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Obama Eases Families' Deportation Fears; Embattled Ferguson Cop in Talks to Resign; Rain to Follow Snow in Buffalo; House Speaker Comments on Immigration; GOP Hammers Legal Case on Obama, Immigration

Aired November 21, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, next steps on immigration as five million are told to get their papers ready. Lawsuits and members of Congress already threatening to block the president's executive order.

Plus the National Guard moving into Ferguson as the grand jury decision nears. The meeting between Officer Darren Wilson and the union rep that could give us a clue about whether he'll face charges.

And snow emergency. Feet of snow already weighing on roofs in Buffalo. Now a new winter threat to pile on in the days ahead.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

You can come out of the shadows, that was President Obama's message to as many as five million undocumented immigrants as he unveiled the most sweeping executive order ever to limit deportations. The changes apply largely to the parents of legal residents who have been in the United States for at least five years. They will be allowed to stay for three more years as long as they pass background checks and pay taxes.

But there is no path to citizenship. Tightening the border and deporting criminals also top priorities. President Obama had this to say to opponents who accuse him of breaking the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer. Pass a bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The president is headed to Las Vegas later today to peddle his plan.

Our national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is already there. She caught up with two families who -- who could be affected by the new rules.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To the nearly 40 million tourists who visit the strip each year, this is the Vegas they see, but behind the bright lights, a community of undocumented workers is quietly toiling away. Doing menial jobs to support their families, under the constant fear that they will be torn apart.

LORENA, DAUGHTER OF UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT: She says she thinks about it every day. It's one of those things that people who are undocumented think about it every day and it's a fear you have to live with.

MALVEAUX: Lorena, who only wants to use her first name, lives with that fear because she is here illegally. A mother of three, she and her husband clean homes and nightclub bathrooms to support their children.

LORENA: How was school today?

LUIS, SON OF UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT: Pretty good.

MALVEAUX: The youngest, Luis, was born in the United States but Lorena could be deported to Mexico at any time. Her 18-year-old daughter also named Lorena, however, is protected under President Obama's 2012 order to defer some deportations which gives children brought to the U.S. by their parents a two-year reprieve from removal. She wants Obama's executive order to do the same for her parents.

LORENA: I fear that at any point in time Immigration can come, knock on my door and take my parents with them and leave us here, destroying my family and leaving it completely fallen apart.

MALVEAUX: Lorena also wants Obama to provide a path to citizenship. She's an A student, an actress and beauty queen who also aspires to join the National Guard.

LORENA: I want to be able to help our country and the country that I was raised in, but I mean, something that I couldn't do.

MALVEAUX: But 25-year-old Jose Macias doesn't face those obstacles. He was born in the U.S. after his parents seeking fertility treatment across the border entered illegally.

MARTIN MACIAS, UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT: The people who don't have the papers, (INAUDIBLE), my son got involved because he's a citizen.

MALVEAUX: Jose's father Martin Macias has spent nearly 30 years in the U.S. working at McDonald's, in fruit fields, at a shoe factory and in construction. His wife at a casino before recently dying of a stroke.

JOSE MACIAS, SON OF UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT: She was very active and with the other mothers. MALVEAUX: Having just lost his mom, Jose is worried he could lose his

father, too, if his dad is deported. Jose believes his father has earned his right to stay and has made immigration reform his passion.

J. MACIAS: If you don't fight for what's right, then somebody else won't do it for you. It was always something that she always tell us.

MALVEAUX: A sentiment shared by Lorena as well.

LORENA: I believe I'm worth just as much as somebody who is born here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Good morning, Carol. And so the families we got a chance to really get to know here, this is good news for them. The executive order from the president, but there's also a sense, Carol, of some anxiety among the families who are living here because they say this is an executive order, it's a temporary action. This could be undone by the next president, not likely but it could be, and so there really is a sense that it's not permanent.

And there is this real palpable fear that we get from not only the students, from the kids, but also the parents that they just don't know. They go by year by year. They don't know when the next time is that they're not going to see each other.

COSTELLO: All right. Suzanne Malveaux reporting live from Las Vegas this morning, thanks so much.

And a reminder, actually not a reminder, this is the first time I'm telling you. Coming up in just a few minutes, House Speaker John Boehner will respond to President Obama's plan to overhaul the nation's immigration system. You see the podium is already set up in the Capitol with the flags behind.

