it's official, america. xfinity mobile is the fastest mobile service. and gives you unmatched savings with the best price for two lines of unlimited. only $30 a line per month. the fastest mobile service and major savings? can't argue with the facts. no wonder xfinity mobile is one of the fastest growing mobile services, now with over 5 million customers and counting. save hundreds a year over t-mobile, at&t and verizon. talk to our switch squad at your local xfinity store today. good morning. it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. this morning, president biden fires back at vladimir putin's decision to pull out of the last remaining arms control treaty with the u.s. the president calling it a big mistake. what all this means for washington's relationship with

moscow next. happening right now, historic winter storm is pummeling bringing heavy winds snow and ice after slamming the rockies. we'll take you live to minneapolis. also this morning, the epa has now ordered norfolk southern to play for all cleanup operations related to the toxic chemical spill triggered by a train derailment in ohio earlier this month. we'll tell you which major political figures are heading to east palestine today. president biden is wrapping up a high stakes trip to europe as tensions continue to escalate between the u.s. and russia. this morning the president reacted to vladimir putin's decision to suspend participation in the last remaining arms control agreement between the u.s. and russia, calling it a big mistake. his response came hours after

sharp new rhetoric from one of putin's top allies who told a russian news agency, quote, if the u.s. wants to defeat russia, we have the right to defend ourselves with any weapon, including the nuclear kind. all this comes as two u.s. officials tell nbc news that russia notified the u.s. it was going to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile before the president's visit to ukraine. the test thought to have failed. an administration official says the test did not pose a risk to u.s. and that the biden administration did not view it as an anomaly or an escalation. the president's key focus on this trip has been the war in ukraine, which he discussed today with the leaders of nine nations located on nato's eastern flank. he talked about the importance of coming together to continue supporting ukraine in its fight against russia. >> as natnato's eastern flank, front lines of our collective defense and you know better than anyone what is at stake in this

conflict. not just for ukraine, but for the freedom of democracies throughout europe and around the world. >> meanwhile, in moscow, vladimir putin met with china's foreign minister and talked about strengthening ties between the two nations. "the wall street journal" reports the visit may also be paving the way for chinese leader xi jinping to visit moscow in the next couple of months. joining us now from warsaw to start off our coverage this hour is josh lederman. what are the main takeaways from the president's trip there? >> reporter: well, jose, if there were any doubts heading into this trip about whether the u.s. and its allies within this western alliance of european and other nations about continuing to support ukraine in the second year of this war, i think this trip at least for now has gone a long way to putting some of those concerns to rest. at each stop on this trip, first during that secretive trip to

kyiv, then here in poland when he met with president duda, gave that major speech in front of a crowd of thousands cheering yesterday and finally meeting with these nations from the eastern part of europe who are really the front lines of tensions between europe and russia. at every stop along this trip, it has been a real concerted effort to show that these countries understand fully what is at stake, not only for ukraine, but for themselves. president biden making that point repeatedly today as he met with that bucharest nine group of nations, saying this is not just about ukraine, that these countries understand fully what this threat to democracy means for their own security, as well as for the broader security of the european continent and the united states as well. that was a real message of solidarity that president biden was able to echo from these other nations, who frankly were pretty outspoken in their

acknowledgement of the central role that the united states has played in keeping this coalition together. and if you rewind a few years ago, there were major concerns during the previous administration that the united states was abdicating its role and galvanizing western support for democracy in being that leader that would bring the countries together, really the tone has changed. you can feel it dramatically on the ground here in europe that these countries understand as the nato secretary-general said during the meeting with biden earlier today that it is the u.s. that has largely been at the front of bringing these countries together. president biden vowing in his final stop today in poland that will continue to be the case during the second year of this war in ukraine, jose? >> josh lederman, thank you so much. joining us from moscow is nbc news chief international correspondent keir simmons. keir, china's foreign minister

