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More Snow and Rain Coming to Buffalo; Republicans React to Obama's Executive Order on Immigration; Ferguson Braces for Grand Jury Decision

Aired November 21, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin in Buffalo where there are new concerns following that epic snowstorm. Another death has been reported. That brings the death toll in Buffalo to 13.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is about to speak at a news conference updating this weather emergency. Rain is expected this weekend on top of the 85 inches of snow in some places. The weight of that snow already threatening more roof collapses. Crews are working 24/7 to clear the streets but that operation could take days and where are workers dumping all that snow? CNN's Brian Todd is in Buffalo with that part of the story. I guess they're dumping it where they can, Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're dumping it where they can, Carol, and this is one of the places they're dumping it. This is the old rail yard just east of Buffalo. I'm standing in the middle of about a 50-foot pile of snow. This has been a huge issue. As you just said, where to put all this snow. On the side streets as they're plowing and elsewhere it's just been a huge problem.

Once they plow a street they run out of places to put it. This is one of the places they've decided to bring the removed snow. The mayor of Buffalo says that just in south Buffalo, that's where they got hit the hardest, there have been about 29,000 tons of snow removed from south Buffalo and this is one of the areas where they are bringing it. You just mentioned the death toll now at about 13. Including two who died overnight who had been evacuated from a nursing home, the Garden Gate nursing home in Cheektowaga, New York where we happened to be just yesterday filming that evacuation.

You mentioned flooding. That's a huge issue here. They're preparing for swift-water rescues because the rain is coming. I'm going to be going between dump trucks here. The rain is coming this weekend, Carol, and there's a huge melt-off. All of this is going to start to melt today. It's going to be warmer and the rain will be coming so they're really preparing for the worst here as far as the flooding. But as you can see, removal is a huge issue. The dump trucks, a steady stream of them today, here's another one coming past. Sorry about that. But it's a very active scene here as they're trying to find a place to remove - to take all the removed snow, Carol.

COSTELLO: That's just -- what is that? Is that a facility where you are? Is it beside a road? Where is that?

TODD: It's basically an old abandoned rail yard. It was one of Buffalo's main rail yards back in the day, and it's been abandoned for years now. It's a good open ground. They still have some room to it, to put some of the snow, but they are starting to run out of that room, hoping for a melt-off today, but again, that's going to cause the flooding problems. They are in for another round of severe weather here.

COSTELLO: Unbelievable. Brian Todd, thanks so much, Brian Todd reporting live from Buffalo this morning.

Also this hour, President Obama due to head to Las Vegas to promote the most far-reaching executive action on immigration ever ordered by a U.S. president. The president's scheduled to leave the White House in just a few minutes. It was last night in the East Room that President Obama unveiled his plan to shield as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants, most of them parents of legal U.S. residents from deportation for at least three years. The measures also include tightening border security and a renewed focus on deporting criminals. Just last hour, Republican House Speaker John Boehner slammed the president for ignoring the will of the people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: You 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Michelle Kosinski now joins us live from the White House. I didn't think the atmosphere in Washington could get more poisonous but I think it just did.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly. And we've also heard Republican threats. Everything from lawsuit over there to even possibly impeachment, but the White House is responding on one of those counts. And they are saying that the president has not made a new law or changed the law. In fact, just this morning the White House called this plan legally unassailable. They say it is simply using legally permissible discretion in the way the existing law is enforced."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: (SPEAKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

KOSINSKI: With crowds chanting in Spanish "Yes, he could" in the freezing cold outside the White House, the president put his case for executive action before the American public.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT TOF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: These people, our neighbors, our classmates, our friends, they did not come here in search of a free ride or an easy life. They came to work.

KOSINSKI: At one point, quoting scripture.

OBAMA: "We shall not oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of a stranger. We were strangers once, too." My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants.

KOSINSKI: His plan allows the Department of Homeland Security to take certain groups off the priority list for deportation while keeping others high up.

OBAMA: Felons, not families, criminals, not children, gang members not a mom who's working hard to provide for her kids.