When John Boehner begins speaking, and we expect him to begin speaking at 9:15 Eastern Time, in just about 10 minutes, we'll take Mr. Boehner's remarks live for you.

In other news this morning, as Ferguson, Missouri, braces for an announcement that could spark new protest and violence, the father of Michael Brown is pleading for peace. The grand jury is meeting today and could reveal at any time its decision on whether to charge Police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Brown.

Here's the public service announcements that Michael Brown's father released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BROWN SR., FATHER OF MICHAEL BROWN: I thank you for lifting your voices to end racial profiling and police intimidation. But hurting others or destroying property is not the answer. No matter what the grand jury decides, I do not want my son's death to be in vain. I want it to lead to incredible change, positive change, change that

makes the St. Louis region better for everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We've also learned that Officer Darren Wilson is wrapping up negotiations to resign from the police force, and he could make that announcement today.

CNN justice reporter Evan Perez has been talking with people close to these talks.

What are they saying?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, all these developments are coming to a head today. We're told that Darren Wilson has been in negotiations to resign and one of the things he's been waiting for is for the grand jury to wrap up hearing evidence. Now today we expect the grand jury to return here to the Justice Center here in St. Louis County.

They'll hear some final bits of evidence from prosecutors before they begin deliberations and they could make a decision later today. Now we expect that Officer Wilson will make a decision on whether to announce his resignation. He has told his friends, his associates that one reason why he was going to do this was to spare his fellow officers from some of the pressures that they've been facing, because, you know, Carol, there have been protests almost daily here, there have been a few arrests overnight even. And so everybody's bracing for what the grand jury decides this weekend perhaps.

COSTELLO: All right. Evan Perez reporting live from Clayton, Missouri, this morning.

Riot police clash with protesters in the heart of Mexico City, some demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails and burned tires. Outraged building over the case of 43 college students who vanished two months ago, protesters are demanding justice.

Mexico's attorney general say the students were captured by police on orders of a local mayor then handed over a drug gang to be executed.

Buffalo's historic snowstorm may be mostly done but the danger is not over yet. Up to seven feet of snow has paralyzed the city. Crews have been working around the clock to clear the streets but it could take another four days to complete the job.

The NFL has decided to move Sunday's Bills' home game to Detroit. The Bills will play the New York Jets at Ford Field on Monday night.

But here's the danger for the folks in Buffalo. Rain is now in the forecast, and as you know, that will create new problems because the snow is going to melt, the rain will add to the moisture and flooding is a real possibility.

CNN's Brian Todd is in Buffalo. Wow, what are you standing on?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we're standing on a huge pile of snow here at this dumping ground. This is the old rail yard just east of Buffalo. This is an idea of -- that you can get of just how difficult it is to dispose of this snow. The mayor says 29,000 tons have been removed from south Buffalo since the snow began and this is where they're putting some of it.

It's been a huge challenge here in Buffalo to actually get rid of the snow, and residents don't have any place to put it, plows don't have any place to put it in the side streets so this is where they're bringing a lot of it. A steady stream of dump trucks coming overnight and over the past couple of days.

I'm on a mountain of this stuff as you can see.

Now we talk about numbers. You know, what -- we measured this with our CNN weather team, the average house around here and what you can calculate as far as the feet of snow on a roof. We averaged it out, if you have a 2,000 square foot house and you have about four feet of snow on your roof that's 49,600 pounds of snow. That's about average for this area. Four feet of snow on a roof is typical.

And you wonder, you know, how a lot of these roofs can withstand it, a lot of them are not withstanding it. We were told by local officials this morning 30 roofs collapsed overnight, that's a huge problem here.

You talked about the rain and the flooding that's coming. Yes, there's rain coming tomorrow and over the weekend. There's a huge melt-off that's going to happen today and tomorrow. Flooding is a real possibility. They're already, Carol, preparing for some swift water rescues if they need it.

COSTELLO: It's unbelievable.

Brian Todd -- it makes me cold just looking at you. Brian Todd reporting live from Buffalo, New York, this morning.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, by the way, will speak at a Buffalo snowstorm briefing. That will happen at 10:00 Eastern Time. Of course we'll cover that for you live.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Republicans fighting mad and fighting back against President Obama and immigration. House Majority Leader John Boehner about to take the podium. What will it mean for the next session of Congress?

