security systems. as investigators work to track down the suspects before the next away game heist. and the county sheriff says there was actually an off duty deputy stationed at burrows' home. they are now talking to neighbors to see if there's surveillance video or images of the suspect or suspects involved. we have reached out to borough, he has not responded to our request for comment. but the nfl says it's in close contact with the cincinnati bengals. that does it for us told, see you back here tomorrow same time, same place, thank you so much for joining. i'm ana cabrera from new york, jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. balart picks ♪♪ good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific, i'm jose diaz-balart, and we begin with breaking developments in the fatal shooting of the unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson. just in the last hour, nbc news

has learned finger prints taken from the suspect match some prints found near the crime scene in new york city. and according to a senior law enforcement official. just yesterday, the accused gun gunman made his first court appearance in pennsylvania after being charged with murder. luigi mangione had a personal outbreak before heading into the courtroom. joining us now, nbc's sam brock, and karl schmay, retired supervisory special agent. there's a whole lot more we're finding out, including matching prints near the scene of the crime? >> jose, that's right. this is a significant development, coming from the work of wnbc in new york. they were able to confirm with a senior law enforcement official there was a match of finger prints taken from luigi, and

prints taken near the crime scene in midtown manhattan. the suspect had visited a starbucks starbucks prior to the shooting and discarded energy wrappers and a water bottle. there was a cell phone discovered in an alleyway nearby. it's not clear which of the objects might have been the one where the finger prints were taken. officials say there has been a match. it comes at the same time, jose, we are learning more about mangione's background, the time he spent in hawaii, and a back injury that authorities are investigating as potentially relevant to this case. luigi mangione is sitting in a pennsylvania jail cell this morning. before his arrest in altoona monday, police say the suspect's most recent address was in hawaii. that's where rj martin says he met mangione in 2022. mangione spearheaded a book club and wanted to surf but ran into

road blocks because of intense back pain. he said it points to the maryland native had a hard time sitting up straight. >> what did you know about the condition of his back? >> i knew that it was something that constantly weighed on him. it was something that impeded him from doing many things. >> reporter: an archived version of mangione's deleted reddit account showing the suspect wrote that he had sciatica and low back pain. also posting about brain fog. in 2018 writing, it is absolutely brutal to have such a life halting issue that wears down the critical, logical thinking mind, adding that others don't understand his symptoms. martin says he last checked in on his friend about nine months ago, and found out he had undergone back surgery with the 26-year-old sending him an x-ray. >> it broke my heart to know that he had these 3 inch screws in his spine. those who knew mangione reacting. >> i remember him as always being a kind, well liked person. i can't imagine what drove him

to this. >> reporter: many who knew him, expressing surprise, not only at the charges but how it could take five plus days of his capture, with an extensive network of friends nationwide and a family with a significant public profile. it took a complete stranger to i.d. him at a mcdonald's. >> is this a name you saw prior to this arrest today? >> it is not, and we have been working this hard for five days, and gotten hundreds of tips to our tip lines. this is not a name that was called into us. >> reporter: many in his life left with lots of questions and few answers. >> he was such a bright person. he had everything going for him. he was the kind of person you know is going to do great things. >> jose, it's notable, rj martin says me personally never observed mangione complaining about the health care, insurance industry at all. he said that this is a scenario which you have a young man who

he didn't see taking any sort of medications, that he had a positive attitude and that he likely spent if not months, years, weighing this back surgery. jose. >> carl, just your reaction to some of this? i mean, this new evidence, how significant is it, and what do you think it means for the case? >> good morning, jose. this is very significant. the first part of the investigation is concluded. that was tedious work, looking through the video, trying to find clear images, which the nypd did, and that led to the break of identifying luigi. now they're in the next phase of the investigation. they established enough probable cause to get him arrested. now they have to establish more clearly that he is the guy that actually pulled the trigger and murdered that ceo. so they're looking for the pieces of evidence that definitively tie him to the murder. so that finger print, depending on where that came from, where that's located is good. another thing we will be waiting for, when there's ballistics tests of the ghost gun, if they can tie the bullet casings that

