gabe gutierrez, keep us posted. we'll pop it up as it changes. >> frank joins me from washington, d.c. let me start with that big question that gabe brought up, how are these families going to be reunited. there was an executive order this week. we've been talking about the logistical challenges posed by that order. give us your sense of reunification. >> it's a massive challenge. you know, the health and human services announced yesterday they're talking about a task force to put this together. this task force they're putting together is often used for hurricane relief, emergency natural disaster type scenarios. i think it shows a bit of sign that the regular health and human services department, perhaps, is not up to the task and they need to bring in this new group. but i think that shows how difficult this is really going to be. we're talking about 2,300 kids who have been separated from their parents since april. so, that's a big number. and it's going to be really difficult. >> frank, you cover foreign policy

gabe gutierrez, thanks. let's go to msnariana atencio. it's been difficult to watch the chaos and confusion unfold. there today as well, what are they saying? >> reporter: gigi, this group of lawmakers just went in literally almost five minutes ago. i don't know if you could make them out behind me. it's a group of congresswomen, fredricka willson and then darren soto, ted deutsche. they're going to see what conditions these children are being held inside and we know there's more than a thousand children in this facility in homestead. it is the second largest shelter for migrant children in the country. we know that 70 of those thousand were separated from their parents. it houses children ages 13 to 17 including almost 400 girls and as you were just describing and just hearing from gabe gutierrez, the process of reunifying the children with their parents, it is very complicated and debbie wasserman-schultz demanded out here from the administration, that an efficient process be put forth for the reyun any kaunifi happen. here's what she s

gabe gutierrez has the protests against the separations. >> reporter: tonight growing outrage over theghly 2,000 children still in limbo. >> just makes things extremely really. >> reporter: surrounding a bus full of migrates and t leaving border patrol's largest processing facility. >> i don't think peopl imagine what it is like to put yourselves in the the shoes of a 4-year-old child in a foreign land speaking a foreign language just in a cage like an animal. these are human beings. and they deserve to be treated as such. >> reporter: anger boiling over from san diego to homestead, florida after president trump's executive order stopping theec pron of migrate families but keeping his zero tolerance policyplace. >> right now whatever we do we are going to keep the families together. >> is there a plano reunite families? >> we haven't seen if it is. >> reporter: this pern was separated from her son on his 6th birthday. now she doesn't know if she'll see him again b she's deported. one of the few publicly documented reunions is th person of guatemala who sued the government to get her 7-

gabe gutierrez, nbc news, puerto rico. >>> still ahead, deadly uber ride. police say a driver shot and killed a passenger on a busy freeway. could your driver be armed on your next uber ride? >>> also, our time-honored tradition. a salute to the class of 2018 with words of wisdom from some very famous faces. >>> back now with that deadly ride on a highway in denver. an uber driver is behind bars, accused of fatally opening fire on a passenger. investigators are trying to figure out what happened insideat car. here is nbc's miguel almaguer. >> an uber driver stating he shot a passenger. >> reporter: the early morning shooting shut down i-25. 29-year-old michael hancock an uber driver shot and killed a man that appeared to be the passenger. it happened as the car was on the busy stretch of freeway. >> it appears to be a conflict between the uber driver and passenger. the passenger did suffer a gunshot wound or wounds and was transported at the hospital. >> reporter: according to a court document, at least ten rounds were fired. the victim hit multiple times,

nbc's gabe gutierrez reports from texas once again tonight. >> reporter: tonight a first look inside a tent city along the u.s./mexico border housing hundreds of migrant children. journalists were given a tour but no cameras allowed inside. the department of health and human services provided this video. it shows children being examined at the onsite medical clinic and lined up at the cafeteria. the contractor running the facility says the process is flawed and the facility would not be necessary bout the separations which it says harm the children. >> we're aggressively looking for parents and if they are having a hard time, we're going to find them. >> reporter: after president trump's executive order last week stopping family separation but keeping his zero tolerance policy of prosecuting undocumented immigrants, migrant families are struggling to be reunited. >> the floor is now open. >> reporter: five of them spoke out for the first time as they apply for asylum without their children. [speaking foreign language]. >> reporter: among them is this woman. we've been following since

