eastern, noon pacific. find me on snapchat, twitter, instagram, tv kate snow. steve kornacki, it's not so bad. >> i like to complain. >> he walks in and says it's cold. it's not that cold. >> i got negative 12 according to my calculation. >> i have long underwear on. good afternoon, thank you for joining us on this martin luther king jr. day. i'm steve kornacki live here in washington, d.c. this also the start of inauguration week here. four days to go now until donald trump is sworn in as president. that's going to take place right behind me at the capitol over there. but topping our agenda right now, trump and legitimacy. >> in the heat of emotion, a lot of things get said on both sides. the goal is to bring america together. and we are a great nation. but we must become a greater nation. >> a visit this afternoon to trump tower from martin luther king iii, but on this king

holiday, that war of words between civil rights icon john lewis and donald trump rages on. more democratic members of congress now saying they will boycott the inauguration. one of them joins me live in just a minute. on our agenda, foreign policy shift, major changes in america's international policy expected when trump takes office. the president-elect detailing his plans in a new interview. >> and i said a long time ago that nato had problems. when it was obsolete because it was, you know, designed many, many years ago. number two, the country's weren't paying what they're supposed to pay. >> trump also now saying that german chancellor angela merkel made a catastrophic mistake by taking in refugees. we'll have merkel's response to what donald trump is saying about her. that is ahead as well. and martin luther king day at 32. how his legacy and the meaning of this day has evolved since

king's birthday became a national holiday back in january of 1986. all of that, much more ahead this hour. but we begin with our top story, donald trump and civil rights icon congressman john lewis. they remain at odds today. this after congressman lewis fired a shot on friday saying he does not plan to attend donald trump's inauguration because he does not think that donald trump will be a legitimate president trump responding over the weekend on twitter saying quote, congressman john lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district. tweeted out that loougs is all talk, talk, talk, no action or results, sad. both sides of the fight encouraging trump and lewis to talk on the phone today at the moment though, it appears that no discussions have taken place between the two men. donald trump coming down those elevators at trump tower for a brief moment this afternoon. this is after he met with martin luther king jr.'s son, martin luther king iii, he declined to

talk to the media. king's son however telling the press that meeting was productive, but he disagrees that john lewis was all talk. >> absolutely i would say john lewis has demonstrated that he's action. as i said, things get said on both sides in the heat of the motion. and at some point, this nation, we got to move forward -- people are literally probably dying. we need to talk about how do we feed people? how do we clothe people? >> and hallie jackson is on capitol hill covering the trump transition for us. hallie, obviously look, those words that john lewis offered on friday, those are very provocative words to say that somebody is not a legitimate president. the response from donald trump though, just as provocative. >> reporter: and that shouldn't be surprising, right steve? to anybody who has covered or followed or read anything about trump over the 18 months of his campaign. and now the two months of his transition. the reaction so far from the trump transition team has been hey, congressman lewis started it. donald trump is simply, if you

will, returning fire. obviously this is inflamed a lot of tensions and a lot of concerns among democrats in particular. you've started to see -- maybe like four, five, six democrats who prior to the comments said they would not be attending the inauguration, after congressman lewis said he would not attend, you saw the flood gates a little bit start to open up with more folks saying they would not go either. in some cases, you have people like, for example, california congresswoman barbara lee saying she is instead going to be organizing on that day organizing protests, working with that march that is set to happen on saturday. that women's march where there's expected to be a couple hundred thousand potentially people involved working with them for example of how to make her voice and their voices heard even more. so i do think that it is something that is going to play out, potentially for the rest of this week. but again, not surprising that donald trump would have responded to this given how much media coverage john lewis made when he first made his remarks on friday afternoon. >> and hallie, it would be

