♪ ♪ hello. thank you for being with us on this monday. it is 10:00 eastern.

i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. we're following two tragedies in texas, each centering on a flashpoint dividing our country, guns and immigration. first, the breaking news in brownsville, texas, where we expect to hear from police this morning after an suv crashed into a crowd outside a migrant shelter. the death toll rose to eight overnight. what we're learning about the driver and whether this incident was intentional. that horrific scene coming as thousands of migrants enter the u.s. with covid restrictions set to expire in two just two days. the mayor of el paso, who has already declared a state of emergency, will join us. new details in this weekend's mass shooting at a texas mall. what we're learning about the suspect who police say appears to be a neo-nazi sympathizer. >> he could have done that here. we don't know. why did he choose the mall in allen? it makes no sense at all to any

of us. later, intensifying protests in manhattan. new yorkers shutting down a subway line to protest the chokehold death of jordan neely. new developments this morning involving a new york grand jury. let's begin with the deadly suv strike. overnight the death toll rose to eight after that suv careened into a crowd of migrants outside a shelter in the border town of brownsville. lots of questions this morning. according to police the driver is not cooperating. it is still not clear whether this was intentional or just a horrible accident. joining us from brownsville, texas is nbc news national correspondent gabe gutierrez. also with us is frank figliuzzi, former fbi assistant director for counterintelligence and a national security analyst. >> gabe, what's the latest on the investigation this morning? >> reporter: hi, ana. this is the exact spot where

that group was hit by the suv. right behind me there is currently a bus and a bus stop. i just spoke with a couple of migrants getting on that buzz. they are from venezuela. you can see the makeshift memorial which is growing. the death toll overnight rising from seven to eight here. right behind that bus is that migrant shelter. we were speaking with several migrants this morning, many from venezuela, just stunned by what happened here yesterday. this was a situation on sunday morning, around 8:30 in the morning where surveillance video captured the horrible moments right before when there was a group of migrants sitting at this bus stop when an suv plowed right into them. as you said, ana, investigators are looking into whether this was intentional or accidental. i can tell you i spoke just a short time ago with one of the migrants inside the shelter who said he witnessed the whole thing. in his words, he claimed the

driver, as he tried to get away made an obscene gesture and yelled anti-immigrant language. after speaking with authorities late last night, a police spokesman told me that investigators have not been able to substantiate that. the investigation is on going. right now the suspect, who has not been publicly identified, has been arrested and charged with reckless driving. they say more charges could be pending depending on toxicology reports which we don't expect for some time. again, ana, we're awaiting the news conference later this morning where we expect to learn more information from police. this comes as title 42 is set to be lifted later this week, sparking concerns that there might be another migrant influx after that is lifted. right now this community in brownsville is reeling from this loss of eight people. again, the mayor also saying of those that were injured, several remain in critical condition at this hour, ana. >> frank, investigators are

telling nbc news this driver is being uncooperative. he's given them several names, they don't even know his identity. how are they going to determine what exactly happened here, whether it was an accident or intentional? >> the very fact that this driver is not cooperating does seem to lend credence to the fact that maybe he's done something intentionally criminal, and that's why he's not cooperating. i also note, ana, that the fbi continues to come alongside the police on this, and so why is that? it's because likely, if this is ever determined to be intentional, it could be charged eventually as a federal hate crime, hence the continued presence of the fbi. now, when you're presented with a subject who is not cooperative, this gets interesting. you're left with things like fingerprinting, and hoping that, when you submit that person's prints, it's going to get a hit, a match in the fbi's system. somewhere in his past, perhaps

he's been fingerprinted and you'll actually have an id. we've got a vehicle right here, this range rover that was used. yet somehow, even with the vehicle and all the attachments that come with it, license, registration, insurance, we still don't know who this is. that could mean that he rented the car or stole the car. if he rent /* rented the car, he would still need a driver's license. >> bigger picture. there are already crowds of migrants in border towns. more are expected this week. how can leaders make sure everyone stays safe? >> look, this is a pot that's boiling, and we do expect with the expiration of title 42 to have increased tensions. this incident hasn't helped things at all. the border states are going to have to surge law enforcement resources to try and keep things

calm. this environment could be a tinderbox. it's worthy of law enforcement's attention. >> thank you so much, frank figliuzzi, gabe gutierrez, appreciate you both. we're standing by for the news conference. meantime, let's turn to the other breaking news in texas where a shopping mall remains an active crime scene after another horrific mass shooting. we're learning new details about the man accused of killing eight people including children at that dallas area mall over the weekend. two senior law enforcement officials tell nbc news the 33-year-old shooter was a neo-nazi sympathizer and the shooting is being investigated as racial or ethnically motivated violent extremism. the suspect was killed by an officer who just happened to be in that area. we're also beginning to learn the identiies of the victims, including aishwarya thatikonda and christian lacour.

