♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ cargurus. shop. buy. sell. online. right now on msnbc reports, breaking news as the u.s. strike backs at targets overseas. the president ordering

retaliatory strikes against iranian-backed militant groups. the latest on the rising tensions in the region, plus, trump's christmas message lashing out at special counsel jack smith as the former president tries to get his election interference case thrown out. so, is the former commander in chief immune from criminal prosecution? we'll see. we'll talk about that coming up. and later on, the presents opened and the cookies devoured, millions of americans set to travel today in the post christmas rush. i'm going to speak to a travel expert about some travel tips to help you survive the misery. hey, everybody. good morning to you. merry post christmas. we begin this hour with the breaking news out of the middle east. president biden ordering retaliatory strikes against iranian-backed militia groups in iraq after three u.s. service members were injured in a drone attack in northern iraq on monday. since october 17th, there have

now been at least 103 separate attacks on u.s. personnel across iraq and syria. want to bring in ali arouzi, joel rubin, former deputy assistant secretary of state and president of washington strategy group and nbc's ryan nobles as well at the white house for us. ali, let me start with you, if we can, and walk through the latest strikes for us. >> that's right. so the u.s. military says they have attacked iranian-backed militias in iraq, hours after u.s. personnel were injured in a drone strike on a u.s. air base in iraq. now, defense secretary lloyd austin said that three sites used by kataib hezbollah were hit in iraq and syria. as you know, this is nothing new. the u.s. repeatedly targeted sites linked to militant groups in iraq and syria that answer to in recent years. depending on the political

situation on the ground, these can ebb and flow considerably. given what is going on in the region and the heightened tensions, the attacks hav dramatically increased. as you mentioned, since october 17th alone, there have been over 100 types of these attacks by iranian militias. lloyd austin said the attack, which was called necessary, and proportionate, was authorized by president biden. the earlier drone strike on a u.s. base in erbil in the kurdish region injured three u.s. military personnel and one critically. i think that's very important to note. because usually when the attacks are conducted by the u.s., they're proportionate, somebody was hit critically in this attack, so they seem to have taken out some militia members on the ground there and that's an increase in u.s. attacks. >> ryan nobles, take us through the tiktok. i know we got some reporting on the tiktok on the president yesterday as this all kind of played out, if you will. walk us through that along with

what the white house is saying today on retaliatory strikes, how they're trying to tamp down on broadening the conflict outside of israel and hamas because we know this is a reflection of that. if you can, expand also as ali mentioned on the u.s. personnel and their status. >> yes, first just the way that the president and his national security team responded to this, the president was at camp david for the christmas holiday. he's still there this morning. he's expected to get back here to the white house later this afternoon. and we're told that his national security adviser jake sullivan informed him of the attack on the u.s. military base and the president immediately convened members of his cabinet and his national security team to discuss options. that included a secure call with the defense secretary lloyd austin who outlined the options that the u.s. government had in response to that. it was the president who authorized this attack on these iran-based militia groups that as ali points out specifically led to some of the members of this militia being wounded and

perhaps killed. and this was in direct response to that attack on a military base and what the defense secretary lloyd austin also said is that these will continue. if there is a continued risk to american service members who are on the ground in iraq, from any type of group that the u.s. military will not hesitate to respond. of course, it comes as you mentioned that these tensions continue to rise in the middle east and also somewhat of a commitment from the administration not to get american troops involved in the war between israel and hamas. but this is, you know, a situation that is occurring not very far away and, of course, there is a nexus to this with iran. of course, these are iran-backed militia groups. so this is something that is clearly in the back of the minds of the administration as ali points out. there has been a marked increase in these attacks more than 100 since october, yasmin.

