are ya? i've got to tell you on the front end, we have a little weather blowing in, so we had to down the fox drone team. if you come over here, i want to give you a little lay of the land. it's been a very active day, about 50 minutes ago we were with the border patrol, they were tracking and apprehended three individuals. it's nonstop here, mike. the border patrol's chief tweeting that in the last two weeks nearly 24,000 migrants have illegally crossed just beyond that levee and been taken into custody, apprehended. mostly family units, some unaccompanied children and some individual adults. but it's really the impact that it's havingen on these residents here because of this hole here in the wall because the wall wasn't completed in this section. many of them that don't want to be apprehended come right across here in the dead of night, and they go down this path you see here and into this bar where patrons are starting to show up. but the owner, lupe cabrera, comes in many mornings finding people sleeping on the patio, even had a woman give birth in the parking lot. here's some of what he had to say, mike. take a listen. >> now that they've changed the policy, they've started coming down here in droves. now i it doesn't matter, you know, catch 'em, it doesn't matter. they're released and given a court date, they never come back. >> reporter: and, mike, lupe also told me he knows a family, he spoke with a family that paid some $1200 to come across the border, and then once they were across the border, the same smugglers called and extorted more money out of them once they got on this side and said we're going to call the border patrol on you if you don't pay us again. mike: that's brutal. griff, what about the cartel impact on the border problem and the latest drug busts? >> reporter: that's the other part of the equation. you have the people and the you have the drugs. and when there's a mass number of people crossing, it gives an opportunity for the cartels to move those drugs. the dea here in mcallen making a massive drug bust here this past thursday, seizing 18 pounds of methamphetamine and 38 pounds of co--88 pounds of cocaine. the agent in charge gave us a little bit of the lay of the land and had this to say. listen are. >> this is an extreme anomaly. what we've seen in the past and because of covid there were stockpiles on the mexican side, and now that our restrictions are becoming a little bit more fluid, we're starting to see the influx of narcotics increase. >> reporter: sanchez also says that he knows the cartels will never stop coming and dumping right here. the dea is waiting for them. mike: griff, you've reported on both sides of the border numerous times in the past, in fact, i think the bosses may have you open a bureau there. [laughter] your thoughts in terms of what you're seeing this time as compared to previous tours of duty at the southern border. >> reporter: well, you know, i'll turn you back this way, mike. you see this wall front the border patrol guy sitting in his truck, i've had a lot of time to talk to these guys. many of them i've known for years having covered the caravans of 2018 and 2019 and even before that. they all tell me they've never seen anything like this. and the biggest thing to remember -- because the coverage isn't stopping anytime soon, particularly with the administration that refuses to show transparency by letting the media into these centers, into these child facilities. but the thing to keep in mind that officials stress is that it was in may of 2019 when it really hit 100,000 a month. they're very worried whatever's coming between now and may unless we change our policies, we are really getting started early and headed into uncharted territories for possibly unprecedented numbers of both children and migrants coming. mike? mike: griff griff jenkins, many thanks. president bidens has appointed fema to assist with the humanitarian problem at the southern border, though he is still refusing to call it a crisis. david spunts has more from delaware where the president's spending the weekend. good afternoon a, david. of. >> reporter: hi, mike. putting fema in charge of this mission shows the administration, specifically the president and the white house, are keenly aware of the challenges at the southern border, particularly the influx of unaccompanied children. that is a big story and continues to be a big story. republicans are calling this a crisis. the biden white house is not calling it a crisis, they are calling it a challenge. homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas yesterday announced that fema will be sheltering and taking care of these unaccompanied children for at least the next 90 days. the news announced last night. housing facilities for children are totally overwhelmed in many cases. fema's primary responsibility, mike, though is responding to natural disasters, so this will test the agency to be the able to do both. when president biden took office back in january, gone was the policy of turning away unaccompanied children put in place by the trump administration. in many places, mike, these children have nothing, not relatives in the united states, no possessions. but in many cases, they are not being turned away. >> this idea that it's joe biden's election that has prompted more people to show up is belied by the actual facts. >> reporter: well, here are some facts from the cpb, customs and border protection encounters from february. we saw about 9500 unaccompanied minors. >> they're sending fema as reinforcementments not for today, not for tomorrow, but for three weeks from now. and what is clear, there can be know give case when sending a message to people who are thinking of joining a caravan. it has to be our border is closed. >> reporter: vice president biden is here in wilmington, delaware. he'll head back to the white house this week. his major focus right now is getting on the road to sell that $1.9 trillion covid relief package. he'll head to georgia and pennsylvania this week to make that sale to the american people, but no question the border clearly a problem for this administration. it's something the biden administration focus on in the coming weeks, if not days. mike? mike: david spunt live in wilmington the, delaware. david, thanks a lot. joining us now is pennsylvania democrat senator and member of the senate finance committee, senator bob casey. welcome. >> good to be with you. thank you. mike: are you okay with fema being used to