were found to the gun, that's going to be very damming evidence. >> yeah, i mean, karl, you know, every single weapon has its own markings, essentially, that it creates on the ballistic, you know, whatever the bullet is, and we're talking here about at least preliminarily, what we heard was that there were those nine millimeter casings and actual bullets, you know, still unspent at the scene of the crime. it's almost like, karl, almost like a slam dunk if the bullets from that gun that we're seeing in the picture, right, which is the ghost gun, match those found at the scene. there are ways to determine very clearly that those bullets came from that gun? >> yeah, you're absolutely right, jose. those bullets will have some markings that are essentially like a finger print that show that they were fired from that

weapon. now, take some time to do those tests. it's got to go to go a lab. it might be a little bit of time, but if those come back as a definite match, that's going to make for a very strong case. other things that are going to be done. now that the suspect has been identified is that the investigators who, by the way, have done an outstanding job. nypd, you got to take your hat off. they have done a fantastic job on this. but now they're going to go back and try to go back through his history, try to interview family members, associates, friends, anybody who has been in contact with him over the last six months. they're going to be doing search warrants on places he stayed. hoping to recover his laptop, cell phone, other electronics. they're going to want to take a look at his social media history, search history. what was he researching prior to this. one thing i know from my time in the fbi, one of the roles i had was a crisis negotiator. we know everyone's got a story. everyone has a back story that drives them, and in this case,

his back story actually might be his back. it sounds like one of the thing that possibly was driving them. when i see this clip that you played of this young man, he is an angry young man, full of rage, and it sounds like he went dark. he went off the grid six months ago. nobody was in contact with him. i think it's going to be very interesting to see what he was up to, what drove him to become isolated like that. >> you know, karl, i'm just wondering because it took apparently two people in the mcdonald's, and a client there to look at him and say this is probably the guy, and call 911. i'm wondering, karl, when those photos, which are so clear, right, you know, hours after a day, 24 hours after the shooting of that person when he lowered his mask, and pictures that seem so high level quality, it took

five days for those two people that didn't know him to identify him. why do you think those five days there was nobody that knew him that did step forward. does that strike you as being odd? >> you know, not necessarily, jose. i think that we all have our own biases, his family members, it sounds like this was very out of character. this isn't the background of somebody you would expect. he was highly educated, came from a wealthy family, had a couple of degrees. so this probably was just not within their framework of how they thought about him. although, unfortunately it sounds like they lost track of him. they didn't know what he had been up to the last few months. i think this was just so far out of the realm of possibility of his family members, who probably should be able to identify him just never made that connection. >> and, sam, so what happens next as mangione fights

extradition in new york. >> right. so the expectation, jose, is that this could be a number of weeks. initially days, but as we heard from his attorney, they are planning to fight every step of this. what might have been procedural in terms of having governor hochul sign off on the warrant and governor shapiro in pennsylvania, continue the process, that could be a matter of weeks now. i would add, just to the whole narrative about the back situation, it is fascinating because our team at nbc news was able to verify mangione's medical, overnight. if someone is feeling grinding pain in your 20s, to be able to get surgery. my back would always ache if i stood too long. it wasn't too bad. once the spine is unstable and you can see the bones moving, grinding, that isn't something you try to medicate. that's something you fix.

i'm sure that will become standard medical knowledge in a decade, it seems we're a bit early on that. going back to 2018, he describes this as a halting physical condition, one that wears down the critical logical thinking mind you would use to tackle it, people around you won't understand your symptoms. they don't for me. it speaks potentially to a mindset, this is someone i was told from martin, the owner of the business in the hawaii, he was not able to have physical, intimate relationships with other people. at times he couldn't sit up straight. this speaks to the level, the depth of pain that mangione was experiencing. police are looking into that. >> how you would go from if that's indeed, if it's him and that's what he was experiencing, how to go from that to be an assassin is a very long road we're going to be looking into. >> sam, karl, thank you very much.