>> joel rubin, draw on that for me if you will. i want to get your overarching comments on these back and forths that we have been seeing. there was a strike on an iranian commander in syria, in retaliation to that iranian proxies struck in iraq and subsequently this strike overnight by the u.s. in retaliation to those strikes. it seems as if despite the best efforts of the u.s. administration along with iran saying they don't want to expand this conflict beyond the borders of israel and gaza, it is happening. >> yeah, yasmin. we're seeing the activation of the different militias. iran is playing a d ge and provoking trying to prod the united stat believe to reduce support for israel and reduce support for israel's war against hamas. but, you know, there are options here as well.

and one of the options is to engage iran directly, to engage iran through allies, we have many allies who talked to iran on a daily basis including saudi arabia and qatar. there are ways to tamp this down and get a message across that what iran is doing is only escalating the conflict, rather than reducing the potential for conflict, it is increasing it. and clearly the president had no choice, when american troops are struck. they need to defend themselves and he's well within his bounds to do that. >> you think, joel, that saudi has real influence over iran in their ongoing actions? you think the iranians and iranian administration listens to the saudis? they're friends right now, but they're usually not. >> right. no, you know, look, it is fair to point that out, they have had continual tensions over the years, but they do have some type of truce between, some type of peace agreement, not sure how to describe it, that's how they

called it themselves, brokered by china. they had exchanges of visits and saudi can guess the message across as well as others that what iran is doing is poking the tiger, poking the bear, and not in anyone's interest, that it should be a constructive player at the table, but, iran has been backing hezbollah and other groups for a number of years and they see their interests challenged. but, yes, without a doubt, we have our allies that can talk to iran and say this is harming across the board the region, these provocative actions, and certainly get that message across. if they don't, we're only going see additional escalation and i think that's something the biden team has since the beginning said it does not want to see happen and clearly it is seeing that iran is poking and prodding and testing that resolve. >> ali, i mentioned this, i want you to expand on it, if you can, that is the killing of this

general in the irgc who is close to soleimani who was killed by israeli air strikes a few years ago. walk us through what happened in syria on the ground there and how iranians are reacting to that. >> you bring up an important question. you're right. yesterday, a senior iranian commander was killed in what we suspect was an israeli air strike in syria. and that's according to iranian state media. they claim that a commander called seyyed razi mousavi finished the meeting at the iranian embassy in damascus and returned home, based there. and he returned home and his home was targeted by three israeli missiles that killed him. the iranians say he was the most senior irgc operative in syria. and is said to have been very close to irgc commander soleimani who was killed by the u.s. in 2020. now, iran's president, revolutionary guard, have all vowed revenge. they say that israel is going to

pay a huge price for what they call a crime. but, again, we have seen iran make these threats before. they made these threats over soleimani and they never directly did anything themselves. this is why they have their proxies in the region to carry out these attacks, so, again, we may see attacks by the proxies in the region step up, in retribution for this attack. but unlikely iran is going to do something directly itself. >> so, joel, i know as ali was talking about, obviously, that this general was very much involved in directing these proxies and how they were going about their repeated attacks, one of the reasons why israel targeted this general in syria with targeting soleimani a few years ago as well. in this war time, in which the united states along with other allies have continually stressed both to iran and israel not to expand this beyond the borders of israel and gaza, is that not

a provocation by israel as well? >> yeah. certainly hezbollah is an x factor in this. and to take out, assassinate the number two general over time, the leading conduit for arm supplies to hezbollah, that's highly provocative and that is very concerning. israel is within its rights to clearly defend itself and clearly to keep a watch on hezbollah. it is doing that, but we have seen reports about president biden weighing in to say do not expand the war to bibi netanyahu, prime minister of israel, do not go into southern lebanon. and he heeded that call. and i think that's where we play a crucial role. that's where the president's team is continuing to try to ensure this does not spread. so, that strike, that was israel, and that is -- that is a provocative move. now, iran responding by hitting the united states, if that's how this went down and it seems like that's the sequence, that is

reckless and that is outside the pale in attacking the united states for a strike israel took independently. but you're right, look, this is only adding to a little more fire to the kindling here, and if hezbollah gets involved, we are going to see a major expansion of the war and that is something that clearly needs to be avoided. >> so, we heard you talk about how allies can speak to iran about backing down and not getting further involve informed this expanded conflict. i'm wondering, though, as we think about netanyahu and the decisions that he's making on the battlefield now, many of the folks i've been speaking to say there is this fracture that we're seeing between biden and bibi netanyahu who despite speaking over the last 48 hours or so, we saw netanyahu on the battlefield as well. anybody else that can get to netanyahu about this expanding conflict and to tamp down on actions that he has pursued on the battlefield along with