met with putin earlier today. what more do we know about that meeting? >> reporter: wang yi is china's top diplomat and he was there with president putin on camera in the beginning. it was interesting to watch. i think western capitals and in washington they'll be looking closely at what was said. it was notable that president putin in that -- in that early comments was repeating that president xi of china will come to russia, even though a date hasn't yet set. this has been talked about for some months now. they say they're in the early stages of discussing it, of planning it, but he wanted to make sure that everybody knew that that was going to happen, including china's top diplomat sitting opposite him and wang yi went on to talk about the solid relationship between china and russia, and also said something interesting, i thought, he said that from crisis comes opportunity. and people will look at that closely i think and ask whether china is thinking it can gain some opportunity from the crisis over ukraine, whether it is a

message to president putin to say you need to look toward how to shift your position a little bit, how can we make this a positive thing because in the end, president putin looking back on the last year is not going to be happy with many of the ways in which he calls his special military operation has gone. a very short bit of time on camera. of course they spoke behind the scenes for much longer, but i think signs in the conversation that will be looked at closely by many diplomats. >> keir simmons in moscow, thank you so very much. we're also following more breaking news this morning. the palestinian health ministry reporting ten palestinians are dead after an israeli raid in the west bank. the associated press reports the israeli military acknowledged forces were operating in the region, but did not give additional information. nbc's molly hunter is following the story for us. what more do we know? >> jose, we do have a new statement from the israeli

military. i'll read you part of it. we did just get it. it said following a joint idf israeli border police and counterterrorism activity in the city, three wanted suspects involved in carrying out shooting attacks in the west bank and planning attacks in the immediate future were neutralized. neutralized is the word the israeli military uses when they discuss and talk about killing palestinian militants. what we know about today, 10:00 a.m. this morning, dozens of armored vehicles including israeli special forces stormed the city of nablus in the center of the occupied west bank. it is north of jerusalem, south of jennen, that other story where there was that deadly raid several weeks ago. about 1 20,000 people live inside the city. this was a daylight raid. they stormed through the old city, the market, small streets, lots of people would have been out, there is a marketplace, lots of people live there. that's what feels very, very different about this raid compared to the raid in jennen. what we know, the israeli military says they were

targeting two known militants, two men. as far as how the raid unfolded, when they got to the house, they believe the militants were actually hiding out and the israeli military says they surrounded the militant building, they killed one of the militants as he was fleeing and killed two more inside. in total, that death toll as you said at least ten palestinians including three militants and seven civilians, but the biggest difference about today is that more than 100 palestinian civilians were injured, many according to the red cross and the palestinian health ministry by live ammunition and tear gas. the health ministry also says that when israeli forces stormed the building, they could not get to those who were injured. as far as what is next, jose, hamas said that patience is running out. the islamic jihad that the three militants were associated with have promised retaliation. and as for tomorrow, general

strikes have been called in the occupied west bank and the israeli police say they are bolstering and really ramping up on the border. >> molly hunter, thank you so much. back here at home, almost 23 million people in more than half the country are under winter weather alerts with a thousand flights already canceled around our country this morning. the blizzard is historic. even for areas used to brutal conditions, minneapolis could see more than two feet of snow for the first time in over 30 years. nbc's gabe gutierrez is in minneapolis this morning. gabe, how is it looking? >> reporter: good morning. well, the brutal conditions started early this morning, actually yesterday, mentioned the flight cancellation, though, piling up throughout the morning. and we had seen snowplows here throughout the morning, over the last several hours, taking advantage of a lull here in minneapolis. the first wave of snow came in overnight, this area got three and five inches of snow here in

the twin cities, but we're expecting a much more intense wave, jose, later on this afternoon. in just a few hours. we could see wind gusts up to 40 miles an hour, jose, and, again, this is an area used to wicked weather. as you said, the twin cities could see potentially their most snowfall in more than a decade, at the least since 2010, potentially even more than that. the governor here in minnesota has issued emergency executive orders to put the national guard on stand by, city officials are warning people to stay indoors over the next day or so and the national weather service, jose, says that later on today, into tomorrow, travel conditions could be impossible throughout much of minnesota. we have also been seeing reports overnight of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people left without power after a high wind event in california. weather conditions and travel is treacherous in parts of montana, north dakota and much of the

country dealing with these winter weather alerts. incredibly, near record temperatures in southern states, south florida where you are as well. but here in minnesota, again, they are bracing for potentially, you know, significant snowfall. again, that second wave of snow expected to start here in just a few hours. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you so very much. another major legal case for social media this morning. right now the supreme court is hearing arguments on whether twitter can be sued for aiding and abbetting the spread of violent islamic ideology. it comes after a jordanian citizen was killed in a nightclub in turkey which was caied out by an isis affiliate group. twitter's legal teams say they didn't intend to aid terrorist activities. joining us now with more is nbc news homeland security correspondent julia ainsley.