priscilla, i understand police are letting people come retrieve their vehicles from the mall this morning. can you tell us how that community is faring and what more we know about the man responsible? >> reporter: ana, this community is devastated. you see the growing memorial behind me. eight crosses that have been erected for those eight victims who tragically lost their lives in this horrific crime as we're beginning to learn their names. there are also at least six people who remain hospitalized including children. we know three of those people are in critical condition, still fighting for their lives. as those families are dealing with the impacts of this tragedy, there are also hundreds of survivors who were here at this sprawling outlet mall when all of this unfolded that are coming back to retrieve their cars. what we're seeing is there is still trauma, there is still shock. people are still very broken up about what they have experienced. we spoke to a mother and

daughter who sheltered here when all this happened. i want to play part of that conversation. >> all of a sudden told us, we have to get in the back room, we have to get in the back room. we got in the back room, and we heard all these shots started -- she had just been out there. if she hadn't come in the store -- it's still so traumatic to talk about. innocent people lose their lives on account of -- >> one person with a gun. >> reporter: as for the shooter, police have identified him as a 33-year-old male. they have said, according to two senior law enforcement officials that they are investigating this as a potentially racially motivated crime fueled by violent extremism. we know that investigators are looking at hundreds of social media posts made by this shooter where he espoused neo-nazi and white supremacy online. so still a lot of questions

about motive and how these guns were obtained as we continue to wait for answers from law enforcement here. ana. >> this is all so, so heart-wrenching and sickening. priscilla thompson, thank you for your reporting. joining us is stephen spainour after his son trapped in the mall called him. i can't even imagine what it was like to witness what you saw and how traumatic that must have been. first, how are you? how is your son doing this morning? >> my son and i are both getting counseling today. i went because he called me and said he couldn't get a hold of 911. he was taking care of customers. when i drove up, i didn't expect to be the first one there. the police had not arrived. it was still an active shooter situation. i was able to get a phone from one of the bystanders who witnessed it, talked to 911 to call for assistance for medical aid and for swat.

i then started trying to triage the patients. the first person i reached was a young lady crouched in the bushes and holding her head. i don't want to be too graphic. she had no pulse. i had pulled her head back to make sure she was okay and she had no face. the second victim, his eyes were fixed straight ahead. he had no pulse. the third victim, i tried to do cpr. he expired in front of me as well. i found a little 4 or 5-year-old boy crawling out from some of the other victims. i managed to take him and get him secured away from the carnage that i saw. fortunately an allen police officer drove up at that time and we got him out of there as quick as we could. it was a horrific, a horrific scene. >> oh, my god. i cannot imagine. i know you are former law enforcement, you're former

military. you know how to respond in a very stressful situation. as you rushed to the scene, instincts maybe kicking in trying to save lives. what was going through your mind? >> i was concerned where the shooter was, but i was less concerned knowing he was out of the immediate area. i saw people suffering, and i wanted to treat. i saw people in despair, i wanted to comfort. i saw people hopeless, and i wanted to give some hope. unfortunately i could only do so much when it's an automatic rifle. i had a huge crime scene with 21 shell casings, even live ammo, a banana clip on the ground. very little help. no first aid equipment. i did have a nurse bring me some gloves. one bystander, there were folks taking pictures. i said, please stop with the photos. get me some help. i don't need people taking pictures. it was a carnage that i would

not want anyone to ever see. it was like a combat zone. >> what do you want people to now about what happened in allen, beyond the description that you took us through, what you witnessed? i'm sure after processing this for a couple of days, i just wonder what your thoughts are and the bigger message that you may want to get out. >> well, the message is, with the violence we're seeing across the united states, there could happen in any community, syracuse, new york, eovaldi, texas, oklahoma, it could happen anywhere. i step back and hear our governor talk about we need more mental health care. yes, we need more mental health care. bigger than that, these assault weapons used in these mass killings are too easy accessible. i don't want to politicize things. i'm a second amendment supporter. i have guns.