outside the borders of israel and gaza? >> well, the first group that can get to the israeli people, poll after poll, 70% negative ratings for the prime minister, and even the knesset where he was speaking yesterday, he was getting heckled by families of the israeli hostages, so, there is a lot of pressure on netanyahu from within. and that's crucial. i do think that clearly the united states and president biden is the primary voice for israel, has been. we have been for many years. but this president, in particular, carved out that space right now. and he's the one that can get into the prime minister's decision-making better than anybody else, but it is crucial to add this, israel does not want to lose regional arab allies, the uae and egypt in particular, jordan, closely as well as ally in peace with israel, these are not countries that israel wants to see walkway from it. israel put a proposal on the

other day, while not incredibly pragmatic, in the near term for releasing hostages, lays out a vision for an end state, a day after scenario, and i think israel needs to take that seriously. they depend on egypt for security on the southern border, on the other side of gaza. they have a peace treaty that worked, that has worked, and egypt is a major arab power. there are others in the region, hopefully that they can step up to and start engaging with israel, they have relationships and this matters to the israeli security establishment, not just the prime minister, and that's a critical audience right now as well. >> joel rubin, thank you. ali arouzi, ryan nobles, thank you. when we're back, everybody, in 60 seconds, trump's latest online tantrum against special counsel jack smith as the former president moves to have his federal election interference case thrown out entirely. tips for travelers heading home this week on how to stay sane and keep moving amidst the crush.

and later on, secretaries tony blinken and alejandro mayorkas heading to mexico this week as one of the largest migrant caravans of the year makes its way to the southern border. lots more coming up. keep it right here on msnbc. lots more coming up. keep it right here on msnbc. (dad) it's our phone bill... we pay for things that we don't need. (mom) that's a bit dramatic. (dad) we must tighten our belts! (mom) a better plan to save is verizon! (vo) that's right! plans start at $25 per line guaranteed for 3 years. only on verizon.

welcome back. new overnight, donald trump lashing out against special counsel overseeing the federal election interference case against him on christmas day. he called jack smith, quote, deranged and accused him of a witch-hunt. now that case is in the hands of a federal appeals court, which has received a request from trump lawyers to toss out the case. why? because trump's lawyers are arguing that he is immune from prosecution for any alleged crime that took place while he was in office. the move is coming after the supreme court denied a request by jack smith to step in and quickly resolve the issue. all of this threatening to delay the trial, which is scheduled to start right now on march 4th, but that's up for debate at this point. want to bring in dave aaronburg

and maura jaleski. welcome. happy merry post christmas. i want to get your reaction to why it is the supreme court punted this back to d.c. circuit and how this is going to change the timeline when we're looking at the march 4th trial date. >> i don't think it is going to change the timeline that much. i think the reason why the supreme court punted it back is because the d.c. circuit court of appeals said they would excite their own review. they're not going to intervene here. there is precedent, but jack smith did not invoke the election when he went to the supreme court. if he had said this is an emergency because if you don't act now, this case could get delayed until after the election and then trump is going to undo everything and that is a violation against the rule of

law, maybe that would have convinced the supreme court. but he didn't do so. and the reason he didn't do so is that he did not want to mention the election. he and merrick garland are so nervous about being seen as political, that they did not want to break the code and as such the supreme court said, why would we be intervening now? it is not an emergency, let the d.c. circuit appellate court handle it and maybe we'll consider it afterwards. >> okay. so, they don't want to be seen as political. the attorney general or jack smith. scotus doesn't want to be seen as political. does this not constitute despite jack smith -- whether or not he said this in his motion to the supreme court, does this not constitute an emergency when you're looking to try the former president of the united states on the 2020 election and who is running now for re-election, that election being in november? >> i think so.