KOSINSKI: Putting more resources at the border and focusing on deporting criminals and those entering the U.S. most recently. The plan will allow immigrants who have been in America at least five years with children who are legal residents the chance to apply to stay for three years provided they pass a background check and start paying taxes. They will also expand such relief granted by the president to people brought here illegally as kids, the so-called Dreamers. For example, eliminating the age limit. And promises to streamline the immigration system, helping high-skilled workers, graduates, and entrepreneurs with a chance to stay.

OBAMA: What I'm describing is accountability. A common sense middle ground approach. If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. If you're a criminal, you'll be deported.

KOSINSKI: The speech was played just before the Latin Grammys. Cheers went up at watch parties around the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It gets me emotional so that maybe one day my mom will be able to -- my parents will be able to go back to Ecuador and that, you know, families will be connected again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously this is a huge victory for our community, but obviously this is not enough. We're going to still fight.

KOSINSKI: The plan, remember, is not a path to citizenship. The Republican response?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What he has done is thrown Article One out of the Constitution, put it into his own pocket and said "I'm now the legislative branch, too."

KOSINSKI: House Speaker John Boehner in a statement said the president cemented his legacy of lawlessness and squandered what little credibility he had left. To all of which President Obama responded with those three little political words.

OBAMA: Pass a bill.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KOSINSKI: We'll see if that happens. But at this point it doesn't look like it will. Also, this morning, the White House just released a fact sheet detailing how its team of economic advisors feels that the president's plan will help the economy. Growing the GDP they say over the next ten years, and helping to reduce the federal budget deficit. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Michelle Kosinski, reporting live from the White House this morning. Thank you. President Obama hasn't even signed that executive order yet, but he's already being sued over it. Controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio has filed a lawsuit asking a federal court in Washington to halt the order claiming it's unconstitutional. The complaint names President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Jay Johnson as defendants.

Several Republican governors, including Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Perry of Texas have also threatened similar suits.

President Obama's proposed reforms, though, are drawing a mixed reaction even from many who will benefit from it. For one so-called Dreamer who came here as a child, his family can now dare to be optimistic. CNN's Ana Cabrera has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANGEL OAXACA-RIVAS, UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT: We gave up our family to be a part of a bigger family here and sometimes that's hard. But now we're a little more included. It's a good feeling.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Angel Oaxaca Rivas is one of the so-called Dreamers. The president's executive action on immigration provides hope for his family.

OAXACA-RIVAS: For, I don't know, many years back, my parents worry about me that's how much I worry for them.

CABRERA: The 19-year-old pre-med student came to the United States with his parents when he was just four years old. His younger sisters were both born in America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My parents, they're the ones who took care of me. Why should they not have papers and I do?

CABRERA: Their parents had a tourist visa when they traveled from Mexico to Denver in 1999, but because of a poor economy and violence in their native country, they decided to stay.

(on camera): Why didn't your parents try to legally immigrate?

OAXACA-RIVAS: I think -- I've never asked them that. I think the process is just rough. I think when they -- when they got here they just thought, oh, this is a better situation for our son. Like there's more work here.

CABRERA (voice over): Dad sells jewelry, mom has her own cleaning company, both too afraid to reveal their identities for our story. Angel explains they have an I-10 number for tax purposes, but no Social Security Number, no driver's license. Angel works at a restaurant to help pay for his $15,000 a year college tuition.

OAXACA-RIVAS: I want to be a psychiatrist.

CABRERA: And he is grateful for some scholarships made possible only after the president took immigration action in 2012 giving him temporary status because he was brought to the U.S. as a child. Now under the president's new plan, Angel's parents can apply for protection from deportation for up to three years since Angel's sisters are American citizens.

(on camera): What do you tell those critics?

OAXACA-RIVAS: Give us a chance.

CABRERA: We still didn't hear anything about path to citizenship.

OAXACA-RIVAS: As far as, like, a path to citizenship, this gives us a better shot.

