crest.

good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we are following breaking news out of the middle east. right now officials are in the final stages of working on permanent ceasefire deal between israel and hezbollah. the proposed deal would mean hezbollah and israel would remove their forces if from lebanon's southern border ending a conflict that turned into a devastating war in september. joining . hala, what is going on right now as far as this ceasefire that underlining would be permanent? >> reporter: yeah, that's the idea anyway. there would be a 60-day period during which the israeli military would withdraw from

southern lebanon. hezbollah would withdraw as well north of thely litani river. by all accounts, it's a weaker military entity than hezbollah is. so it's going to be interesting to see how this deal is implemented on the ground in case there are violations from hezbollah or in case hezbollah believes that the israeli military is violate the terms of the agreement. i spoke to a high-level intelligence official who was briefed on the terms of the deal, and emphasized that it is a two-phase deal and that there is that first 60-day period during which all the troops would kind of reorganization nays along agreed-upon lines and after that it would continue to be, hopefully, a permanent ceasefire. the northern communities, the displaced israel of the northern

communities would be able to return home, and the some million or so displaced from southern lebanon would be able to return home. i'm in touch with people inside of beirut right now who are telling me that the israeli military bombing have intensified. that's not unusual before the announcement of a ceasefire deal where both sides use the window left for them to, if you will, conduct as many operations as they can before they have to lay down their arms. jose. >> and gabe, this is a deal between israel and hezbollah. the lebanese army having to have a responsibility there. but, gabe, do we know anything about american involvement in any of this? >> reporter: well, jose, this has an big priority for the biden administration and up until just yesterday white house officials had been saying that while this deal was close, they weren't sure that it would come to fruition.

not wag done until everything was done, is the refrain here. secretary of state antony blinken is overseas right now in italy. we to not know if he will speak about this later on today. again, as you mentioned, this still needs to be approved by the israeli security cabinet and then the full cabinet. but we understand according to a senior u.s. official that it does have prime minister benjamin netanyahu's endorsement. now, a key breakthrough here, jose, according to that senior u.s. official, was that hezbollah dropped its demand that there be a ceasefire deal in gaza before it would negotiate. now, some of the hostage families tell nbc news that they are upset that this ceasefire deal with hezbollah does not include gaza at all, but the hope is that it might isolate hamas a bit and perhaps decrease hamas' leverage at this point. there are a lot of questions what this all means for the

situation in gaza. senior u.s. officials have told nbc news that a ceasefire deal there, a hostage deal in gaza is unlikely before president biden leaves office, but again still a lot, several weeks to go before that all plays out. as for president biden and whether he might weigh in on this potential ceasefire deal with hezbollah, we understand that a written statement may be possible later on today, assuming everything is approved by the israelis. and then we might also be able to expect, according to a senior u.s. official, french president macron would also issue a statement of his own. but the u.s. very thankful potentially for france's involvement in this potential ceasefire deal as well, jose. >> of course, france has that historic relationship with lebanon for both good and for bad. general, part of the deal includes a u.s. leading an international economic effort to try to prevent iran and hezbollah from doing the

reconstruction. how important is it to try and prevent iran from stepping back in, and then general, also the responsibility to the lebanese army, that they will have on this. it's not a very strong-armed forces. >> yeah. quite right. look, at the end of the day this is a reality of the battlefield. diplomacy ratifies the outcomes that are actually occurring in war. and hezbollah has been devastated starting with the loss of much of their chain of command with the explosion of these, you know, devices throughout their -- throughout lebanon, and now we've seen incredibly effective israeli intelligence that allowed their air force to devastate not just the units, 100,000 men fighting, but also their missile stocks. so it's very good news.

the israelis have taken significant casualties, and as you discussed already, there are a million lebanese who are refugees and 80,000 some-odd israelis. so this will be well received. i have also been watching casualties on israeli tv and newspapers, and they have taken some really significant losses, both in gaza and also in southern lebanon. so it's good news. and we have to take into account also the fact that there is a trump battle wave in all of this. his support for israel has been publicly unyielding, and so hezbollah i think decided we better get aboard here before the new administration takes office. >> general, you were talking about those pagers, beepers, walkie-talkie atalks, devastating -- it was devastating to the hezbollah infrastructure. i am just wondering the hezbollah of today is a

different hezbollah than it was just a year ago, and certainly over the years when we remember, you know, i remember going from beirut to blbek and the stops one had to make along the way because hezbollah had road checkpoints. it's a different hezbollah today? >> yeah, well, it's been well equipped by the iranians and others. it has very modern anti-tank weapons, pretty decent ability to attack israel with missiles and drones throughout this conflict, by the way. it's rarely discussed. yesterday i think there were well over 100 hezbollah missiles fired at israel. so they were deemed to be an impressive fighting force, bringing in even greater recognition, the effectiveness is what the idf has taken them apart. they have been defeated tactically in the battlefield.

