gabe gutierrez is at the border >> reporter: near el paso, texas, it's not just desperate families turning themselves into the border patrol but adult men running away from the agents. >> mostly adults who are not seeking asylum >> reporter: now with authorities tied up processing a historic number of migrants, more drug smuggling in the desert >> for the first time fentanyl is being smuggled between the ports of entry >> reporter: fent nm being pushed through the desert between el paso is up more than 355% compared to last year and 4,000% more than 2018. what makes it so easy to smuggle >> the car tells find ways to intimidate migrants and find ways to have them illegally transport that narcotic >> reporter: fentanyl pills are smaller, more potent and more profitable than marijuana. dea sources tell nbc news the mexican cartels increasingly producing the narcotic themselves >> don't think something like this cannot happen to your family >> reporter: his 20-year-old daughter alexandria ingested what she thought was ill in 2019 but turned out to be fentanyl. she died two days before christm

here is gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: while covid vaccination rates are rising in much of the country, tonight most missouri counties are under 40% fully vaccinated one is at just 13% hospitals in springfield are now stretched thin what do you attribute the covid surge to >> two things. one, the delta variant is very much prevalent in our community, and the second thing is the extremely low vaccination rates in southwest missouri. >> reporter: missouri leads the nation wit the highest rate of new covid infections, neighboring arkansas this week also reported a biggest one-day jump in cases in more than three months >> i don't think there's anything that says it couldn't happen in any community anywhere. >> reporter: in other states lik minnesota, the positivity rate plummeted to lowest since the pandemic began. abbott northwestern hospital, there's been a dramatic drop in covid patients doctors say those that are being hospitalized are virtually all unvaccinated what does that tell you? >> it tells me vaccines are effective reducing infections of covid, specifically severe infections r

gabe gutierrez is there and has late details. >> reporter: outside the courthouse they anxiously crowded around a loudspeaker >> the court commits you to the custody of the commissioner of corrections for a period of 270 months >> reporter: as the judge sentenced former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin to 22 1/2 years in prison for the murder of george floyd. >> i'm not basing my sentence also on public opinion i am not basing it on any attempt to send any messages. >> i'm taking this as a win for my community right now. >> we still feel empty today. we feel empty. >> reporter: prosecutors had asked for 30 years in prison the defense wanted probation and time served arguing he was the product of a broken system and had zero criminal history. with chauvin looking on today, a powerful impact statement from floyd's 7-year-old daughter. >> if you could say anything to your daddy right now what would it be? >> it would be i miss you and i love you >> reporter: floyd's nephew and brothers also addressed the court. >> my family and i have been given a life sentence we will never be able

gabe gutierrez reports from portland, oregon. >> reporter: night after night after night. the clashes in portland were relentless many police officers felt targeted. >> morale is i think at an all-time low now. >> reporter: the precinct he works is boarded up more than a year after george floyd's murder. >> we are being held responsible for the actions of an officer that's across the country, and i don't think that's fair. >> reporter: since last july, at least 115 portland officers left the force either by resigning or retiring there are barely 800 left last week, members of the city's rapid response team resigned from the unit after one officer was charged with excessive force during a protest last year. daryl turner is the police union executive director that retired in january >> we are dealing with rioting at a level and sustained violence we have never seen before gun violence in a city like we've never seen before looking at the most catastrophic staffing levels we've ever seen before. >> reporter: a problem that exploded nationwide several cities faced calls to def

here's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: with a historic rise in migrants crossing the u.s.order, one group on the front lines says it's reaching a breaking point how many of you are frustrated with the immigration court system in the u.s. right now? we spoke with four immigration judges, two active, two retired. >> we strive to not permit our immigration courts and our process to become a conveyor belt of justice. we are acutely aware of the individuals that come before us. our responsibility and their humanity. >> reporter: nationwide, there are about 500 immigration judges they preside over asylum cases and decide who gets deported when president biden took office, there was a backlog of 1.3 million pending cases. >> in essence we are holding death penalty cases in a traffic court setting. >> reporter: judge dana lee marks says many judges battle burnout daily. there's not enough of them they need more support staff. and they say they've felt political pressure from their bosses at the justice department, which imposed quotas to quickly clear cases. >> if i have to move a

