in boston tomorrow morning because it's going to be bitter cold. in other places across pennsylvania, subzero windchill is going to be really the norm. through the day today, temperatures have already peaked. we saw the warmest of what we're going to see, and now we're going to start to see those temperatures bottom out into early tomorrow morning. if you don't like that forecast, all you have to do is wait a little while. by the time the second half of the weekend rolls around, it's going to feel balmy for some. buffalo on sunday hits the low 40s. into the high 40s by tuesday. new york city ends up mid-40s

for sunday, but back to the 50s we go for monday and tuesday. washington, d.c., will be nearing 60 degrees. so again, we had this bitter cold where it's going to settle in and it's going to be problematic for folks especially that have to spend prolonged time outdoors tomorrow. if you're in northern maine, minus 60 below for windchill is very unpleasant and down right dangerous, but we will see some major improvements as this cold air moves out and we get back to those more normal and even above normal temperatures by the time the weekend wraps up and we head back into the week. >> thank you very much. still ahead, president biden is expected to speak any moment now from the white house on this new jobs report showing unemployment now at a 53-year low. but first, an nbc news exclusive, how a break from protocol at the border is making it harder for migrants to claim asylum once they're inside the u.s. we'll explain. you're watching "josé

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day to appear in court. that's according to data obtained by nbc news. in addition, thousands of migrants have been dropped from a program that was supposed to track them. with us now to talk about this exclusive, nbc news homeland security correspondent julia ainsley who broke the story. julia, so many questions on this issue. what does it mean for the people who are here that i guess 600,000 who came and requested asylum and did everything they could to get right with it and what happens with them? >> well, jose, you can see it from a hawkish national security perspective that now the u.s. is starting to lose track of some of these people. they weren't given court dates, a lot of them have been taken off the system that allowed them to check in with i.c.e. officers. you can also see from a humanitarian perspective, these are people who don't know what to do next. they don't have a date to appear in court. they might be checking in with i.c.e., they may have gone to their lawyers, but by and large they're missing this one-year eligibility that they have after they cross to claim asylum, and

immigration lawyers we've talked to say when they first saw these people when they came into their offices they couldn't believe they didn't have court dates after they'd been processed by border patrol. they realized they're in a legal limbo. they're not able to work here, they're not able to claim asylum in many cases, and they're not sure what to do next. they might not be on the fast track to deportation because they haven't had their immigration court hearing yet, but if another administration comes in they could be deported. in the meantime they're living in the shadows unsure of what to do next. that's how it is for 600,000 migrants right now, jose. >> isn't there like a program to track and keep track of people? >> there is. it's called alternatives to detention, and it used to be an ankle monitor process. and then they switched to these apps where you can do a facial recognition check-in, and it tracks where you are geographically. but congress has by and large under funded that. they're only funded for half of the people they have on the

program now and two dhs officials we spoke to said, you know what? they're actually starting to drop these people before they even have court dates. they see them oftentimes as people who they won't deport, but they also just can't spend the money to track them anymore. republicans have refused to give this money to the biden administration, but the effect it's having is that they're losing track of these migrants who are coming into the united states and living in the shadows. >> so they're here. they don't -- obviously they just arrived. they don't know, and if you're not given a court date and you don't check in within that one-year period, you lose any possibility of requesting asylum? >> yeah, that's right, u.s. citizenship and immigration services requires immigrants to apply for asylum within one year of crossing the border. that was normally pretty doable when people would cross the border, they would be issued a charging document. they would show up in court, and a judge would decide whether or not they could have asylum or whether or not they would be

deported. it could kind of go either way. of course there are a few other protections they could apply for as well. but that was the status quo. that all changed in march of 2021 when the biden administration had to deal with that surge of unaccompanied children and border patrol. too many children in border patrol, and so they tried to start getting as many adults out as they can. they release them without court dates and they've continued to do it. it's border wide. it's a common practice. they thought they could accommodate by tracking migrants and allowing i.c.e. to give them court dates. our new data shows that by and large in most of the circumstances they still have not gotten their court dates jose. >> i thank you so very much for being with us this morning. now to the latest on the controversy surrounding the handling of classified information. people familiar with the matter tell "the wall street journal" that the justice department is in talks with former vice president mike pence's legal team about conducting a search of his indiana home to see if there is more classified material. this comes as leaders of the senate intelligence committee are expressing their growing

