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Trump's Immigration Plan; Massive Storm Makes Mess on Labor Day Weekend; Mother Teresa Now A Saint; Senate Battleground; Remains Found of Jacob Wetterling 27 Years Later; Albuquerque's Innovative Program to Help the Homeless. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 04, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour with Donald Trump and his campaign trying again to clarify what the candidate's policy is on immigration, something it has been struggling to do now for two weeks.

[17:00:04] Last weekend, Trump promised to lay out his detailed plan. He met with Mexico's president about the issue. And on Wednesday, it appeared that Trump did just that during hard-lined 10-point policy speech in Phoenix. He outlined his no amnesty policy and he said that every undocumented immigrant must leave and apply for re-entry to this country. His rhetoric was so tough, in fact, that several Hispanic surrogates withdrew their support for Trump following that speech. But today, the Trump campaign is offering conflicting views on what he really said and meant in that speech, either denying that he is calling for mass deportations, or skirting the issue entirely. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: And it leaves a very big opening for what will happen with the people that remain here in the United States after the criminals are remove and after the border is secure. And he says in a very, very important sentence, which everybody seems ignore, but AP, he says there that at that time, when America is safe, we will be open to all the options, meaning that Donald Trump, as he expressed in one of his interviews recently, would find it very, very difficult to throw out a family that's been here for, you know, 15 years and they have three children, two of whom are citizens. That is not the kind of America he wants.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But if they aren't criminals, do they have to go?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: He has said that you should stand in line and immigrate legally. And also, he has said that once...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you mean they have to go?

CONWAY: What I'm saying is he has said that -- and he said the other night and everybody can read the 10-point plan, at least we have one out there...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. But that really doesn't clear it up, Kellyanne.

CONWAY: Well, it does in this way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do criminals have to go?

CONWAY: Sure. Correct. But no, but he also said once you enforce the law, once you get rid of criminals, once you triple the number of ICE agents, once you secure the southern bother, once you turn off the jobs and benefit magnet, then we'll see where we are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it fair to say that you're not going to answer this question? Not just you, but the campaign. You're going to leave this as an open question throughout the rest of this campaign?

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Donald Trump's been completely consistent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it an open question? But he hasn't, because on the one hand, he said the deportation force -- everybody has to leave. He said everybody has to leave. We got to have borders. Now he's saying he's open to doing something different with whoever remains, which would be about half.

PENCE: Well, I think -- I think we really don't know what that number is or who that is until we do all of the things in the 10-point plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, let's hash all this out with our political panel. With me now, CNN political commentator Jeffrey Lord, he supports Donald Trump. In Philadelphia with us tonight, CNN political commentator Marc Lamont Hill, he leans to the left, and is the author of the new book, "Nobody: Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable". Thank you guys for being here.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Hello. That is what three big players in the Trump campaign said, Kellyanne Conway, Mike Pence, his running mate, and also, Rudy Giuliani. Let's listen to the man, let's listen to what Trump said in his own speech on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For those here illegally today who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only, to return home and apply for re-entry like everybody else under the rules of the new legal immigration system that I have outlined above.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: So, Jeffrey, what are voters supposed to believe when a candidate says one thing? You heard him say this.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: So we'll take Donald Trump at his words on Wednesday night. So why are three big parts of his campaign saying something different today?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you have to ask them. I mean, I heard his speech very clearly.

HARLOW: A lot of journalists did ask them. Jake Tapper. And then you heard it.

(CROSSTALK)

LORD: You know, and I really do think, Poppy, that there's a little persnicketiness going on here, in general, where the press coverage of this. He's been crystal clear about what he's talking about, absolutely crystal clear. I don't see any inconsistency here. You can't, as he has also said, get all of these people out of here and back in here on the dime. You've got to start somewhere, and you start with the illegals in this country who are criminals. I mean, you start there, and then you work yourself point by point through the program

HARLOW: So, Jeffrey, I agree with you that he was. He is the candidate who is crystal clear on Wednesday night in Phoenix. What's not crystal clear is the fact that Rudy Giuliani, a big surrogate for him, said something really completely opposite when it comes to mass deportations this morning.

(CROSSTALK)

[17:05:01]

HARLOW: They were not answering the question. I guess I'm just wondering, even you as a Trump supporter, did you wish there was a lot of clarity from all parties in the campaign?

LORD: Well, a consistent message all the way through helps.

HARLOW: Yeah.

LORD: Frankly, I know two of the three. I love Mayor Giuliani to bits, and I love Kellyanne. You know, I think they're doing their best to be very consistent here. I mean, you've got a 10-point program. The candidate has spoken. It's the candidate who's running for president. That's it.

HARLOW: You weren't confused? Because I'm confused.

LORD: I was confused by the press coverage. I don't just mean CNN. I mean press coverage generally. But I have the speech right in front of me, the 10 points right in front of me. It's pretty crystal clear to me.