i teach people how to shoot in the army. i want to by all means don't want to void the second amendment. i think we need to get these high velocity rounds off our market and get back to some sanity and safety in our communities. >> you brought up what governor abbott said in the wake of this most recent tragedy. he's the leader of your state. is he doing his job? >> no, he's not. he's shifting the narrative to mental health. i don't want to dismiss the issues around mental health because i work with mental health bro vieders. i know people with mental health issues. i don't want to dismiss that, we do need that. but mental health didn't kill those people. bullets from the gun, it was designed to kill people. the governor needs to focus on red flag laws and getting some of the most dangerous weapons off the streets. we can still protect our second amendment rights but we can put limits. just like we put limits on free

speech, we can do that with guns. >> stephen spainoeur, thank you. i wish you and your family some people and comfort. >> thank you for telling the story. you're an important part of doing that. >> thank you for your heroic effort. thousands of migrants are setting up camps outside shelters an churches with covid restrictions set to expire in days. i'll take with the mayor of el paso. growing protests and growing calls for charges after the chokehold death of a man on a new york city subway. what we could see happen in that case today. ahead of what's expected to be another busy travel season, the new plan at the white house to hold airlines accountable for delays and cancellations. "ana cabrera reports" is back in

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right now we're on the brink of a major policy change along the southern border. in three days, the covid related program known as title 42 will end. thousands of people have arrived in recent weeks to seek asylum. their numbers are only expected to increase. nbc news guad venegas joins us in southern california. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: this is the border between san diego and tijuana. there are two areas that separate the two areas. we've seen for the first time migrants that are camping out in between these two barriers. most of the time when migrants try to enter the united states illegally, they would try to cross both of these barriers. now these are individuals seeking asylum. they've crossed that first barrier and have been camping out for days waiting for border patrol officials to come apprehend them so they can request asylum.

border patrol officers have been arriving throughout the day. we were here all of yesterday. they do what they can. they've told us their facilities are at capacity, both border patrol stations and the processing centers. that's why these migrants have to remain here, waiting for the border patrol agents to come in. they do come through out the day. they have vans. they load up the women and children, some of the families. some of these men say they've been here for days. you can hear some of them that will yell, asking us to help them charge their phones. we have organizations that bring some of the water and food. border patrol has also provided food and water during the time we've been here, but they have been overwhelmed. right now you see about 200 to 300. they keep coming throughout the day as border patrol will take some to get processed. this is just one of the camps. there's another camp less than a mile away in that direction. we've seen this surge all across the mexico/u.s. border. we'll play part of a

conversation i had with a group of migrants here from jamaica. this is what they told me yesterday. >> is there a reason why you left jamaica to come here? >> the crime, things to -- try to get opportunity to help our family. >> if they were to expel you back into mexico, what would you do? >> oh, it would be hard, hard, hard. it would be tough for me. >> why? >> that is not an opportunity for me. >> reporter: that's just one of the groups. we've seen people from europe here, a lot of people from south america, even africa. meanwhile, this morning in texas, governor abbott announced the creation of a new national guard unit, texas tactical border force. they will dedicate these men in the national guard to patrol the border where they've seen a surge of thousands, in the rio

grande valley, brownsville area. more than 2,000 migrants were arriving in that area. a surge that we're seeing from theest all the way to the east at the u.s./mexico border. >> guad venegas in san diego, california, thank you. let's head to texas and to another border town. mayor of el paso is joining us. last week you declared a state of emergency as your city saw hundreds of migrants arriving daily and more are still arriving. have you had a chance to speak with any of these migrants newly arrived in your city about why they're there and what they need? >> we've actually gotten into mexico and looked at and assessed the situation. because title 42 will be lifted on thursday. we want to look and see how many are in juarez, how many are planning to come over. we have noticed there's about