frustration with the justice department and the office of the director of national intelligence. they sent another letter to those agencies demanding answers about the documents found in the possession of pence, president biden and former president trump and the potential risks to national security. with us now to talk about this is nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali, good to see you. what does the senate intelligence committee plan to do if it doesn't get any answers? >> yeah, letter writing can only take you so far, jose, but we know that this is a group in bipartisan fashion that's frustrated with the lack of information that they are getting from the director of national intelligence because they are citing the fact that there are several doj special counsels assigned to these cases, and they do not want to share that information while those inquiries are ongoing. now, senators on both sides of this, democrat and republican, mark warner and marco rubio have been signing on to these letters trying to press the need for congressional oversight, even just to get a sense of what's in

these documents. they have been asking for this damage assessment since the trump mar-a-lago documents became public months ago, and they still haven't been able to get it. of course in those intervening months we then also know that there were documents of a classified nature found in former vice president, now president biden's possession, and of course former vice president mike pence as well. so more information that they've been asking for. but look, in terms of what they can actually do, we've seen some republicans float the idea like senator tom cotton on the republican side that maybe they'll block nominations until they can actually get the information that they need. that's not something that democrats are on board for, but what is true is that everyone, democrat and republican on the senate side, is pushing forward for this information. so they might not be on the same page in terms of what they can do from an enforcement mechanism perspective, but they are on the same page that they just want this information. >> ali vitali on capitol hill, thank you so much. up next, despite thousands

of layoffs in the tech sector and in other sectors, the latest jobs report crushed expectations. we're going to take a look at what's happening there. by the way, the president is expected to speak on these jobs numbers any minute now, and of course you'll see it here on msnbc. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports." ♪♪ we all have a purpose in life - a “why.” maybe it's perfecting that special place that you want to keep in the family... ...or passing down the family business... ...or giving back to the places that inspire you.

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28 past the hour, we're keeping a close eye on the white house where president biden is set to speak any moment now on the january jobs report, which was way, way better than expected. the government reported that employers added 517,000 jobs last month. economists had predicted about 187,000 jobs would be created. the unemployment rate also fell to 3.4%. it's the lowest it's been since 1969. let's break those numbers down, though, as we always do. the hispanic unemployment rate actually increased by 4/10 of a percent. the black unemployment rate fell 3/10 of a percent. and there you see the breakdown for our economy. i want to bring in nbc's business and data reporter brian cheung. good morning. what do these numbers tell you? >> yeah, it's important just to rehash that this was well above what wall street had expected.

again, over half a million jobs added in the month of january. for reference, analysts were expecting only 187,000 jobs, and that 3.4% unemployment rate, you would have to go back to october 1953 when it was 3.1% to see something lower than that. so this jobs market is churning on all cylinders. in a note i saw from ing economics said there's really little sign of any weakness when you consider the employment to population ratio and the labor force participation rate, other measures of this healthy market are showing the same thing. leisure and hospitality and also it looks like health care also were the big gainers in terms of industries that added in the month, but overall, despite the worries about the tech layoffs that we've been hearing so much about in the previous months, it seems like the overall resiliency of this labor market is still chugging along. >> so brian, is it -- i mean, nothing is i guess normal in anything, but is it normal for there to be such a discrepancy in the expected numbers and then

the numbers that come through? i mean 187 to 517 is a huge tis parity. >> yeah, and really, honestly it's tough to say exactly where the estimators of all of this got it wrong. we have seen in many cases on the past beats on the upside, but then beats also on the downside. we have to take a look at the totality of all of this, the bureau of labor statistics, which releases this data, does go back in time and makes revisions to previous months of data if they see that numbers come in that show actually maybe their original estimate was a little bit off. but even despite that, when you take a look at the november and december months, which the government revised as of this morning, they revised up those numbers as well. so it seems like the numbers that we've been getting on a monthly basis are still at least as of now, understating the number of job creation that we have in this country. now, what's really interesting, though, is that the health of this labor market is a little bit wonky when you consider that despite the gains that we've seen, employers still appear to need even more workers because we got another read on the labor

market earlier this week that showed the number of job openings in this country at an elevated 11 million. it increased between november and december. so that tells you that, okay, we have a lot of people coming back into the labor market. in fact, pre-pandemic levels essentially of employment, but businesses still need more people. it's a very interesting dynamic in this economy. >> and then, brian, are these numbers kind of taking into consideration the huge amount of layoffs we've been seeing, not only in the tech industry, but in companies throughout the entire economy? >> yeah, well, mostly tends to be concentrated in the tech sector, at least for right now when you take a look at the likes of meta, the company formerly known as facebook, google, amazon, they've been laying off thousands of workers over the past few months, and it's gotten a lot of attention. but remember that this labor market has over 150 million people employed, so when you take a look at this report which covers all the industries, it doesn't appear to be making that big of an impact. when you look at other

