East & Central time friends: this is your one hour warning.
Our @DatelineNBC border special all about how we got here — The Dividing Line — starts at 7/6C on @NBC. #Dateline
Our @DatelineNBC border special all about how we got here — The Dividing Line — starts at 7/6C on @NBC. #Dateline
15 minutes. We'll be tweeting during the show.
A few of the many on our @DatelineNBC team who made The Dividing Line possible: @elizcole @erikaglass_ @pfryan @NBCiz @sidoolittle @AarneHeikkila @ChadBergacs @TimAlHarby @JaclynSpirer @MunirAtalla @DanaRoecker @rcolvill
#Dateline
A few of the many on our @DatelineNBC team who made The Dividing Line possible: @elizcole @erikaglass_ @pfryan @NBCiz @sidoolittle @AarneHeikkila @ChadBergacs @TimAlHarby @JaclynSpirer @MunirAtalla @DanaRoecker @rcolvill
#Dateline
And of course -- how could I forget! -- follow @DatelineNBCProd for the live-tweeted BTS on how this project came together.
3 minutes until showtime.
3 minutes until showtime.
Here we go.
@DatelineNBC's The Dividing Line -- about how we arrived at the horror of child migrants separated from their parents -- now on @NBC.
Tune in.
#Dateline
@DatelineNBC's The Dividing Line -- about how we arrived at the horror of child migrants separated from their parents -- now on @NBC.
Tune in.
#Dateline
Going inside that McAllen border patrol processing station, and seeing the kids separated from their parents in cages, was sickening.
#Dateline
#Dateline
The Chief of the Border Patrol sector at the epicenter of family separations told me 180 MS-13 members were caught in his sector -- he said a 300% increase.
But total number caught was 187,000 last year.
A *fraction of a percent* of the overall total.
#Dateline
But total number caught was 187,000 last year.
A *fraction of a percent* of the overall total.
#Dateline
I will never forget Sintia or the Guillens.
They're what this week has been all about.
We met them under the Anzalduas bridge in Mission, Texas.
#Dateline
They're what this week has been all about.
We met them under the Anzalduas bridge in Mission, Texas.
#Dateline
Donald Trump is hardly the first president to try deterrence as a border strategy.
Bill Clinton tried it in the 1990's -- it stopped the flow of migrants -- but it also had tragic consequences.
Death rates skyrocketed.
#Dateline
Bill Clinton tried it in the 1990's -- it stopped the flow of migrants -- but it also had tragic consequences.
Death rates skyrocketed.
#Dateline
We went out on a scorching April day in the desert near Marana, Arizona with a veteran of the @NoMoreDeaths humanitarian group.
They leave water out for migrants crossing to help save lives.
The Border Patrol was caught dumping them out.
#Dateline
They leave water out for migrants crossing to help save lives.
The Border Patrol was caught dumping them out.
#Dateline
Tom Kay is a cattle rancher in Southern Arizona.
He took me to his own personal stretch of border.
We're standing in Mexico here.
He wants a wall, but the Border Patrol drives him nuts.
#Dateline
He took me to his own personal stretch of border.
We're standing in Mexico here.
He wants a wall, but the Border Patrol drives him nuts.
#Dateline
We're halfway through the hour.
Up next -- the truth about the drugs Trump says are "pouring in."
Spoiler: it's not what he says.
Anyone watching?
#Dateline
Up next -- the truth about the drugs Trump says are "pouring in."
Spoiler: it's not what he says.
Anyone watching?
#Dateline
And violence isn't pouring in either -- as Trump says it is.
That's exactly what the Tijuana coroner told us -- and his city is Mexico's most violent. 6 murders every single day.
20 miles away, San Diego is one of America's safest big cities. nbcnews.com/news/crime-cou…
#Dateline
That's exactly what the Tijuana coroner told us -- and his city is Mexico's most violent. 6 murders every single day.
20 miles away, San Diego is one of America's safest big cities. nbcnews.com/news/crime-cou…
#Dateline
Jeff Sessions called El Paso "ground zero" in the fight against MS-13 and gangs.
But when we got there -- we didn't see anything like that.
Only 100s of American kids walking across the border to school daily.
They weren't scared, at all.
#Dateline
But when we got there -- we didn't see anything like that.
Only 100s of American kids walking across the border to school daily.
They weren't scared, at all.
#Dateline
Just after the zero tolerance policy was announced, I asked @SecNielsen about family separations.
She said families should go to ports of entry.
I told her 130,000 were turned away at ports of entry over seven months, including asylum seekers.
#Dateline
She said families should go to ports of entry.
I told her 130,000 were turned away at ports of entry over seven months, including asylum seekers.
#Dateline
For the record, we requested a follow-up interview with @SecNielsen after I went inside the McAllen detention center, where I saw kids in cages.
She declined.
#Dateline
She declined.
#Dateline
We found Sintia this week months after meeting her in Texas.
She faces an uncertain future -- now that AG Sessions has instructed immigration judges not to consider gang violence in asylum claims.
We asked why she wants to stay here.
"To not live in fear anymore."
#Dateline
She faces an uncertain future -- now that AG Sessions has instructed immigration judges not to consider gang violence in asylum claims.
We asked why she wants to stay here.
"To not live in fear anymore."
#Dateline
Thanks for watching -- and sorry for the #Dateline tweetstorm.
The next chapter of this story is tent camps for migrants and indefinite detention for families.
And of course reuniting 2,053 kids still in the custody of HHS that were taken from their parents.
We won't stop.
The next chapter of this story is tent camps for migrants and indefinite detention for families.
And of course reuniting 2,053 kids still in the custody of HHS that were taken from their parents.
We won't stop.
This ended up on the cutting room floor of our #Dateline special.
I met a coyote — a human smuggler — and asked if Trump’s wall would stop migrants.
“That’s not an obstacle for someone who is suffering from hunger, misery and poverty in their country.”
I met a coyote — a human smuggler — and asked if Trump’s wall would stop migrants.
“That’s not an obstacle for someone who is suffering from hunger, misery and poverty in their country.”
