Primary power in the party shifts to the left, well ask one 2020 candigate if hes worried about the risk of a general election backlash. Good evening. Im Steve Kornacki in new york, in for chuck todd. We begin tonight with breaking news. We have got outrage in washington over the humanitarian crisis at the border. And a bombshell report from the Inspector General this afternoon confirming, quote, dangerous overcrowding at Migrant Detention Centers. Youre looking at pictures from that report, which describes how adults and children were not allowed access to showers. It details overcrowding, prolonged detentions, and desperate attempts to escape, as Border Patrol agents prepared for possible riots. The Inspector General also faults dhs for not taking, quote, sufficient measures to address the crisis. This report comes as House OversightCommittee ChairmanElijah Cummings announced his committee wants to hold hearings with the administrations border chiefs next week. Now, politically, this issue has caught fire with democrats. Party lawmakers are speaking out after touring migrant facilities in texas yesterday. And in florida today. Some lawmakers reported seeing deplorable conditions. One of the women said that she was told by an agent to drink water out of the toilet. I saw young girls under 5 years old, quarantined in a small box of a room, 8 x 10 feet because they had the flu. Not able to eat because they have the flu. I want to talk their parents. The mothers. The abuelas, the tias, the madres i sat with, who wept openly in our arms. No child ever has to suffer for the benefit of another. And i will never accept that argument. As you can see, the democratic lawmakers are angry, and just a few hours ago, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee advocated for criminal charges against the administration. All the people in the administration who have done this, who have permitted it, are guilty of child abuse. Which is a crime. We ought to prosecute. The administration right now is defending the work of these border agencies. In some cases theyre saying theyre doing the best they can given the surge in border apprehensions. In other cases, people inside the white house, including the president , are placing the blame squarely on democrats. In just moments, im going to speak with one of the democratic congresswomen who was at that tour of some of the migrant camps. Im going to ask her what she saw and what she plans to do about it. First, lets bring in nbc news correspondent juliaanesly. Shes been going through the report detailing troubling conditions at Border Patrol facilities in texas. Thank you for joining us. We mentioned in this report, the says the Inspector Generals report that dhs did not take sufficient measures to address this crisis. What particular steps is the igs report saying dhs failed to take . Well, theyre saying they knew that the influx was coming and that it had been these conditions had been prolonged for months and they should have taken steps to get more sanitary conditions, in order to provide places for people to sleep, and that they should have alerted their higher ups in washington of this issue. Of course, dhs has been saying for some time that theres overcrowding, and they have warned about that, but there are other conditions that come up in this. And especially when it comes to the morale of the people, the detainees who are in there for a long time. As you saw one of those pictures, theres a child who is holding up a note there that says help, 40 days here. That is way longer than anyone is supposed to be in a Border Patrol facility. These are temporary facilities, not meant for anyone to be there over 72 hours. I also just want to take a step back here, steve, for our viewers, because they have been hearing a lot of reports of different terrible conditions at Border Patrol facilities. We reported on one yesterday on this show. Another Inspector General report. Most of these we first heard of were in el paso, the infamous clint, texas, facility. This is in the rio grande valley. The largest, high traffic area for immigrants as theyre crossing into southern texas. We have heard here about thousands of immigrants who have been stuck at these facilities for even weeks or months. Far past the legal limit. So let me just to put this in some perspective because we hear there are different anecdotes that you get from different facilities, as you mentioned. There are some big numbers floating around. I saw 144,000 apprehensions of migrants at the border in may. How many, do you have a sense, collectively when you look at all these facilities that are out there, how many folks are being detained right now for extended periods of time at these facilities . And also, do you have a sense how mane of these people are children . We do have some reporting that were working on. We know that the numbers have gone down. For example, in may, the numbers were at their highest. That was at 144,000 that you point out. Thats how many immigrants were apprehended or turned around at the border. In this case, were talking about migrants being held in Border Patrol facilities. As of may 30th, the number of children was about 2,300. Thats extremely higher. The total number of immigrants was somewhere close to 10,000. We believe that number has come down because the june numbers were lower. Partly because theyre sending immigrants back to mexico. Partly because they did get that bill passed last week