nbc's gabe gutierrez reports from portland, oregon. >> reporter: night after night after night, the clashesland were relentless where many police officers felt targeted the precinct where this officer works is still boarded up more than a year after george floyd's murder >> we're being held responsible for the actions of an officer across the country, and i don't think that's fair. >> since last july at least 115 portland officers have left the force either by resigning or retiring there are now barely 800 left. just last week, members of the city's rapid response team resigned from that unit after one officer was charged with excessive force during a protest last year. >> we're stereotyped - >> darrel turner is the police union's executive director who retired in january >> we're dealing with rioting at a level and sustained violence that we've never seen before, gun violence in a city like we've never seen before. we're looking at the most catastrophic staffing levels we've ever seen before >> it's a policemen that nation. several cities have faced calls to de-fund the police. others have

gabe gutierrez is there with the story. >> reporter: phillip, good morning.n the rio grande valley, the border patrol is seeing many unaccompanied children and families but over in west texas in the el paso area, they're seeing more single adult men and, they say, an increasing amount of drugs. near el paso, texas, it's not just desperate families turning themselves into the border patrol but adult men running away from the agents adults who are not seeking asylum now with authorities tied up processing a historic number of migrants, more drug smuggling in the desert >> for the first time fentanyl is being smuggled between the ports of entry >> up more than 355% compared to last year, and 4,000% more than 2018 what makes it so easy to smuggle? >> the cartels find ways to intimidate migrants and find ways to illegally have them transport that narcotic. >> reporter: fentanyl pills are smaller, more potent and more profitable than marijuana. dea sources tell nbc news the mexican cartels are increasingly producing the drug themselves with raw and unregulated mate

but one year later, they've bounced back gabe gutierrez reports. >> reporter: for julie and her husbandeen the biggest change in this neighborhood over the past few months? >> i said like people love each other more, you know. >> reporter: at the height of the pandemic, the coffee shop they owned in queens, new york, shut down. it seemed everyone here either had covid or knew someone who did. >> the first month or so, all we heard was the sirens and we were all in our apartments and all you heard were sirens. >> reporter: across the city, that sound was haunting. morgue trucks brought in to hold the dead and doctors sounding the alarm. >> all the patients in this room, they all have covid. >> reporter: the line for testing outside elmhurst hospital grew longer. >> have fever, headache. >> reporter: this man later told us he was sick for weeks covid disproportionately ravaged the region, densely populated, lower income, communities of color. >> this tragedy was a tragedy that did not have to be and we need to now learn the lessons of what happened and recognize that a virus is a real ene

. >>> nbc's gabe gutierrez is live for us tonight. >> reporter: a mixed reaction to the sentence hereor derek chauvin the defense had asked for probation and time served, arguing chauvin was a product of a broken system, and he had zero criminal history, but in the end. he had just after the sentence, i caught up with rodney floyd, his brother. tell me, what's your reaction? >> to be honest, i -- it's a small step very, very small step. i mean, we still have the federal part to go, but we got her -- and when i think about this, i look at her, gianna, and i found a great connection. >> reporter: is 22 1/2 years enough >> no, it's not enough it's not enough. >> reporter: some members of floyd's family think that the sentence is not enough minnesota's attorney general says it's not exactly justice, but one step on the road to justice. president biden was asked about the sentence, and he said, it seemed appropriate derek chauvin still faces federal rights charges and the three other officers are set to go to trial next year. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you. >>> let's turn to david henderson

here's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: night after night after night.lashes in portland were relentless and many police officers felt targeted >> morale, i think, is at an all-time low >> reporter: the precinct is still boarded up more than a year after george floyd's murder >> we're being held responsible for the actions of an officer across the country, and i don't think that's fair. >> reporter: since july, 115 portland officers have left the force either by resigning or retiring there are now barely 800 left. last week members of the rapid response team resigned from that unit after one officer was charged with excessive force during a protest last year daryl turner is the police union's executive director who retired in january >> we're dealing with rioting at a level, sustained violence that we've never seen before. gun violence in a city we've never seen before. we're looking at the lowest catastrophic staffing levels that we've never seen before >> reporter: several cities have faced calls to defund the police others have slashed budgets due to

gabe gutierrez >> night after night after night.es in portland were relentless, and many police officers felt targeted. >> morale at all-time low. >> reporter: the precinct where this officer works still board up more than a year after george floyd's murder. >> with we're being held responsible for the actions of an officer across the country, i don't think that's fair. >> reporter: since last july at least 150 portland officers have left the force, resigning or retiring barely 800 left. just last week the members of the rapid response team resigned after one officer was charged with excessive force in a protest last year. darryl turner is the executive director, retired in january. >> doyle dealing with rioting and sustained violence we've never seen before. >> reporter: it's a problem exploded nationwide. several cities faced calls to defund the police, others slashed budgets due to covid more officers feel villainized than ever before up 18% compared to the previous year. >> reached a breaking point. >> reporter: sergeant in fols