. still ahead, we're going to watch a hearing on capitol hill right now as secretary of state antony blinken testifies about the withdrawal of u.s. troops in afghanistan. plus, we'll go live to syria, planning hold the assad regime responsible for war crimes. >> and in 90 seconds, a fast moving wildfire is tearing through part of southern california, leaving many people on edge. >> the smoke was so thick and just like all that, everything was just orange, orange, orange, and then the wind picked up and the wind was just like flying embers everywhere. as just like embers everywhere. it's really like when our skin touches wool... you see why we need downy free and gentle with no perfumes or dyes. it not only makes your clothes softer, it is gentle on your skin. it breathes life into your laundry.

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who's winning? we are, my friend. we are. i remember playing in this house in the front yard with my schoolmates. that's how long i've been here. my whole life. i was going back to check on their homes, and i was actually thinking that it was going to be no big deal, but after i've seen this one and that one there burnt, i know this is the real deal, and it did hit me hard. >> 13 past the hour, and growing franklin fires raging in malibu, california, destroying homes, forcing close to 20,000 people to evacuate their homes. los angeles county fire officials are holding a press conference on the fire right now. of course we're monitoring this press conference for you, but these fast moving flames erupted

monday, and now cover 3,000 acres fueled by the power santa ana winds, and joining us now from malibu, nbc's david noriega. david, good morning, what's the situation there this morning? >>. >> reporter: jose, good morning, so just to set the scene for you a little bit. as you can see, there are some flames directly behind me. and several of the roughly 1,500 fire fighting personnel that are assigned to this fire are in this area right now. i just counted a few minutes ago, about six aircraft above us, between helicopters and planes. we have seen planes drop fire retardant on these flames directly behind us a few times already this morning. to give you a little bit of context, jose, this is malibu, so if you look just a little bit over to my left, t far, you have a beautiful view of the pacific ocean. this is an iconic part of california, a number of celebrities, entertainment industry executives live in this part of the country. many of them were among those 20,000 people or so that you mentioned that are now under either evacuation orders or

warnings. now, on the latest regarding the fire and its containment, it is mostly at this point at least good news. officials at that press conference that you mentioned said that because the winds have died down somewhat compared to where they were on monday night going into tuesday, they have been able to start really containing this fire. cal fire, the state fire agency says the containment is at about 7%. the fire did grow a thousand acres, it's now pushing for a thousand acres. the dry and windy conditions mean this is still a dangerous situation. the red flag warning, referring to those conditions, is supposed to be in place until today around 2:00 p.m. local, and until this is lifted, this entire area is in danger, is what officials are saying. jose. >> reporter: so, david, 7% contained doesn't seem like it's too much, but you're saying that all in all, it's moving towards a positive direction? >> reporter: last night it was 0% contained. 7 to 0 is progress.

if the wind conditions persist, which are not perfect but better than they were when the fire exploded, authorities are confident they're going to be able to inch that containment figure up as the day proceeds. >> david noriega in malibu, thank you very much. up next, israeli troops advancing into syria just days after the fall of the assad regime. what it could mean for the country and the region next. drowned or died at the southern border, a new report showing a lot more people have died than both the u.s. or mexican government have been reporting. you're watching jose diaz-balart reports on msnbc. ing jose diaz-t reports on msnbc t t-mobile! it's built for apple intelligence. that's like peanut butter on jelly... on gold. get four iphone 16 pro on us, plus four lines for $25 bucks. what a deal. ya'll giving it away too fast t-mobile, slow down.

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. 21 past the hour. tomorrow, u.s. secretary of state, antony blinken will travel to the middle east for talks that will focus largely on syria's transition after the collapse of the assad dictatorship. israel is stepping up its strikes inside syria, as defense minister says he's ordered his military to establish a sterile defense zone in southern syria as a number of israeli strikes has reached more than 350. joining us now from damascus is nbc news chief foreign correspondent, richard engel. always a pleasure to see you. what do the days after dictatorship look like right now? >> reporter: well, at this stage, it is still a period of transition. is it a period of uncertainty, a

time of discovery, as yesterday we were talking about that horrific prison, and all of the families, the thousands of syrians who went there, hoping to find their loved ones traces of their loved ones, remains, a document that said something about their fate, today, we were able to go inside of some of bashar al assad's palaces, so what an incredible contrast, first, the desperation of families looking for remnants of torture and going through these terrible cells and torture rooms, and today, we went to a lavish guest house that assad used on a hillside outside of damascus to host his friends, family, state dignitaries, whoever he wanted to allow to live in this luxury overlooking the city.

