the shooter told investigators according to a sheriff who spoke at a press conference today that the attacks were not racially motivated. it is fair to ask whether we have any reason to believe or take on its face that an accused spree killer said but that is what authorities are telling us so for now that is the official word. what we can't deny is that some attacks against the asian-american and pacific islander communities, something we've reported on extensively on this show and something that president biden and kamala harris herself a member of the community underscored today. >> whatever the motivation here, i know that asian-americans are in very -- very concerned, because as you know i've been speaking about the brutality against asian-americans for the last couple of months and i think it is a very, very trouble some. >> it is tragic. our country, the president and i and all of us, we grieve for the loss. we're not yet clear about the motive. but i do want to say to our asian-american community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged. >> according to data by stop aapi hate there have been nearly 3800 anti-asian hate in the last year. 68% of the attacks, more than two-thirds were against women. the atlanta shootings have raised questions over what constitutes a racial attack, especially for communities frequently ab sent in conversations on race, misogyny and class. the shooter claimed to have a sexual addition and saw this as a temptation he needed to eliminate culminating in lives brutally stolen. a crime that one official characterized as the gunman having a, quote, very bad day. >> joining me now is blaine alexander in atlanta. what is the latest you could give us. >> reporter: we certainly got a lot of information today. i'm going to tick through the points that stood out to me. the first, i want to come off the point that you spoke about, even though officials were quoting what the suspect told them as hi motivation, it is important to note, when we talk about motive, officials have not ruled out race as a potential factor playing some sort of role in his motivation they are still very early in the investigation and despite what he said they say that initially it doesn't appear that race is a factor but authorities have not ruled that out as a factor. now a couple of things stood out. we talked about the fact that we know that there were eight people killed, six of them were asian women. but what kind of stands out is that this whole thing unfolded over a stunning kind of spread of land that was almost 200 miles. so where i'm standing here in atlanta, you see the gold spa behind me, this is one and just here where i'm standing only a few feet away are two of the locations that were targeted yesterday. those are right here in the city of atlanta. but the spree started about 45 minutes to the north, that is where the first shots rang out and the first call came and that is where four people were killed. and then it was several hours later when the suspect was apprehended and that is two hours to the south where i'm standing. so this man covered a lot of ground before he was picked up by authorities. another thing i do want to point out, it is rather chilling, he told officials when he was apprehended that he was down to florida by his own admission to continue his spree. that he was going to do more shooting down there. so certainly the fact that he was apprehended rather quickly ultimately saved some lives. a couple of things to point out. you spoke about what officials are saying about his motive and he had some sort of sexual addiction. in that same news conference we are heard from keisha lance bottoms familiar to our audience and she was asked about that and she spoke to those in atlanta but as far as she knows and as far as atlanta police know, these are operated as legal businesses. they are legally operating businesses and haven't had any sort of calls or complaints and they're not on a.p.d. radar so that is important to point out. and then finally, you mentioned the stop aapi hate about the number of hate crimes happening, it is something that we've seen mirrored here in the state of georgia. in fact that same group put out data when it comes to georgia. we've seen more than 30 of such incidents here in the state of the majority of them targeted for women, the majority of them verbal assaults. but again we know that georgia is an increasingly diverse state. we saw that in 2020, that means a growing asian-american population as well. so certainly something that mirrors the national numbers as well. joy. >> really quick, blaine, on that two-hour time line, do you know and is there reporting on whether or not there already calls coming in that this was happening, is this somebody that was being sought because it seems like he had a lot of time to commit a lot of killings? >> reporter: very good point. so what we know is that the three shootings happened in less than an hour. so the 45 minutes to the north, officials say this he committed that crime and then sped down here to atlanta so while officials were still working on that crime up there, they were getting calls for these two things right here. what happened and what allowed him to be apprehended a couple of hours after that, is that there seemed to be a lot of surveillance images, people in the first shooting location were able to put out surveillance pictures and officials say it was actually his own family members who recognized the suspect, called authorities and said, hey, we know who that is and we want to help you bring him in. so his family members saw him, recognized him and worked with police to get him in custody, joy. >> thank you very much. blayne alexander, we appreciate your reporting. thank you. and joining me now is connie wong, co-founder of aapi women lead and attorney and contributor katie phang. and i want to start with you, i had any howard university class and they're young jirnlists in the making and i think everybody is asking, viewers as well, is on the subject of seeming to dismiss the idea that this was a hate crime and taking the word of the alleged shooter for it that it was not racially motivated. that bothers a lot of people. it doesn't seem to make sense. could you define, in legal terms, hate crime is a legal term, an enhancement on a crime, right. >> right. >> is that something that the sheriffs should be speaking about before the full investigation is done? >> so, two-fold answer for you, joy. one i think it was irresponsible for the press conference that the sheriff's office did today to basically promote