CABRERA (voice over): Ana Cabrera, CNN, Denver.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the "NEWSROOM," the president says he won't wait on Congress to take action on immigration, but this battle just beginning. So, what steps can Republicans take next? We'll have that conversation next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: President Obama's plan to overhaul the nation's immigration system has Republicans fighting mad and ready to fight back. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus tweeting "The Constitution doesn't grant Obama the power to act as a one man legislator when he disagrees with Congress." Senator Rand Paul tweeting what he called "The starter pack for the president who wants to be king. The king complete with a crown and throne." For his part, President Obama is firing back at his Capitol Hill critics with a challenge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: 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: So, let's talk about this. Donna Brazile is a CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist and Ana Navarro is CNN political commentator and Republican strategist. Welcome to both of you.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning. ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Buenos dias, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I love that, Ana.

NAVARRO: Si.

COSTELLO: Ana, I want to start with you. Some of the options available to the Republicans to fight back against the president is cutting off Homeland Security funding, shutting down the government, blocking confirmation of Obama's nominees, and initiating impeachment proceedings. Do you suppose Republicans will actually act on any of those?

NAVARRO: No. Maybe the one on the nominations, yes. But, frankly, that's something whenever the opposing party is in charge of the Senate that tends to happen, nominations get difficult because it's one of the things that the Senate can actually do effectively, hold up and block nominations. But, look, there's only a handful of Republicans and, frankly, nobody in leadership and nobody with the ability or power to get it done talking impeachment. There's only a handful of Republicans talking about defunding the government.

The chairman of the Appropriations Committee, therefore, the money bag man has said, Hal Rogers that you cannot defund this program because the agency that implements it is self-funded by the fees that are paid through applications. So I think they're going to look at legal options. There's going to be a lot of scrutiny to see if this passes legal muster. If legal scholars decide that it is not constitutional and that it can be challenged, you will see that happen. But if they decide that it is constitutional and, frankly, there's one option left, pass a bill that can be passed bipartisanly by the legislature that can address this problem comprehensively. I don't care if it's piecemeal or if it's one bill, but that can address the problem and make a solution permanent and comprehensive.

COSTELLO: Well, here's the thing, Donna. You know, the House Speaker of the Republican John Boehner came out a little earlier this morning and came down hard on the president, said he was acting like a king, he should have waited for the legislature to act. He said that this - the president's action further poisons the environment within the halls of Congress. So is it even possible at this juncture for legislators to consider a bipartisan bill?

BRAZILE: You know, Speaker Boehner with all due respect has offered nothing but lame excuses. There's a bill that is sitting right there in the house, he can pick it up with bipartisan support just like in the Senate and pass that bill today. Or whenever they come back home from the Thanksgiving recess. This is a broken system and what President Obama did last night, what he will do today, because last night he spelled it out, today he will actually sign the executive order, so maybe after they read it they might chill out a little bit and get ready for something else, or some other issue to whine about. But he has acted within the law, within the limitations of the law that prevents him from giving anyone amnesty. Congress has the full authority to move this bill, to pass a comprehensive immigration bill and if they decide to do that next year, I'm sure the president will work with them, put this aside, and we will finally fix something in Washington, D.C. and stop complaining and whining.

NAVARRO: You know, Carol, my understanding is that there is up to six months between the announcement and when this actually starts getting implement, so you're talking - you are not going to see implementation until sometime in the spring, maybe late spring if it's up to six months. Therefore the new Congress does have time to put something together that is with their fingerprints that is their plan that they can pass and that means this thing doesn't have to get implemented one day if they can get that done before implementation begins.

But you know, I think there's still a problem out there. This doesn't fix the problem. And I know why Republicans are mad. The number is very large. Five million, a very large number and it feels like a change of the immigration system done unilaterally and, frankly, it's hard to resist not calling the president emperor and those things when that's what he himself described would be the result of him using these powers.

BRAZILE: You know, I think this - you know, whether he called himself president or whatever, my mother used to say it's not what they call you, it's what you answer to. He's the president of the United States. I think the president has acted with the same authority that five previous Republican presidents and, of course, even Democratic presidents. This is not an overreach.