and it was -- it was empty, obviously. the palaces have been looted. we went in through the window and walked through these -- this vast structure. it must have been 50 or 60 rooms in this one palace in particular, and what struck me is that they were still working on it, even toward the end. some of the furniture still had plastic wrap around it. some of the chandeliers were still in the process of being hung. it had been looted, but the art work was still on the walls. it looked like people just quickly went in and rummaged through the drawers and looked under beds and mattresses to see if they could find anything. but this jarring contrast between the fear and the death camps that the assad regime was running in this country, and then the opulent palaces on hill

tops surrounding the city was jarring for me, and it is baffling and disturbing for many syrians as they are now getting a peek behind the curtain of what the regime was like, how it behaved toward them and how it treated itself. so it's still a period of uncertainty. in terms of the government, this is a rebel government. it is run by the leader of hts and he appointed this prime minister. he's talking about a government. it is joladi who named the prime minister. he is clearly in charge. so far, all of the rebels, including the top leaders and interim prime minister are talking about moderation, and that it is not just on an official level. we had an opportunity to spend a lot of time talking to young fighters, men in their teens, and they were talking about how they want a syria open to all religions and a syria that is connected to the world, a syria

that does kill and use chemical weapons against its own people. yes, they are religious. they were it was god that granted them victory, and they would not have been able to march into damascus without divine intervention, but it was not like talking to the taliban or talking to religious fanatics. they are motivated by religion but what they are saying and from every level, down to the foot soldier, is that they want a different country, we'll see if that transpires. and as you mentioned earlier, israel certainly doesn't trust the situation here. and is trying to create an unarmed buffer zone between it and syria, and that could be setting up these two countries for future conflict because even as this country is standing on its feet, it is under attack from israel. i asked a certain official about

that because the government here, this transition narrow government has not issued statements about what they are doing. they are waiting, step by step, they want to consolidate domestic control and get the situation under -- restore law and order here first before engaging in any kind of international affairs, particularly one that is as fraught with danger as confronting israel. >> richard engel in damascus, thank you very much. appreciate it. joining us now, retired four star general, barry mccaffrey, and nbc news military analyst. general, thank you for being with us. again, i think that it's kind of been the unreported story of just how extraordinary israel has been in taking advantage of the time that this dictatorship falls, to essentially wipe out

much of the infrastructure that that regime utilized to terrorize not only its own people and kill its own people but also to destabilize the whole region. >> there's no question that the idf is going to try and establish higher levels of deterrence going forward. no one knows what will happen in syria. obviously it's a huge gift to the syria people to be rid of assad. he killed a half million people, including using nerve agent and chlorine gas. half the country are refugees. he destroyed the economy and the infrastructure. now israel is looking toward the future. syria was the zone it build hezbollah in lebanon. the air power just sunk most of the syrian navy. they're trying to eliminate the nerve agents, which is going to

be virtually impossible to do, and they're going after armor. so i think they're trying to set a bar going forward that we don't want war with syria. if we do, we're going to eliminate the strategic threat to israel first. >> and, general, the head of u.s. central command visited u.s. service members in syria yesterday. what are the 900 u.s. service members in syria doing there? >> well, i've always been hugely nervous about that presence. it's 900 some-odd soldiers as you said. conducted in the last 48 hours, 75 some attacks in eastern syria against primarily isis targets. and the u.s. is also trying to stabilize the kurdish minority in northeastern syria.

so we've armed them and we stand beside them. meanwhile, across the border in turkey, sunni muslim nation, terrified of the kurdish rebellion in their own country is opposing u.s. efforts. you have to have a score card to keep track of who's fighting who. for now, it's a good outcome. going forward, it's an opportunity possibly for some kind of galactic peace, cease fire in the coming months. this will be the trump administration that faces up to it. >> general barry mccaffrey, always a pleasure to see you. i thank you very much for your time. right now on capitol hill, house republicans are confronting secretary of state antony blinken as he answers questions about the disastrous withdrawal of u.s. troops from afghanistan. meanwhile, pete hegseth, president trump's pick for defense secretary is back on capitol hill meeting with key