our gabe gutierrez is in south texas and has details. >> reporter: in a surprise visit to water-logged texas, the first lady waded into the controversy that has drawn worldwide outrage. >> i'd also like to ask you how i can help to these children to reunite with their families as quickly as possible. >> reporter: she visited a children's shelter which houses 55 kids, mostly teenagers, six of them separated from their parents. >> these children most of them come here alone without parents -- >> the majority of our children -- >> reporter: the department of health and human services says about 10,000 of the almost 12,000 children now in its care are unaccompanied minors, most are teenagers and 13% are younger than 10. the first lady's visit came a day after president trump signed an executive order to cease the separation of migrant families at the border, saying his wife's advice was key to his decision. >> my wife feels very strongly about it. >> reporter: last weekend she said, we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also, a country that governs with heart. but tonight, mor

>> all right, gabe gutierrez in guatemala. thank you. >>> that other volcano disaster we've been tracking, the one in hawaii, is growing even more intense. hundreds more homes were destroyed by lava overnight on the big island according to hawaii county spokeswoman. most of the residents had already evacuated the area which has a mix of vacation rentals and year-round homes. >>> to the white house now and the controversy over what was supposed to happen there today. president trump suddenly canceling a visit by super bowl champs the philadelphia eagles after many players refused to attend. so the president threw a celebration without them and reignited the uproar over national anthem protests. nbc's peter alexander has the story. ♪ oh say can you see >> reporter: president trump tonight calling an audible rebranding a super bowl ceremony a celebration of america. >> and we always proudly stand for the >> reporter: one attendee heck president. >> stop hiding behind the armed services and the national anthem! >> thank you very m

gabe gutierrez, nbc news, florida. >>> get ready to crank up the ac. scorching temperatures on the way for much of the country. >>> and two big names joining forces. what oprah is cooking up with apple. >>> it's not even officially summer yet but as we head into the weekend, things are about to heat up. 80s and 90s from north to south. 92 in little rock and 93 austin and 97 in chicago on saturday and sunday. seems like only yesterday we were complaining that it was too cold out. this weekend. >>> a food safety warning tonight. two salmonella outbreaks across the country. smks after theecalling an outk if you have a box with a best used by may 03, 2019, throw it away. and they're warning people in 23 states not to eat precut melon, watermelon, cantaloupe and honey due. another outbreak that sickened 60 people. >>> oprah is headed to apple. they are teaming up to create programs for the streaming service which they hope will compete with netflix and amazon. oprah will continue to run own, the cable network she founded. >>> when we come back, some very sp

en >> gabe gutierrez, thousand. families are obviously meant to help the children. but the moment when a child finds his parents again can be more complicated than you might think. nbc's matt bradley has been speaking with psychologists about the confusion and resentment that sometimes comes along with a joyous reunion. >> reporter: the images are heart wrenching. a mother and her 7-year-old son reunited after being forced apart. it made me sad, she says. it put me in tears. i started crying when i saw him because he's the only child i have. >> it's going to be a lot of work. >> reporter: child psychologists like harvard professor say reunifications can be as fraught as the separation itself. >> from the simplest to the most complicated, that reunification critical healing thing that we can do to begin. >> reporter: it's impossible to know what the children are thinking. she says look at that little face of his, he's sad but we are going to be together now. no one's going to separate us. experts say those hardened faces may point to a resentment some parents don't e

nbc's gabe gutierrez begins our coverage. >> end it now! [ crowd chanting ] >> reporter: tonight outrage is growing over the trump administration's zero tolerance policy separating migrant children from their parents. >> free our children now! >> reporter: questions mounting over the audio said to be recorded inside a government processing facility of sobbing kids. that audio not independently verified by nbc news, but a former worker at another government contracted shelter in arizona said that facility was understaffed and ill-equipped. >> that's something you hear in every other room is a child desperately weeping for their mom, and you have nothing to help them with. it's a really impactful thing. >> reporter: immigration courts now overflowing. our camera was not allowed inside a hearing today at the federal building in texas. immigration advocates are calling them mass trials where parents often plea to be reunited with their children and they point to this picture published by "the intercept." >> i think the most disturbing thing, an