CNN's Athena Jones in Washington this morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. We've heard a lot of angry words from Republicans about this announcement, but what about action? We'll have more on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: All right. Let's head to Washington and House Speaker John Boehner responding to President Obama's plan to overhaul the nation's immigration system.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: And enforcing the laws that the president is sworn faithfully to execute. All year long I warned the president that by taking unilateral action on matters such as his health care law or by threatening action repeatedly on immigration he was making it impossible to build the trust necessary to work together.

As I warned the president, he can't ask the elected representatives of the people to trust you to enforce the law if you're constantly demonstrating that you can't be trusted to enforce the law.

The president never listened. And with this action, he's refused to listen to the American people. The president has taken actions that he, himself, has said are those of a king or an emperor, not an American president. And he's doing this at a time when Americans want nothing more than both parties to focus on solving the biggest problems in our country, starting with our still struggling economy.

And the action by the president yesterday will only encourage more people to come here illegally and putting their lives at risk. We saw the humanitarian crisis on our border last summer, how horrific it was. Well, next summer, it could be worse. And this action also punishes those who have obeyed the law and have waited their turn.

With this action the president has chosen to deliberately sabotage any chance of enacting bipartisan reforms that he claims to seek, and as I told the president yesterday, he's damaging the presidency itself. President Obama has turned a deaf ear to the people that he was elected and we were elected to serve.

But we will not do that. In the days ahead, the People's House will rise to this challenge. We will not stand idle as the president undermines the rule of law in our country and places lives at risk. We'll listen to the American people, we'll work with our members, and we will work to protect the Constitution of the United States.

REPORTER: Mr. Speaker, the president says --

BOEHNER: We all know what the rules are.

REPORTER: Mr. Speaker, the president says you could have prevented this, Mr. Speaker, by showing that the house was going to take action on comprehensive immigration reform. Did you miss the ball?

BOEHNER: The president made 38 unilateral changes to the Affordable Care Act. The president repeatedly suggested he was going to unilaterally change immigration law, and he created an environment where the members would not trust him, and trying to find a way to work together was virtually impossible.

And I had warned the president over and over that his actions were making it impossible for me to do what he wanted me to do. REPORTER: Mr. Speaker, can you tell us how you plan to respond, how

the House plans to respond when the House will respond, and whether or not you agree with Chairman Rogers that, given how these things are funded, the power of the purse through appropriations is not a constitutional avenue to fight this?

BOEHNER: We're working with our members and looking at the options that are available to us, but I will say to you -- the House will, in fact, act.

REPORTER: You started a piecemeal process last year or earlier in this year. Can you renovate that, can you reinvigorate it and move that forward? Or are you going to start from scratch?

BOEHNER: As I said at the beginning of my remarks, we have a broken immigration system, and the American people expect us to work together to fix it, and we ought to do it in the democratic process, moving bills through the People's House, through the Senate, and to the president's desk. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm pretty positive that was sincere, right?

OK, that's House Speaker John Boehner. He said the president cannot be trusted to enforce the law. As you probably guessed, Republicans are very angry with President Obama for using his executive authority to push through an immigration plan. Republicans and even some Democrats say that's, frankly, illegal and that the president should have waited to do things through Congress.

Athena Jones is covering all of this for us.

John Boehner is not the only legislator angry about the president's actions last night.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. Lot of Republicans are furious. We heard from Texas Congressman Lamar Smith who said that the president, with this announcement was declaring war on the American people and on our democracy. That's just an example of the heated rhetoric we've been hearing.

But so far, those strong words have not been backed up by a clear plan of action, and you heard the reporters asking Speaker Boehner about this today. We've been asking about this for the last several days.

There are some options that are being considered. One is to cut off funding to the Homeland Security Department.

The problem here is that the agency that deals with immigrants rights, that deals with immigration, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service is a fee-based agency. It runs on fees, so it makes it more difficult to try to cut off the funding from one area so that the rest of the government can continue to function but that's one option being looked at. There are some in the rank-and-file who want the Republican side to really press this and go as far as potentially shutting down the government. That's not something that the leadership wants to do right now.