the good news is we keep talking about a weak lebanese national army. that's quite true. but they will be very effective, i think, as peacekeepers if withdrawal behind the litani river takes place. i think it will. i think this is a real triumph for the u.s. and french diplomacy and one can only hope that that will allow hamas to feel even more isolated and perhaps bring a stop to that fight. you know, the economic reconstruction, the money ought to come out of the saudis, egyptians, the gulf coast states. there shouldn't be a u.s. responsibility to rebuild these devastated areas. but i think our diplomacy has been a major factor in bringing the fighting to a stop. >> i want to bring in aaron david muller, senior fell le at carnegie. aaron, let's talk about that. the diplomacy, the impact effect

of diplomacy, someone who served as an advisor in these kinds of negotiations. what do you make of this apparent deal? >> you know, my experience and general mccaffrey said a lot of wisdom there. my experience in negotiations is they only have two speeds, slow and slower. number two, when they work, they work because there is real urgency. the incentives for reaching a deal t in this case on the part of israel and hezbollah, are much more compelling than the disincentives of allowing the status quo to pertain. the israelis have done an enormous amount of damage to hezbollah's financial reserves, gold deposits, command and control. yesterday, day before, they went after the last senior commander in beirut. he was in charge of operations. so there is urgency there. on the israeli side, 70,000 israelis uprooted. israel as you to know is a small

standing army. it relies mainly on reserves and they have been at war now, reserve duty has been extended. frankly, for an israeli prime minister for whom politics is everything and staying in power is everything, this is an easier deal to do than gaza. with gaza it's palestinians, it's hostages, it's israeli withdrawal, it's the return of large numbers of palestinian prisoners who have been convicted or charged with killing israelis. so a lot of urgency. and i suspect even though nobody lost money betting against arab israeli peace agreements, this may take a little while longer today or tomorrow. this one i think will be set into motion. whether it will endure, another matter. >> i mean, and david, this is also a reaffirmation, is it not, of netanyahu's policy in the state -- sorry, aaron, of not only netanyahu's policy but the

state of israel's policy on how to react after the 7th of october and what they have done in lebanon to hezbollah is also probably one of the main motivating factors for hezbollah to be willing to take this ceasefire? >> no doubt. and the core question would be for the diplomats is whether or not israeli escalation dominates in hamas -- excuse me, gaza and lebanon and even with iran will lead over the next several months de-escalation. the president-elect here may well prove to be a very lucky man when it comes to this region because he is inheriting three conflicts at a time when the parties, frankly, have more reason to de-escalate than escalate. a lot of that, frankly, hard for many to admit, the consequence of israeli military escalation and dominance clearly in lebanon and also in gaza, although the

frightening loss of life among palestinians and suffering of the hostages and families makes this also an acute humanitarian issue as well. >> and as gabe gutierrez told us, there needs to be some final touches on this deal, including the prime minister of israel has to sign off on it, although he seems indicate that he would support this. do we have any idea when netanyahu is going to be speaking? >> reporter: we understand he will be speaking at 8:00 p.m. local. this is just came into us now, which is 1:00 p.m. eastern time in the united states. we expect that at that point he will make an announcement that the cabinet has approved the deal. we understood from some of the sources we spoke to today, there was some resistance from his party to the deal. not everybody thinks this is good for israel. they don't believe it weakens

hezbollah enough, be nor time should have elapsed giving them time to weaken and target hezbollah operatives and installations inside of lebanon. so in about -- so, sorry, 615 our time. sometimes you get confused with all the time zones. in about an hour and 45 minutes we expect the prime minister to address the people of israel and when we expect a confirmation of this cease-fire agreement from the israeli leader, jose. >> i thank you all so very much. appreciate it. next, new tariffs promised by president-elect trump. what he says he will do on day one in office. plus, what's next now that the two federal cases against trump have been dropped? and the new proposal to expand coverage of those popular weight loss drugs for millions. we're back in 90 seconds.