10,000 to 12,000 people. they're not in the shelters, right now the second largest shelter. when we talk to them, they're telling us that once they come in and once it's lifted, they'll have political asylum into the united states which is not really what's going on now. once title 42 is lifted, you're still going to have title 8 which title 8 is goes back to 1940. >> explain to our viewers what title 8 is. if these people are coming and given the right to apply for asylum, as long as they enter in the proper channels. you're saying it's not an automatic entry, right? >> that's correct. it's not an automatic entry. they still have to go through the immigration process. it's one of the things where we're working with them and trying to get that done. you're right, as we looked around, it's really important that we follow all the laws of the united states and immigration laws. one of the things we're very proud about in el paso is we treat people the way we want to

be treated. it's our responsibility to make sure we treat our asylum-seekers and also protect the community of el paso. we have a huge influx and every day it continues to grow. >> mayor, we're seeing the images. a lot of people aren't in shelters. my understanding is that's largely because there isn't enough room in the shelters. so a lot of people are camping on the streets. how is your city preparing for even bigger crowds of migrants expected later this week? >> we're opening up today or tomorrow, we have two schools that have been empty for years now. we were able to get those schools and open them up today or tomorrow and be able to offer shelter for people that have gone through the immigration process. we're also looking and prepared to use some of the hotels and also the convention center here locally in el paso. the red cross did come in last week, and we're going to continue to work with the red cross to provide the service of meals and clothing and staffing. that's one of the biggest things

we are looking for, to continue to have staffing for these shelters. we're looking at ngos outside our community to come in and help staff those shelters. >> i do want to ask you about that horrific incident yesterday in brownsville which is a ways away from el paso where the driver crashed his car into a crowd outside a migrant center. we don't know if it was indenl or accidental. are you concerned about migrant centers? >> we're here to protect eye sigh lum speakers and citizens of el paso. what we did in that big area, we actually blocked that street to make sure there is no incident. we actually blocked it prior to the incident in brownsville. one of the things, we always want to make sure we're proactive, not reactive. we are continuing to do things to make sure -- the state of emergency is to be prepared for

may 12th. we also talk about we need to prepare for the unknown. i really believe the city of el paso will continue to be prepared and treat people the way we all want to be treated. >> el paso mayor oscar leeser, good luck as i know you face this challenge. >> thank you. we are looking at the future, and the future is -- we all know the federal immigration policy is broken. we need to work on the federal immigration policy. el paso, brownsville, there is no city along texas and the u.s. that continue to do this day in and day out. there is no end game, and we have to come up with something. we cannot continue to do this. we'll continue to provide the service, and we thank the federal government for helping to fund it. at the end of the day, all the money in the world will not continue. >> which means republicans and democrats need to work together instead of pointing fingers. thank you, mayor leeser. >> that's exactly what i said.

thank you for saying that rchlt up next on ana cabrera reports, closing arguments in the civil rape and defamation case filed by e. jean carroll against former president donald trump. how soon can we see a verdict. first, protesters demanding accountability after a chokehold death on a new york city subway. what we've heard from the district attorney and jordan neely's family next. neely's family next. like the subway series menu. just buy any footlong in the app, and get one free. everyone loves free stuff chuck. can we get peyton a footlong? get it before it's gone. on the subway app. power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools and paper trading to help sharpen your skills, you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. e*trade from morgan stanley.

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we're back with new

developments this morning on the chokehold death on a new york city subway. according to two sources familiar with the matter, the manhattan district attorney's office plans to present the case to a grand jury as protests continue to intensify. let's bring in nbc news correspondent george solis. you were out there this weekend and got to see the fewer record with some of the people apps with people demanding accountability. tell us more about that and how soon we can see action with this grand jury. >> what we've seen is the number of protests starting to grow in intensity. friday we saw about 50 people outside the d.a.'s office demanding accountability. that bled over into the weekend where we saw hundreds of demonstrators at the subway station. they walked all the way we believe to 63rd and lexington an staged right there at that subway station. we saw a number of arrests there, about 13 according to the