good morning. what are you watching for from these arguments? >> well, i've been listening in already, jose, and the words that they seem to be send interrogate around in the arguments is aiding and abbetting and was twitter violating the law by allowing known radicals to use its platform to spread hateful ideology. the hateful ideology isis was so known for, not long ago, for spreading those very radical messages to commit jihad and to commit radical acts of violence spread on youtube across social media platforms, and in this case twitter. what twitter has argued so far before the justices is that, no, they did not provide substantial assistance which would have been made them in violation of the law. instead because they did not know about these accounts on their sites, and because they say the communications were not directly significant. they were not significant enough

to connect them with the attack that was carried out in istanbul in 2017. right now the justices are trying to drill down on the terms, push twitter to say, okay, what would crossing the line look like? if you're going to say you didn't cross the line, help us define that here. and the justices are in a tough position. justice kagan spelled this out yesterday when they heard a similar argument about a case involving youtube, they said, look, we are not exactly the nine experts on the internet here. and justice kavanaugh said ruling on something like this, trying to limit the authority that these providers have could have huge commercial impacts in the case of youtube, they're using algorithms to figure out what content users might want next. if they limit that, that could limit the way ads are online and significantly impact companies. and he's also saying really that's congress' job. as we have seen time and time again, when congress fails to act, these really big questions end up before the justices.

>> julia ainsley in washington, thank you very much. still ahead, we're going to go live to the scene of the toxic train derailment in ohio where residents continue to be scared for their health. what the ceo of the freight train operator said when asked if he would bring his kids to the town. first, the forewoman of the georgia grand jury investigating whether donald trump interfered in the 2020 election is dropping hints about indictments, what she told our own blayne alexander next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports. so it's decided, we'll park even deeper into parking spaces so people think they're open. surprise. [ laughs ] [ horn honks, muffled talking ] -can't hear you, jerry. -sorry. uh, yeah, can we get a system where when someone's bike is in the shop, then we could borrow someone else's? -no! -no! or you can get a quote with america's number-one motorcycle insurer and maybe save some money while you're at it. all in favor of that. [ horn honking ]

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only from xfinity. the future starts now. 18 past the hour. new revelations by the foreperson of the georgia special grand jury that investigated possible election interference in 2020 by donald trump, she says the jury recommended indictments for more than a dozen people. joining us now from atlanta is nbc's blayne alexander who spoke with the foreperson. blayne, what do we know about why she is speaking out? >> reporter: well, jose, good to be with you. skied her that very same thing. that's how i started our interview and she said during our 45 minute conversation that she really wants to be essentially in control of the information that comes out or play a role in that. she said she knows that the stream of information is going to go out anyway, but she says she would rather be a part of that rather than sitting around and in her words watching people talk about her. now, this was certainly a wide

ranging interview. we talked for 45 minutes and it was very interesting because she was kind of walking a line, she said she was really trying to answer questions and share information, but also comply with the judge's ruling that deliberations have to remain under wraps. so several times you could see her kind of being thoughtful or parsing her words or trying to make sure she wasn't saying something that the judge already ereded ordered shouldn't be said. i asked her about recommendations for indictments. she confirmed more than a dozen people, they recommended indictments for more than a dozen people and here is more of what she told me, without divuling names but the nature of the people who did have the indictments recommended. take a look. >> there are certainly names that you would recognize, yes. there are names also that you might not recognize or there are names that, like, you might recognize as someone who followed this case, but then, you know, your mother might not