gabe gutierrez, nbc news, portland, oregon. >> let's continue the conversation now. our conversation last month and i wanted you to be back. what goes through your mind when you hear what gabe just reported and retirements up 45% and resignations up 18%. are you seeing that where you are in missouri? >> right. so first, thank for having me back, for sure. i definitely appreciate that. i think one thing that we have to realize as police officers is sometimes we are part of the issue and it is more often than not that we are part of the issue and so if we truly believe as citizens, as everybody that this exodus, law enforcement officers by way of resignations and retirements are solely due to immediate calls now of just defunding of the police or immediate laws changing right now, i think we are truly missing the bigger picture. we have to understand what is expected of us and what it is that citizens are calling to actually do. we are dealing with large segments of the population that has a history with police that is not so positive, and so when we are looking at thi

joining me is gabe gutierrez.ica, kamala harris and her team has looked at the portfolio and they are looking at the root of migration, and she's focused on the leadership of the northern triangle region, and that's perhaps why she was bristling a bit. give us a look at her focus as she meets mexico's president. >> republicans have been asking when will the vice president herself go and see the conditions at the u.s./mexico border, and this is an administration that said that's not what our priority is going to be, we are going to try and speak with the governments in central america and mexico and see what we can do in terms of crafting a strategy to help stem the flow of migrants, and this is something that maybe got under her skin a little bit here, and she was asked why she had not gone to guatemala yesterday, and she said she was not a fan of grand gestures and instead she wanted to come to places like this and speak with the leaders directly. here in mexico city she did spend several hours with the mexican p

. >> gabe gutierrez joins me now. he's along the mexican side of the u.s./mexico border. know, we see the statistics. we see the numbers. we know how many are trying to come in and how many get sent back and all of this. how many are you seeing at the border right now? >> well, chuck, this is the new bottleneck at the border. we're here in reynosa, mexico. this is a new migrant camp that sprung up. there are hundreds or so. my colleague can show you, what's most striking, chuck, is the number of children we are seeing. this is different from other migrant camps we had seen before. there was one dismantled not too long after president biden took office. this was another one that sprung up. there's one in tee juan. and most of the families have been expelled back into mexico because of what's known as title 42, covid protocols put in place by the trump administration that the bhadelia has decided to keep in place and some immigrant advocates are critical the biden administration hasn't done away with those. the question right now, chuck, is you just heard vice president harr

gabe gutierrez, nbc news, portland, oregon. >> underfunded, understaffed, undersupported. like a recipe for disaster. i want to bring in the miami police chief, former police chief in houston and austin. police departments are having trouble recruiting. what are you doing. you just got to miami, to recruit the next generation of cops? >> well, good morning. thanks for having me. we're going out, spending time with young people in the high schools and junior high schools and elementary schools, having one of the most i think effective police activities. we have to build relationships from a young age through college. as a result of those efforts, we are meeting our goals. however, that can't be said nationwide because of what's going on across the country with anti-policing sentiment and the other things you highlighted in the report there with gabe. >> there's a very big difference between peaceful protesters and looters. last year, when you were houston's police chief, you made it clear, you warned looters they would be prosecuted, but charges were just dropped for hundre

nbc correspondent gabe gutierrez has a look at how children have been impact and in many cases caughtossfire. >> reporter: while so many adults are caught in increasing crime, many children are now in the line of fire too. >> we've had a number of evil predators, evil predators in our communities, that are focusing on our children, that are indiscriminately firing weapons, and enough is enough. >> reporter: in an apparent case of mistaken ietdty, police say a gunman opened fire on a wrong truck on a detroit freeway killing 2-year-old bryson christian and wounding his 9-year-old brother. >> it's senseful, crazy. they had no intentions on any of us surviving it. >> reporter: the family had been driving home from basketball practice. >> he was only here 2 years burkes the mark he left in my heart will be with me till the day i die. >> reporter: so far this year gun violence has killed more than 700 children and teenagers nationwide. more than 1,800 have been injured. in new york, a brazen attack in broad daylight, bullets missing two young children by inches. their father says they're tr

gabe gutierrez, nbc news. >>> that does it for me today. thank you for spending the hour with us.pay for what i need. 'cause i do things a bit differently. wet teddy bears! wet teddy bears here! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this... your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. . your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee... yeah i should've just led with that... with at&t business... you can pick the best plan for each employee and only pay for the features they need. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. fine, no one leaves the table until your finished. fine, we'll sl