uncharacteristic based on everything we're hearing so far, you have had people around donald trump, special people around john lewis suggesting there be some attempt at a reconciliation here if not on the substantive issues, just in terms of getting them on the phone, any chance that could happen this week? >> reporter: sure. listen. i wouldn't rule it out, you've heard publicly members of the trump transition team say that of course that is a possibility. right. that the olive branch would be extended possibly on either side. i wonder about the timing of that. this week. i do think that's a question mark just given how much else there is going on, but i wouldn't rule out the possibility of the two of them somehow and some way speaking perhaps when some of this has cooled off, maybe after the inauguration, steve. >> all right, hallie jackson on capitol hill, hallie, thank you for that. new york democratic congressman jerry nader will. he's among those announcing he will be sitting out donald trump's inauguration on friday. in his statement, congressman nadler saying quote, we cannot

normalize donald trump and we certainly cannot turn our heads and ignore such a threat to the institutions and values of our democracy. joining me now, congressman from new york, thank you for taking a few minutes. the rational, you heard it, your colleague john lewis offered in boycotting. he said specifically, donald trump is not a legitimate president. that obviously is a very, very charged term he's using there. and i want to know first of all, do you agree with that assessment? is donald trump a legitimate president? >> well, i do agree with that assessment. i've make a distinction between the legal president. he won the way we conduct elections, but he's not a legitimate president because he's violated -- first of all because the election was tainted. it was tainted by the russians putting their thumb heavily on the scales and the fbi and director comey putting their thumbs on the scales. and that alone makes it morally

ill legitimate. >> what does that mean then? practically. because we had an election. donald trump won the election in the electoral college and set to be sworn in. if you're saying it's tainted. what does that mean practically? >> it means you don't give this president the normal moral authority and deference and respect auld president who won the election, a without taint, and b, without using the kind of racist, inflammatory rhetoric he used without the conflicts of interest that he has. without his intimidating the press. it puts an extra moral burden on him to try to unify the country which every president should do, especially after a devisive campaign. he has a particular obligation to do because number one when he wad a particularly devisive campaign and secondly because there are real doubts about the moral legitimacy of the election. >> so and you're basing this on

your own assessment of the affect russia's role, i should say any of these intelligence reports, any of these comments we've had from the community have not said that they think, they'd even address the question of whether -- >> no, the intelligence -- >> is there an issue there though, congressman, some people would look and say, democrats are looking for an excuse here. hillary clinton lost the election for reasons that had nothing to do with e-mails and wikileaks and russia, you guys are looking to deflect the campaign for a badly run campaign. >> when you lose an election by .56% of the vote in three states and also when you win by 3 million votes in the popular vote. anything affected the election. anything and everything. political decisions where she went, where she didn't go. >> sir, why say he's ill legitimate because of russia when you said it could be anything? >> because certainly the russians had a real effect and the fbi had a real effect. you can't quantify it, you can't prove it, but it's clear it had

a real effect. >> what about her decision not to campaign in wisconsin? >> that also had an effect. you cannot blame -- i mean, all you can say really is when you have such a close election, everything had a major affect. >> so the question becomes why make such a pointed statement about legitimacy because -- by your admission here, there are so many factors ranging -- you saying, russian, you're also acknowledging a strategic decision about campaigning in wisconsin. >> i believe -- you can't prove it, but i believe that tweenl the fbi and the russians, that did affect the election. that if those two things -- if either of those two things hadn't happened. hillary probably would have won, but in any event, there's certainly a real possibility and that affects the way you look at the election. doesn't affect the legality, we don't have a mechanism if r that. no one is saying that he shouldn't be sworn in and so forth, it certainly affects the moral legitimacy and it affects the fact that he should be bending over backwards to try and unify the country instead of

insulting people like john lewis. >> all right. congressman jerry nadler, democrat from new york, thanks for your time. joining me here on set, michael steele, msnbc contributor, former ravens chairman and bill press hostly of the bill press show. so let's start on this question. only fitting that after this campaign, the inauguration week is hijacked by this kind of a debate. michael steele, let me start, from the republican standpoint -- and i saw mike pence out there today making the point, hey john lewis started this. he's the guy who said that donald trump unt legitimate last friday, but, donald trump did not have to spend the weekend martin luther king weekend, going after john lewis in very personal terms. going after his district. making the comments he made, why does donald trump do this? >> well, i don't know why he does it. i think it's part of the make-up of the man, but i think this idea that well he started it, it sounds so schoolyardish. it sounds so small. you have the president of the