recognize because she doesn't care about the intricacies of the case. but there definitely are some names you expect. >> reporter: there are some names you would expect. some names you would recognize. but then some names you may not. so certainly an interesting tidbit there. when we talked, i asked her whether she was concerned about the potential of threats, knowing that this was a very polarizing case, very polarizing process and she said, no, she wasn't. she wasn't concerned about threats from either being involved or for speaking out about it, essentially saying that, you know, you know what to expect at this point, and it wasn't something that was going to stop her from sharing. i also want to point out she really did, you know in her words feel this as a sense of duty. it was something she was clearly excited to be a part of. she found it exciting that normal citizens played a role in this process, that's also something she expressed during our interview as well, jose. >> blayne alexander in atlanta, thank you so very much.

joining us now is paul charlton, former u.s. attorney. good to see you. i want to kind of been thinking about this, we're still awaiting the decision, the final decision from the d.a. on whether charges will be made. could this foreperson have any impact on what happens next? >> it is extraordinarily unusual, in my experience, jose, both as a prosecutor in the federal and state systems and now as a white collar defense attorney to see a grand jury foreperson, even one in this role, the investigative grand jury, talk about her recommendations and the recommendations of this grand jury. the concern is, and it was expressed very clearly by d.a. fani willis, when she asked that the report not be revealed, the concern is by talking in this way you risk unfairly prejudicing those individuals who may eventually be charged and more specifically there is going to be a jury pool, both

another grand jury that reviews this work and decides whether or not to bring charges and in the event there is a trial, a trial jury. and if those jurors, the grand jury and the trial jury, are listening to information before their job of listening to the evidence, the risk is that you unfairly prejudice these future defendants, and that you infringe upon what we all want to protect and that is the presumption of innocence. >> is it -- you said it is so unusual, i can't recall certainly something like this before, this is such an unusual case, right, to start with. but is it going to have -- or could her information that she divulged, which is not very specific, but gives some indication, could that play a part in future decisions by the d.a.? >> it seems unlikely because this was an incremental disclosure, jose.

as you know, we have the redacted report in which the judge allowed all of us, the public to see that the grand jury, the special grand jury had recommended some charges as it relates to potential perjury, we heard fani willis said she was concerned about the rights of future defendants. so we knew the judge had allowed us to learn that there were going to be future defendants. what this grand jury foreperson perhaps unwisely has told us is that the number exceeds a dozen, and that that was the recommendation of the grand jury. so, discretion might have been a better exercise here for her to have waited until such a time that this was all public, but at the end of the day, it would be very difficult for even a skilled defense attorney to show the unfair prejudice here would impact the outcome of a decision either by a grand jury or by a trial jury. >> and, paul, i want to turn to

some other legal news. yesterday, a jury in new york convicted the top law enforcement officer of the mexican government, essentially the equivalent of the fbi director and more, he was the architect of the war on drugs in mexico from 2006 to 2012. during the trial, the jury heard all kinds of statements from drug traffickers who detailed how the former top public security chief took in millions of dollars in cash from cartels. this is -- how significant is this conviction? >> jose, i was a federal prosecutor in the u.s. attorney in arizona, a border state, and we worked often with our colleagues in mexico, with the hope and the expectation that they were working with us in good faith. to know we now have a guilty verdict of the individual who as you correctly point out was the head of what is the equivalent of the fbi that he was working hand and glove with the cartel,

that he was being paid millions is an extraordinary disappointment. and it isn't just the fact that he was receiving these bribes, that he was essentially a double agent working with the cartel, this money is in a very real sense blood money. there were scores of journalists who were killed, murdered, for reporting on these cartels. many more agents, law enforcement officers and their families were executed by these cartels. to have somebody turn and work with the cartels for money is an extraordinary disappointment for me and for anyone who has worked in law enforcement in the united states and in mexico. >> and it also brings up the big question mark of just how much or how corrupt can officers and officials everywhere be for these kind of multimillion dollar cash bribes. it really does open a lot of