nbc's gabe gutierrez is at the border. >> reporter: these are the first nongovernment supplied images inside a facility serving separated migrant children. they were obtained by msnbc and secretly recorded last week by a former worker at the cayuga center in new york before she quit. that worker is critical of the president's zero-tolerance policy. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: today 17 states plus washington d.c. sued the government over family separation arguing the trump administration violated constitutional due process rights. >> the rhetoric we hear from the other side on this issue as on many others has become radicalized. >> reporter: customs and border protection has already announced a pause in prosecutions of adults arriving here with children. >> until they can build the resources and the coordination to keep family units together, we would not expect to see any family unit prosecutions for the misdemeanors. >> reporter: as for reuniting kids already separated, hhs secretary told a senate committee that migrant parents have options. >> there's no reason why

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>> gabe gutierrez. gabe, thank you. >> this morning president trump wakes upe in the white hous after spending the night firing up hisase in south carolina, campaigning for the state's governor ahead of today's primary. and using the occasion to bash democrats all the while ooubling downn his immigration rhetoric. >> democrats, they want open borders and they don't mind crime. think of it. the democrats want to protect illegals coming into this country, some of whom are not good. they want to protect illegals coming into the country much more so than they want to protect. y >> among the topics, the commander in chief brought up news repts on the first lady's health. lateight comics, his hair, north korea summit, and as democrats come under fire for urging the public to bring protests straight to administration's officials front doors. let's go to tracy polie potts. tracie, a lot going on this morning. >> reporter: gigi, let's start with people being held i detention. customs and border patrol will not b

thank you so much, gabe gutierrez in mcallen, now over to mariano tencio in homestead. they had protests. you're expecting some where you are at. >> they're about to start in 45 minutes. you can see the barricades behind me. also additional security, local groups will be starting the protest and walking out in front of the second largest facility holding child migrants, second after the one gabe mentioned in mcallen and democratic lawmakers what there in, richard. they were able to tour the facility for the first time after being turned away led by debbie wasserman schultz and came and talked to the press content with the infrastructure, with the conditions of the facility but it worried them that the unit tasked with reunifying the children separated from their parents with their family members was not working this weekend. i want to play a sound bite for you from congressman debbie wasserman schultz on what she found out about who wasn't working today. >> they only have personnel here monday through friday to be able to continue the effort to reunify children because

nbc's gabe gutierrez takes us on a critical flight. >> reporter: it was an urgent rescue mission, doctors and nurses careful ly moving some of the youngest burning victims from guatemala's volcano disaster on to airplanes. the precious cargo, six girls arriving in galveston, texas. juan jose rescued two of his daughters from the volcano's furry. he says they saw homes collapsing around them but somehow survived. stunning satellite images reveal the destruction. this was the village before the eruption and this is after. 16-year-old edmon garcia barely escaped that town but lost his brother and father. i never experienced this he says. it's hard not to be home. thousands like him are in emergency shelters. how great is the need right now? >> it's very big. >> reporter: we met the head of the international red cross at a makeshift morgue with 80 bodies and more coffins than answers. it's so painful she says. she lost three daughters. the pain here is raw. relative after relative waiting for the news that may or may not ever come. pedro has been waiting here in this spot for four days waitin

their stories tonight from n's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: tonight, s the governmes about 500 migrant children have been reunited with their still in limbo and two days after the president'reversal on family separation, a tearful reunion. e mother hugging her 7-year-old son darwin. the justice department agreed to release him after she sued in federal court. [speaking foreign language]. >> reporter: i started crying when i saw him because he's the only child i have she says. while the government keeps prosecuting migrants in court, authorities are scrambng to reunite families. i spoke to a woman from honduras with her 9-year-old son. they were separated at the border. do you know where your son is? ueva ys[sz pesqak ing saforeig language]. >> reporter: she says authorities told her they would only be apart 48 hours. it's now been ten days. the department of health and human services track of 2300 children who have been separated. w are working as fast as we possibly can to find safe homes fo >> reporter: they have a network of about 100 shelters7 states but have not allowed cameras in