united states. you never punch down. you never punch down. a congressman says something about you, you just kind of threat role. when the -- during the, you know, president obama's first, you know, state of the union, he didn't punch it. he threat roll. you have to know the moment and appreciate the moment. that's one. two, i think this whole question as you just showed is a farce. it's something that out there that a lot of folks are trying to hang their hat on relative to what happened to hillary clinton in this race. i think you pressed the right point that it is a myriad of issues, why are you focussing on this one thing to say that this was or was not legitimate three, the trump campaign and trump himself needs to come to the table with guys like john lewis. because believe it or not, you're going need those folks down the road. you may not see it now, but trust me, in the future, the near future, folks like john lewis can give you a lot of cover. they can be help to feel you on

some very important issues, particularly given the agenda that the president has in mind. he's going to need help from a whole lot of quarters. you don't need to again with by alienating important sector was what will be a very uphill climb. >> i got to say, it's too bad that michael steele is not one of the voices around donald trump giving him advice on what when it comes to twitter. but on john lewis. first of all, i disagree with john lewis. i believe that donald trump is a legitimate president. i didn't vote for him, i don't like the outcome, but, he won the electoral college. he's the president of the united states. at the same time, john lewis has a right to say that and for donald trump to say punch down, to resort to a outly personal attack on john lewis i think is beneath the presidency. one other point. i also find it ironic that donald trump would be so upset about somebody questioning his legitimacy when he spent years questioning the legitimacy of

barack obama, up until about a year ago. and so come on, donald. >> this was a guy who popularized the birther movement. i want to ask you about this question, and it was in that statement from jerry nadler. you cannot normalize the trump presidency. what does that actually mean? he's not a legitimate president, but whatever you think of him, he is going to be the president next week. you don't vote on anything that donald trump is going to sign into law? even if he agrees? what does that mean? >> first, we all agree, this is not going to be a normal presidency. there's not going to be much normal about it. i think -- look, things have to move forward in donald trump's own wild ways. there's going to be issues. let's take frush. i think democrats and donald trump are going to come together and probably won't get much republican votes. he's going to be sworn in. the wheels are government are going to start moving. and it's going to be a rocky road. >> that sounds like there's some normalcy in there. >> there will be some. >> president on the other

side -- >> there will be normalcy. >> here's the other thing i want to show -- >> it should be. >> we pulled this out from the fall. do you remember the end of the fall campaign. donald trump was zmd a debate if he would accept the outcome of the election. he said, i'll let you know. i'll get back to you. this is what democrats said about that. take a look. >> we've been around 240 years, and we've always had peaceful transitions, no matter who won or who lost. if you lose an election -- i've lost elections. you don't feel very good the next day. whether or not you support me or you support my opponent, together, we must support american democracy. >> we have never in the history of our country, as heart fought as our divisions have been, ever, not accepted the results of the election. >> when you suggest rigging or fraud without a shred of evidence, when you try to sew the seeds of doubt in people's

minds about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy. >> bill, i'm looking at all of these democrats lining up to boycott the inauguration and saying, not a legitimate president. this is what they were warning about donald trump doing. >> absolutely. i say, i disagree with john lewis. she's come to that conclusion base odd whan he thinks was the excessive amount -- not the excessive amount, the russian hacking. he's one man. and i think again, i think donald trump would have helped a lot if we realized he went too far and just apologized to john lewis. a lot of these democrats who are not going to the inauguration tomorrow. you know what, it boiled down to who are you going to stand with? john lewis or donald trump. and that's what it amounts too. and that's unfortunate. >> does donald trump have it in himself to surprise democrats? to surprise people who didn't vote for him in the speech on friday? >> i think he does. despite all the crazy and lord know there's been enough of it, i think that on friday, the