for "sunday today," gabe gutierrez, new york. >> what a beautiful family.> this week we highlight another life well lived. when jackie robinson broke baseball's color barrier in april 1947 a boy living in the small, segregated town in florida sat up and took notice. jim grant was a talented young player who was in semi-pro ball by the age of 13 while working at a mill to help his mother pay bie lls. he earned an athletic scholarship to florida a & m university before dropping out to work and earn money for his family living in poverty. even so, a scout from the cleveland indians signed him to a contract in 1954. four years later grant made cleveland's big-league roster as a starting pitcher. by 1963 he was an american league all-star. grant, who was nicknamed, mudcap, had the best of his 14 major league seasons with the minnesota twins in 1965 when he made the all-star team again, led the twins to the world series and became the first black american league pitcher to win 20 games in a season. in the off season that year, grant formed a touring musical act c

gabe gutierrez is in south texas tonight. >> reporter: tired, hungry, terrified. these are the moments they finally reach u.s. soil. this woman from guatemala tells us gangs threatened to kill her and rape her young daughters. whether you call it a crisis or not, it is a nightly ritual smugglers bringing rafts full of mostly women and children right to this spot we've been here before, and overnight it happens every few minutes. we speak with one of the smugglers ourselves. migrants pay smugglers thousands of dollars to make the grueling journey. discarded wrist bands the sign of which migrants paid the fee. there are now more than 17,000 unaccompanied children in u.s. government custody. the texas department of public safety tells us the surge has been nonstop. >> it's very dangerous. you can see how hot it is the humidity, it's going to continue to increase >> reporter: some families taking a drastic step, choosing to separate, sending their children alone over the border because they know the biden administration will let them stay we meet these siblings, 12 an

>> gabe gutierrez thank you for what is a powerful and devastating view into the situation on the border as it remains. monica alba, thanks to you as well. you will follow the meeting between the vice president and the president of mexico. i want to dig deeper with two export voices, the former deputy director of hispanic media for hillary clinton and a msnbc contributor, duncan wood vice president for strategy and new initiatives and senior adviser to the wilson center's mexico institute who spent nearly two decades as a professor in mexico city and gives testimony to congress on u.s./mexico relations. it's great to have both of your voices with us right now. duncan, first, i want to get your reaction to what we just saw gabe show us, the little snapshots into the life that people are trying to flee, the devastation and violence, but if you can put night the context of the meeting that is just about to get under way between the vice president and the mexican? >> thanks so much for having me. i'm speaking to you from mexico city because i've been down here a few days observing the electi

gabe gutierrez has made his way to texas. he is along the southern border.cision to allow these unaccompanied minors to stay in the united states. take us through what you are seeing there firsthand. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, craig. it's something we have been hearing over and over again in the last couple of days as we have been not just here on this side of the border but across the border in texas. as you mentioned, this idea of self-separation. these migrant parents facing the difficult decision and sending some of their young children over the border because they know they will be allowed to stay and potentially reunite with relatives in the united states. right here, actually, on saturday, we met a 10 and 12-year-old that had come over the border from mexico. they told me that they were trying to reach relatives in boston. to give you an idea we are, these are members of the texas national guard. last hour, right here on msnbc, not far from here, we run across a group of migrants that were being picked up by the border patrol, being processed. t

for derek chauvin would be, she declined to answer and said she'd leave that up to the judge >> gabe gutierrezapolis, thank you. benjamin crump thank you for being back on the show. good morning. >> thank you for having me. >> you heard gabe lay out the prosecution is looking for 30 years behind bars for chauvin, the defense wants probation and time served. the maximum is 40 years. what does accountability look like? is it the max? 30 years? what would they be happy with, if you will? >> the family has always said that what they want to see is derek chauvin be sentenced to the same thing that george floyd would be sentenced, had the roles been reversed. though seek equal justice and accountability. there's no amount of time as they have articulated here recently that would be just because justice would have george back. they hope this sentence will help america to get equal accountability and justice. they know george is not coming back and to us it's a case, a cause, a hashtag. to them that's their flesh and bloo >> we talk about accountability versus justice. i ask you as it relates to accou