nbc's gabe gutierrez is in mcallen, texas. as i understand it, there are a lot of rallies planned across the country. one in mcallen texas where you are. what can we expect as the day unfolds? >> hi, david, good morning. as you know it's touched off a nerve a i cross the country. people outraged that families would continue to be separated for several weeks as the reunification process is under way. today there are rallies as you mentioned in cities across the country, san diego, homestead, florida, fort worth, texas and here in mcallen. tomorrow another rally planned near the border in el paso at the tent city there. that's expected to get a lot of attention. so certainly a lot of frustration building, especially among immigration advocates, who tell us there doesn't appear to be any plan, any concrete plan anyway to reunify these families. you heard kelly mention that the department of homeland security had already reunified the families in its custody. it's a very small number, a percentage rather of the overall number of f

gabe gutierrez in mcallen, texas, the site of that protest. they're outside that ursula processing center. happening right now in las vegas, nevada, a growing crowd waiting for president trump to speak at a campaign rally for republicans ahead of the midterm election as the battle for immigration continues to be front and center. in homestead, florida, protesters are gearing up to rally for the march to keep families together. that's going to take place outside the second largest shelter for migrant children in the country. msnbc's ron hilliard is in las vegas where president trump is expected to speak later. we've seen the president speak several times this week. yesterday he spoke with victims killed by undocumented immigrants at an event in washington, d.c. what are we expecting to hear from the president today? i mentioned it's a campaign event for dean heller in nevada. what are you expecting to hear from the president of the united states? >> reporter: the political juxtaposition is quite telling. you're in nevada. 25% of the electorate

nbc's gabe gutierrez for us.reciate it. >>> coming up, the dangerous and ugly rhetoric surrounding the separation of migrant families. next hour as well, the man who is spending tens of 348s millio dollars to put president trump out of work. man: it takes a lot of work to run this business, but i really love it. i'm on the move all day long, and sometimes i don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost to get the nutrition i'm missing. boost high protein now has 33% more protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. and it has a guaranteed great taste. man: boost gives me everything i need to be up for doing what i love. boost high protein. be up for it. boost high protein. let someone else do the heavy lifting. tripadvisor compares prices from over 200 booking sites to find the right hotel for you at the lowest price. so you barely have to lift a finger. or a wing. tripadvisor. i'm still giving it my best even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so

nbc's geoff bennett is at the white house and gabe gutierrez in mexico. let me start with you, gabe, reporting on both sides of the border. i mentioned the confusion, the chaos. what do you hear from folks there? >> reporter: hi, david. certainly still a lot of confusion and everybody knows in mexico, it's different from the border crossing where we've been at the last several days. about an hour, an hour and a half eat of here. this is what, where many of the immigrants cross illegally throughout this part of the border. immigration activists say there is a backup to apply for asylum. -- that's why many of these migrant families they say make the decision to cross illegally. now, behind here just off in the distance we can see that that's where the cbp officers are. right now -- [ muted ] -- here, you know -- over the past several weeks, sometime there's is a backup right over there. now, the question is, how will many of these children, these thousands of children that were separated from their families, how will they be reunited? overnight there was an

gabe gutierrez hereports, sook her case to court. >> overnight an emotional reunion. an undocumented immigrant from guatemala seeing her son for the the time after she sued justice department to get him back. now, mounting questions about the future of some 2,000 migranl children s in limbo without their parents. so how does the government k op tracthe children? that responsibility falls to a previously little known agency, the office of refugee resettlement, part of the department of health and human services. for years, o.r.r. handled kids who crossed into the u.s. alone. after the trump shall administration zero tolerance policy crackdown, it started separating kid aslt a family members were prosecuted. how can they find their childr,areny ndheha fe hd t cal i.c.e. detention reporting and information line. >> o.r.r. h a network of 100 shelters like these across the country operated by nonprofit groups. though our cameras have not been aldewed in as the first lady toured one in south texas, she had this question. >> how many times they speak with theirelatives or fa

