emilie ikeda has the latest >> reporter: tonight, the battle over the border is building with new criminal investigation examining the flights that carried 48 migrants to martha's vineyard last week the controversial move arranged by florida's republican governor ron desantis a texas sheriff, javier salazar, a democrat, says the migrants were lured in with false promises of work and assistance. >> our understanding is that a venezuelan migrant was paid what we call a bird dog fee to recruit approximately 50 migrants >> reporter: some of the migrants suing florida officials. >> none of them knew they were going to be dropped off unceremoniously in martha's vineyard. >> they were provided an ability to be in the most posh sanctuary jurisdiction >> reporter: desantis insists the migrants knew where the flights were going and signed consent forms. and that it puts the spotlight on president biden's border policies which republicans blame for the record migrant surge. >> if 50 was a burden on one of the richest places in our country, what about all these other communities that have been overrun

emilie ikeda now on how it will impact the economy and your money. >> reporter: in the fed fight to bringn inflation, jerome powell acknowledged there will be pain. >> higher rates, slower growth, and a softening labor market are all painful for the public that we serve. >> reporter: small business owner anika hobbs is already feeling it. where will you have to make cutbacks? >> yeah, i mean, some of the cutbacks i've been thinking back is staff hours, payroll is always one of those things that you can manage. but then that also is a huge pinch on me. >> reporter: with the central bank raising interest rates for the fifth time in a row -- >> when you type in that final -- >> reporter: this boutique has to press pause on her expansion plans. >> because we're paying more into debt rather than taking that money and put it into hiring more people or expanding into a new store. >> reporter: the move today is an effort to curb consumer demand and in turn, cool inflation. with prices 8.3% higher in august than a year ago. but powell's challenge is a balancing act of bringing prices down without

. >> nbc's emilie ikeda, thank you so much for that report. >> people saying these children and families are being used as political pawns are exactly right. and two things can be true at the same time. willie, we have a crisis at the southern border, and we've had a crisis at the southern border, we had it obviously during donald trump's term, and he handled it in ways that were grotesque and inhumane. the biden administration has been accused by many of not focusing on it enough. at the same time, we're seeing how political human trafficking is cruelly being used against children and republicans are willing to abuse these kids pet petulantly. what's happening, though, is beautiful, good samaritans opening up their homes, their community centers, good samaritans have thrown open church doors wide open, and are accepting these people in. it doesn't mean we don't need to make dramatic steps to fix the crisis at the southern border because there's a humanity crisis there too. but my gosh, this political human trafficking is just beyond the pale even for those who are doing it. >> yeah. we'

joining me right now is nbc news correspondent emilie ikeda live from martha's vineyard.base cape cod because there's better resources for them. tell me what you're learning there and how confused the migrants were and the people of martha's vineyard were when they just showed up. >> reporter: it's a vastly different picture here at st. andrews church from just an hour or so ago. we watched the nearly 50 migrants, some children as young as 2 years old, board a stream of buses, as you mentioned, that carried them to joint base cape cod where the governor says it's much better equipped for a more sustainable response. they would have designated areas for legal services, also health care services and remember this is a community that was not aware that the migrants were being flown here. and so we witnessed some tearful, heartfelt good-byes between the venezuelan migrant and is the volunteers when they boarded the buses earlier this morning because the community just immediately jumped -- sprung into action. they jumped into a quick response and really transforming this floc

nbc news correspondent emilie ikeda has details. >> reporter: in the fed's fight to bring down inflation jerome powell acknowledged there will be pain. >> higher interest rates, slower growth and a softening labor market are all painful for the public that we serve. >> reporter: small business owner inika hobs is feeling it. >> where will you have to make cutbacks? >> some of the cutbacks i have been thinking about is staff hours, payroll is always one of those things that you can manage but then that also is a huge pinch on me. >> reporter: with the central bank raising interest rates for the fifth time in a row. >> when you ring these in and type in that final -- >> the owner has to press pause on her expansion plans. >> we're paying more into debt rather than being able to take that money and put it into hiring more people or expanding into a new store. >> reporter: the fed's move is an effort to cool consumer demand and inflation. with prices 8.3% higher in august than they were a year ago. powell's challenge is the balancing act of bringing prices down without triggering a recession