because the lower appellate court decided to expedite matters, it gives the supreme court a way out. they love way outs. here is their way out. they are going to defer to the lower court. the d.c. circuit court of appeals is going to rule for jack smith. they're going to deny this crazy idea of absolute presidential immunity. he's a president, not a king. and then they'll defer to a lower court's ruling. >> you did mention precedent here when it comes to presidential immunity. expand on that if you will for our audience. >> there is some presidential immunity when it comes to civil lawsuits. we have seen that. but when it comes to criminality, this is unchartered territory. we never had a president like donald trump before. he wants to be immune from any criminal activity he did while he was president. he said it is all in his role as president. but, of course, that's just not true. no one is above the law. and it works both ways. if the supreme court gives donald trump absolute presidential immunity, what is

to stop joe biden from arresting trump, canceling the election and saying, hey, i'm immune, aim a king, i can do whatever i want. it is not so funny when the other guy does it to you. >> maura, the president has been staying out of kind of political fray and speaking on the former president's legal trouble, especially as it seems as if more and more he's going to be running against him in 2024. he was, though, asked about presidential immunity. and should former presidents be free from prosecution. i want to play that sound and then we'll talk. talk. >> that do you make of that brief but certainly to the

point. >> he's trying not to get involved and i think that's the smart move to make here. again, to the point we're talking about is that this all does feel political for a lot of people in this country. and it is really important to remind folks that this is about the constitution, and we should be leaving this up to the courts, which are a nonpartisan branch of our government and important we let it run through in that way. i think, too, to what the president said, again, this is a scenario where we haven't been before. and i think that the we should be the ones saying no to this, we're rejecting this idea of a former president who tried to overturn or stop the peaceful transfer of power from becoming president again, that should be left up to us. but it will come out of the courts and to make sure that doesn't look political or have any implications of being, you know, targeted to trump, because the question that a lot of people have is with all these court okays coming up against him if he wasn't running for

president again. >> that's interesting. i' y brought that point up. becae if that is in fact the eson as toer or not these cases, these trials, these charges, these indictments would be happening, if he were not running for re-election, would that not make them then political trials? would that not make them political indictments? what do you make of that argument? >> i think we're seeing it play out. trump has capitalized on this, and he has made it all political no matter what the substance of those charges are. so, i think that's also hard because as we learned since 2016 he can control the narrative and he -- regardless of facts, he controls the narrative. we saw that with his social truth post about jack smith and also merry christmas, you know, that kind of stuff, that's what

he is going to continue to do and play the victim. but the unfortunate part, there are a lot of people in this country who do feel as though they don't trust the government, don't trust the system, making the point this is about the supreme court, about constitutionality, that's key here, messaging is key. >> got it. messaging is key. maura, thank you, dave, thank you as well. coming up, surviving the holiday travel rush and what you can do to avoid getting stuck in transit as you make your way home. a live look at the weather brewing across the country to help you plan your travels. you're watching msnbc. we'll be right back. travels you're watching msnbc. we'll be right back. er stage— and is crushed by a baby grand piano. are you replacing me? with this guy? customize and save with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache! oh, look! a bibu. [limu emu squawks.] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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welcome back. happening now, challenging weather disrupting the holiday travel rush, resulting in difficult to nearly impossible conditions. so far today, get this, there have been more than 50 flight cancellations and 1900 flight delays across the country. want to bring in now from o'hare airport the center of it all maura barrett and michelle grossman as well. how are things looking today? >> well, i don't want to jinx it as it is really early in the morning. fingers crossed. you probably know how full and busy o'hare can get on a holiday week like this. it is busy, but things are proving pretty smoothly. this line is a ten-minute wait. i was one of those anxious travelers coming back after my christmas, taking a red eye from

seattle to o'hare. and those two airports are ones that in my experience are more notorious for those long lines, those delays, those long baggage wait times and everything went smoothly so far. i think it is fair to say as we look at those weather forecasts and the turbulence that i experienced on that red eye there is some room for wild card when it comes to weather and so serious storm systems across the country. we're seeing delays at airports over in colorado, minnesota, but right now in terms of here in the midwest, some of the busiest airports at o'hare, so far, so good. >> wait a minute. so you flew to o'hare last night from seattle, back from christmas, did you sleep there overnight? >> i got off the plane here at o'hare at 6:00 a.m., i did a little quick change and i made it on time here to join you on air. serious assignment here. >> that is dedication, we appreciate you.