. >>> we are back live in brownsville, texas, joined by gabe gutierrez. , the latest story of the night is thiseuphemistic phrase they've come up with called the tender age shelters. this is the associated press reporting that trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the u.s. mexico border to at least three tender age shelters in south texas. have you picked up anything about these so-called tender aged shelters? >> we haven't heard about anything like that until the a.p. report right now. from our reporting today we can tell you that these immigration courts right now are overwhelmed and they've been seeing over the last several weeks this increase in defendants that beforehand these judges weren't seeing. operation streamline started in 2005 to have more defendants in one particular court. today we went to an immigration court hearing in brownsville, texas. one of our colleagues went to one yesterday in mcallen, texas, and dozens of parents are there and they are led in shac

gabe gutierrez has more. >>> the border battle is escalating. activists rallying near abo the security of migrant children. a 15-year-old boy ran away from a massive shelter in brownsville yesterday. he informs the process of being reunited with a parent but ran away first and is believed to now be en route to mexico. >> we have not a detention center. we talk to them and try to get them to stay. if they leave we call law enforcement. many say property access of reuniting children with their adult care givers will not be ea easy. >> how confusing is this for them? >> very confusing. >> migrants are hoping for that reunion, but the confusion is extending 2,000 miles away. in honduras, will see her o grandson again. they now think her son is in a shelter in arizona. >> this hurts my soul, she says, i can't talk to them. >> federal authorities say that within 24 hours of arriving at a facility like this one, children are given the opportunity of communicating with a vetted parent. the department of homeland security says they know the location of a

with us tonight from there from mcallen texas, gabe gutierrez.een watching you for days working double and triple shifts. m told you on the "today" show in seven hours. thank you for staying with us tonight. you can confirm what we're reporting, that there is no mechanism to review night the families. we ask because we found out there's over 200 kids in new york state. state. a michigan lawyer said they have 54 children there. some of them at a younger age. they don't know their own names. they're too young to speak. >> reporter: that's right. they're spread throughout the country in at least 17 states. bill de blasio, you mentioned, saying more than 200 in new york state. you read that statement from an hhs spokesperson today. there was no plan a short time after that. we got a direct stramt that a director of communication saying essentially that spokesperson that we got that statement from had misspoken. that the agency is, quote, awaiting further guidance on the matter and that reunification is ultimately the goal here. but basically, what th

let's get into all of this and go straight to the front lines with gabe gutierrez who is following breaking news for us this hour. i know you have some new information on a migrant teen missing today from a shelter facility in brownsville, texas. what do we know more about that story? what can you tell us? >> hi, it actually happened yesterday. brownsville pd said they got a call yesterday around 4:30 yesterday afternoon that a young migrant boy, 15 years old, had run away from the shelter here. that's according to brownsville police. we got a statement from southwest key as a licensed care center we cannot restrain them, we are not a detention center. we talk to them and try to get them to stay. if they leave the property we call law enforcement. we also spoke with a source with direct knowledge of the incident. he said this 15-year-old boy ran out of this facility, search crews were called in, it is now believed that this boy, according to the source with direct knowledge, he's believed to be in mexico. there's a dna test underway, some discrepancy in it, he was in the process of being re

frustrated the president himself won't end this mess he has gotten them into. >> gabe, again, gabe gutierrez is in mexico for us. gabe, one of the -- one of the ideas here that has been expressed over the past few days is that this policy, this child separation policy, will in effect deter families from migrating illegally through this country. i know that is something you were talking to folks there in mexico about. what are they telling you about this idea, that this policy is going to act as a deterrent? >> hi there, good afternoon. what we're hearing here, it might not act as much of a deterrent. they're fleeing violence from central america. we're here in mexico at the border crossing. it's very busy right there. we're actually right on top of the rio grande right here to my right, your left. you can see it, this is where we're at. people have been gathering here, asking for asylum. i'm speaking with a young woman right here, elsie -- [ speaking foreign language ] she's from honduras she says. [ speaking foreign language ] she says she's waited here for three days. we were speaking just

for "sunday today," gabe gutierrez, puerto rico. >>> gabe, thank you very much.een traveling to puerto rico for 25 years. i got married there. it's a very special place and our fellow citizens still need our help. >>> coming up next on this father's day, the seven babies who became viral stars when they were born into the same fire house in the space of a year. >> i think i just kept getting phone calls from my husband at the station going, guess who else is pregnant? hey, guess who else is pregnant? >> and later, a life well lived. the houston police officer who helped to rescue more than 1,000 people during hurricane harvey just after learning he had just after learning he had incurable cancer.mastering the t one dark chocolate rises above the rest lindt excellence created by our master chocolatiers pure, rich, darkly intense... made like no other crafted elegantly thin to reveal complex layers of flavor experience excellence with all your senses and discover chocolate beyond compare try lindt excellence with a touch of sea salt. even if you don't buy one from