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15 past the hour. now to a move that could have a big impact on trade and your wallet. president-elect donald trump vowing that on his first day in office he will impose a 25% tariff on all products coming into the u.s. from canada and mexico. he also says there will be an

additional 10% tariff on products from china, many of which already have tariffs on them. trump is framing this as a response to the fentanyl crisis and the situation at the southern and northern borders. mexico and canada are america's top two trading partners, and china is the u.s.'s largest export market. with us now nbc vaughn hillyard. good morning. is there any background on why donald trump decided to release this in a social media post? >> reporter: why now? no, it's not clear other than that lays the groundwork for the next two months to send a clear message to china and also mexico and canada that he intends come day one to levy these major tariffs on sweeping all goods coming in from the respective countries. this is significant number one, let's be clear, he did go for it with the trade war in 2018 and 2019. some question whether his tariffs were simply threats at

that time, but he went full bore ahead, and ultimately there were retaliatory tariffs placed on u.s. goods that were exported overseas in return by these countries. yes, there was the usmca that was ultimately signed, an agreement that nullified nafta. it was a new trading agreement between these three countries, but it already prompted the prime minister of canada, who said he got off the phone last night with donald trump after these social media posts and said that the two men began to engage in conversations about what this could look like in 2025, and the president of mexico here this morning telling reporters in mexico that she intends to sign a letter and begin to have dialogue with donald trump. so he is sending a message two months until he takes office he is serious about the proposals that he made during the campaign. >> i am thinking of trump in his first administration, there was, as you mentioned, some not only tariffs in china, but threat of

tariffs, specifically in mexico that the threat seemed to work for the united states then, but there is also the issue that you just mentioned, vaughn, of the usmca, which is the trade deal with mexico and canada, that the trump administration had leadership on, blowing out nafta. is this, in fact, a blowing out of usmca? >> reporter: the tariffs would be a breach of the agreement that went into motion in 2020. there is an agreement that there would be no tariffs between each of these countries, and so donald trump is suggesting that he will undercut the agreement more than a year before it is set to have to be reauthorized in the summer of 2026. i think that is why the social media post from donald trump do not lay out clearly exactly what he intends to get from these tariffs because in the social media post he says he is doing it because he wants to force

mexico and canada to stop the flow of migration as well as drugs into the u.s. so, there is no suggestion that it's actually about trying to get a better trade deal per se, as he says the usmca effectively did, but instead using the economy and the goods that go between these countries to try to force the hands of mexico and canada to stop the flow of migration and drugs. but i think also on the front about china, right, this was a question of what was donald trump's end game in 2018 and 2019 with his trade war with china. ultimately, there was a phase one part of a trade deal that was agreed upon between the two countries. that was for china to buy $200 billion worth of more u.s. goods. they ended up only fulfilling about half of that obligation and it ibt went downhill at the time. pandemic. there is no ever phase two of that agreement no addressing of china's market manipulation or

ip theft, all issues that the trump administration justified the trade war in the losses that american producers were suffering as a result. there are questions about this current trade and tariff threat about exactly what donald trump wants not only from china but also canada and mexico. >> i want to bring in dominic chu. give us a big picture of how much do we, as the united states, import from china, mexico and canada? >> it's a ton, jose. it's a lot. to put a pointed number to what vaughn just told you with regard to the context around this trade agreement, the three of them together, i mean, mexico, canada and china, make up over 40% of all trade that america does. now, according to the latest data from the census bureau, on a year-to-date basis this year, 2024, through the month of september mexico is 16% of all trade in the u.s. canada is about 14.5% of trade, and china is just shy of 11%. that's the reason why these three countries are such a

focus. now, for added context, number four on that list, and it's a distant number four of top trading partners, is germany. they are just 4.5% of all u.s. trade, and they total around $178 billion through september. one of the reasons why you are seeing mexico, canada and china as the focal point here is that they are three of the biggest trade deficits that we have with global trading partners. through september again this year, we imported over $125 billion more from mexico than we have exported to them. for canada, that deficit is roughly $46 billion, and for china imports outweigh exports by a whopping $217.5 billion. it is by far the biggest deficit that that america has with any single country, showing just how much america prefers lower cost chinese imports. now, that has led america to become china's single largest trading partner globally on a single country basis.