address the border crisis, and does that mean by definition it is now a disaster? >> look, there's no question that we have to put more resources at the border, and part of that is fema's ability to bring some resolution to this issue. it's going to be difficult, it's going to require more time and investment, i believe. but the key here is to get, to help these children who, by the way, i think we should start saying this in both parties, these are god's children. they're not throwaways, they're god's children. we've got to deal with this problem like responsible adults instead of just pointing fingers. you've got to move these children from custom and border patrol to health and human services. that takes a while. but i think the administration is working very hard. there's no question that these children coming across the border are fleeing not only violence, but also natural disasters, food insecurity. they don't have enough to eat, and then on top of all this, child or adult, you have the covid-19 crisis. so we've got to make sure that we're protecting the health of these children and public health generally. mike: do you worry about fema now that they're being added to the mix possibly being stretched too thin with what could be a very powerful hurricane season on the horizonnen, sir? concern horizon, sir? >> if that becomes a problem, then it's the job of congress to appropriate more money. i hope the administration would come to republicans and democrats in congress and say we might need more resources not only for what's happening at the border, but maybe for natural a disasters as well. our job is to get them the money, and our job is also to help them solve this problem. mike: should president biden go to the border soon, and do you have any plans yourself to go to the border? >> i don't currently. i was there, gosh, 2019 was the last time i was there. but i think it's helpful to have members of congress do that. the president has to make his own determination about what's best for his agenda and what he's got -- getting there. look, i think secretary mayorkas and the administration have brought a whole of government approach to this. they're working night and day to solve this problem. the best thing we can do is to provide help and resources so that they can help these children to process them through the system. mike: speaking of resources, you just provided $1.9 trillion to a whole lot of causes throughout this country. here's your colleague, senator bill cassidy, and i'll ask you to respond. >> it is estimated by cpo that our -- cbo that our economy will grow at 4.2% this year without this latest package. and that the stimulus, additional stimulus to this package is estimated by some liberal economists, it may ignite inflation. there's a danger here. mike: what about those inflation concerns? >> well, bill's a good member of the senate, and he and i are friends, and he works in a bipartisan way, i just disagree with him on this. i'll go with janet yellen who was chairman of the fed before becoming treasury secretary. she says -- i'm not quoting her exactly, but she said the risk of inflation is pretty low. look, the good news here is this bill may cause even more growth in the economy so that we're not at 4, we might be higher than that. the good news here as well is we can reduce child poverty by half, we can get food assistance to millions of americans. the estimate is 50 million americans don't have enough to eat, and local governments are getting help. i was just on the phone on friday with a republican county commissioner and one of them were saying send the money back. they need help to balance their budget to avoid layoffs of firefighters, police officers and teachers. mike: senator bob casey of the great state of pennsylvania, thank you for your time. >> good to be with you. mike: now a member of the house judiciary and foreign affairs committee, congressman darrell issa. welcome. >> thanks for having me on. the leadup to this interview is amazing that an agency that's called the federal emergency management somehow doesn't have the word emergency when it's used for a crisis. by definition if you call in fema, you have an emergency which is another name for crisis. mike: to trouble in your home state and the recall effort, here's governor gavin my gnusome's taken on it. quote, this thing got started before the pandemic. it's about immigration, it's about our health care policies, it's about our criminal justice reform, it's about the diversity of the state, clean air, clean water programs, meeting our environmental strategies. so they were crystal clear what this is about. how do you respond, congressman? >> you know, when -- there's nothing more delusional than a governor who's being recalled for his bad policies and h failure to act in a state where jobs are leaving, where people are refusing to obey his endless are mandates, there's nothing worse than repeating the exact same statements as though they're the right idea. the governor is being recalled because he has failed to act or he's acted exactly the opposite way and because, quite frankly, he's been a hypocrite telling us we must wear masks and then, in fact, not wearing it himself. mike: a lot of folks look at california at the ultimate blue state these days. does this recall effort have a shot? >> it absolutely does. it's going to qualify, and he's going to face a recall. whether he gets 49% or 55%, somewhere in between, that remains to be seen. but right now when a deep blue state is willing to consider a recall as we did 17 years ago, they don't do it because they become republicans, they do it because they've had enough of bad policies and wrong mindedness by the governor. mike: to javier becerra, someone you know well, the california attorney general, he is up to be the secretary of health and human services, likely to come up for a confirmation vote this week. what are your concerns about becerra for leading hhs during a pandemic? >> you know, my concerns go even beyond the pandemic. he's not qualified other than what he's learned in congress. and as somebody who, you know, has served on judiciary for 18 years, that doesn't make me a lawyer. his credentials are weak for the job, and i think he really was a bad choice. notwithstanding that, the president has a right to offer somebody, and i suspect that the senate on a mostly partisan basis will confirm him. mike: congressman, i want to squeeze in one last one. there's talk that the biden administration