security doesn't answer the questions of the families and advocates like the ones that spoke to gabe gutierrez there. they are asking the government to provide. what is your sense of how the administration is trying to fix this blunder? >> the fact sheet is the first time the government has told people how many of the young children that they took from their parents have actually been reunited. and the number is 522. but there's still a lot of questions it doesn't answer. one is, the children rep united with their parents, were they deported in this country. there are a lot of questions remaining about the 2,000 kids waiting to be reunited with their parents and how long that process will take. if a child is well along in that proce process, then this -- >> what is it about policy making in the white house creating all these stumbling blocks? >> well, look, i mean, there's bad policy and then there's, you know, this. this is a situation where there are folks like steven miller, they own this. and there's really no other way to look at it. i mean, i think that comparison is fair. because you lo

nbc's gabe gutierrez is in the disaster zone. reporter: by all accounts, it is a ghost town. from the air, a rodeo guatemala seems haunting, a mass grave of ash and rock. for hugo lopez, it was home. the heeft behind to go toork onay. the home where he last saw his wife and kids before the volca erupte "i apologize to the authorities for coming back so soon," he says, "but i was desperate." remarkably, he tells us 46 o eended members are missing.here you truly get a sense of the overwhelming magnitude of this disaster. rock, ash, and mud as far as the eye can see. we're walking through what used to be homes. now this country is mourning an incredible loss. today, rcuers pulled more bodies from the bble. there's the threat of more explosions, even as the scope of omes before the eruption, this luxury resort boasted stunning views of the so-called volcano of fire. now it's covered in a thick blanket of ash. all of guests managed to evacuate. we met jose, who found this dog who was still looking f his pregnant cousin. he says she wasue to give birth next week. tonight she's amon

as at another center for migrant away.en one teen has run gabe gutierrez has more. >> reporter: ther borde battle is escalating. immigration outside a tent city near el paso. >> so detain the families isot right. it's immoral. >> new questions about the skourt of migrant children, police in texas determine a 15-year-old boy ran away this shelter in browns she will yesterday. a source with d ect knowledge says he was in the proce of being reunited with a parent and is now believed to be in mexico. the non-profit running ther shelte we talk to them and try to get them to stay. if they leave the propey we ll law enforcement. the department of health and human services says it's caring for more than 2,000 separated minors. ny say the process of reuniting them with adult caregivers wil not be easy. >> how confuse something this process for them. >> completely confusing. they don't know the law speak theanl or and being told conflicting things. >> migrants like this woman are hoping for t ee reunion. in honduras herar mother wants to know when she sees her grandson again np thisye -old was

gabe gutierrez is also here in mcallen, over at the federal courthouse. gabe, what can the first lady expect to see while she's here? >> well, craig, as you mentioned she's touring the children's center and also planning to tour a processing center with cbp. that trip was delayed a little bit because of the heavy rain that we've been seeing in this area. i can also tell you she is arriving to an area that has some skepticism about how the president's executive order is playing out. i'll tell you where i am, in front of the federal courthouse here in mcallen, where an immigration hearing is under way right now as it is every day and 60 defendants are here being charged with illegal entry. what is significant about today, craig, is that according to an immigration attorney present earlier this morning, 17 deftsz who had been charged with illegal entry had the charges dismissed. now that immigration attorney says these defendants had one thing in common, that those 17 defendants were all parents of children that they had been separated from those children ear

nbc's gabe gutierrez is by a detention facility in los fresnos. cal perry in tornillo, texas in a so-called tent city. cal, what stood out from the protests today from the speakers who have come to protest these policies? >> reporter: there was a real sense of solidarity with thekidn the camps behind me. we heard celebrities were going to fast along with the kids inside, but also a talk about election, voting registration and talk about getting people motivated to come out and vote against the trump administration policies. we've seen a steady dream of people trying to get into this camp. few have had success. certainly none of the protesters were able to get close to the compound. but it was something that is going to raise sort of attention which is what people here certainly locally are looking for. >> gabe gutierrez, let me turn to you now. we've been focused on these numbers that have been provided to us by the department of homeland security on the number of children who are still in government custody. the department of homeland security sa