industries, like, for example, the airline industry or restaurants. leisure and hospitality the biggest driver here. this is not a surprise when you listen to the likes of chipotle. chipotle said that they're going to hire 15,000 people this year ahead of apparently burrito season, apparently more people go out and buy burritos between march and may. when you see those types of companies hiring in this market, they're actually getting more aggressive in expanding. that is not the type of recessionary dynamic you tend to see in those industries. a very weird, nuanced economy we have right now. >> fascinating, brian cheung, thank you. >> just a point of clarification, every day is burrito season for me. >> for me too. coming up an nbc news exclusive, another black man is coming forward saying he had a violent encounter with memphis police just days before tyre nichols. we'll bring you the details next. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports."

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they customize your car insurance... ...so you only pay for what you need! we take you right to the white house with president biden. >> but today, today i'm happy to report that the state of the union and the state of our economy is strong. we learned this morning that the economy has created 517,000 jobs just last month. more than half a million jobs in just the month of january. in addition, we also learned that there were half a million more jobs created last year than we thought, so the january report is updated. i mean, excuse me, the december report is updated. add that all up, it means we've created 12 million, 12 million jobs since i took office. that means we have created more jobs in two years than any presidential term at any time in

two years. that's the strongest two years of jobs growth in history by a long shot. as my dad used to say, a job's about a lot more than a paycheck. it's about your dignity, and 12 million more americans get up every morning knowing they can provide for their families with the dignity and sense of self-worth that had been missing. we also learned that the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, 3.4%. that's the lowest in 54 years. in fact, the last time the unemployment rate was that low was may of 1969. think about that. and what's more, black and hispanic unemployment are near record lows. this matters. the more working age folks come into the labor market looking for jobs last month than have in a while. all the talk about no one looking, we need more people coming into the market. well, more people are coming into the market looking for jobs and getting jobs. a positive sign for the health of the economy going forward.

and even as the job market reaches historic highs, inflation continues to come down. inflation has now fallen for six straight months. gas prices are down more than $1.50 a gallon since their peak. food inflation is falling as well. as inflation is coming down, take-home pay for workers is going up. real wages are up. wages for lower income, middle income workers have gone up even more. couple that with the 2.9% economic growth last quarters and here's where we stand, the strongest job growth in history. the lowest unemployment rate in 54 years. manufacturing rebounding at a faster rate than in the last 40 years, inflation coming down. real wages going up but moderately going up, not going through the roof. the economy growing at a solid clip. put simply, i would argue the biden economic plan is working. for the past two years we've

heard a chorus of critics write off my economic plan. they said it's just not possible to grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out. they said we can't bring back american manufacturing. they said we can't make things in america anymore. that somehow adding jobs was a bad thing. well -- or that the only way to slow down inflation was to destroy jobs. well, today's data makes crystal clear what i've always known in my gut, these critics and cynics are wrong. while we may face setbacks along the way -- and there will be some -- more work to do is clear. our planning is working because of the grit and resolve of the american worker. we're going to keep lowering costs for families, from lowering costs in health care, prescription drugs, clean energy because we passed that legislation, we're going to be rolling it out this whole year. we're going to keep seeing shovels hitting the ground all around the country to rebuild the infrastructure and supply

chains, manufacturing more here at home, and in communities across the country that were too easily written off for dead, we're going to not only see jobs coming back, but a sense of self-worth and pride coming back. nothing worse than when a city has a major manufacturer leave, shut down and all of a sudden your kid getting out of high school or college and says mom, i've got to move. nothing here for me anymore. nothing here. well, i'm intent on changing that and the heartland as well. that's how we build an america where we all can take pride and working families have good jobs and a little more breathing room. as the economy grows from the bottom up and the middle out, this is my objective for the long haul. trickle down economics works for one group of americans. it doesn't work for everybody. and so this is what it's all about. so i'm heading off to philadelphia and if you want to ask me a question about the