that expanded facilities so they can move these immigrants out to i. C. E. And health and human services. And partly because the numbers are lower because of the seasonal difference. Usually, we see a drop in immigration in the summer because it gets warmer. Julia, quickly, again, to put this in perspective for folks, we hear so much, and we talk about children. There was the child separation policy of last year. Are these children that youre aware of, to your knowledge, are these children who have a parent or came with a parent or children who came unaccompanied . Thats a good question. The unaccompanied children are rarely separated from their parents. Since that policy ended, were back to where we would have been under the obama administration, where you only separate a child if its in the interest of that childs safety or if that parent is considered a felon and needs to face criminal charges. So most of these children came on their own, but often with a relative, a grandmother, an aunt, someone who could take care of them, but under u. S. Law, theyre not allowed to be that childs guardian, so they have to be sent to another facility. Okay, julia, thank you for taking a few minutes. Appreciate that. And democratic congresswoman judy chu from california was in that group of lawmakers who got a look inside some of these Migrant Detention Centers down in texas. She joins me now. Congresswoman, thank you for taking a few minutes. The conditions you saw, we gave folks a sense of what you and your delegation were saying after your visit. The conditions that you saw, how much do you think those conditions will be alleviated by the passage i know you voted against it, but by the passage of this funding measure for the border . Do you think it will improve the conditions you saw at these camps . I hope it does alleviate it, but im really concerned because it doesnt have the provisions that we fought for, which is a minimum standard of medical care, of hygiene, of the fact that the money should be targeted to the purposes for which it was intended. These are important provisions to make sure that the money goes exactly where it is supposed to go. And i was very, very disappointed that the senate bill passed and our bill did not pass because we have to hold the government accountable. The taxpayers expect it. What is your sense, the conditions that you saw, is your sense that it is more the result of, because you hear the case from the administration here, as we said, 144,000 apprehensions alt the border in may. That was up, i think Something Like 182 year over year. It was up six fold over two years ago. They make the argument that, hey, the border right now is just being flooded. These facilities are being flooded beyond the breaking point. And conditions like these, they say tragically, are going to result from that. And theyre doing their best to alleviate that. Thats the administrations case. How much do you think that is valid, or how much of this do you think is a result of the management directly in these facilities . I think that the it has a lot to do with the management at the facilities. Its my understanding at clint, the Border Patrol station where the unaccompanied children were, was there were open spots at the orr facilities where they could have been placed but they were not placed, and as a result, theyre being held for longer than the 72 hours. In reality, the processing is what is stuck right now. There are greater requirements that the administrators, the caretakers, are requiring, such as fingerprinting, such as background checks on those with whom these children could be placed. And as a result, its delaying things. And in fact, theres really no transparency on how theyre making these determinations as to whether a child can go out and be placed with that relative in the united states. So you have called for shutting down these facilities. How would you like this what would you like this process to be, to look like . How would you like the process to be handled for one of these children . One of these children who is unaccompanied . There are alternatives to detention. And in fact, its less costly. But if there is proper care, then these children can be placed. And in fac, if they get legal representation, they can have their case heard in a proper way. There are nonprofits and legal entities, legal clinics, that are ready, willing, and able to provide the services. In fact, we provide for funds in our version of the border bill that the bill that was just passed out, so that they could do their job even more efficiently. Its the Cost Effective way to go, and it also would facilitate the movement of these children out from these facilities. What was your assessment just of the management of the facility you saw, of the work that the Border Agents are doing . I know theres been some discussion today about this facebook group, some current and former Border Patrol officers. The officers, the agents that you saw doing their jobs, do you think theyre doing their best in a tough situation or did you have concerns there too . I was extremely disappointed to see the officials at the clint border facility sanitizing the situation. First of all, there was a high of 700 at one point at that camp, and when we went there, it was just 25. They clearly had lowered the numbers in anticipation of our visit. And then, they took great pains to show us all their supplies of tooth brushes, soap, and food. But when we