gabe gutierrez is in south texas with the unanswered questions. >> enough is enough. >> reporter: after protests erupted around the country. >> we will not be silenced. we're ready to fight. >> reporter: the president's executive order today left border towns with a central question, what now? >> what we're seeing right now is a self-created humanitarian crisis by the federal government. least 17 states. sits in a federal prison near seattle while her 8-year-old son is in a children's home in upstate new york. the good-bye was agonizing. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: he just started crying and he look at me and says, don't leave me, mom, she says. >> a number of kids have come with lice, have come with bedbugs, with chicken pox. >> reporter: others have been flown to michigan and california, a complex web regarding multiple government agencies. critics say untangling it will be a logistical nightmare. those charged with illegal entry are given a flyers but jodie goodwin says the process will be difficult. >> the children don't have the capacity to even maybe tell them th

our gabe gutierrez is t.n brownsville, texas, with t >> people unid! ver be divided. >> reporter: tonight, e border battle is escalating. immigration activists rallying outside a tent city near el paso. >> don't detain these families. it's not right. it's immoral. >> reporter: now new questionse security of children. a 15-year-old boy ran asaway from thisve shelter in brownsville yesterday. a source with direct knowledgeays he was in the process of being reunited with a parent and ran away first. the nonprofit says we are not a detention center. we talk to them and try to get them to stay. if they leave the alproperty, we law enforcement. the department of health and human services says it's still caring for more than 2,000 separated ayminors and many the process of reuniting them will not be easy. howe confusing is th process for them? >> completely confusing. they're told conflicting things. >> reporter: tight migrants are hoping for that reunion and e confusion is extending 2,000 miles away n. honduras her mother melinda wts to know when she's see h

. >> a right, gabe gutierrez in thanks.. >>> now to the fallout with the two major stories. >> whe it comes to the hillary clinton e-mail investigation, it labels the aions o former fbi director, james comey in subordinate but found no evidence it was driven by political >> comey said he does not agree with all of the findings, that nothing in the report makes him think he did the wrong thing. >>> more text messages between two fbi imployees involved the investigation, and one saying we'll stop it talking about trump's run for president. >> this 500-page report seemshao something for everybody, and republicans say it reveals fbi bias, and democrats point out there was no political motive driving the investigation, and then the new fbi director says he wl do better. the fbi was launching its russian meddling investigation. lisa page says he's never going to become president, right? and peter strzok says, no, we will stop it. and then thousands of e-mails of e-mail were found on the laptop, they still put more on the russia meddling investigation on the white house. >> a person heading

gabe gutierrez, nbc news, daytona beach, florida. >> a little recovery there. all right. let's turn our attention to the weathe a picture perfect morning. >> let me say we have paid our dues. >> yes,e have. we've had five weekends of soaking wet forecasts. so now we are ready for some sunshine. >> we can all take a little bit of a breath, a break as we head into this weekend. it's a ther's day weekend, a holiday weekend so that is good news and, yes,e are due. so nice and dry weather. that is what we're seeing out there today. blue skies out there. thanks to high pressure. just a wonderful day. we're up to 80 degrees right now. we've got a nice little breeze in the air. as we it's very comfortable. that's how it going to be throughout the afternoon. mperatures are rising into the low 80s, which is also about our normal temp ature. 84 degrees, that sun is not going down until about 8:35. fthis is one the longest days of sunlight that we have. rtable andhe com sunny condition. but it's not going to be comfortable all the way through e weekend. we'll talk about the building

gabe gutierrez is with us now from texas. what's the latest there? >> reporter: good morning. the government insists that it knows the location of all the children in its custody and is working hard to reunite them. but there are about 2,000 children spread out in shelters across the country. experts say it could take weeks or months to reunite them with their families. the process is pain staking. this morning a group of migrants separated from their children under the trump administration's zero tolerance policy are waking up in an el paso shelter. a few, the shelter says, having their charges of illegal entry into the u.s. withdrawn as the federal court system adapts to the executive order. stopping family separation. >> we assume the majority of them have not been able to speak to their children at all since they were detained. >> reporter: migrants are now hoping for that reunion. this woman was separated from her son on his sixth birthday and thinks he might be in a shelter in arizona. 2,000 miles away in a rural poverty stricken village in honduras, maria wants to know