questions here. it is always a pleasure to see you. i thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you, jose. this week, gop candidates are off to the midwest as the 2024 campaign season kicks off. potential presidential hopeful senator tim scott has two events in iowa today, part of what the south carolina republican is calling a faith in america listening tour. nbc's yamiche alcindor is live from des moines. good morning. what are you hearing from people there? >> reporter: well, good morning, jose. i am starting my morning here at a diner in des moines, iowa, an incredibly important state for republicans because it is going to be the first state to vote in their presidential nominating process. we have seen a number of people who are likely contenders for that come here as you said. we have seen vice president, former vice president mike pence, nikki haley who was officially running for president, tim scott is also going to be here today. he's going first to drake university and then he's going to be speaking at a republican

dinner, annual dinner. we have been talking to voters about what they think about all of this. this is someone who use issed to be a republican but left the party when donald trump became the nominee. this person is very worried about the future of the party. listen. >> it worries me with the -- how the republican party is -- has shifted so much to the right. abortion rights are an important issue for me, we have african american grandchildren, and we worry about racism in the country. we also worry about guns. >> reporter: we also heard from a voter who said they're wore ried if donald trump becomes the nominee, it will hurt their chances to win in the election. some said even they don't like trump, they don't know if there is a name that can win the

primary. >> yamiche alcindor in des moines, thank you. democrat jennifer mcclellan is making history as the first black woman elected to represent virginia in congress. a state senator beat election denier leon benjamin to win yesterday's special election in the fourth congressional district. she'll fill the seat of democratic congressman donald mceachin who died from cancer shortly after he won re-election in november. up next, why former president donald trump is heading to the town at the center of a toxic train derailment. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. (einstein) i got what i paid for. not so smart. (cecily) well, there is a smarter way to save. (einstein) oh?! (cecily) switch to verizon. you'll get a new 5g phone, on them. (vo) yup, get the new samsung galaxy s23+, a watch and a tablet, on us. that's a value of up to $1900 (einstein) oh, i love that math! i'm switching!

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32 past the hour. tomorrow, the national transportation safety board will release its preliminary report, nearly three weeks after the train derailment and chemical spill in east palestine, ohio. the epa has now ordered norfolk southern, the rail company that operated the train, to pay for the cleanup of the toxic chemical spill in the community. josh shapiro made a criminal referral in connection with the derailment. joining us now is nbc's jesse kirsch in east palestine.

good morning. what is the latest on the ground there today? >> reporter: yes, jose, today we're expecting a visit from former president donald trump, expected he will be meeting with community members as well as bringing donations with him and as you mentioned this comes as the potential legal battles here are ramping up. we have got the pennsylvania governor saying his office has made a criminal referral and now the epa says that it is vowing to make sure that norfolk southern literally pays for the cleanup and says that the epa will also be billing the railroad for any cleaning services it provides to businesses and homes here. and just to give you a sense of the ongoing uncertainty on the ground in this community earlier this morning we heard from a gentleman over here who told us he's currently building a new facility in this area and he's not sure if anyone is going to want to use that space because of what has unfolded here. so it is that sense of trepidation, uncertainty and these ongoing concerns about

people's health that is still very much making its way through this community. officials have stressed that municipal water is safe here. we saw the governor of ohio and the epa administrator drinking that tap water. however, private well water, we're told by officials, is still being tested and it is recommended that residents drink bottled water if they are waiting for results from a private tap. so, there is obviously a mix of information out here and a lot of questions unanswered in this community. the former president of the united states is supposed to be here later today, and as you mentioned, minutes ago, something else we're watching for very closely that preliminary report from the ntsb as to why this derailment may have happened, that is expected tomorrow morning, jose. >> and coming up on three weeks since this incident occurred. jesse kirsch, thank you so much for being with us. joining us now with more is morgan brennan, co-anchor of "squawk on the street" on cnbc. good morning. you had the chance to speak to the head of norfolk southern. what did you learn?