economy but i'm not going to answer any questions about anything else because we'll cover this. >> secretary blink -- >> blame for inflation, mr. president? >> do i take any blame for inflation, no. >> why not? >> it was already like that when i got here. jobs were hemorrhaging, inflation was rising, we weren't manufacturing a damn thing here. we were in real economic difficulty. that's why i don't. thank you. >> well, the president there with his comments after this extraordinary jobs report that was released this morning. i want to go to monica alba at the white house. monica, the president took one question, said he wanted to limit it to the economy so that we wouldn't cover anything else and give the economy its importance today. >> reporter: that's right, jose,

and of course there are some other pressing issues. the president was asked about some reports out there about u.s. secretary of state antony blinken postponing his trip to china that had been planned for some time given everything we're learning about this balloon over the united states and everything that you had reported at the top of the hour from our colleague courtney kube. so the president saying he wasn't going to take any questions on that, instead focusing on the economy. and these are really remarks we have seen from this president time and time again. he has said when it comes to the recovery of the u.s. financial situation, that this is something that is always going to be a marathon and not a sprint, but something you have seen this white house continually tout is the fact that those unemployment numbers have consistently come down. the fact that we are at 3.4%, that is something the president is highlighting as well as, of course, all of these new jobs, and the president also puts this into the perspective of black unemployment coming down to

record lows as well affecting latinos as well talking specifically about what a milestone that is when you look at that and the progress that has been made on that front. but the president there, the one question he did answer, he was asked do you take blame personally essentially for inflation, and he said no. he said to the reporter who asked look at when i inherited, man. that was a quote from the president essentially talking about everything from the beginning of the pandemic and when we look at the picture economically three years ago to where we are now, the president is asking everybody to take in this big picture context of some of the gains that have been made while there's still a lot of progress left to be made, jose. >> monica alba in washington, thank you so very much. and we will be right back with much more. you're watching josé diaz-balart reports on msnbc. t out. i got you. any questions, chris? all good, thanks maura! healthier is managing all your family's prescriptions

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this morning president biden and the congressional black caucus say they have agreed on how to move forward to try to get police reform. the chairman of the caucus told reporters that lawmakers and the president are exploring all options to take action including some executive solutions. all this just one week after the video showing the deadly beating of tyre nichols that sent shock waves through the nation. meanwhile, back in memphis, we're learning new details from residents about their encounters with the police department, including its now deactivated scorpion unit. joining us now with more is nbc news correspondent antonia hylton live from memphis. good morning, nbc news spoke to a man who says he was assaulted by a member of that scorpion unit just days before what happened to tyre? >> reporter: that's right, jose. just three days before the beating of tyre nichols, our colleague deon hampton spoke with a man named montarius

harris who said he ended up in an altercation and was beaten by some of those same officers. a group of nine officers, five om whom were the same five of the scorpion unit involved in the tyre nichols place. he described being in a car in front of a residential building and having officers approach in plain black clothes, not announce themselves, shine a light in his face, force him out of the car before ultimately beating him. we've also obtained an affidavit and while that affidavit acknowledges that those same five officers were involved in arresting harris that evening, it does not mention any kind of physical altercation. they do, though, allege that mr. harris had been screeching his tires in the parking lot, that they approached and smelled marijuana and found other illegal items in the car. but mr. harris is planning to file a lawsuit alleging that the actions of these five officers

that we've seen in the tyre nichols' video, that there's a pattern of behavior here. and we expect to learn more about this in just the next couple of days, jose. >> antonia, we're learning new details about the memphis police chief's record in atlanta? >> reporter: yeah, so there's been a lot of attention here on the ground and questions being asked about her involvement and leadership with a group called the red dog unit in atlanta. very similar in style, structure, and what they were supposed to do for that city. so the red dog unit was expected to tackle major high crime areas, go after some of the worst offenders, get guns and drugs off the streets, very similar to what the scorpion unit was expected to do here in memphis. but if you talk to particularly black residents from atlanta, the red dog unit has been notorious for years for extremely violent interactions with the residents, for very public invasive strip and cavity

searches, and they ultimately ended up in about ten lawsuits confirmed by nbc news. their misconduct ended up in the settlement of these ten lawsuits, and about $2 million worth of taxpayer money spent. nbc news has reached out for comment from both this department, also the atlanta police department and c.j. davis and has not yet received a response. but c.j. davis is not mentioned in those lawsuits there, but the question from experts and from residents i'm talking to is if she knew about the reputation of the unit there, why would she come to memphis and create jose? >> antonia hylton in memphis, thank you. up next, what it is like for millions of immigrants here in the u.s. who could be deported at any time. a new msnbc documentary looks at their fight to stay in the u.s. with their families. >> i came to the united states in 1993. he has five u.s. citizen children. without any warning, he gets

