Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Surge of Immigrant Families Crossing U.S. Border; Mayors Vow to Protect Immigrants from Deportation; Romo Passes Quarterback Job to Prescott; LeBron James Pushes Back Against Phil Jackson; Aired 10:30- 11a ET

Aired November 16, 2016 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[10:31:36] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Let's head right to Capitol Hill for some breaking news. Senator Chuck Schumer elected Democratic leader. They're holding their Democratic leadership press conference now. Let's listen.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Chair -- the next chair of the Democratic campaign committee and --

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), MINORITY LEADER: Stay tuned.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why (INAUDIBLE) today?

SCHUMER: Stay tuned.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Senator, what did you learn from the elections that is reflected in your choice?

SCHUMER: We needed a much sharper, bolder, stronger economic message. And we needed to let the American people understand what we all believe, that the system is not working for them and we are going to change it.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: At the Supreme Court, where are you willing -- were you going to draw a line in the sand?

SCHUMER: Again, first we're deeply disappointed the way our colleagues treated Merrick Garland. And I'll underline that we did not change the rules for Supreme Court because we thought on something as important as this, there should be some degree of bipartisan agreement. Last question.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You talk about the merits of Feinstein moving to Judiciary, and what that means for future Supreme Court --

SCHUMER: Dianne Feinstein has huge respect in the caucus. She will be a superb ranking member and she's going to have a very important job. Making sure that every aspect of the president's nominee is explored and brought before the public. Thank you, everybody.

COSTELLO: All right. That was Senator Chuck Schumer, elected Democratic leader. All right. Even before Donald Trump was elected our 45th president

the mere suggestion of his being elected and building his wall left thousands of immigrant families fleeing across our borders. The surge of immigrants crossing in the southwest so great this month, 150 more agents are now stepping up to handle the influx.

CNN's Polo Sandoval in Mission, Texas, with more. Good morning.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Good morning. Consider the mounting numbers for a few seconds here. In August, about 37,000 people crossed the entire border illegally. In September, about 39,000. Last month, close to 46,000 people. Add it all up, and those figures have already exceeded what we saw during the last migrant surge about two years ago.

We learned from government t officials that a bulk of some of those border crossings are happening on this stretch of the border. This right here is the Rio Grande that divides both countries. That land over there is Mexico. Many more families are expected to come today. But that lingering question, what could be behind this latest surge? Well, we came here to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): It's the second south Texas border surge and there are hardly any empty seats on the unmarked buses that pull into McAllen Central Station. Thousands of undocumented Central American families fleeing crime and poverty are again saturating America's immigration system. They turn themselves in to authorities at the border, are processed, then released wearing an ankle monitor and the promise of returning for a court date.

(On camera): What is it that brings you to the United States?

He says that the level of crime in his country is what brings him and his son Juan Carlos here.

(Voice-over): Before heading north, Carlos Cardona and his 4-year-old son made a brief stop at a shelter that opened its doors during the immigration surge of 2014. It's run by Sister Norma Pimentel.

[10:35:02] SISTER NORMA PIMENTEL, HUMANITARIAN RESPITE CENTER: The violence instead of diminishing they escalated and so we have families that fear for their lives, especially of their kids.

SANDOVAL (on camera): Well, volunteers have been walking these families from the bus station to the shelter and back for already two years now. But what's new are the numbers that we are seeing lately. And if you hear from some of the officials here in South Texas they will also tell you that there is another reason why so many people are rushing to the U.S.

MAYOR JIM DARLING, MCALLEN, TEXAS: They all know about President Trump. They all know about a wall. When you talk to them, they know that.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Mayor Jim Darling suspects it's no longer just violence and poverty in Central America fueling this wave.

DARLING: If you talk about building a fence, and we're not going to allow people in, I mean, you better get over here now before January and the swearing-in ceremony.

SANDOVAL: Back in the shelter, these new arrivals are weighing in.

(On camera): So who comes here fearing that Donald Trump plan to build a massive border wall?

(Voice-over): Among the crowds, we found this 17-year-old Diriam Fuentes and her father Neri.

(On camera): Now that you're here in the U.S., are afraid of the idea of mass deportations?

(Voice-over): Fuentes tells me she fears being returned to her native Honduras. On the banks of the Rio Grande more migrants emerge out of the darkness and turn themselves in to authorities. It's a seemingly endless flow of families arriving night and day.

PIMENTEL: There's a big fear in that community about what's going to happen. But ultimately, what we have to respond is to the fact that they are human beings.