a narrative that could potentially be false. justice may be blind blue that doesn't mean she's stupid. so when you put out into a potential jury pool that the shooter said that was not racially motivated but then you hear the shooters other family turned him in, have we heard whether the family would corroborate this is not a racially motivated crime. the cops have to do an investigation and look at his social media, his organization alliances and affiliations but ultimately the cops have charged him with eight counts of murder for the eight counts of the poor victims in this case. but then the state attorney's office or the district attorney will look at the evidence as well but that doesn't preclude the sheriff's office for saying that these were hate crimes and racially motivated and that these were the results of the kill in this case wanting to target intentionally asian victims. joy, this is not a random indiscriminate crime. this man got in his car and went to target asian women. so i think it was irresponsible for law enforcement to put into public consumption today the idea that this guy has a sex addiction and he a bad day. i think that dehumanizes our victims and it makes it problematic for a prosecution later on if a jury pool thinks, you know what, these were just sex workers. we hadn't heard that either. so from a prosecution standpoint i think it is a bad idea. >> and connie, that is what bothers me about this press conference. number one, taking this alleged spree killer's word for it, what his motives were before the full investigation and then sort of only hearing his point of view and talking about he wanted to stop quote/unquote porn businesses and casting these women as something that there is no adjudication over what was going on or what they were doing. but almost seeming to minimize them. and it also bothers me that we haven't heard a lot, where the families of these women. are there people that should be interviewed or tv interviews, are they talking or speaking, the people that worked in these establishments. they seem to be silent and cast aside as well, as katie just said, these were sex workers. we don't even know that that is true. >> so i appreciate you saying that. i think this moment is about, you know, the ongoing and history of hyper sexualization and sexual violence against asian women. sexual violence is the invisibleization of our stories and our life. this goes back to the racial and colonial wars in vietnam, in the philippines, in cambodia, in korea, the sexual violence we experience overseas, abroad is cared over here and the way that takes place or that could actually happen is if you don't see us as human, if you see us as only as objects for your sexual issues, i think that is what they called it, right, or his sexual addiction, right, you could only get away with that if you see us as nonhuman. so i think that is really is important. and i also know that these women in particular are part of a, you know, a low-wage labor work force. that means they were unprotected, he also knew and society knows they tend to be disposable, right. especially if your from a stag mattized and criminalized work force like massage parlor or sex workers. you've put us in a position, society has put us in a position to where we are extremely vulnerable to violence and the policing he had a good day. again, dismissing our lives and then lifting up his own humanity as if he gets to have a good day and the rest of us get to just die. >> yeah, and katie, just the fact that this person is allegedly say that he's fixated on asian women. that is obvious. that undercuts everything else and the fixation on the sexualization, it negates everything else being said. but i want to talk about the underprotection. we had increasing violence directed toward asian people, all over the country, over the last year. we saw the data. there was not more protection being deployed in these communities. there was not increased police protection. he was able to drive around for hours doing this. there have been lots of threats, atlanta has seen increase in negative hate speech toward asian communities tied to the elections where asian-americans voted mostly for biden. do you think this is a case of underpolicing, that then meets sort of police relating in a weird way to the killer or humanizing the killer, i should say. >> i think part of the problem is georgia just is catching up with the jones' when it comes to hate crime laws. just last year, as of july 1st, 2020, that is where georgia was enabling the state crimes law. it is one of the only four states that did not have hate crime laws on the books. so think about this. the last hate crime law was found to be unconstitutional in 2004 and now if you look at fact that the shooter is saying that he was targeting these particular women, then you basically meet the hate crime law statutory definition. when you target a victim for this race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. now in georgia these are enhancements on the crimes and so we'll look to see what the criminal investigation turns out to tell us. >> yeah, i wish we had more time. we have run out of time. so we'll have you both come back. thank you both very much. we'll have you back because this topic is not going anywhere. up next, the biden administration challenge at the border with a growing surge of migrants and an opposition party only interested in demagoguery. >> the situation is undoubtedly difficult. we're working around the clock to manage it. we'll also not waiver in our values, in our principles as a nation. >> julian castro joins me on what president biden needs to do next. and plus the new secretary of housing and human development marcia fudge is here since taking over a department ravaged by the previous administration. the reid out continues after this. here you go, let me help you. hi mr. charles, we made you dinner. ahh, thank you! ready to eat? yes i am! at fidelity, you get personalized wealth planning and unmatched overall value. together with a dedicated advisor, you'll make a plan that can adjust as your life changes, with access to tax-smart investing strategies that help you keep more of what you earn. and with brokerage accounts, you see what you'll pay before you trade. personalized advice. unmatched value. at fidelity, you can have both. ♪ more than this ♪ introducing the new sleep number 360 smart bed. atit's the most comfortable,th. dually-adjustable, foot-warming, temperature-balancing, proven quality night sleep we've ever made the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999. plus, 