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54 past the hour. right now nearly 2.1 million people are living in legal limbo with the backlog of pending immigration court cases in the u.s. at an all time high. this sunday, msnbc films presents "guerrilla habeas," a documentary following people at risk of deportation from the u.s. and a team of lawyers

fighting to keep them here with their families. >> they said he's getting deported today. they're taking him to jfk as we speak. can you please help us. so we pulled up at a gas station, it is snowing, it is the middle of nowhere, and sarah and greg just call into the chambers. >> at this point, he's boarding a plane, with four i.c.e. agents. as soon as they lift off, there is no coming back from that, obviously. at 7:45, the judge is, like, listen, i'm giving an order now i want him taken off the plane. >> with us now is one of the lawyers who fought that case, and is featured in the documentary, sarah gillman, the director of strategic u.s. litigation at robert f. kennedy human rights and former rapid defense network lawyer and co-founder. thank you for being with us this morning. i'm fascinated by the importance of this documentary. what are people going to learn when they see it? >> well, thank you so much for having me and thank you so much for msnbc for featuring this documentary. i think what betsy and emma, the

filmmakers did such a beautiful job of is not only exposing the broken immigration system that exists today, but also humanizing the impact on the people who are caught up in it. so the documentary follows the stories of a number of clients who unfortunately were caught up in this system, and that, you know, in some cases we were fortunate enough to prevent their deportations, and many of them, you know, remain in the united states today. but i think it does an excellent job of really exposing and documenting all the things that, you know, i would argue are wrong with our immigration system in the united states. >> i mean, the film tells stories of people like baba sillah who avoided deportation in the clip we just showed. these people have been living here for years and suddenly facing being torn away from their families. how have we gotten to the point where the system, as you say, is so broken? >> yeah, i think that, you know,

baba sillah's story is, you know, represents so many things that are wrong with the immigration system. you know, he was caught up in this system of immigration to detention that unfortunately for years has been used in the united states to exclude people. and i think that, you know, the documentary highlights the fact that while, you know, it was filmed during the trump administration, this has happened through successive administrations. and i think that, you know, for my perspective and from the perspective of our human rights and our work, detention should not exist in this context, as civil detention and we fight to ensure that people have the right to afford themselves the laws in the united states, and to make any and all applications they're legally able to do. >> you know, there are so many -- there are millions of mixed status families in our country, people who, you know, have children, who have been born here, and who have done

everything they can to get with the system and get right with the system when the system is broken. it just seems like they're on their own. i'm wondering, sarah, is there anything that needs to be done immediately that is not? >> i mean, from my perspective, you know, i strongly believe that immigration detention should not exist. baba sillah was taken without any notice or warning, was disappeared into this detention system, and it is because of, you know, his incredible strength and the incredible strength of his wife, frankly, that he's still here today. you know, we were certainly the lawyers who filed papers in court and were able to get this stay, but once people are swept up in this detention system, they're essentially disappeared. and people do not see them. >> sarah gillman, thank you so much for being with us. really appreciate your time.

and be sure -- >> thank you so much. >> be sure to watch "guerrilla habeas" sunday 10:00 p.m. eastern, 7:00 p.m. pacific on msnbc and streaming on peacock. the first person of hispanic heritage is now going to lead nasa's astronaut office. nasa has chosen joe agava. he's spent more than 300 days in space over three flights. and he's a former marine and educator. nasa says he'll play a critical role in ensuring astronauts are prepared for the challenges ahead including a planned return to the moon. finally today, she was just nine years old and trying to protect the environment, when a neighbor called police, but now yale university is honoring her. last october a police officer approached and questioned bobby wilson of caldwell, new jersey, spraying repellent on the invasive spotted lantern flies

in her neighborhood. someone called and said there was a little black woman spraying trees and it scared him. after learning of the incident, the yale school of public health decided to honor bobby in a ceremony last month for her efforts to curb the invasive species. the peabody museum of natural history at yale, in a rare move, accepted bobby's donation of her personal lantern fly collection. and gave her the title of donor scientist. an important term. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. i'll see you tomorrow night on "nbc nightly news" saturday. thank you for the privilege of your time. lindsey reiser picks up with more news right now. lindsey reiser picks up with more news right now. good friday morning. i'm lindsey reiser at msnbc headquarters in new york. this morning, major new national security concerns and