thank you. talking about the cancellations before the christmas holiday, you had dense fog in the chicago area, causing widespread flight cancellations, looking at major delays across the country now, cancellations as well, not as many. what are the airlines saying today to avoid what happened last year? >> yeah, last year was an absolute mess. it is hard for anyone to forget that. weather is the wild card here. the severe fog in chicago over the weekend canceling 300 southwest flights, southwest is the hub here at midway. over on sunday, 100 more trickling into the holiday yesterday. southwest telling nbc this morning that their operations are stable and so they're pushing ahead. but this is a stark difference to the delays, the baggage chaos we saw last season. and so, airlines are looking optimistic, especially as they made changes over the last year to prevent what happened last year. we do know that about 2.6 million people traveled by air, went through tsa on thursday. we haven't gotten those updated

numbers from over the weekend. we expect it to break records when itcomes to air travel. they expect to see more busy travel days at the end of the week on thursday and friday. >> got it. michelle grossman, reveal the wild card for us if you will. what can we expect? what areas, if you can, should folks avoid? >> hi there, yasmin. a large storm system bringing blizzard conditions to some, freezing rain, bringing widespread rain as well. you can see it painted on the map here. where you see this blue here, this is where the snow is falling. we're seeing winds up to 5 mi -- 55 miles per hour. blowing snow as well. pink is the freezing rainfall. that's impossible to travel on. so portions of the northern plains seeing that. the central plains and colorado seeing that snow falling. here is all that rain ahead of that cold front.

we're looking at heavy rain too. where you see the brighter colors, reds, oranges, yellows, we're seeing the heaviest rain falling. there is a -- we could see flash flooding in some spots, especially along the appalachians. this is a large storm system and will stay in place over next couple of days. plenty of winter alerts, winter weather advisories, storm warnings, where you see the purple here, that's where we're looking at blizzard warnings, places like south dakota, in nebraska, kansas, colorado, seeing really treacherous travel. we're seeing winds gusting up to 35, 55, that's creating for drifting snow. could see some power outages as well. here is the setup. we have a big system moving to the north and east. it is bringing that snow, the wind today in parts of the plains. it is also bringing that rain into the mid-atlantic and the southeast. this future cast showing us that we are expecting heavy rain with some of these showers as we go throughout the rest of the day. could see a few thunderstorms in this southeast. then by tomorrow, it is moving off to the north and east. that low pressure sliding up the east coast. soaking rain on wednesday from

the northeast, also new england. and we could see that extending into parts of thursday as well. what does that mean for travel? we could see possible delays in minneapolis, cleveland, d.c., charlotte. this is up in the air. notice by tomorrow, we're talking about the major cities along the i-95 corridor. the airports. the roads are tough too. we're looking at rain that slows people down. so, boston, new york city, philadelphia, we're looking at d.c., charlotte, looking at possible delays tomorrow. we have a couple of days to get through with this storm system and it could cause some delays. back to you. >> always happens around this time whether it be snow, rain or some other weather event. michelle grossman, thank you. laura barrett, thank you for getting to us on air, on time. we appreciate you. we are just returning from holiday travel or about to depart. you're not alone. aaa says more than 115 million people in the u.s. are expected to travel at least 50 miles during the christmas and new year's holidays. here with tips on how to best prep yourself is clint

henderson, managing editor of the point guys. he joins us from san francisco. weather, it always causes the biggest issues around the holiday season, and not always the kind of weather you want. we'll be getting rain in the northeast. wish it was snow. what should folks keep in mind this season, record numbers traveling this year? >> it is pretty remarkable the recovery in travel we have seen. the biggest thing to keep aware of is know the conditions of where you're going. if you're traveling in the northeast, you heard the weather forecast, you want to call the airline, find out if your flight could be impabsted, if you want to switch the flight to a later or earlier flight. a lot of times the airlines are working with passengers more often now to rearrange travel itineraries. it is also helpful that the travel period is spread out a bit. people are taking days, they can work from home, they're working day before, day after they would normally travel. it spreads the crowds out. but there are crowds. so you want to get to the airport three hours early, you

want to have global entry or tsa precheck if you can swing that. a lot of credit cards, that is included. that will speed you through security checkpoints. love that. and then, you know, have the airline app installed on your phone, keep your tral documents, all that good stuff. >> can we talk about gas prices? there might be good news amidst all of this if you're hitting the road, heading home after spending christmas with your family. gas prices are pretty good right now. >> it is absolutely remarkable the drop in prices. i've been doing stories on this for the past couple of years, how to save money at the gas pump. every time i have to change the story's introduction, every time date the story because gas prices dropped substantially again. this is excellent news for consumers, excellent news for people who want to do road trips, people put off planning trips because of the high gas prices to national parks and things like that. a lot more people hitting the roads as well. but the same travel advice applies, make sure you're checking the forecast.