SANDOVAL: Carlos Cardona and his son are starting the U.S. stretch of his journey. Like so many others who are now in their shoes, they face an uncertain future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Those additional 150 border agents already working this morning, Carol. The focus of their responsibilities will be processing all of these new migrants in some of these detention centers so the local agents are right here on the border, really working on some of those apprehensions -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Polo Sandoval reporting live from Mission, Texas, this morning.

Coming up in the NEWSROOM, students across the country, you see them there, they are taking a stand. These pictures taken just moments ago. These high school students walking out in protest in Rockville, Maryland. They are from Richard Montgomery High School. And said they're very concerned about undocumented immigrants.

We'll talk more about this next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:41:55] COSTELLO: All right. Welcome back. Out to New York right now, you can see that's the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio. He's about to get into the elevator to go up and meet with Donald Trump, the president-elect.

And Mayor de Blasio has vowed to defend undocumented immigrants so it might be a very interesting conversation. The mayor in Los Angeles vowed the same thing, to defend undocumented immigrants as did the L.A. -- the Los Angeles police chief. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF CHARLIE BECK, LOS ANGELES POLICE: We are going to maintain the same posture we always have. We are -- we don't make detentions or arrests solely based on status. If the federal government takes a more aggressive role in deportation, then they'll have to do that on their own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: In other words, no cooperation from the police chief in Los Angeles, California.

So let's talk about this. I'm joined by Providence, Rhode Island mayor, Jorge Elorza, and Dan Stein, who's the president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Welcome to both of you. Mr. Mayor, I want to start with you. Because you, too, have pledged to protect undocumented immigrants in your city. What does that mean exactly?

MAYOR JORGE ELORZA (D), PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: Right. So people in the community, they are concerned and they are scared because of what they heard from Donald Trump during the campaign, and for me it's very important to reassure all of our residents that, you know, regardless of what they hear at the national level, that they are safe here in Providence and we're -- and we have their back here at the local level.

I'm really encouraged that it's not just Providence but the cities across the country that have made the same pledge that if Donald Trump takes an even more aggressive stance, especially around people who are living otherwise law-abiding lives, that we're going to stand together and we're going to make sure that we stand up for our undocumented immigrant families.

COSTELLO: So, Dan, when you hear that, what goes through your mind?

DAN STEIN, PRESIDENT, FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM: Look, Carol, Americans are dying all over the country. They are victims of crime all over the country because there are towns and cities that are not cooperating with immigration authorities. Aliens who should have been deported have not been deported. We don't want to see this continue. And we want to see our immigration laws enforced.

Now non-cooperation resolutions basically mean these communities, these municipalities do not hold aliens who ought to be deported so that federal authorities can come and pick them up. But some of the rhetoric that we're hearing from some of these politicians sounds more like they want to actually obstruct the operation of enforcement.

We are counting on Donald Trump to overturn sanctuary resolutions, to defund it, and we agree with most law enforcement authorities and the National Sheriffs Association that these policies are a threat to public safety and national coherence. So --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well, Mayor Elorza -- Mayor Elorza, I want to ask you about that.

STEIN: We want to see this whole thing changed.

ELORZA: Well, let me jump in.

COSTELLO: Mayor Elorza, I want to -- I mean --

ELORZA: Sure.

COSTELLO: Are undocumented immigrants committing violent crime in your city?

ELORZA: You know, we've been very clear about this, that if folks are committing criminal -- if folks are committing crimes or if there's a criminal warrant or detainer, you know, those folks, there's cooperation with ICE not just in Providence but across the country.

We're talking about folks who are living otherwise law-abiding lives and what has been encouraging up to this point is that to hear Donald Trump has walked away from his, you know, more concerning and frankly terrifying rhetoric to go sort of house-by-house and door-to-door to find folks who are -- who don't have documented immigration status.

[10:45:15] And what we want to do for those individuals, we are not talking about folks who are committing crimes. Folks who are living law abiding lives, at the local level, we're going to stand by you and make sure that you can continue to be a part of our community. And so scaring folks into thinking that this is going to increase crime, that's simply not true and it's concerning.

What we are talking about are law-abiding folks who are otherwise just living their lives, going about their business. They should feel safe in our cities and mayors across the -- across the country are standing up to speak for them because they're part of our community. We're going to make sure that they're safe.

COSTELLO: So, Dan, Mr. Trump said on "60 Minutes" last Sunday that he wants to round up -- I don't know if round up is the correct word, but he wants to deport two to three million undocumented immigrants who supposedly have criminal records.

A, how exactly will he find those people, especially if he doesn't have the support of somebody like the LAPD chief, right? And B, how can he deport them if you don't go door-to-door to try to find them?