nypd. these protests say they can't understand why the man accused of murdering him, daniel penny, the 24-year-old marine veteran was questioned by authorities and then released. we do know, as you mentioned, a garage is set to be convened. both sides have issued their statements. i do want to read the latest statement from the neely family after the attorneys for that 24-year-old marine veteran put out the release saying he never intended harm. they say daniel penny's release is not an apology or expression of regret. his actions on the train and words show why he needs to be in prison. i was there at a number of demonstrations over the weekend. take a listen to what one of those demonstrators told me about their message to the da. >> a person knows if you are stopping someone from breathing for 15 minutes, you're going to

die. i don't care about the statement. i don't care about the blanket they're trying to throw over him. i don't care that his dad was a cop. i don't care. we don't care. we want him held accountable. he needs to be arrested, tried and in prison for murder. >> obviously all eyes on the da's office, alvin bragg, on whether charges will be filed in this case. also in new york, closing arguments are under way in e. jean carroll's civil rape and defamation lawsuit against former president donald trump. the jury will likely deliberate tomorrow without trump taking the stand in his own defense. jurors did see a video deposition of the former president where he called the allegations a, quote, big fat hoax. our ron allen is outside the courthouse. msnbc legal analyst christine

givens bed den is joining us as well. ron, talk to us about the closing arguments. >> reporter: it's under way. roberta kaplan goes first. we expect this to take about 2 1/2 hours. then the defense will take about the same amount of time they say. so today is going to be devoted to closing arguments. she started off getting right to the point of saying no one is above the law, not even the president of the united states. that's going to message the theme throughout the course of the trial. and then she tried to use president trump's words against him. she showed the jury again the picture we've seen, the black and white picture where trump and e. jean carroll and ivana trump and john johnson, carroll's husband is in the picture. donald trump mistakes carroll for his second wife, marla mapless to debunk the idea where he said she wasn't his type. that's what they're trying to get the jury to believe. then they showed the jury the

"access hollywood" tape which was also in mr. trump's deposition, where he talks about how as a star he can grab women and do what he wants. to sum it up, right in that moment, the attorney said this is him admitting that he did and could do exactly what he did to e. jean carroll. that's what the message has been through out the trial and throughout the closing statement. she's pointing out there are 11 witnesses who backed up carroll's story and there were none who backed up trump's story and made a point of the fact that he didn't show up at the trial, which he wasn't required to do. >> kristin, let me play a clip from the trump deposition and talk on the other side. >> when you're a star, they let you do it. you can do anything, grab them by the [ bleep ], you can do anything. >> historically that's true with stars. >> true with stars that they can grab women by the [ bleep ]?

>> if you look over the last million years, that's been largely true. not always, but largely true, unfortunately or fortunately. >> kristen, what do you see as the impact of that clip and the decision not to have trump testify live? >> it's detrimental for the defense. i think this is something that the jury is going to spend a lot of time deliberating on. i think they're going to say and probably walk away thinking to themselves they're not going to believe donald trump. there was no presentation of evidence. perhaps tacopina is going to address this in his closing remarks. there was no presentation of evidence to even smooth this out. these statements as ron alluded to and you just showed, really would and should leave a bad taste in any person's mouth and especially the jurors. what it does, without any humanization of trump or smoothing out the statements, it's going to have an impact on the jury's ability to assess his character and credibility. the defendant has no burden to

prove anything within a civil case. given the mountain of evidence presented, including prompt outcry and all this other witness testimony, it is i think going to be really detrimental for the jury to walk away not finding trump liable. >> kristen, we need to remind everyone, again, this is a civil case, not a criminal case. as the jury prepares to deliberate, what are the possible outcomes? >> the possible outcomes are going to be whether or not donald trump is liable, and if he is, how damaging or what type of damage didn't e. jean carroll suffer? in other words, if trump is found liable, they'll then assess how much money do we award carroll to make her whole. that's what the civil justice system is about, making the plaintiff whole, if that misconduct caused the plaintiff to suffer. >> kristen gibb gons fed den,