president-elect then president looking at the nation, can issue a new clairon call, but he has got to play that part too. he's got to understand and appreciate the role he has to play in putting that call out there for the american people, particularly democrats, to come to the table together to solve the problems that the country faces. if he doesn't meet them halfway, don't expect others to join in that effort because it's just not going to be there. >> all right. four days away from the inauguration. this is the state of politics right now. michael steele, great to see you. appreciate you both being here. tonight, programming note for you here, you're not going to to want miss this, kellyanne conway going to join greta van susteren for a wide ranging interview. we're talking about obamacare, inauguration preparations, and all of this talk about boycotting. that is tonight, 6:00, for the record with greta. donald trump triggering new concerns. wide ranging interview he blasts angela merkel, he calls nato

obsolete. coming up, what are allies in europe are saying about what trump is saying. plus with just four days to go until the intering in. final preparations under way for the inauguration. police also greering up for what is expected to be a massive crowd of protesters. we're going to go live to the national mall next. [ crowd noise ] whoa. [ gears stopping ] when your pain reliever stops working, your whole day stops. try this. but just one aleve has the strength to stop pain for 12 hours. tylenol and advil can quit after 6. so live your whole day, not part... with 12 hour aleve.

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metropolitan police department has been involved since 1865. we're proud to be part of this inauguration as well. we've been involved as all inaugurations for a very long period of time. we are definitely prepared.

>> all right again, just four days away now from donald trump's inauguration. washington, d.c. in the midst of intense preparations. ahead of all of that fanfare. officials doing their part to help insure that the transfer of power from frob president trump is a peaceful one. they've got their work cut out for them in some cases here. as trump's critics promise massive protests hoping to disrupt those festivities on friday. our own cal perry is on the ground near the capitol, so cal, we're still a few days away, i know it's not just trump supporters you've had january 20th circled on their calendars. a lot of his opponents have been planning for this day too. >> reporter: yeah, no, absolutely. and the preparations have really begun in earnest. you're seeing these white platelets are spread out all on the national mall grass which is going to keep the grass from being ruined. one of the things we haven't talked about today is there's going to be about two or three days of rain that's going to hit the d.c. area.

so they're trying to protect the national mall. this is also around me is where that giant, massive fence willing go. all of these are different zones. all the way from the capitol back to the washington monument. are different zones. and they're securing the mall. now tomorrow what they will do is they will start securing the roads on thursday. that's when you'll start to see roads closed and the influx of people coming in thursday night and of course friday morning as you sort of played that sound coming in. the d.c. police are sort of used to this. right. they do this every four years. there are dozens of federal agency that will coordinate. and they're looking out for two things. one they want to allow people to move around the city as best they can and enjoy the inauguration. the second thing is as you said, the protest. nobody really knows how much protesters will come here on friday. we do know 200,000 people roughly are supposed to march on saturday. and that's that women's right march. authorities are ready not only for the inauguration, but for the follow on marches that will come, steve. >> all right, cal perry down

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all right. time now for a check of the head lionels at the half hour. president-elect donald trump meeting today with martin luther king iii. on the day that americans honor king's father's legacy and his life. king saying that he talked with trump about voting rights. the meeting comes days after that growing rift between trump and jha congressman and civil rights icon, john lewis first exploded. lewis saying in an interview with nbc news that trump is not a legitimate president. 30 democratic house members, including john lewis also say they will not attend donald trump's inauguration this friday. some say it is because of trump's attacks on lewis. others because of trump's comments on women and minority

groups. new poll finds that donald trump will take office on friday with a lower approval rating than his three most recent predecessors. 40% of americans say they have a favorable opinion of the president-elect about half of president obama's approval before his 2009 inauguration. the wife of omar mateen now scheduled to appear in federal court tomorrow on charges connected to last june's attack that left 49 people dead. orlando police say noor salman is charged with obstruction of justice and other charges for helping her husband to carry out the attack. more states are bracing for icy conditions from a huge storm barrelling through the planes and the med wis. the storm which covered trees, streets, and power lines and coating of ice caused plenty of accidents. it is going for five deaths in three states. president obama marking the implementation of the iran nuclear deal by warning it will not be easily undone.