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happening right now on capitol hill, secretary of state antony blinken is testifying before the house foreign affairs committee on the chaotic u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan during which a bombing outside the airport in kabul killed 13 u.s. service members and 170 afghans. in his testimony, blinken

addressed the gold star families who lost their loved ones that day. >> i deeply regret that we did not do more and could not do more to protect them. to those families who are here with us today, you're in my thoughts. and my prayers. i wish that with us today. i'm deeply sorry that she's not. >> what you heard there outside were pro palestinian protesters shouting outside the house chamber. joining us now is nbc's courtney kube. good morning, how is that hearing going, and i think it's so important that the secretary of state recognize and talk about and shine a light on those 13 service members that lost their lives that day? >> reporter: and specifically speaking to the family of one of those, we believe it to be nicole g, one of the women killed in the abbey gate bombing in august of 2021. that was a powerful moment. it's not one that we frankly see very often on capitol hill.

i was really struck by that as well. but so far this hearing has been hashing out old issues, without really gaining new ground. a couple of the things that we have heard, number one, the outgoing chairman, congressman mike mccaul from texas, he was very critical at the top of the hearing of secretary of state antony blinken saying that he had not appeared before the committee, specifically to discuss the withdrawal from afghanistan. blinken pushed back on that saying he has appeared more than a dozen times before congress, including taking a number of questions about afghanistan. but one issue that has come up again, and this is one that this committee specifically, house foreign affairs has really focused on is the notion that the bomber at abbey gate was identified by a group of marine snipers before the attack and could have been taken out, but, in fact, those marines were told

not to engage. jose, that's something that was investigated several times by the u.s. military. the most recent report on that came out in april this year. and it found that, in fact, it was not the same individual. the marines were looking at a man that became known as the bald man in black, ultimately facial recognition proved that the actual bomber advocacy an isis operative who had arrived at the site only moments before the bombing, jose. >> and, i mean, courtney, it's also important to mention he is secretary of state. he's not secretary of defense. or, you know, there are differences there. but important that he, once again, explain these issues. courtney, thank you. right now on capitol hill, another day of high stakes meeting between president-elect trump's white house picks and top lawmakers in an effort to boost support for potential confirmations. among them, pete hegseth who's trying to shore up report from two key republican senators, susan collins and lisa murkowski. joining us now, ali vitali, and tara set mayor, former public

communications director on capitol hill. first, we have news about what donald trump will be doing today and tomorrow? >> reporter: right, exactly. jose, he'll be leaving florida and flying to new york, according to our colleague vaughn hillyard where he will then tomorrow morning ring the bell at the new york stock exchange. so while his nominees are up here on capitol hill trying to make their case, trump playing with that status of president-elect and going back to his original hometown of new york for the day tomorrow. >> and meanwhile, how is hegseth doing today? what's on his schedule? >> reporter: he's one of several nominees that are up here on capitol hill, yet another day this week. for hegseth, it's clear his fortunes have changed, but only if you're talking relatively to how his fortunes were faring last week when most of the conversations that me and others on the team were having about how hegseth's nomination couldn't possibly continue to go forward. you look at this week and the fact that he is still continuing

with meetings and at least the tone in the hallways seems to have changed. you have people like senator joni ernst who you and i were talking about yesterday saying she will support him through the process. that's not saying i'm going to vote for him at the end of it. it is her way of saying she will allow him to continue to move forward, have these meetings, and eventually even get to a nomination hearing. but there are other key interviews that he's doing today, including with senator lisa murkowski yesterday, senator susan collins today, those are going to be critical votes. those senators have voiced some skepticism in the hallways. conversations could be pivotal. if you look at the way hegseth is walking around, it's clear he has a little bit of confidence in his step. look at this. >> this is how we're feeling today right here. feeling great. fighting for the country. fighting for america. >> reporter: and we'll see, of course, if that confidence is backed up by what we hear from senators out of these meetings, but i have to say, jose, they have been pretty tight lipped