so, jose, there is a big reason why the formal responses from the chinese government have been more muted and measured so far to vaughn's point. it just points to the idea that nobody wants to win a trade or tariff war here and that the economic cooperation narrative is still mutually beneficial for both china and the u.s. it's going to be the same message from mexico and canada as well. >> yeah, and just within the last hour or so the president of mexico did in her morning press conference that they have every single morning in mexico published a letter that she says she is sending to donald trump in which kind of, dom, she implies if this thing does go through, maybe mexico would consider retaliating as well. but if, dom, this is more than just trump playing hardball and these tariffs do take effect, how soon could we all feel the impact? >> okay. so this is more complicated. there is an argument to be made right now that we could be close to seeing some of the financial

impacts on the consumer almost imminently. the reason why is the move by some u.s.-based retailers and importers to accelerate, move up the purchase of those foreign-made goods ahead of any possible tariffs that may take effect. by doing that, what you do is increase the speed and volume of supply chains and, of course, shipping. the more people, the more retailers and importers that rush to stockpile goods, the more it raises things like shipping and freight costs given the higher demands. you may see demand-driven price increases as american consumers look towards making the bigger ticket purchases for things like appliances and consumer electronics moving up sooner rather than later. that's all to hedge against future price increases. those are the near-term effects. for the longer term effects down the line, companies that bear the brunt of those import taxes, those tariffs, had more than likely try to past the costs to consumers through higher prices to try to preserve their profit

margins. even if you are a domestic producer and selling domestically made goods, you might still see some of those price increases as well for consumers because there is cover to do so. if prices elsewhere in the market are going up, it gives you a little bit of cover to raise prices yourself. so all of these are hypothetical scenarios that could play out in the coming months if the tariffs were to be formally enacted, jose. >> hey, dom, just going back to the numbers you just told us, $125 billion trade deficit with mexico, $46 billion with canada, 217 plus billion with china, who has been protecting and defending the american market over the last 40 years? >> there has not been as much of it. that's the reason why you are seeing a populous movement now, jose. this idea that much of america's manufacturing economy has gone by the wayside over the course of the last 40 to 50 years.

one of the reasons why is because some of the trade policies that have been beneficial to many consumers, and even globally so for many consumers, have been to the detriment of u.s.-made goods. if you were to enact trade tariffs, that would be one of the main reasons the trump administration sees as a way to protect those domestic distributions. >> vaughn hillyard, dominic chu, thank you. appreciate it. and now to what the health and human services secretary describes as a game changer for millions of americans struggling with obesity. the biden administration is proposing allowing medicare and medicaid to cover weight loss medications like ozempic and wegovy. until now they have provided when used to treat conditions like diabetes, finalizing the proposal will, however, be up to the incoming trump administration. with us now nbc news medical contributor dr. natalie azar.

great seeing you. who would benefit the most from this move? >> so, i think, jose, a good starting point is to understand what the drugs are currently approved for. they are approved for individuals with type 2 diabetes. they are approved to treat obesity. they are also approved to treat people overweight and have one risk factor for heart disease and for people who have existing heart disease to who are overwealth or obese to prevent a second event. currently, commercial insurances do cover the medications, not, obviously, in all cases, for all of those indications but as you pointed out, until now, and currently, medicare and medicaid are not covering these medications for weight loss only. what the experts are saying is that if this changes, this would now expand coverage to a little over 7 million people, including people as we are talking about,

who currently have medicare or medicaid. >> so, doctor, how safe are these drugs? bun reads all kinds of stories. >> look, the overall safety of them is excellent. there are obviously reports of some more serious side fejts that can occur, one of main mechanisms of the way the medicines work is by making people feel full more quickly and that's something called delayed gastric emptying. individuals who are already have risks, let's say, that could result in a life-threatening, you know, bowel obstruction. the issue is that we don't have safety data going out beyond five, ten years. these medicines, this class of medicine has been used to treat type 2 diabetes and overweight and obesity for a decent period of time, but any potential long-term side effects, ten years, 15 years down the line, we don't have that data yet,

jose. >> do you think that this could convince or help convince maybe private insurance companies to cover these drugs as well? >> i think so. last week we actually reported on a report that indicated that about a little over half of americans actually fall into those categories that i mentioned at the beginning of the segment for which the medication is approved, and right now, you know, insurance companies, they have the ability to deny or ask that a patient try and fail other conventional or other medications before they will approve it. but i think all of this, all of this research and understanding how the epidemic unfortunately of obesity increased dramatically the last number of decades will move the needle on coverage. and i think it's just important to say that we can do two things at once. we can foster the approval of these medications for people who need it, at the same time looking very closely and trying