will place temporary workplace restrictions to stop covid spread this week. at a time when a lot of states are reopening, what are your concerns? is this overreach potentially from washington? >> well, the power grab after 17 states with declining infection rates have lifted the, some of the mandates is exactly that, it's an attempt to keep a crisis going by the president. it's a power grab and a usurping of states' rights. now, i'm in a state that is to the left of the president, but in those freer states like florida and others that are doing better and reopening, it will crush them if they obey it. and my suspicion is it will be a useless mandate because i don't believe that people will listen to the president in those states in which their governors have led them in a better way. mike: congressman darrell issa of the great state of california, thanks for your time, sir. >> thank you. mike: stick around after our show, chris wallace will drill down on the crisis at the southern border, he's got exclusive interviews with senator bill cassidy and democratic senator chris murphy top of the hour, 2 p.m. eastern. this is a fox news alert. two people are dead and more than a dozen more are injured after an early morning shooting in chicago. police say the victims were at a party inside a business on the south side of the city. investigators recovered four guns at the scene, but they have not said if they are connected to the shooting. so far no arrests have been made. a major winter storm is making its way through the western and central u.s., intensifying over colorado as folks there brace for heavy snow. alicia acuna is on the ground in denver track it all. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: hi, mike. yeah, that storm decided it likes it here, so it's just parked, hanging out, spending sunday here in the denver area. we'll talk about the impacts on the other side of the break. ♪ ♪ eady for every moment, with glucerna. it's the number one doctor recommended brand that is scientifically designed to help manage your blood sugar. live every moment. glucerna. woman: i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches or coughs, or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪ nothing is everything ♪ woman: now is the time to ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. ♪♪ (car horn) ♪♪ (splash) ♪♪ turn today's dreams into tomorrow's trips... with millions of flexible booking options. all in one place. expedia. ♪ mike: winter storm warning is in effect in northeastern colorado canceling more than 2,000 flight as residents hunker down for what could be one of the biggest snowstorms the region has seen in years. alicia acuna is on the ground in denver with more. oh, dear. hello, alicia. [laughter] >> reporter: hi, mike. yeah, it's quite something here. as i mentioned in the tease the, it is kind of sitting here dumping the snow. that's when we get all of that accumulation, and we knew it was coming. forecasters have been talking about this all week. so the colorado department of transportation along with state and local officials have really been pleading with folks not to try to travel by air, obviously, or by road until this system passes. let's get another live look inside the city of denver here. colorado's governor, jared polis are, this week also warned coloradans that forecasters were expecting a record-breaking snowfall, and with that stores, i can tell you, saw pandemic-like preparations for people not wanting to get stuck at home without food and other items. so far it's not producing the striking amounts forecasted, but it's still a monster snow producer, enough so that denver international airport says it did cancel those 2,000 flights in and out of town, stranding some folks. >> our flight was canceled, her flight from california was canceled, and it took forever. >> reporter: in utah the treacherous road conditions caused a crash near salt lake city. now, in texas tornadoes are the problem. a number of them touched down near happy, texas. there was a fair amount of damage that folks reported but fortunately, no one was hurt. alabama right now preparing for it to arrive this week and, you know, mike, there's travel restrictions on the roads because the conditions, obviously, are so bad. thisthis has impacted the vaccination effort here. kaiser alone had to cancel 10,000 -- rather, reschedule 10,000 vaccinations that were supposed to happen this weekend. mike? mike: looks beautiful from here in the warm, cozy studio -- [laughter] alicia, i feel like i need to send you some hot chocolate. be safe, my friend. great to see you. >> reporter: thank you. see you, mike. ♪ ♪ mike: president biden's $1.9 trillion covid leaf bill finally signed into law, congressional democrats now turning their focus to infrastructure spending. mark meredith has more on whether there's any bipartisan support on this issue. good afternoon, mark. >> reporter: congress can't agree on much these days, but the white house thinks improving infrastructure may be one issue that both parties could embrace. in the days ahead, the white house expected to urge congress to spend billions, if not more, on a variety of infrastructure needs. this is something that the trump administration, we all remember, also tried to pursue, but they came up short. house speaker nancy pelosi says she sees a path forward for a bill that both sides could potentially agree upon. >> building roads and bridges and water supply systems has always been bipartisan, always been bipartisan. so i put out a, i called upon my chairs of the committees of jurisdiction to reach out to the republicans to see what we can do. >> reporter: but remember, republicans stood firm against the latest $1.9 trillion stimulus largely because of the cost and concerns the bill spent too little on the pan dem ing. -- pandemic. it's possible gop members will stand against any bill that raises taxes or imposes climate rules. yet key republican lawmakers say they are ready to talk to democrats about what's possible. >> we're hoping we get more than ten republicans. the president wants to work with us, we want to work with them. i don't know what the top line number's going to be, but we've got a robust plan, that's for sure, but we've got to pay for it. >> reporter: it's unclear how fast the administration may move and if there's any other priorities that may drive republican away from the bargaining table, but we're going to hear more about this in the days and weeks ah