0% interest for 48 months on all smart beds. only for a limited time we look up to our heroes. idolizing them. mimicking their every move. and if she counts on the advanced hydration of pedialyte when it matters most... so do we. hydrate like our heroes. ♪♪ the migration challenge that we are facing at the southwest border is not new. and it is a reflection of the fact that our system is broken. >> in his testimony today,al hand yo mayorkas was blunt about the challenges at the border and saying that it needs a legislative solution after he reported yesterday that the number of apprehensions at the border there year is on track to exceed the surge of 2019 and possibly reach a 20-year high. while the biden administration is slowly dismantling the harsh asylum policies of his predecessor, they're still trying to turn back single adults and some psalms just not unaccompanied children. and republicans have been quick to demagogue the issue for their political benefit. kevin mccarthy traveled to an el paso border facility on monday to blame the president for the influx of migrants and a superpac is running ads accusing of biden of opening the border echoing similar claims from gop lawmakers that should know better. this is an interview with abc news. >> the idea that joe biden said come because i heard the other day that they're coming because they know i'm a nice guy and i won't do -- >> they're saying this? >> yeah. well here is the deal. they're not, the adults are being sent back. number two, what do you do with nun accompanied child that comes to the border? do you take what trump did, hold them in cells, we're not doing that. i could say don't come over, in the process of getting set up and it is not going to take a whole lot of time to apply for asylum in place. so don't leave your town or city or community. >> secretary mayorkas pushed back on the apprehension represents a crisis given what happened under the last administration. take a listen. >> i agree with you. it is going to be the most we've seen in 20 years. you may call that only a challenge, but i call that a crisis. >> a crisis is when a nation is willing to rip a nine-year-old child out of the hands of his or her parent and separate that family to deter future migration. that, to me, is a humanitarian crisis. >> joining me now, the former secretary of housing and urban development in the obama administration and former mayor of san antonio, texas, julian castro and secretary thank you for being here. you're in a unique position to discuss this as a texan and somebody who ran hud and a former mayor of a texas city. do you have a sense, could you get your arms around what is the poll right now. "new york times" has some reporting that smugglers, human smugglers may be telling migrants this is time to go, biden is going to let people through, that that is getting people to come. do you know what the pull is and what the push is from the triangle countries? >> i think what we saw over the last several years is donald trump dismantled our -- through policies. >> we're having some trouble. there we go. we're mixing your audio together. your audio is a little choppy. so hold on for a one second and make sure that your audio is coming through. tart again, if you could. >> so trump left our immigration system in tatters through policies like remain in mexico through metering, through title 42 which allowed them to expel thousands of people to deny them entry including over 13,000 children. so he created a pent up demand, this bubble of people who want to come in and claim asylum. and that is part of what we're seeing. it's true that we've had people presenting themselves in waves before we saw that under press obama and we saw it in 2019 under donald trump. but trump weakened our ability to handle the situations so basically joe biden is left to pick up the pieces of a human rights catastrophe that donald trump left at our doorstep. now the difference between the trump administration and the biden administration, when it comes to immigration, is that with joe biden you have someone who is competent, you have an administration that is taking the steps necessary to solve this challenge. you heard secretary mayorkas, but among other things, they've increased the inner agency cooperation, they have cut through a lot of the red tape that actually gets these children who are unaccompanied into acceptable housing facilities and then more quickly get them to host families so their with their sponsor or host family instead of in one of he's facilities. they have done the compassionate thing which is not to say no, not to reject an eight-year-old or ten-year-old child when they present themselves as at the border unaccompanied. that reflects our values as americans. i don't consider this as a crisis. agree it is a challenge. it could be managed and that the administration is effectively managing. >> well, you know, what of course the right does, they're sort of backing, they're kind of default mode, which have to portray these people as, you know, potentially terrorists, you heard lindsey graham basically say these children will grow up to be terrorists, to do the brown scare, to say democrats just want to add more brown people because they know if they become citizens they'll become democrats and all of the things to gin up their base of white working class americans who fear their jobs will be taken by these people. they're doing what they normally do. i wan to play a fox news reporter asking jen ptaki some questions. take listen. >> do you a limit or a cap to the number of unaccompanied minors allowed in the u.s. >> a limit or a cap? so should we send some kids who are ten back at a certain point. is that what you're asking me. >> i'm not setting the policy. i'm asking you what the policy is. >> we're not going to send a ten-year-old across the border. that was policy of the last administration, that is not our policy here. >> and there is a poll out today, reuters say 22% of republicans consider immigration to be the most important problem up from 7%. it is back to the same thing. that there is a lack of compassion on the other side, it's a fear more brown people will come. how can the biden administration manage that? because the other side isn't providing a political solution or offering to get on board immigration reform, they're just saying be afraid of these brown people. >> well, you're right, joy. i mean, this is part of thur playbook. it is something that we've seen so many times before. it is fear-mongering and this time they're doing it because they ca