to understand we are in the situation we are in with so many individuals falling into those at risk categories and doing something about that as well. >> and, doctor, i presume, knowing the way things work in our country, that those two drugs specifically are a whole lot more expensive to get in the united states than they are in other countries? >> they sure are, yeah. all of them, ozempic, wegovy, minute jarreau, they all carry a sticker price of at least $1,000 a month. so really cost prohibitive for most individuals if they are planning on paying out of pocket. >> pleasure to see you. thank you for your time. take care. up next, why special counsel jack smith is dropping the two federal charges against president-elect donald trump and will they come back? you are watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc.

♪ ♪ ♪ something has changed within me ♪

♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ ♪ ♪

33 past the hour. another legal victory for president-elect donald trump. special counsel jack smith is now officially dropping two cases against trump related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged miss hand thatling of classified documents. smith argued the doj's policy against prosecuting a sitting president should also apply to the president-elect. in a filing yesterday smith wrote, quote, that prohibition

is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged. the strength of the government's proof or the merits of the prosecution which the government stands fully behind. judge chuck tin signed off to drop the election interference case. donald trump said on social media these cases should have never been brought in the first place, adding, quote, over $100 million of taxpayer dollars have been wasted in the democrat party's fight against their political opponent, me. joining us now nbc's ken dilanian, maya wiley, and the author of remember you are a wiley, and frank feg lousy, former consistent director for counterintelligence at the fbi. ken, is this the end of the road for these cases? >> good morning, jose. i think it is, yes. these cases will be or are dismissed without prejudice, meaning technically they could be re-filed, but the charges

have a five-year statute of limitations which would have to be tolled. the only people that could do that would the trudge justice department. jack smith did the only thing he could do because he asked the office of legal counsel whether that doj policy that a sitting president couldn't be indicted or prosecuted whether that applied to the president-elect even before he is inaugurated and they said, yes, we think it does. so jack smith had no choice but to seek dismissal of these cases. he also made a strategic move because had he chosen to resign or leave the cases pending and let the trump justice department handle it we might see a different document perhaps saying that the justice department no longer stood behind the evidence in these cases. obviously, as you showed there, jack smith is not saying that. he is saying he could have won the cases in court but for this doj policy and really but for the verdict of the american voters which decided that the lessons of watergate, which is that president breaks the law,

forced out by both parties, that's not holding in today's trump era. >> frank, what happens to jack smith's work and, i mean, if the former president is correct when he says over $100 million of taxpayers' dollars utilized it, what happens to that? >> so the special counsel, whenever appointed, are required to put forth a report. what are their findings? i think part of the chess game that has been played here by jack smith in doing everything he has done is to preserve that option. i think we will see a comprehensive report. now, what will be the outcome of that report? not much, unless, of course, the senate or house decides they want to hold hearings on the criminal conduct that's laid out on this report. but he has preserved that at least. that's something to cling to. i personally would have preferred to see a stay requested. but it appears that the office

of legal counsel just strictly interpreted the policy, which is to say, hey, if we ask a judge for a stay, that's really a pending prosecution. we are not supposed to do that with a sitting president. so here we are. but i understand the great demoralizing effect this has. trump not only won this little skirmish, but he has won the larger battle of eroding trust and credibility in our justice system, and that's a long-term problem. >> maya, how do you explain all of this? >> well, you know, it starts with the fact that we have an office of legal counsel i think, to frank's point, maybe not what he said, but the way i hear frank's point is it really took strict i its own interpretation come out of watergate. remember, watergate, the only decision that it had said was

you shouldn't prosecute a sitting president, and including and implied in that for crimes committed while in office. at the same time, despite the fact that i actually disagree with the finding here, i just want to say that donald trump as the president-elect who will be the president inaugurated in this country had already promised and would have every ability to install an attorney general who would do his bidding, including get rid of these cases. and so we were going to end up here one way or the other. to so i think frank's point, ken's point are both accurate and correct, and the real issue here is making sure the american public knows and understands what happened. but you think going one step further than this is it has given full permissions, full permissions in the court of public opinion saying, yes, he can now weaponize and will weaponize, and it's the outcome of this election, the department

of justice against the prosecutors who did their job. it was a jury of his peers that decided that there was sufficient credible evidence that he committed the crimes he was charged with and would potentially face charges for. the mar-a-lago case should have gone to trial well before this election. it was unfortunately an example of, frankly, a judge that i think was demonstrating bias. so when we look at this and when the american public looks at this, i think to frank's point, there is a lot of work we will have to do to not just restore faith in the rule of law, but the faithful operation of the courts and of the department of justice and that's under threat now. >> you know, while the election interference case came to an end, there was a case on presidential immunity. there are open questions in terms of how that immunity plays out. what does this mean for presidential power in administrations to come?