i wouldn't want to drive on i-95 tomorrow. thor sure. >> when are the busiest travel days, aside from the weather, when are we expecting the most traffic? >> the next couple of days will be really busy. the highest dayf travel is actually the day leading up to thanksgiving. so, i think whats really interesting to see these travel trends change, people are spreading their trips out, so if you're seeing a lot of people traveling, but it is more spread out so there is not like one day that is super crazy, like the day before christmas used to be. you're seeing steady huge crowds, up to the week. so, really the end of this week you want to pay special close attention too, especially if we get storms in the northeast. that can impact flights across the country. busy days ahead. it won't really slow down until after the new year. >> got it. clint, thank you. appreciate it. we're tracking one of the largest migrant caravans of the year as the u.s. faces the

urgent need. how an unaccompanied 6-year-old ended up on the wrong plane trying to visit his grandmother for the holidays and the explanation from the airline. we'll be right back. n from the airline. we'll be right back. and gentler on your skin. try downy free & gentle. ♪ i wanna hold you forever ♪ hey little bear bear. ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm gonna love you forever ♪ ♪ ♪ c'mon, bear. ♪ ♪ ♪ you don't...you don't have to worry... ♪ ♪ be by your side... i'll be there... ♪ ♪ with my arms wrapped around... ♪

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here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. welcome back. happening now, one of the largest migrant caravans of the year is traveling through mexico. an estimated 6,000 people from central america, venezuela, cuba, other countries as well.

joining together over the weekend, and heading north to the u.s. border. it is coming just as secretary of state tony blinken set to travel to mexico city to work on negotiations about the record-breaking numbers of migrants seeking entry into the u.s. want to bring in sam brock, white house correspondent from bloomberg akayla gardener as well. sam, start us off if you will. 6,000 people, it seems, estimated to have joined this caravan, now the largest so far this year. what more do we know? >> that's correct. it appears to be the largest migrant caravan headed to the united states since june of 2022, when a similar size caravan left from mexico, right on the guatemalan border. the images that you're looking at, it is hard to process this. it reflects the dire circumstances right now on the ground for so many migrants. you talk about the height of this crisis, it is no secret at this point, yasmin, the u.s. government said we're at a breaking point right now in

terms of the sheer volume of people who are trying to gain access to the united states within the last week or so, we saw a record number of border encounters, some 12,000 in a single day. the darien gap, the treacherous patch of land that connects panama and colombia, they broke a record in september, up to 400,000 people then. half of those migrating, women and children, that tells you a lot about who is trying to flee. and it comes as a perfect storm now, this overlap of events, the caravan coming to the united states, at the same time you have this high level u.s. delegation that includes multiple secretaries, mayorkas certainly, the department of homeland security, trying to figure out what can be done in terms of stemming the crush of migrants, the mexican president indicating he would be willing to try to do what he can, but is expecting something from the united states as well and by that he means aid to some of the countries where people are fleeing from, also relaxing of sanctions against venezuela, and

cuba, among other things, dialogue, bilateral dialogue between the u.s. and cuba. a lot he's asking for. it is not clear how likely some things are to materialize. but there will be conversations we just learned that will be at 1:00 eastern tomorrow, 12:00 local when that delegation is meeting with president lopez obrador. >> and you have this holdup in the capital over negotiations when it comes to immigration reform in this country as well. there is debate happening in the leadup to the christmas holiday, likely to get picked up again in the new year. akayla, as we're talking about secretary of state tony blinken as well heading to the region as sam just talked about, what does he hope to accomplish? >> i think what blinken and mayorkas what they're going to mexico city to accomplish is they're looking for my ways to