donald trump vowing during the campaign to either walk away from the agreement or to renegotiate it. something iran says it will not do. vice president joe biden in ukraine on the final foreign trip of his vice presidency. calling on the trump administration to continue sanctions against russia. both for actions in crimea and eastern ukraine as well as the actions taken after the recent involvement in the election revelations. the president-elect suggesting that he could end sanctions in exchange for a nuclear arms deal with russia. the owners of the ringling brothers circus si a decade of reclining attendance and retirement of the elephants led them to close the greatest show on earth after a 146 year run. company says it is helping the hundreds of people who will lose their jobs. now turning back to politics, to the transition of power, president-elect donald trump raising concern today among our european allies. trump answering questions on

foreign and domestic issues during a joint interview with the times of london newspaper and a german magazine. comments about nato that it is obsolete getting the most attention today. >> and i said a long time ago that nato had problems. number one it was obsolete. because it was, you know, designed many, many years ago. number two, the countries weren't paying what they're supposed to pay. >> president-elect taking a lot of heat last year when he made similar remarks on the campaign trail. hans nichols joins us now from washington with more. so, hans, let me ask you, two questions here, first of all, in terms of the significance, to people who aren't steep in the details of foreign policy, when an incoming u.s. president calls nato obsolete, what is the significance of that? why does that cause alarm and what are the allies saying right now? >> well that will causes a lot of heartburn and concerns and some important european capitals. in part because nato has been the bedrock of stability in

western europe since the post-world war ii era. one of the things about the calling of obsolete, we heard the opposite from his nominee to be secretary of defense james mattis last week, listen, i think we have some sound byte, listen to how mattis had to put it. >> if we did not have nato today we would need to create it. nato is vital to our national interest. and it's vital to the security of the united states. it's vital to the protection and the freedoms of the democracies that we're allied with. >> now merkel herself hasn't really commented on this. she basically said she was asked about this at a summit in brussels saying, mr. trump has a lot of views. we know he has a lot of views. merkel is a master at not saying anything when she speaks to the press. her foreign minister -- not the foreign minister, the current economic minister, he was a little hare herber.

he came out and i believe we have either some sound or tweet from him, but i think we have some sound from mr. gabriel. okay. we don't have -- we have this, he's in brussels, and he's saying, caused it here and certainly not only here, comments are contradictory to statements of designated secretary of defense. so, you know, what's remarkable about this period is that we have a lot of embassies here in washington in a are trying to parse what donald trump is saying. they're trying to parse it and send it back. suffice to say, i don't think they're necessarily really have that much experience dealing with this kind of presidency. this kind of president-elect. one thing to note, we just had an interview in the wall street journal by the current finance minister, very powerful member of merkel's coalition. this whole interview was given before the interview that trump gave. and so in some ways, even the media has been slow to react on this. we'll keep trying to figure out just what the german and just

the pan european view is on this. concern though i think is pretty safe. steve. >> yeah, hans, the other issue there, the other question, something else that's causing i know generating a lot of buzz over there. donald trump talking about vladimir putin on the one hand. angela merkel on the other hand. and essentially not saying -- creating any distance between them, one currently our staunch ally, at least officially. the other one, we'd just imposed sanctions on, but donald trump is sending a signal what? that he says blank slate for the administration? >> both of them will be -- should be on notice that they can expect the unexpected. here's the issue with merkel. is that merkel was pushed by president obama maybe a year and a half ago, close to two years ago to really lead the push for sanctions on russia. now trump himself is saying that he doesn't know -- and these aren't the new sanctions that president obama just announced. these are the longer standing ones that have to do with the invasion of the crimea. trump has said he isn't

certainly whether or not he'll continue with the sanctions. in europe, they get renewed every six months. now they've been renewed through june, but in june, there could be some interesting conversations in brussels if they should continue these sanctioning russia if the u.s. has in fact lifted them. steve. >> all right. hans nichols, thanks for that. joining us now to take a closer look, nile starnd, and alaina johnson, national reporter at politico. here's what i'm trying to figure out, when donald trump makes noise about nato being obsolete. vladimir putin basically getting a fresh start and hey maybe things will be great. what's the appetite? what's the appetite within the republican party? the republican party has this long -- both parties really, republicans in particular, this long standing tradition of standing up for nato. this long skepticism of putin. what's the appetite to go with donald trump on that. >> this is not a part season issue. this has been a bipartisan foreign policy consensus since the post world war ii era.