>> well, it means that we, lest of all, presidents have a lot more power now. i mean, that supreme court decision said things many us were very surprised got said about where and how you could mount evidence and even do an exploration about whether a president was abusing power. and i think an immune -- remember, donald trump is accused of activities and crimes as a private citizen. not doing the job of president, but serving his own personal interests. and what that did was make it much easier for presidents to do that unless and until we get more clarification that dials back the implications of that incredibly unprecedented decision. >>

thank you all. and maya, i'm looking forward to the book. up next, new video of unaccompanied minors crossing the border, including this little girl 2 years old, she crossed without her parents. we are in eagle pass on the southern border. guad, what are you seeing? >> reporter: here at the u.s./mexico border we are expecting governor greg abbott to meet up with incoming border czar thomas homan as the mass deportation promise continues to create controversy. this and more coming up. e comin. n clark. if you have both medicare and medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. most plans include the humana healthy options allowance. a monthly allowance to

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44 past the hour. texas governor greg abbott will be joining thomas homan to hand out meals to texas national guard soldiers and department of public safety troopers stationed along the southern border. it comes as the dps released this video showing undocumented migrants at the border, including this 2-year-old girl from el salvador. she is the one with the blue jacket there. here is what she told an officer about her journey.

>> and this little girl that you saw there in the pink is from venezuela and she said that her parents were here in the united states. joining us now nbc's gadi schwartz in eagle pass, texas, along the u.s. border with mexico. great seeing you. the situation on the ground there when we are seeing little kids 2 years old one from el salvador, one from venezuela without their parents? >> reporter: jose, so this isn't something new. we've seen minors arrive at the u.s./mexico border with larger groups, many of them without parents that are coming to the u.s. this video was shared by the texas department of public safety. they shared this video just to highlight what they are seeing at the border. here's what we know. the texas dps told our colleagues al telemundo they have seen chases, instances where they have vehicles with the coyotes or smugglers that

have individuals that enter the country illegally and don't stop when state troopers want to stop them and they end up having these chases, right. so they have seen an increment of those situations. but when it comes to the people arriving at the u.s./mexico border, we have seen families, we have seen minors, we have seen different kinds of people arrive. what could be changing because we have a change in the presidency in the u.s. and people in mexico know that they do expect things to change when president trump takes office, there could be, that could be a motive for the smugglers in mexico to try to push more groups of individuals to come to the u.s./mexico border. so the thought is that many people will be trying to arrive at the border right now to cross into the u.s. before the change in administration. now, the reason why this is getting a lot of attention is because the video was shared by the texas department of public safety and we can hear some of the officers there, the ones

speaking to the children in those videos, jose. >> and guad, so this is important to state, whereas the number of people crossing over dropped since president biden issued his executive order on asylum, the business of human exploitation continues very active? >> reporter: jose, what has not changed is the large number of individuals, we don't know the exact number, it could be hundreds of thousands, that continue arriving in mexico from south america. that has not changed. there are people in mexico according to the mexican government, more than 100,000, throughout the country that have come from other countries in south america. these are individuals that want to come to the u.s. that has not changed. what did change was the number of people that crossed into the u.s., right, the number of people that arrived here in texas. despite that, we still have the cartels or the smugglers, coyotes, however you like to call them, operating in mexico.