This is an opportunity for both political parties to find the common ground. We have a problem, we need to bring people out of the shadows, we need to make sure that those who are here not obeying the law, not obeying the rules, as the president stated last night, the criminals, not the families, deport them. There's a way forward that strengthens our borders and makes sure that people can come out of the shadows and that's what we should focus on today. All is this name calling sounds like we're back in second grade.

NAVARRO: Well I agree with you and you know what? I hope Congress goes back home, has a great Thanksgiving, has a lot of wine, a lot of turkey, thinks about all the positive things and all the things to give thanks to. There's going to be a lot of immigrant families giving thanks this Thanksgiving so, you know, let's find a way to move forward and craft a permanent solution.

BRAZILE: Give them some gumbo, Ana, the wine won't be good without gumbo.

COSTELLO: No, I think they need to be drunk before ...

NAVARRO: You know, Donna, in Miami we like to cover our turkey with bacon and stuff it with peccadillo. That gumbo stuff, just too spicy, man.

COSTELLO: Oh man, you are making me hungry now. I've got to end it there. Thanks to both of you, Ana Navarro and Donna Brazile.

NAVARRO: Jambalaya to you (ph).

(LAUGHTER)

BRAZILE: Oysters record.

NAVARRO: I love that.

COSTELLO: Happy Thanksgiving.

NAVARRO: Happy Thanksgiving.

COSTELLO: Still to come in "THE NEWSROOM." Ferguson, Missouri, a city on edge. The National Guard on duty. We'll have the latest on today's meeting of the grand jury and why Officer Darren Wilson has decided to resign. We'll talk next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In Ferguson, Missouri, an announcement inches closer and National Guard troops start to roll in. The grand jury holding what is believed to be its final meeting today. And that could mean at any time we learn its decision on charging police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. The attorney for Brown's family says their entire world hangs in the balance of this decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN CRUMP, BROWN FAMILY ATTORNEY: But the family understands after the decision of the grand jury they're going to have relief saying well, we have a chance at justice. Because, remember, this would just be an indictment if he's indicted. He'll still get his day in court, nobody was going to say he doesn't get his constitutional rights of innocent until proven guilty. But the real issue is if he's not even charged then the Brown family has no chance at getting justice for their child. They have no chance of getting their due process and that's what this has always been about, equal justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We've also learned that Officer Darren Wilson is wrapping up negotiations to resign from the Ferguson police force. That announcement could also come today. In the meantime, the father of Michael Brown is pleading for peace. Here's his public service announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BROWN SR., FATHER OF MICHAEL BROWN: I thank you for lifting your voices to end racial profile 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: CNN's Stephanie Elam joins us live from Ferguson with more. Good morning, Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's just one of the PSA - those public service announcements that were recorded that were asking for peace, and if the ones that we've heard, you only hear Mike Brown, Sr. asking - mentioning his son actually in the PSAs, and the other ones they all seem to be just talking to the St. Louis region in general, one that most people here will know the people that are in these PSAs will be one from the St. Louis Rams, a football team here. Take a look at what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are in this together, St. Louis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That can accomplish anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we work together --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All eyes are on us now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole world is watching.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our children are watching.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's make them proud.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Proud to be a St. Louisan, proud of how we move forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's better and stronger --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When St. Louis stands together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: So, you hear they're asking for unity, asking for people to work together and there's also one from Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee who was from this area, one from both St. Louis Mayor Slay as well. And you also that there's one from Captain Ron Johnson, who a lot of people became familiar with back in August and October when he took over from St. Louis County Police. He also has, I believe, two of the PSAs that are out there as well. So, really asking people to have cooler heads and let that prevail no matter what the grand jury decides, Carol.

COSTELLO: There have been sporadic problems over the past several days. Where there any problems overnight, Stephanie?

ELAM: Well, there were three arrests and every night in Ferguson outside of the police department there are people that are out there and there are interactions. So three arrests, pretty standard operating procedure around here as we lead into this decision here. But it -- it's almost weird to say, but three seems kind of calm, actually, from what we've seen over the different months that we've been here, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Stephanie Elam reporting live for us this morning. Thank you so much. The Attorney General Eric Holder, by the way, is releasing a message about Ferguson momentarily. We'll bring that to you after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)