STEIN: Well, look, we just saw that there are now hundreds of thousands of people pouring across our borders because they know that if they get in the country, there's almost zero chance they'll ever be removed. But look, we have almost a million aliens who are under final orders of deportation. They are fugitives who had their day in court and haven't actually shown up for deportation. Those people would be first on the list. Naturally, violent criminal aliens, felons, people who are associated with terrorist organizations or what have you, they are going to be a priority.

But the basic rule of thumb is we have immigration laws and we talk about the rule of law, our immigration laws are being disrespected by millions of people all over the country. How do we expect to be a nation of laws, getting along as one solid community, if one group of people in this country basically say they don't have to respect immigration laws and can jump the line in front of millions of other people? That's ultimately what's at stake here.

If these mayors want to actually obstruct the operation of federal immigration law enforcement by lying in front of, you know, buses and that sort of thing, that is a felony obstruction of justice. Americans should not be furthering the effort of people to stay in this country illegally. That it's felony harboring and it's against the law.

COSTELLO: Is that your plan, Mayor? To lay in front of buses and would you risk arrest to protect the undocumented immigrants in your city?

ELORZA: Well, what I've told my community and what I will continue to tell them is that here in Providence we have their back and we're not going to sacrifice any of our residents because of what may be coming down the pike on immigration at the national level. And I do have to say that, you know, essentially what Donald Trump has laid out in the past couple of days as his immigration priority is essentially what Obama's immigration policy has been, to focus on folks with criminal warrants and criminal detainers, and if it gets extended beyond that to folks who are living otherwise law-abiding lives, that's where we have some of the most terrifying aspects of the campaign rhetoric being actualized, and that's where mayors across the country, we are going to continue to stand up in many different ways to make sure that our folks are protected.

That's what this is about. This isn't about folks who are committing crimes or violent crimes or have criminal detainers against them. This is about otherwise law-abiding folks just going about their business. They are part of our community and mayors across the country, we're going to continue to stand up for them.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Jorge Elorza, Mr. Mayor, thank you. Dan Stein, thanks to you as well.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:52:59] COSTELLO: There will be no quarterback controversy in Dallas. At least not for now. That's according to Tony Romo.

Hines Ward has more on today's "Bleacher Report."

Good morning, Hines.

HINES WARD, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, Tony Romo says that the Cowboys now belong to rookie quarterback Dak Prescott. Now Romo broke a bone in his back in the preseason when Dak took over as the starting quarterback. But since then, the Cowboys have gone 8-1. Now Romo is healthy and ready to play but in a prepared statement yesterday, he said that Dak is the man in Dallas now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY ROOM, DALLAS COWBOYS: He's earned the right to be our quarterback. As hard as that is for me to say, he's earned that right. He's guided our team to an 8-1 record and that's hard to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: LeBron James is not happy with legendary coach Phil Jackson. In an interview with ESPN, Jackson referred to LeBron's group of friends that he hangs with as LeBron's posse. Now LeBron didn't like that type of label being used for his inner circle and says that he lost respect for Phil Jackson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: If you go and read the definition of what the word posse is, it's not what I built over my career, it's not what I stand for, it's not what my family stands for. And I believe the only reason he used that word because he sees young African-Americans trying to make a difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: And after a weekend full of college football upsets, Ohio State found themselves being the biggest winners when college football playoff rankings were announced last night.

Now Ohio State they moved all the way from fifth to second. Michigan remains at number three after they lost to un-rank Iowa. Clemson dropped from second to fourth while undefeated Alabama still remains on top.

Now, Carol, Alabama is clearly the top dog but after that, it's up for grabs.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Oh, you know I'm for Ohio State, though, right?

WARD: Yes, I know.

COSTELLO: Can we just talk about the Detroit Lions for just a second? Because they are in first place and my world has tilted. Can you believe it?

[10:55:05] WARD: Yes. The NFC North is a coin flip. Anyone can win that division.

COSTELLO: So say the Detroit Lions will play on Thanksgiving and it might not be a terrible game after all, right?

WARD: You're right. You're right. There's hope in Detroit.

COSTELLO: There is hope in Detroit but it always dies quickly, doesn't it?

WARD: Yes.

COSTELLO: Hines Ward, thanks so much.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND BOLDUAN" after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Berman.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. Oh, if the walls could talk at Trump Tower. Side note, can marble talk? We'll see. Would they tell stories of teamwork or turmoil?

All eyes once again on the lobby of Trump Tower. Will the president- elect announce today his picks for more key administration positions? According to his son Eric, it's likely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Eric, what are you expecting for today? What are you guys up planned?

(END)