nbc news' gabe gutierrez is in guatemala for us now. good morning. >> reporter: hoda, good morning.climbed to 99, almost 200 people are still missing. now the u.s. military is stepping in to help with the relief effort. overnight, an urgent rescue mission. the air force whisking six children from guatemala to the u.s. doctors in texas now treating them for severe burns. from the air, the town seems like a moon scape. here you truly get a sense of the overwhelming magnitude of this disaster. iraqi, a rock, ash and mud, we are walking through what used to be homes. now this country is mourning incredible loss. as rescuers pulled more bodies from the rubble. we met hugo lopez who told us 46 of his extended family members are missing. there is nothing left, he says, he last saw his wife and kids before he went to work. then the volcano exploded. the debris seems to be everywhere. before this luxury resort boasted of stunning views. now it's covered in a thick blanket of ash. thousands of people are packed, into emergency shelters. how big is the need here? >> well, i think it's really b

you know who knows why, gabe gutierrez who joins me across the border from brownsville, texas. , talk to me where you are and what you're seeing. when i've spoken to local pastors, they say, listen, they're the ones that decided to make this journey. tell me where they are, before they cross. >> reporter: well, many of them are coming from central america, stephanie, the vast majority from central america, they've been fleeing violence as they have for years. mexican authorities actually say fewer than 1% of the cases of parents being separated from their children are mexican nationals. instead, the vast majority are from country like guatemala and honduras. we're right here at the rio gra grande. and the department says, if migrant families come to these ports of entry andal ply for asylum here that he will not be separated their parents -- >> but -- >> reporter: but these families say they've been waiting longer than 72 hours. and immigration activists, they say because these families have had to wait so long, and it's difficult for them, in this pounding rainstorm overnight,

i'm going to start with gabe gutierrez who is in brownsville, texas, who has been covering this story. talk to us about what you know so far. it's a developing situation at the moment. >> hi, yasmin. in the past few minutes we can give clarity. according to a source with direct knowledge, it happened around 4:30, police say they got this call there was a child that ran away, according to a sort with direct knowledge, we know there was a child that was in the process of being reunited in the process with his parents. they were trying to reuneed hem with his father, the man they called his father, but there was a discrepancy with the dna test. while that was being sorted out, this young boy literally ran away from the shelter. that's when the search crews came here to try to find him. there's a pond right next to the shelter, and search crews were brought in. however this boy was not found. we can tell you, though, from the source with direct knowledge that the boy is now believed to be in mexico en route back to honduras. so this is raising questions about how the boy was able to leave

with us tonight from there from mcallen texas, gabe gutierrez.tching you for days working double and triple shifts. i'm told you on the "today" show in seven hours. thank you for staying with us tonight. you can confirm what we're reporting, that there is no mechanism to reunite the families. we ask because we found out there's over 200 kids in new york state. a michigan lawyer said they have 54 children there. some of them at a younger age than they don't know their own names. they're too young to speak. >>> he mentioned saying more than 200 in new york state. you read that statement from an hhs spokesperson and no plan and a short time after that we got on the record statement from the director of communication saying that that spokesperson had misspoken and the agency is waiting for guidance and reunification is the goal. no plan here. it is a situation where many people flying by the seat of their pants. that's the sentiment we are getting here on the ground. it will be difficult to reunite the families especially some of the younger children

here is gabe gutierrez speaking with the director of migrants humanitarian group in el paso. >> how easyor migrants to hop on a computer? >> we are talking about people from rural communities in mexico or guatemala, central america. they don't have computers. they don't know how they work. they havet. they much less have capacity to look in databases. if they have some support, technical support and somebody is helping with that, i would believe it. >> how difficult has it been to match up parents with their children? >> extremely. seems there's no plan. it is very hectic. we have parents looking for their children. they're crying, looking elsewhere for help and support to know where are the children. that's another crisis on top of the crisis of being separated. >> we're seeing the first legal challenge to the family separation policy. 17 states and district of columbia sued the trump administration in an effort to force officials to reunite migrant families, also led by washington state and all democratic attorneys general, claims the separation policy violates the fifth amendment, gua