nato was created as a ball work against soviet expansion. and now we have a president who is cozying up to vladimir putin and perceived to be cozying up to vladimir putin at the same time that he makes comments that undermine nato. that's i think going to be a cause of real bipartisan concern, an alarm among our european allies. the question is -- what action does trump follow through with or does he relegate the important foreign policy decisions to his secretary of state and secretary of defense? we saw jim mattis making comments in stark disagreement with trump. the sans we don't know right now. >> nile, is there a way to interpret this to make sense of this? i can't think of an example on an issue as significant where an incoming president sends one very clear signal, and his nominee for defense secretary basically says the opposite signal. who do you listen to? >> right. i don't think there's anything for that. one of the things that has stood

two previous secretaries of state is the idea that they speak for the president. that there's no daylight between the two. that's clearly not what we're seeing this time around. so there's a question of are trump's nominees simply giving their own view with the idea that they will ultimately persuade him to something closer to their view or are they going to try to pursue the plan he has charterered which is a different course. not just on nato. >> speaking of things we have never seen before, we are probably going to see a lot for the next four years. twitter. the entire conversation we had that started this show today was about this dispute between john lewis and donald trump which played out in large part over twitter, over the weekend, donald trump just going after one of his political opponents. and donald trump saying is well, in the interview we showed a clip from. he's going to stick with it. the real donald trump twitter handle is going to endure for his presidency. he think he's getting there thaw way. it does, people, there are plenty of people who roll their eyes when they see a tweet.

plenty of people that like it too. either way we have to figure out covering this, watching this, observing it, how to make sense of a president that is going to tweet impulgsive reactions. >> look, personal disputes you can sit to one side. they're important and they're interesting and anything thatth president says no matter where it is is important, but in terms of policy. this could have real important, fundamental implications for the course of his presidency. and you're starting to hear -- i'm starting to hear concern among lawmakers and even among some trump policy aids. they could work for months on something like, you know, to replace the affordable care act, and then trump could say in a tweet impulsively. i don't like that, and i'm going to veto it. he's not somebody who closely follows every discreet policy matter. and highs tweets could have a real implications in terms of undermining even the work of his own aids. so i think policy is what to watch on twitter. >> and he seems -- nile, tried to come up with the strategy donald trump has on twitter.

some having him playing 13 dimensional chess. it seems the two things that i can figure out are one, there's this almost primal thing where if you say something nice about him, he wants to praise you, if you say something critical, he wants to beat you over the head and twitter is the tool for that, even if you're john lewis. the other thing, he sees this as a tool to go over the heads potentially of congress. he mentioned in his interview as well what happened when the house republicans tried to move on that ethics thing, he turned against them on twitter. he rallied people, and basically was able, in his view i think to dictate what congress did. >> right. absolutely. look, politicians always dream of a way to go past the media, past everything else to communication directly with the people. on politics, donald trump's use of twitter can be quite useful. it can either get his message out there or pressure congress. she is quite right, the differences between politics and policy. and so whenever it gets into

delicate policy issues, be it one china, be it domestic issues, then that impulsety and that yurt of twitter in that context is much more dangerous and problematic. >> thank you for braving the cold here. come to washington, d.c. is a southern city and i'm complaining. thank you for that. still ahead, it is one of the donald trump's biggest campaign promises. the border wall and immigration. up next, msnbc's jacob soeb rov heads down to the border for an up close look at the reality of what donald trump has promised to deliver. stay with us. here?

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mr. trump, your campaign as you well remember began with the idea of building a wall along the southern border about 315 mile southwest of where we are right now. you said the mexican government

will pay for it. the former president of mexico, he said today and i'm quoting him. he said, i'm not going to pay for that quote, f-ing wall. so if you don't get an actual check from the mexican government for 8 or 10 or $12 billion, how are you going to make them pay for the wall? >> i will, and the wall just got ten feet taller, believe me. >> that was donald trump at a primary debate almost a year ago intensifying that promise that he repeated over and over during the campaign. that he's going to build a wall of the southern border and that he will make mexico pay for it. that promise came along with trump's vow to deport undocumented immigrants already living in the united states. msnbc's jacob soboroff is talking to the real people that have faced the threat of deportation as part of the series "what next, usa?"