asked them about the conditions that had been documented by these lawyers, they actually denied all of it. They didnt acknowledge a single bit of it, even though the lawyers had so, so detailed these toddlers running around in shirts that had not been washed, full of snot and tears. They denied all of it. In fact, they pointed to the toothbrushes and said they were there. It was blaming the children. They werent using those toothbrushes. Just to be clear what youre saying, are you saying that the folks managing and running the facility, you think, moved folks in and out before you got there, altered the conditions in some way before you got there . Go ahead. There is something amiss when you have them claiming that there is a gigantic surge at the border, and then we get there and theres 25 children. At one time, they had 700 children in the facility that can house 106. And so we got there, and there were only 25. Why . I dont know. They moved the children around. As you know, they move the children out, and then they moved like 100 of them back so they have this capability of doing this type of thing. Now, of course, this is on top of us learning yesterday about the Facebook Page of the cbp agents, which was shocking and disturbing. How could 9500 of them belong to this Facebook Page in which they laughed at the deaths of migrants and talked about throwing burritos at Us Congress Members because we were investigating, and then had denigrating portrayals of one of our congress members, alexandria ocasiocortez. What is going on there with the customs and Border Patrol agents . What is going on, and are they out of control . Congresswoman judy chu, thank you for taking a few minutes. Thank you. We should note, another bit of breaking news since we came on the air. The Trump Administration is apparently standing down on the president s threat to delay the census after the supreme courts ruling effectively blocking them from including a citizenship question. The Justice Department spokesman has confirmed to nbc news the administration will begin printing the census without the citizenship question. We have got more on the latest developments at the border coming up. And later, are moderates facing some extreme trouble . New numbers show 2020 progressives are gaining fast. Most people think a button is just a button. That a speaker is just a speaker. Or that the journey cant be the destination. Most people havent driven a lincoln. Discover the lincoln approach to craftsmanship at the lincoln summer invitation. Right now, get 0 apr on all 2019 lincoln vehicles plus no payments for up to 90 days. Only at your lincoln dealer. [its funny what happens when people get together. Plus no payments for up to 90 days. Holiday inn. Holiday inn express. 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Im joined in new york from Washington Post political reporter philip bump, msnbc political analyst and republican strategist susan del percio, and democratic strategist and former executive director of the new york state Democratic Party, basils michael. Philip, ill start with you. I was looking at a poll out late yesterday, asking that question, is the situation at the border a crisis . The number now is up to 74 . Its broad agreement among the parties. Thats a big shift for democrats in particular from four or five months ago when i think that number was down in the 20s. Now you have the parties agreeing theres a crisis down there. But not agreeing on much besides that. Thats exactly right. It will be interesting to see how thats affected by the fact were starting to see the numbers come back down as you saw in the previous segment. I think the fundamental question here is, if you are going to detain people who cross the border illegally or detain people seeking asylum as you start to process asylum claims, you have to somewhere to put them. If you have hundreds of thousands of people coming across a month and a system thats not set up for that, then you have some problems. I think that is fundamentally one of the issues that everyone can sort of agree upon. One of the places people disagree, for example, is whether or not those people should be detained, which we saw in the democratic debates last week. The problem for the administration, obviously, is these images were getting now, the images and reports we have been hearing for the past week or two are so emotionally impactful to americans that its real really, the crisis can be seen as these images as readily as it can be seen about trying to accommodate all these people crossing the border. I think its hard to estimate at this point in time how damaging this could be for President Trump in 2020. Not that everything is about 2020, but its still important to think about how will the administration, if were talking about partisan politics, i dont know how this will play, but its hard to see how they can put a positive face on this. In terms of what philip is describing, so many flashbacks to probably this time one year ago when all the talk was about the child separation policy. You can look and i can point to so many different areas in polling where i think polling on immigration is a complicated topic and there are areas where trump has tapped into things where theres more support, more of a popular sentiment than maybe democrats will admit or say, but when the conversation is overwhelmed as it was a year ago by child separation, by the stories people are absorbing, by the picture