nbc's gabe gutierrez takes us there. >> reporter: minutes after they arrive a crowd gathers begging tolming sense of desperation here. that desperation extends to a nearby shelter which is at capacity. we speak with some of the children here with their parents' permission. [ speaking foreign language ]. >> reporter: 7-year-old has tried to cross into the u.s. twice with her mother. [ speaking foreign language ]. >> reporter: alicia is from honduras. [ speaking foreign language ]. >> reporter: her 9-year-old brother is now in the u.s. because he crossed by himself. unaccompanied minors are allowed to stay. now many parents here are considering whether to separate and send their kids over alone. >> that was gabe gutierrez reporting. >>> next, a look at how the pressure of the agenda is building. harris, and a step she can take to effectively accomplish all of it. later it has been five years since the terror attack on the pulse nightclub in orlando. the city to gather next hour to honor the 49 lives lost. we will talk to the first journalist to arrive at the horrific scene straight ahead

our gabe gutierrez is there. >> reporter: in reynosa, mexico, this tent camp is feet from the u.s. border but worlds away. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: this morning, this woman from honduras and her two children were sent back here after crossing the rio grande she says her family paid smugglers $11,000. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: many of the hundreds of migrants here have been returned to mexico because of covid protocols put in place by the trump administration >> two weeks ago, there were six kidnappings in one night. and kidnapping, they come onto the plaza. you hear the person screaming for help everyone stands around and watches. no one wants to die. people have their own children. >> reporter: felicia rangel-samponaro started the sidewalk school, a group that now teaches migrant kids here. you gave up your life savings to do this why? >> this is wrong and no one should be okay with this >> reporter: she and a colleague conduct pre-interviews, gathering information from potential asylum seekers. just minutes after they arrive, a crowd gathers, be

with more on that here's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: surveillance video captures a brazen attack in broad daylight a cyclist stabbing a delivery man in the back the nypd now investigating. from new york to chicago to cincinnati,ent cri this weekend at least 11 people killed 55 wounded in 10 mass shootings across seven states. [ gunshots ] >> oh, [ bleep ] >> reporter: in austin, texas one killed, 14 wounded >> shots fired, shots fired! >> reporter: in savannah, georgia one killed, seven wounded. >> these senseless acts of gun violence in our community have to stop. >> reporter: just this year in the u.s. there have been 273 mass shootings, defined as any incident where four or more people are shot there have been 31 so far this june, and we're not even halfway through the month. >> what is going on here >> we've seen a lot of the pandemic-related issues related to mental health, unemployment, financial stress combined with a lot of the retaliatory violence that happens in a lot of the inner cities >> reporter: but it's even more than usual portland, oregon has seen a staggering 740%

. >> reporter: this is gabe gutierrez while so many adults are becoming victims of violent crime, an increasing number of children are now in the line of fire, too. >> we have a number of evil predators, evil predators in our community that are focusing on our children, that are indiscriminately firing weapons and enough is enough. >> reporter: in an apparent case of mistaken identity police say a gunma opened fire on a truck on a detroit freeway killing 2-year-old brison christian and wounding his 9-year-old brother >> it's crazy. senseless. like, they had no intentions on any of us surviving that. >> reporter: the family had been driving home from basketball practice. >> he was only here two years, but the mark he left in my heart will be with me until the day i die. >> reporter: so far this year, gun violence has killed more than 700 children and teenagers nationwide, more than 1,800 have been injured. in new york, a brazen attack in broad daylight one man opening fire on another in the bronx. the bullets missing two young children by inches their father says they're traumatized.

nbc's gabe gutierrez has more from minneapolis >> reporter: the statewide covid positivity rate herennesota is around 1% but other states and more rural areas have been seeing a rise in covid cases because many people have not been vaccinated while covid vaccination rates are rising in much of the country, most missouri counties are still under 40% fully vaccinated one is at just 13% hospitals in springfield are now stretched thin what do you attribute this covid surge to >> there are two things. one, the delta variant is very much prevalent in our community. and the second thing is the extremely low vaccination rates here in southwest missouri missouri now leads the nation with the highest rate of new covid infections neighboring arkansas this week also reported its biggest one-day jump in cases in more than three months. >> i don't think there's anything that says this couldn't happen in any community anywhere >> reporter: the positivity rate has plummeted in states like minnesota to began doctors say those that are being hospitalized are virtually all unvaccinated what does that t

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kerry sanders is joining us in guatemala and gabe gutierrez in la jolla, texas. it is the united states lack of funding to the northern triangle, what is she going to find out that we don't already know? >> reporter: i think just meeting is a symbolic which she's going to find out is what her aides have told her that this is a problem that's decades old. this is not new information. s the a matter of an approach. some people will say what's needed is u.s. money here. this region known as the northern triangle in guatemala and not seeing the results of the money going at the highest levels on the immigration process. let me take you to a company that we visited here. what they do is they make clothing and they ship these cloting all around including the united states, they have to deal with 170 employees, systematic corruption. listen to the owner antonio kozino. >> vice president kamala harris please help us with corruption in guatemala. it is everywhere in society. >> how old are you? >> 43. >> reporter: do you remember a time there is no corruption in governmen