nbc news correspondent emilie ikeda is on martha's vineyard and julia ainsley is in our washington bureaum i will, 'em i will, what kind of resources are going to be available to them. >> reporter: the governor says it's better equipped more prepared to host niece nearly 50 migrants with more sustainable accommodations, it's been really a chaotic 48 hours for these migrants, when they arrived here on the tiny island of martha's vineyard, now they are back on the road, we witnessed them get on to the buses to first drive and then ferry over to the joint base of cape cod. a couple of things that really stood out to the governor about picking this location, it's a designated emergency shelter, it has experience of hosting former hurricane victims and you compare that to the church grounds here, they had no idea that people had -- were going to be coming to the islands of martha's vineyard and so they sprung into action, really getting these migrants started with so many of those critical items before they are now idkat >> julia, you have some exclusive reporting i understand on growing frict

emilie ikeda has our report >> reporter: from the price tags to the checkout aisles to the cost of keeping the lights on and even the size of the rent check, new data today showing what so many americans are feeling. the price of nearly everything is stubbornly high. up 8.3%, compared to a year ago, putting more pressure on the federal reserve to continue aggressively raising interest rates

the dow tanking more than 1200 points the s&p dropped 4%, and the nasdaq falling over 5% nbc's emilie ikeda has more. >> reporter: from the price tags in the checkout aisle and the cost of the lights on and the rent check, new data shows what so many americans are feeling. the price of nearly everything is stubbornly high up 8.3% compared to a year ago, putting more pressure on the federal reserve to continue aggressively raising interest rates when it meets next week. >> we have more to do. but we're getting there. >> reporter: the higher than expected inflation numbers unwelcome news for president biden, who celebrated the passage of the inflation reduction act. >> we had a vision, a plan, and we stuck too it. and the result is we're getting a job done for the american people >> reporter: republicans slamming the white house ceremony as out of touch >> democrats' policies are sucker punching american families every time they set foot in the checkout line. >> reporter: while the national average for a gallon of gas is now down $1.30 from the all-time high in june, it's still up 16% compare

and other state officials alleging they were misled into boarding flights through false promises emilie ikedanow in d.c. with new details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. governor desantis is facing that new lawsuit and a separate criminal investigation by a texas sheriff as speculation mounts about whether he will try to fly more migrants out of the south which is experiencing a record influx in border crossings. nearly 8,000 migrants arriving daily. >> nobody can deny that there is a crisis. >> reporter: this morning florida's republican governor ron desantis facing backlash for his decision to fly 48 venezuelan migrants to martha's vineyard last week attorneys representing some of those migrants filing a lawsuit late tuesday against desantis and other florida owe officials, accusing them of a premeditate the, fraudulent scheme the suit seeking class action status in massachusetts says the migrant were lured with mcdonald's gift certificates and free hotel stays and promised jobs, housing be and educational opportunities if they boarded planes to other states desantis maintains the

first, emilie ikeda has the story. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. housing, grocery bills, inflation has hammered americans from all angle the federal reserve is trying to rein in prices with hikes. but the fed chairman warning this week things may get worse before they get better this morning, the federal reserve continuing its campaign to curb inflation, raising its benchmark interest rate for the fifth time this year and signaling there's more to come >> we have got to get inflation behind us. i wish there were a painless way to do that there isn't. >> reporter: the central bank boosting rates three-quarters of a percentage point with americans already facing price hikes on nearly everything even nearly 100 days of declining gas prices have come to an end. the national averaging ticking up to $3.68 wednesday. the fed's latest move mack borrowing money is more expensive. influencing credit card debt, car loans, mortgage rates, which have reached 6.25%, the highest level in 14 years, according to mortgage bankers association experts say that's all b