>> i did, and good morning to you. this was the first interview that coo alan shaw has done since that norfolk southern train derailed 20 days ago. it was a 30-minute discussion. it took place in east palestine, just across the street from the site of that derailment. and amid water tanks which are a big part of the cleanup efforts that are now under way. we talked about quite a few things including safety regulations, also i asked him what the cause of the accident was, and it is something he's prohibited from discussing right now while there is an active investigation under way. we also, though, discussed that difficult decision to do a controlled release and burn all of those toxic chemicals because there was this fear of a bigger explosion. in light of that, i asked how expansive the testing has been since some residents complained of sore throats and burning eyes and headaches and other ailments. take a listen. >> if east palestine was your home, would you have come back? would you bring your children back right now? >> yes. yes.

i've come back multiple times. i've drunk the water here. i've interacted with the families here. i think when they really dig into it, they're going to see that all the testing, whether it is done by the epa or local health officials or our independent contractors show that it is safe to return to this community. >> so much of this interview came back to norfolk southern's cleanup efforts. the railroad distributed $6.5 million so far back to the community. shaw calling it a down payment on more and longer term investment into east palestine and in the wake of this situation. he also went as far as saying that it is pretty clear that norfolk southern's safety culture and their investments in safety didn't prevent this accident and that they need to take a look at that and see what they can do differently and what they can do better. the entire interview is on cnbc.com. we cover quite a few things in

it and it, of course, is a very difficult situation, evolving situation, more questions than answers, but it is there for anyone who wants more detail. >> look forward to seeing it. morgan brennan, thank you so much, appreciate it. up next, we are just two days away from the one year mark. the invasion of ukraine. we'll talk to the press secretary about how she thinks this past year changed her former boss and the people of ukraine. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports.

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leave poland after a visit to eastern europe to mark the first anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine. and you see the plane taxiing. i want to talk to you about this latest column by david ignacious. he writes in it, in the end, war is a test of wills. putin was convinced that his cold-eyed brutal resolve would outlast everyone else's, but a year on, putin's staying power begins to look questionable while zelenskyy and biden have never looked stronger. with us now to talk more about this is david ignacious, "washington post" foreign columnist and associate editor and msnbc contributor and yulia mandel, former press secretary to president zelenskyy and also an author of "the fight for our lives." david, extraordinarily well done column as everything you do, but you talk about putin and his

strength or lack of it one year in. what is putin's standing in russia today? >> well, jose, it is still surprisingly strong, given the catastrophic mistakes that he made. in my column i say that i think that's in part because russians feel and have felt historically some of the sense of grievance, of wounded pride that putin so obviously feels in dealing with the west. it is a crazy reason to go to war. it is part of this tragedy, but i think when putin says the west has it out for us, they're picking on us, they don't respect us, that's a theme that resonates with russians. in this case, that sense of wounded pride, vanity for the nation and personally, led putin

to make a catastrophic mistake, saying in the piece he believed what was essentially a fairy tale about the oneness of russia and ukraine. russia's paying the price for that. putin hasn't paid a price politically. we'll see in the year ahead whether he does. but i think that's part of the tragedy is that a year on, putin's reasons for going to war look more and more fragile, more and more a matter of personal peak vanity sense of injury. >> inferiority complexes have traditionally been, you know, a part of many people's decisions to go to war, to invade, but i'm just wondering, you know, david, this has caused so many deaths and so much pain and so much suffering. can something like this outweigh

the political realities of a person who stands in charge of russia, going forward? >> so, as i said in the column, war is always a test of wills. putin's bet in invading ukraine, he said often, the west is weak. europe is divided. russia's power in europe isn't especially recognized and he thought, i think, frankly that president biden was weak. he didn't expect that biden would be as committed to ukraine as he's been. and he didn't expect that european unity would remain. that's part of the bad bet that he made. zelenskyy is an x factor. i don't think he could have imagined this former tv actor would be such a powerful and

galvanizing leader. from that moment, nearly a year ago, when he came on to the streets after the heavy bombardment of kyiv and said i'm still here, i'm not afraid, that was something putin never bargained on. so, i think that's really the centerpiece of this week that we have watched. we have seen each of these three leaders in a sense in microcosm and we have understood their strengths and weaknesses, each of them, putin's much weaker, biden to my mind is stronger. >> yeah, and, yulia, how about zelenskyy? how has this year been for him and changed him? >> well, you know, i was working with president zelenskyy for 25 months and i've seen him multiple times in crisis. i know this person, like, works hard around the clock, tireless,