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we just used this statistic, but it bears repeating. there have been more mass shootings than days this year. that doesn't even count the

everyday gun violence plaguing our country. that's just mass shootings. this weekend a sheriff's deputy was shot and killed responding to a reported drunk driver in wisconsin. a 19-year-old was killed after a cinco de mayo party in mississippi. one person lost her life near california state university. a police officer was shot dead in chicago. just a few of the shootings over the weekend. kate snow tries to answer the question why have there been so many shootings. >> reporter: the outlet mall near dallas. >> we start hearing, rut, rut, rut. >> reporter: the atlanta medical office. >> all i seen was police kafs and s.w.a.t. pulling up, pulling up, back-to-back. >> reporter: neighbors shot in cleveland, texas, a sweet 16 party in alabama, a louisville bank and an elementary school in nashville. >> how are our children still

dying and why are we failing them. >> reporter: the gun violence archive counts more mass shootings than days. >> i've been studying this for 40 years and i've never seen a year like this. >> reporter: krlg professor james fox oversees a database that keeps track of deadly mass shootings. >> why are we seeing so many mass killings this year? >> well, we have several factors, many more guns in the hands of americans, a large increase in gun sales since covid. because of covid, many americans are suffering economically and emotionally, and this country is quite divided. people are angry and taking it out on innocent strangers. >> reporter: josh horowitz is co-director of the john hopkins center for gun violence and solutions. >> is it a combination of factors including access to guns and also including mental health? >> it's always a combination of

factors. other countries have mental illness, other countries have video games, but we have unprecedented access to firearms. you take the combination of the risk factors and layer on all these weapons, all these new guns, high-capacity magazines, ar-15 assault weapons and you have the disaster we're seeing in the united states. >> reporter: some states are making changes. governor in colorado and washington state signed major reforms on gun ownership last month, but in washington, d.c., a chronic impasse. >> i have with the full extent of my executive authority -- to do anything about guns. >> reporter: communities torn apart like in allen, texas, a fear nothing will change. >> over and over and nothing gets done. >> our thanks to nbc's kate snow for that report. joining us now is adam lankford, a university of alabama professor who has done significant research on america's gun violence epidemic.

also the author of the forthcoming book "all-american massacre: the tragic role of american culture and society in mass shootings." you and i have talked before. you've been studying this issue for so long. let's start with that simple question we heard kate ask. i'm curious to get your thoughts. why so many mass shootings this year? >> it's certainly a brutal thing. i think it's clear that there are different types of mass shootings occurring. in some cases we see essentially crimes of passion, where people lose their temper, and the problem is we've had arguments for all of human history. usually they would end in fist fights. now people can grab a firearm close to them because of the unprecedented number of firearms in circulation, and that leads to a mass shooting. we also see these premeditated mass shootings where in many cases the perpetrators are not even firearm owners until they decide they want to commit mass murder. then it's at that point they go

out, they purchase an ar-style firearm. we've seen a 30% -- actually a 30 times increase in the overall sales of ar-styled firearms since the early 1990s. they have these weapons that are legally designed to do maximum damage to human bodies and they're able to kill large numbers of innocent victims. >> so you agree that, according to your research, the reason america has so much gun violence is simply because america has so many guns and easy access to those guns. what do you think are the misconceptions around all of this? >> well, obviously firearms is a big problem, but i would also point out, as i said, some of these mass shooters are not lifelong gun owners. so in many cases it is the access that's the problem. we also have a major copycat problem. the research i've done shows that the number of fame-seeking

mass shooters and the number of copycat mass shooters has approximately doubled since 2010 compared to the previous 50 years. so there are a lot of cultural factors here. but overall i guess i would just point out that democracy was supposed to guarantee all americans the ability to vote. instead, we've somehow reached this point in our history where democracy and capitalism and firearm sales has guaranteed essentially anyone who wants to kill a large number of victims the ability to do so. >> what lessons can be learned from how other countries have responded to gun violence? >> in some cases they've cracked down on the sale of firearms and particularly more in terms of screening the sale of these essentially military-grade weapons to average citizens. it's just not the case in all countries that anyone who wants

to kill large number of victims can do so. in fact, i studied one case in germany where you had someone who wanted to commit a school shooting, and he literally was complaining in his journal i don't know where you can find decent weapons. by decent weapons he meant not that he couldn't harm anyone, but that he couldn't harm a lot of people. when he couldn't kill a lot of people, he decided maybe i shouldn't do this at all. >> why, professor adam lankford, thank you for sharing your research with us. we appreciate you. >> thank you. coming up, deaths at the derby. the investigation into why seven horses died in the run-up to the race. this is ana cabrera reports. we're back in just a moment. rep. we're back in just a moment. (seth) and it's only $35 a line. (neighbor) i got that deal too. (seth) oh hey, bragging buddies! (neighbor) my man! (cecily) this i don't need. (seth) you should give me a call! (vo) visit your verizon store and save big during our spring savings event. get the disney bundle with