Another idea that's been offered by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, he believes that the new Senate should block the confirmation of any of the president's nominees. So that would include someone like Loretta lynch, who has been nominated to replace Eric Holder as attorney general.

Also, the "I" word, impeachment. There are people who say they don't want to rule that out but again, that's the kind of thing that the Republican leadership doesn't really want to get into. They don't think that will reflect well on the party.

Other ideas? Censuring the president, passing a resolution of disapproval, and maybe a lawsuit. But there are a lot of things being discussed and it's just not clear yet, even though Speaker Boehner talked about how the president has been warning that he was going to take this action, they still have not come up with a plan. And so, that's what we'll be waiting for -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones, thanks so much.

I want to bring in Angel Reyes Rivas. He's an immigration activist, or advocate, college student. He is also a DREAMer, and Reyes' mother came to the United States illegally so her children could have a better life. She was deported back to Peru in 2009 but her son, Angel, remains here, working toward his mother's dream for him.

So, there's this bitter fight now going on in Washington, in light of what the president's done, you know, in light of what congressional Republicans are threatening, but there are real people behind this vicious argument, and you are one.

So, when you see heed lines in "The New York Post" like this one, right? "Banesty: bring your tired, your poor, heck, anybody into the country", because that's what the president is saying.

Is that what the president is saying, from your perspective?

ANGEL REYES RIVAS, IMMIGRATION ADVOCATE: First of all, good morning, Carol. There's always an opposition, and what I think is that 2008, President Obama promised working on the immigration issue, and it's a big issue.

So, he's being working towards it and the executive order, basically tackles that problem. I don't know why they're opposing -- Congress can do something about it as well. They haven't really acted on it. They haven't taken any action on it. We need the help and he's done it.

COSTELLO: Do you think President Obama was acting like a king or an emperor? Should he have left it up to Congress? RIVAS: He's not breaking the law. He's being, he's working under the

Constitution, and from what I know of, I think President Bush and Reagan also helped immigrants with an executive order. President Obama is doing the same thing.

COSTELLO: When you heard Speaker Boehner express his anger moments ago, what was going through your mind?

RIVAS: Well, I haven't seen much action on Congress about immigration, he can say whatever he wants. They're not acting on it. I mean, we're hoping, the community is hoping that in January when Republicans take majority in Congress, we'll see something towards immigration.

COSTELLO: Well, you heard what the president said. Congressional Republicans could pass a bill. Do you think they will?

RIVAS: I cannot see the future, so I hope.

COSTELLO: Are you hopeful?

RIVAS: Of course I am. I'm really happy that President Obama took action on it.

COSTELLO: Tell us what from your personal perspective. Your mother was deported in 2009. Can she come back and visit you?

RIVAS: No, no, she cannot. It was a really difficult time for me, and probably for many people that also suffered their families being torn apart by deportation, you know? But we're hoping to see a change and I'm hoping not to see like grown men like me going through that problem, going through that suffering.

COSTELLO: You're in college right now.

RIVAS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Working toward a degree. Will you be able to easily find a job after you graduate in the United States?

RIVAS: Well, now with the deferred action that President Obama helped us --

COSTELLO: Three more years thanks to President Obama and the executive order.

RIVAS: Basically now when I graduate I'll find a good job because I have a Social Security number, license and working application, so my dreams can come true.

COSTELLO: But only for -- because it's not really amnesty, because the president has -- it's only three years, right? That's what the president laid out and after the three years are up, who knows what could happen.

RIVAS: We're hoping that the next administration will follow Obama's legacy and still support the immigrant community.

COSTELLO: Thanks so much for being here this morning. I really appreciate it.

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM: Ferguson's embattled police officer striking a deal to resign from the force. But is his career in law enforcement over regardless of what the grand jury decides? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Happening now in THE NEWSROOM:

Is today decision day in Ferguson? Officer Darren Wilson in talks to turn in his badge as the grand jury weighs an indictment.

Plus, a new day, a new accuser in Bill Cosby's world as all eyes turn to his wife, Camilla. How long will she stay silent?

Plus this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's amazing. I think it's six years too late.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm angry because I feel the immigration system has failed our family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Five million undocumented immigrants, will they be allowed to stay in the United States? It will be a fight and not everyone's happy.

Let's talk, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(MUSIC)