many of them operating to transport individuals into mexico and into the u.s./mexico border waiting for the right time for them to try to cross more people, essentially many of them just getting dropped off at the border to then request asylum with u.s. authorities. what we have seen in the past, jose, every time we have a change in administration, new law coming in, something that's changing when it comes to border policy, we see an increment of smuggling coming to the border. whether the change that's happening will make it easier or more difficult, we usually see an increase because usually the smugglers take advantage of a change trying to motivate people to do this because a lot of the individuals say let's keep in mind they are either paying or they are promising to pay the smugglers once they arrive in the u.s. with the help of relatives. that's one of the situations that happens, jose. >> yeah, and we're talking about up to $15,000 or more for people who have no possibility of

getting that money in so many ways. gadi schwartz, thank you, my friend. up next, president-elect donald trump is saying he plans to get rid of those big rebates for buying electric vehicles. what california's governor says he'll do to if that happens. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. have you compared your medicare plan recently? with ehealth, you can compare medicare plans side by side for free. so we invited people to give ehealth a try and discover how easy it can be to find your medicare match. this is pretty amazing. i can go on a vacation with this money. i have quite a few prescriptions. that's why people call us. we're going to compare plans, and i'm gonna try to get you as much bang for your buck as possible. that's great. this one here covers all your prescriptions, your doctors as well. oh, wonderful. i have a hard time with this. that's okay, that's what i'm here for. based on our conversation today, i would highly recommend this plan. you're so helpful. you know, you don't know. i'm excited for you, sir. again, my name is sham.

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planning to eliminate tax credits for those who buy or lease electric vehicles, california governor gavin newsom says the state will continue providing up to $7,500 in federal tax credits or tax credits, i should say, courtesy of the inflation reduction act. but california congressman is calling out governor newsom for not including tesla in the rebate program. writes, tesla makes over 550,000 vehicles in fremont in my district employing over 20,000 people. let's not play politics with keeping manufacturing in california. joining us now is former chief critic of the "new york times," lawrence, great seeing you. how much would getting rid of these rebates impact sales and production of evs? >> well, good to see you, jose. by some measures, eliminating the credits could lead to an almost immediate maybe 27% drop in electric car sales in the

united states. and, obviously, that is a big hit. you know, we are in a pivotal moment for the auto industry in its competitive race right now. the electric car industry has established a foothold here, and but there is still vulnerability, especially against china. donald trump may look to kneecap the momentum. that could be damaging to our jobs to competitiveness versus china and to the fight against climate change. >> how much has it cost the government to have these rebates, and when you are doing a cost benefit analysis how much has it helped sales and production of evs? >> since january alone, consumers have taken $2 billion in credits. that sounds like a lot of money, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to china's support of their ev industry which is kind of controlling the battery supply chain and looking to really dominate this industry. so we are seeing the biggest renaissance of auto manufacturing in most of our lifetimes. i am from detroit originally,

three generations of auto workers, worked in a factory myself, and this, these credits and the ira created $120,000 -- 120,000 direct jobs in the automotive industry, more than 900,000 additional jobs in the broader economy. this investment, we should notice, has been focused in just the states that could need these good-paying skilled manufacturing jobs. 84% of this investment is focused in ten states. i should add red and purple states from michigan, ohio, tennessee, kentucky, georgia, and when we talk about playing politics with this issue, these are investments that are going to benefit middle class and all americans and ensure our future competitiveness. >> yeah, and the governor of california is looking to kick in that rebate, but exclude teslas? why would that happen?

>> the trick -- the thought behind that is that tesla is in the -- maybe doesn't need the incentives. it's an interesting situation. elon musk has called for the elimination of all credits. there is a certain twisted logic to it, maybe him feeling his company being the only one who makes profits currently in evs is less vulnerable. eliminating the credits would, they could ride through it and it would hurt his competitors. but elon musk's ult goal was always this altruistic thing about getting everyone into an ev. so we will have to see how it shakes out. but one thing that's important to note is whatever happens to tariffs, whatever donald trump's machinations, we may stall the transition to electric cars, but it will not stop. the cars are more popular than ever. one of every ten new cars is an ev now. if you add hybrids it's one in every five. this transition will continue.

the question is, will we build the cars in north america or just creed the market and import the cars from china. >> fascinating. very much appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you so much, jose. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news after a quick break. h, or tired? with miebo, eyes can feel ♪ miebo ohh yeah ♪ miebo is the only prescription dry eye drop that forms a protective layer for the number one cause of dry eye: too much tear evaporation. for relief that's ♪ miebo ohh yeah ♪ remove contact lenses before using miebo. wait at least 30 minutes before putting them back in. eye redness and blurred vision may occur. what does treating dry eye differently feel like? ♪ miebo ohh yeah ♪ for relief that feels ♪ miebo ohh yeah ♪

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