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dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles have patented gel waves that absorb shock to hard-working muscles and joints, for all-day energy. there's growing scrutiny this morning into the deaths of several horses before the kentucky derby, at least seven horses died in the run up to this weekend's race including two that ran the day of but had to be euthanized because of severe injury. joining us from churchill downs in kentucky is nbc news correspondent jesse kirsch. what do we know about these horse deaths and how dirty officials and the sport of horse racing at large is responding? >> reporter: yeah, ana, the racetrack saying despite our determination to continually improve upon the highest industry standards there is more to be done. horse racing safety is something that gets talked about. it's obviously under renewed scrutiny because of what has

happened in recent tas. the racetrack also making a point of saying there has been no discernible pattern detected in the injuries sustained. at this point the indication from the racetrack is that there is no specific connection between all of the horse deaths. we spoke with some people who say they were at the race, the kentucky derby over the weekend. here's part of what they shared with us. >> it was definitely bittersweet kind of knowing about the things that does happen behind the scenes. >> it was sad to know that the number kept increasing also. that was the hard part. it's like, oh, we're at four, oh, we're at six, now we're at seven. and then to see the ambulance yesterday, it was sad. >> i hope it does bring more attention to it so we can hopefully figure out more solutions. >> reporter: there were also five horse scratches before the kentucky derby, something that the churchill downs racetrack says has not happened since 1936. all of this happens with the

preakness stakes less than two weeks away. >> jesse kirsch, thanks for that update. so sad, those are such beautiful animals. up next here on "ana cabrera reports," the days of being stranded by airlines may soon be over hopefully. the new proposal to cut back on travel nightmares next.

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okay, travelers, here we go. fighting back against those flight delays and cancellations,

and the biden administration is trying to draft new rules to fortify passengers rights to hold those airlines accountable pushing airlines to provide cash and other compensation or those canceled or severely delayed flights. but the plan is expected to face some serious pushback. let's get the lowdown from nbc news correspondent tom costello now. what exactly would these new rules do and why the opposition? >> i think the headline is that the biden administration is today announcing in a press conference that they want the airlines to provide cash compensation if your flight is significantly delayed or canceled. so not just a matter of giving you a meal voucher or hotel voucher, which most airlines will do if, in fact, this is their fault, not weather-related but their fault. they have an issue that's caused these flights to be delayed or canceled, but now the biden administration wants to say, listen, there should be -- the airline should feel some pain for this, and they should have to compensate you for your time

and for any inconvenience in terms of cash. that is a european union law right now, and so now the biden administration wants that to be a u.s. rule as well. you're absolutely right. there will be significant pushback from the airline industry for sure, and even some passenger rights groups who are pointing out this is likely going to mean higher air fares because the airlines will pass along everything to you and to me. so this is still all very much a work in progress, it's not going to happen overnight. will not happen in time for the summer travel break. this is a long process in which they solicit feedback from all the stakeholders and passengers and the airlines, but nonetheless, this is a first step as the biden administration wants the airlines to feel a little pain from when they inconvenience you. >> don't we all? don't we all? because we all feel so powerless when we're the ones having to sit on the plane or at the airport. there's also the catch of controllable versus uncontrollable delays, right? explain the distinction.

>> well, this is not going to apply if you're delayed because of a snowstorm or something that is, you know, an act of god. we're really talking about significant issues as it relates to mechanical delays, staffing delays, maybe they're late because they don't have a catering truck. the luggage isn't getting loaded, whatever. a variety of issues that are or should be within the airline's control, if they are delayed because of those issues, then the idea would be you would receive cash compensation. as i said, the europeans do that already, but whether this is going to fly in the u.s. i think is another issue. >> all right, come costello, thank you, sir. >> you bet. >> that's going to do it for us today. thank you all for being here. we'll see you tomorrow, same time, same place. until then, reporting from new york, i'm ana cabrera. josé diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. and good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific, i'm josé diaz-balart, moments from now we're going to get a live update from investigators in texas who are scrambling to find out why an suv