about specifics or even giving too long of a readout of how the conversations are going and what they're discussing behind closed doors. >> tara, if these two senators, murkowski and collins do end up backing hegseth, what kind of an impact would that make? >> i think that would be incredibly disappointing to a lot of americans, particularly women who are looking at these two senators to stand up for them on behalf of women serving in the military and women who have suffered situation. given the llegations against pete hegseth and the things he has said about women in combat. murkowski and collins have notoriously been the ones who have broken away when they need to. they also acquiesce when it came down to brett kavanaugh, back in 2018, to some degree. so it's difficult to predict, but i would think in a situation like this, it may be difficult for collins and murkowski to

support a hegseth nomination like this, and they can afford, hegseth can afford to lose them. he can't afford to lose four. between those two and joni ernst who i know that the maga republicans are putting a big pressure campaign on her back in her home state of iowa, threatening to potentially primary her into 2026 if she doesn't support him, they're butting a lot of pressure on them, but, you know, the only hope can be that they stand up for the constitution and their role to advise and consent, not to pledge fealty to donald trump when they see a pick like hegseth who is wholly unqualified to be secretary of defense for a litany of reasons. >> and, tara, just using your experience on capitol hill, looking at all of the president-elect's picks so far, who do you think has a tough path to senate confirmation, and do you see any of them being essentially shoe-ins? >> well, i think some of the cabinet offices, not to say that

they're lesser cabinet offices but like agriculture and things like that, hud secretary, they will probably get in with no problem. i think the most important ones that you're hearing people complain about and express the most alarm about, obviously secretary of defense, tulsi gabbard as d and i would be a disaster for our intelligence community. she, again, is unqualified for that position, and robert kennedy jr., another one, we have nobel laureates coming out, which they never do, saying that this guy is unqualified and would be a disaster as well as hhs secretary, those are really problematic positions for them to be in, and -- but the problem is you have donald trump's transition team flooding the zone, and will the senate republicans have enough courage to block all of those people in the best interest of the public? not to donald trump's politics. >> ali vitali and tara setmayer,

thank you very much. we'll speak to a "washington post" reporter about her investigation showing hundreds more people dying trying to get to the united states than the mexican or u.s. government have reported. plus, there's a brand new inflation report. what exactly it means for the prices we pay. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. " diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. t most comfortable up here, with the folks that made me who i am. i'm right at home, out here on the land. and i'm in my lane on the shoulder of the interstate. because this is where i come from. i've been showing up here for nearly 200 years. and i can't wait to see what's next. hats off to the future. nothing runs like a deere™

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the "washington post" found that there have been many more deaths of migrants at the u.s. border than mexico and the u.s. have reported. many of those deaths happening in eagle pass, texas. joining us now, one of the reporters behind the investigation. ariles hernandez, thank you for being with us. in your reporting, you found between 2017 and 2023, over a thousand people drowned trying to cross the rio grande near eagle pass. with those numbers spiking in 2022, what caused that? >> there are a lot of different things that happened during those years, one of which was a large number of people who were crossing at that time. it was consistent with the large numbers of people. there were also other things that were happening. there were rumors running amok in mexico about the biden administration closing off or restricting access to asylum and other things, and so people were rushing to the border and many people got caught in the currents. there were other factors, of

course, you know, family groups that were being propelled out of their country because they decided in that particular moment that this was when they needed to get to the united states. >> you know, and that's so important because in some ways, it's almost as if the smugglers, the exploiters, the cartels are the ones, essentially, controlling schedules, right? i mean, they're able to, in some way or another, pass these rumors on, get more money for what they want, which is the exploitation of human beings? >> it's part of the formula. and i think reality is a little bit more complicated. yes, they do sort of control the scheduling, but they're also responding to the realities that they're facing in terms of enforcement. right? if i'm someone who is offering a migrant an opportunity to cross the border. i'm going to maybe charge a premium at this point of the rio grande because i know people drown here and it's particularly dangerous. or i might use a raft or a boat and charge more money. so none of this happens in