. >> reporter: if donald trump follows throw deport as many as 11 million undocumented imgraduates from this side of the u.s./mexico border. we have a good idea of what that is going to look like. when you are over there in tijuana, it's easy to find people who have spent most of their lives living in the united states and they are not who you might expect. take a look at this. this is the house of migrants. and if you want to know what mass deportations in a donald trump's america would look like. you start in a place like this. how long had you lived in the united states? >> 29 years. >> 29 years. >> reporter: how long you been in mexico? >> three weeks. >> yeah. >> a little bit. >> yeah. >> your english is better than spanish. >> i was taking spanish as my second language. >> reporter: these guys are watching american tv. so what'd you do? you got caught, what'd you do? >> i got deported for a demeanor. drunk in public. >> reporter: second deportation? >> yeah, i've gone a back a few

times after that due to the fact that that's the world that i know. >> reporter: donald trump is known for his tough talk on immigration. but more undocumented migrants have been deported by barack obama than any other president. 2.8 million. mexico receives the most depor tees of any nation and the vast majority end up here, in tiju a tijuana. many new seek help at a shelter like this. but you'll find others at a place you might not expect. next door solutions could be inside any office park in the united states. the way it looks outside and what's going on inside, but if you take a look around this neighborhood, we're in the middle of an industrial area in tijuana. inside is a booming company only made possible by depor tees. sos what's going on in here? >> mostly sales for internet. we are trying to americanize the operations. >> reporter: he runs this customer service and telemarketing call center hired by american companies. how'd you end up here? >> deported. >> reporter: what happened? >> got into a confrontation with an older brother of mine.

and that was about it. >> reporter: that was it? >> that was it. >> reporter: had you ever been to mexico before you got deported? >> before the deportation, no. >> reporter: other than being born here, no. no vacations. no trips south of the border. >> either to montana or minnesota. >> reporter: do you feel like an american living in mexico? >> that's exactly how i feel. like a coconut. brown on the outside, white on the inside. >> reporter: wow. he said that anyone who's entered is subject to deportation. not just bad ombres and wants to deport on day one. that's already happening. during the obama era, depor tees with a criminal conviction only slightly outnumbered those who didn't. how long did you live in oregon? >> my parents when i was three. and deported when i turned 27. >> reporter: what happened? >> the lawyer messed up my paperwork. and they deported me. >> reporter: did you commit a crime? >> no. >> reporter: no crime. >> no.

>> reporter: and you lived in america my whole life? >> i worked for the post office. >> reporter: paid taxes, everything an american does. >> everything an american does. i have two kids there. >> reporter: what would you tell them if they said can you come back and live with us? >> they know i'm in a waiting process for a visa. they're just waiting. they're patient. >> reporter: would you be here without all the deportee coming from the united states? would this business be the same? >> no. not at all. these guys are the main labor for the industry. >> reporter: ironically donald trump would be creating jobs in mexico if he deports all the undocumented immigrants from america here? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> reporter: steve, donald trump will tell you that he wants to deport criminals and criminals only on day one from the united states. that is what president obama and his administration will tell you that they have been focussed on all along. that's why some people as a matter of fact have called president obama the deporter in chief. the ultimate irony here is if

donald trump does follow through with deporting them, he's going to create a heck of a lot of jobs in mexico. back to you. >> all right jacob soboroff on the southern border. thank you for that. going to squeeze a quick, and i promise quick break in here and as we go to that break, president obama for the final time welcoming a championship sports team to the white house. this afternoon this one very fitting for the president. it was the chicago cubs celebrating their first world series championship in 108 years. >> theo, as you know, his job is to quench droughts. 86 years in boston, 108 in chicago. he takes the reigns of an organization that's wandering in the wilderness. he delivers them to the promised land. i've talked to him about being dnc chair. [ laughter ] [ applause ] i can't wait for her to have that college experience that i had.