partner with mexico. they have already partnered so much this year. this was really the first year that we saw the biden administration really significantly engage on immigration. we saw a new parole process, from people coming from high volume countries like cuba, venezuela, and an agreement from mexico to receive some of the migrants back if they're turned away, if they do not use those legal processes. so i think they're really keeping it general here. they're keeping the door open for success as we see often. but they acknowledge some of the programs have worked. we saw significant decline really this summer, but those numbers have ticked back up significantly. there is an average of 10,000 arrests per month, per day this month. so they have acknowledged this is an unprecedented situation and they say it is not just a problem that the u.s. is facing, but also a global problem. >> i want to pull on this a little bit. you mentioned, i think it is important to talk about the coordination, the ongoing coordination going on between

president biden, the biden administration and mexican president as well looking to meet with one another this week. not the president that is. but this delegation. secretary of state. what more coordination has gone on between the two parties, between the biden administration along with the mexican president in curbing migration? >> well, i think something to think about right now, mayorkas has been a part of these talks right now in the house, and the senate, and i think that is where the most significant reforms are going to happen. it is going to have to come out of congress. i wouldn't be surprised if mayorkas is going to mexico in hopes of bringing back some kind of concessions to add to that conversation, especially because a major sticking point has been asylum restrictions. that's something that republicans have really been pushing on. they do not want the level of asylum seekers to continue at what it is and democrats are really hoping to sustain that. so i would not be surprised if

that's something that they're going to mexico with in hopes of advancing these talks back at home. >> so, sam, amidst this whole story, we can't help butleaving origin. it is because of poverty, because of violence, because of joblessness, because of climate change. what is being done to help with that situation and help them wanting to leave versus stay in their countries of origin? >> right, well it is a multitude of reasons. many of the things you just listed. what is interesting the cvp came out six or seven days ago and said one of the driving forces is these pseudotravel agencies and really smuggling transportation networks. they're exploiting all of these people coming from poverty stricken countries and using them and that needs to be a focus of attention now as well. as you suggested, the poverty

and the crime, the fear for their lives, of course, is so huge in places in guatemala. what is happening in venezuela, i know as we discussioned, relations do appear to be improving between the administrations, what happened there in the last couple of years has been jaw dropping. when you're out there on the front lines on the border and you ask people where they're coming from, increasingly over the last couple of years the answer has been venezuela. you're talking about one of the countries that has one of the largest supplies of national resources in oil in the world, all of this natural wealth, and yet it is this tiny fraction of the government, maduro, military, some top folks there, within his hierarchy that are rich, and so many people that are wondering day to day, am i going to have access to electricity, medicine, basic amenities, this has been going on for years in venezuela and absolutely prompting among other places this massive amount of people trying to escape their current situation and get to the united states. i'm not sure what the fix would be for solving those issues

right now. >> akayla, thank you, sam will have another report for us after the break, everybody. still to come, lost in the skies. how one airline mistakenly put a solo flyer, get this, on the wrong plane in the midst of the crush of holiday travel. the mad dash to bring him homecoming up next. you're watching msnbc. you're watching msnbc. when better money habits® content first started coming out, it expanded what i could do for special olympics athletes with developmental needs. thousands of bank of america employees like scott spend countless hours volunteering to teach people how to reach their financial goals. it felt good. it felt like i could take on the whole world. children are the greatest joy and our best hope for a better future. friends, they are the future. but did you know that millions of kids right here in our own backyard are facing

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welcome back. this morning we are following a holiday travel nightmare. it sent a 6-year-old flying to the wrong city all by himself, and his family demanding answers after spirit airlines boarded a 6-year-old on to the wrong plane. >> spirit airlines this morning is apologizing after a 6-year-old boy was placed on the wrong plane. the child flying alone for the first time board add spirit airlines flight in philadelphia, and was supposed to fly to fort myers, florida, but instead went to miami. realizing her grandson was not on the correct plane was one of the scariest moments of her life. >> my heart was pounding. >> the flight attendants saying

he missed his flight but had his check-in tag. ramos raced to the orlando airport, a four hour drive away. in a statement spirit said, we took immediate steps to reconnect them. we apologize to the family for this experience. unaccompanied minors have gotten on the wrong plane before. this whole or deal reminiscent of a movie. >> how did that happen? did they get him off the plane? >> how does that happen in this

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