24/7 just to manage the crisis. so imagine this is the crisis that has not stopped for a year. i'm sure physically he's very exhausted. i know he's a person who navigates up. this is a crisis that probably actually defined his historical mission because at that moment when he said i need ammunition, not a ride, he actually defined the ukrainian identity not as a victim, but as a fighter. and let me tell you that yesterday there was a polling among ukrainians that showed that before the invasion, only 56% of ukrainians believed that we could win the war against russia. today, 95% of ukrainians are sure that we will win this war. and this shows actually the biggest contribution to this inspiration is zelenskyy, who leads the speeches every day and who leads the people in this war

against the autocracy. >> thank you, both, so much for being with us this morning. up next, outrage over the biden administration's new border policy under consideration. why our next guest says it will lead to, quote, unnecessary human suffering. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." suffering. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports. wayfair has deals so big that you might get a big head. because with savings so real... you can get your dream sofa for half the price. wayfair. it's always a big deal. ♪ wayfair, you've got just what i need ♪

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52 past the hour. new reaction after the biden administration officially announced it plans to add a new border crackdown, making people ineligible to seek asylum if they didn't make a claim for it in a country they passed through. nbc news was the first to report the move yesterday. activist groups threatened to sue. now democratic senators has issued a joint statement urging the administration to change course. joining us now is marissa. you said this will lead to unnecessary human suffering.

what did you mean by that? >> what i meant is that when you block off access to protection into territory for some of the people in most need coming from different countries, then you end up with a situation where you have suffering that goes beyond what would normally happen. we know when this kind of a ban is put in place, it causes challenges for families, for individuals and puts people at risk. so that's what i really meant by that human suffering that we will see as a result of this asylum ban. >> when i spoke last month to secretary mayorkas, he said it is just streamlining the situation for people to be able to request asylum, either through an app or in other countries. this is in no way, secretary mayorkas said, a travel ban. how is it that you see it? >> we see it as a way that's going to cut off some access tore people, and that is a ban.

there are exceptions to the rule. but we have been working with folks as they try to navigate the app. that has proved difficult for people. it's not necessarily a surefire solution to what we are seeing on the ground. instead, it may cause more challenge. what we are pushing for is more access, more protection and more availability for people to be able to seek protection between ports of entry and at ports of entry. >> describe the situation for folks right now on the other side of the border heading down through mexico, going through the jungle, leaving on inner tube boats, trying to get to a new country. what is the reality for these people as they try to have the opportunity to request asylum? >> the reality is difficult for people. there's no end to the suffering

that happens and to the trauma that one experiences, not only in a country of origin but also along the journey. there are stories our team hears about people that have experienced extortion, have experienced assault, have experienced all kinds of traumatic experiences just to be able to try to get to a protective place. they don't really see options within the other countries that are along the way. a lot of those asylum systems that have been developed are overrun with needs already. it makes it a very precarious and challenging situation for people where they are taking their lives into their own hands with no other option than to try to make it to the united states to seek protection. so that's one of the harms that we see is the grueling nature of the journey, how it impacts people and how it really affects their lives. >> thank you for being with us this morning. thank you for everything that you do. i appreciate it.

>> thank you. that wraps up the hour for me. reach me on twitter and instagram. watch highlights from today's show online. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news after a quick break. (vo) with verizon, you can now get a private 5g network. so you can do more than connect your business, you can make it even smarter. now ports can know where every piece of cargo is. and where it's going. (dock worker) right on time. (vo) robots can predict breakdowns and order their own replacement parts. (foreman) nice work. (vo) and retailers can get ahead of the fashion trend of the day with a new line tomorrow. with a verizon private 5g network, you can get more agility and security. giving you more control of your business. we call this enterprise intelligence. from the network america relies on. struggling with the highs and lows of bipolar 1? ask about vraylar. because you are greater than your bipolar 1, and you can help take control of your symptoms

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