the classes, the friends, the independence. and since we planned for it, that student debt is the one experience, i'm glad she'll miss when you have the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. ameriprise

we all have high and low moments. this is one of his high moments. >> weird stuff to happens in the political arena. i'm just glad we got that deal signed. >> maybe that's what today was all about. the blacks now have the power to make politicians do things. as the president left today's ceremony, many in the crowd stayed. and they sang. ♪ >> that was nbc nightly news back in 1983 when then president ronald reagan signed into law the bill that created the

federal holiday honoring martin luther king jr. now that bill was not an easy sell initially. number of lawmakers, even president reagan originally opposed the king holiday. reagan was eventually swayed, and here we are more than 30 years celebrating mlk day. coming up we are going to look back at king's life. it's legacy -- his legacy and the relevance today. take a look.

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can draw, that we must draw from the life and legacy of dr. martin luther king jr., it is that adversity is not a cause for despair, it's a call to action. >> amen. >> a call to action. >> loretta lynch in her final address as attorney general remembering martin luther king jr., his vision for peace and equality in america. today, civil rights crusader is hailed as a hero who led a movement against discrimination. dr. king was still regarded with suspicion by many in the political world. even by president reagan in his administration. until the day in 1983 when reagan extended analive branch officially dedicated martin luther king day as a federal holiday. >> today mr. raig deny not repeat his statements that raised the possibility king was a sympathizer. the standing was based on image, not reality. note today, the president said

martin luther king stirred the nation's soul. >> traces of bigotry still mar america, each year on martin luther king day, not only recall dr. king, but rededicate ourselves to the commandments he believed in and sought to live every day. >> for more i want to bring in alvin tillery junior thanks for joining us. that's interesting just to look back to the political debate around the mlk day holiday and realize, you think of it being a slam dunk now 30 plus years later, at the time, this was a contentious issue. and i think use raeld, martin luther king, unlike many others we honor with a federal holiday. his roots were in activism. he was a controversial figure in his lifetime. >> absolutely steve, you have to realize that at the time president reagan signed that bill, a good portion of the country actually opposed the integration of american society. in fact we still live with many

politicians that served in that era, and were trained by folked that served in that era. and so this was a monument to sing that president reagan did and it was certainly controversial at the time. >> we talk about martin luther king's legacy obviously now almost 50 years since he was murdered. he had obviously the i have a dream speech, then you have barack obama the first black president, now leaving office. let me take it from the standpoint of the last eight years of american history. in terms of martin luther king's dream and in terms of the progress during the first black presidency, what do you think the legacy on the issue of race relations, what is the legacy end up being? >> well president obama has been an extraordinary president, but, you know, on the issue of race relations, he's tried to move the ball forward, in areas where he has executive power. but, in terms of, you know, getting congress to move forward on things like closing the economic gap between african americans and their white

co-nationals, president obama really never took on that challenge. and i think it's clearer that he was worried that taking on that challenge would sink his broader agenda. i'm not certain that that's true, but that's the calculation he seems to have made. frankly african americans are today after eight years of president obama in the same economic condition that they were when sort of the last democratic president left. there's still a substantial economic gap income gap between african american and whites. the wealth gap is higher than that. these are mass ifz problems that would work to fix them. >> interesting in the farewell address how president obama tackled the question of race. some said more forcefully more directly maybe he had at other points in his presidency. we will see if that's something he talks about more in his post presidency which again, four days away now. alvin tillery, i want to thank you for taking a few minutes with us on this martin luther king day. and that is going to do it for us this hour here in washington,

d.c. i'm steve kornacki, quick note tonight, 11:00 eastern, tune into the obama years with brian williams an intimate look into the successes and challenges the 44th president has faced. first, mtp daily starts now. more democrats joined in an inauguration boycott after the president-elect hits back as a civil rights icon. tonight on this martin luther king day, the latest fallout after civil rights icon john lewis. >> we must not be at peace with ourselves as a nation. and halt change that dr. king dreamed of. >> reverend al sharpton joins me with new reaction. plus the reality of trumpcare. how does the president-elect plan on delivering on his health care promise vowing insurance for