isolation. people who are involved in organized crime are themselves responding to whatever enforcement is happening on the other side of the river. and in this case, operation lone star was in full swing. >> yeah, that's important to recognize that as well. arelis, in the short time, one of the trips we took down there in 2022, we saw at least two bodies recovered from the river, and that's in the short time that we were there. why is there such a discrepancy in the numbers being reported of people who have lost their lives by both the mexican government and the u.s. government? >> well, the main reason is there really isn't a consistent or standardized way to report these or to collect that information. on the u.s. side in texas, each county really has their own way of collecting this information. it's not always stored in the same way. it literally took us and our partners at lighthouse resorts to sort of figure out where this data was collected, to go to

each individual office and to make copies of all of these death records. it's incredibly labor intensive. this is something that congress has asked u.s. customs and border protection to do through their missing migrant program. >> you know, as part of your investigation, you spoke with francisco contreras, director of the state civil protection services in mexico. you said he said to you, quote, you know, we always ask them why, why risk their children, and they always tell us, they would rather die here in this river than back in their home countries. what does this tell us about the desperation of people crossing the border? >> they're here with many migrants i've spoken to who said i wanted to leave my country, i wanted to leave my family, i wanted to leave my culture. people leave for many overlapping reasons. we can't -- the most basic thing

is to migrate. in some case it's oppression from a political or because of their identities. sometimes it's, you know, just i can't feed my child. having spent time in venezuela and seen some of these things myself, you know, these people have decided that their future cannot be in venezuela, and the united states is the next viable option in their minds. >> yeah, and in the last 25 years, just in venezuela alone, more than seven, 8 million venezuelans have left. many, about 700,000 have come to the united states, but that's just the enormous amount of people leaving their country, feeling that they have no other option. thinking of how many have left cuba in the last 64 years as a consequence of the dictatorship there. and you're right, no one i have ever spoken to says i was happy to leave. i just had to leave.

thank you so much for being with us this morning. really appreciate it. >> thank you. and let's take a live look real quick at the white house if we could where president biden is speaking at the first ever white house conference for women's health research. we're monitoring that for you, and we'll of course bring you any developments next. also next, the price you pay on food, gas and other necessities, what the latest inflation report is telling us. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. a. a wax figure of myself. cool right? look at this craftmanship. i mean they even got my nostrils right. it's just nice to know that years after i'm gone this guy will be standing the test of ti... he's melting! oh jeez... nooo... oh gaa... only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪

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57 past the hour. just out this morning, the government's latest inflation report. joining us now to make sense of it, christine romans. what does this report tell us? >> you know, as expected, jose, but it shows inflation picked up a bit in november. 2.7%, the annual rate there. remember the federal reserve, the central bank, wants to get it back down to about 2% so it's a little sticky here.

you can see food prices from october to november increased a little bit. so did energy just a bit, but energy year-over-year is still down. and shelter prices, believe it or not when you look inside this number, this is something that made economists a little bit happy because the shelter prices moderating a little bit. they're hoping, hoping, that rent and housing prices will start to come down in the future. let's zero in on grocery prices. this is one of those things, a real feel economic indicator if you will, for real families. a year ago, prices were up 1.6%. they rose half a percentage point from october to november. so you might have noticed that in your grocery bill. look at this. in just one month, beef prices up 3%. eggs, there's a bird flu problem that we're watching so you've got farmers who are culling some of their flocks. so you've got a bird flu issue with the eggs but if you want to switch from bacon and eggs or steak and eggs for breakfast,

cereals fell, jose. >> thank you so much. i want to take you live to mexico to the basilica of our lady of guadeloupe, mexico city. tonight at midnight, it's tradition to celebrate the virgin of guadeloupe and the first indigenous saint of the americas. every year, 20 million pilgrims visit this sanctuary. in these last couple of days of december, more than 9 million come to celebrate. tonight at midnight, they sing to the virgin of guadeloupe. that wraps up the hour for me. you can always reach me on social media, watch clips from our show at msnbc.com/jdb at youtube. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell has more right now. >> right now, a law enforcement official telling nbc news