>> we'll see her in a matter of minutes here, gabe gutierrez, this is a critical moment for this, this is where he is in guatemala city. >> the stakes are high here. you can see why right behind me. this is a group of families, many children, actually. there is about 70 people here, some are within in the last hour put into that bus over there. you heard kerry auk about those desperate conditions, these families made that grueling journey here. we're here in la hoya, texas to talk about how the rio grande is just over there about half a mile or so there. they were just picked up, the texas national guard is here, too. for those not particular, they're rounded up here in these sweltering conditions, it's supposed to get into the 90 degree temperatures today, heat index in the triple digits, they often wait here several hours while they're processed. loaded into buses. this group right now is being taken to this bus, and then they are taken to a processing facility. potentially a huge one in donna, texas that we have been reporting on. something else i want to show you is we have been no

gabe gutierrez joins me from the border in texas. gabe, what's the latest there? more children being sent over the border by themselves in just a really difficult, horrible choice for the parents. >> reporter: that's right. the biden administration has said they want a more humane approach to immigration. many people view it that way. what's happening -- we have spoken to many migrant families on this side and in mexico. some of the parents say they are making that choice to separate from their children and send them over the border alone because they know allowed to stay in the united states. behind me is a texas national guard vehicle. we saw groups of migrants being picked up here, processed by border patrol agents. throughout this weekend, we have seen an incredible number of migrants coming over the river in roma, texas, as well as here in la jolla. the rio grande is right over there. there are about 700 or so unaccompanied minor children in custody. in hhs custody, the next step in this, there are more than 16,000 at this point. certainly, vice president har

nbc's gabe gutierrez shows us around >> reporter: shep, this is the new bottleneck at the border thist sprung up in reynosa, mexico it's right across the border from mcallen, texas, and there are hundreds of migrants here. we've been speaking with many families who say they have been making the desperate journey from central america one woman said two of her family members had been murdered so she was desperate to come here many of these families have been expelled from the united states back here after they tried to cross over because of what's known as title 42. those were covid protocols put in place by the trump administration that the biden administration has kept in place. some advocates say the administration should be doing more to ease the bottleneck here and ease the backlog now many of these parents are facing an agonizing decision some are deciding whether to send some of their children over to the united states alone we spoke with an immigrant advocate here who actually used her life savings to start an ngo that teaches migrant kids about some of the safety concerns here

gabe gutierrez has a look at how children have been impacted and in many cases caught in the cross firems of violent crime, so many children are now in the line of fire too. >> we have a number of evil predators in our community that are focussing on our children. that are firing weapons, and enough is enough. >> reporter: in an apparent case of mistaken identity, police say a gunman opened fire on the wrong truck on the freeway killing a 2-year-old and wounding his 9-year-old brother. >> it's crazy. they had no intentions on any of us surviving that. >> reporter: the family had been driving home from basketball practice. >> he was only here two years but the mark he left on my heart, that'll be with me until the day i die. >> reporter: so far this year gun violence has killed more than 700 children and teenagers nationwide. more than 1,800 have been injured. in new york an attack in broad daylight, one man opening fire on another in the bronx missing children by inches. the father said they're traumatized. he urged the president and congress to do what they can to stop the violence. >>

nbc news correspondent gabe gutierrez has more. >> reporter: surveillance video captures the brazen attackin the back. the nypd now investigating. from new york to chicago to cincinnati, violent crimes surged this weekend, at least 11 people killed, 55 wounded in ten mass shootings across seven state. >> oh, [ bleep ]. >> reporter: in austin, texas, one killed, 14 wounded. in savannah, georgia, one killed, seven wounded. >> the senseless acts of violence in our communities have to stop. >> reporter: just this year in the u.s., there have been 273 mass shootings, defined as any incident where four or more were shot. there have been 31 so far this june and we're not only halfway through the month. what is going on here? >> we've seen a lot of the pandemic-related issues, related to mental health, unemployment, financial stress combined with a lot of the retaliatory violence that happens in a lot of the inner cities. >> reporter: but vs. even more than usual. portland, oregon, has seen a staggering 740% spike in homicides since last year. with this neighborhood with children watching, bullet