HARLOW: All right. I want to bring Marc in. Marc, you know, this morning my colleague, Jake Tapper, on his program, State of Union, played something for his viewers that I'd like to play again because it struck me. It was Bill Clinton giving his State of the Union address back in 1995, talking about illegal immigration. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: All Americans not only in the states most heavily affected, but in every place in this country are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That's why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So, Marc, not in terms of tone, but in terms of policy, as a policy matter, how is that significantly different from what Donald Trump is calling for?

MARC HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's not significantly different. There is some difference. But in general, it's not significantly different. I think that's why many of us have been critical of the so-called left as well as the right on the immigration issue for decades. No one has come up with a sensible immigration policy that was enforceable. If you hear Bill Clinton's language in the '90s, calling them illegal aliens, talking about aggressive deportation, that's something that we've outgrown, in all fairness to Hillary Clinton. And I'm not a Clinton supporter. But Hillary Clinton has endorsed a very different immigration policy, a policy by her husband.

So we don't want to sort of blame her for the work of her husband when she's articulated a very different policy. I think the challenge though is right now, Donald Trump has also articulated a different policy, one that's different from his surrogates. He's stepped up and said hey, I'm going to have aggressive deportation. There's only one way to get back in this country and that is to wait in line.

Jeffrey Lord is 100 percent right for once, and that is Donald Trump has unambiguous on this issue. The problem is what he says has not resonated with voters, it has not resonated with many of his surrogates. And as a result, people are beginning to run from Donald Trump's statements. And as a result, you have people like Kellyanne Conway, Mike Pence, and Rudy Giuliani, who are all well-positioned in his campaign, and one who is his running-mate, who are saying wait a minute, it's not mass deportation. It's not politically correct in 2016 to take families that have been here for a decade and a half and throw them back across the border. And so they're trying to move both ways and you simply can't.

HARLOW: So here's how her campaign has responded to this. Here's part of the statement. What we saw today is Mike Pence and Trump's top campaign officials attempt to mislead voters about their mass deportation policy, by using soft words to describe harsh tactics, one of the oldest tricks in the book. On that point, Jeffrey, interesting article in the New York Times talking about the now that it's going to be Labor Day and this is a reset often times for campaigns in an official sort of last two months, let's go moment. It would behoove Trump to focus on the Clinton Foundation, focus on the e-mails rather than rehashing this immigration issue over, and over, and over again. What do you make of that?

LORD: Yeah, there's no question. I really do think that he will be focusing on the Clinton Foundation and the e-mails. I mean, particularly in light of the FBI report that came out on Friday, this is absolutely one of the big issues of his campaign, because it goes to Secretary Clinton's judgment or lack thereof, which is just appalling.

HARLOW: I want to look at some poll numbers. All right. This is a pretty new ABC News-Washington Post poll. Let's pull it up for our viewers, because it shows that Clinton's favorability among voters has fallen to 38 percent. That's the lowest ever in her 25 years in public service. But when you dig into the numbers, it also shows that her favorability rating among women dropped from 54 percent, not long ago, to 45 percent now. Among Hispanics, it fell from 71 percent to 55 percent. And even among liberals, at the beginning of August, it fell from 76 percent to now 63 percent. Marc, yes, she's leading in the polls, she's leading Trump in the polls, but what do you attribute these declines to?

[17:10:01] HILL: I think two things. One, I think the consistent Trump cycles have taken their toll. Donald Trump's been out there consistently with earned and unearned media, he's taken lots of jabs at Hillary Clinton, lots of critiques at Hillary Clinton and the trustworthiness issue. I think Hillary Clinton has not weathered that as well as she may have anticipated. And then the second issue is that in many ways, to use a football metaphor, Hillary Clinton is playing pregame right now. It's almost as if she's waiting for Donald Trump to make more mistakes. It's her game to lose in her minds. So she's not aggressively campaigning as much as she seems to be waiting for Donald Trump to say another thing that's ridiculous.

Now, in all fairness, Donald Trump will say something ridiculous, but I think she needs to aggressively assert her plan, her agenda, and her policy, rather than pointing out what's wrong with Donald Trump's.

HARLOW: Some have made the argument is she running out the clock, is she being complacent? And a lot of people certainly have been calling on her to hold a press conference. It's been more than 270 days. Guys, I have to leave it there, but I appreciate it. Good conversation.

LORD: Thank you, Pop. Thank you, Marc.

HARLOW: Thank you, Jeffrey. Thank you, Marc.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: It took 27 years, and now this weekend, heartbreaking news for the parents of this little boy, Jacob Wetterling. The remains of their 11-year-old son have been found, and people in this small Minnesota hometown are reacting to the news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been here for them, with them for all this time and hoping and praying. Thank God, finally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Next, I will speak with an official at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and get their reaction.

Also ahead this hour, tens of millions under tropical storm watches and warnings as Hermine turns off the eastern seaboard. How this could impact your Labor Day holiday. And later, making a saint.

What a moment at the Vatican this morning. Huge crowds gathering in Rome for the canonization for St. Teresa of Calcutta. You'll meet the woman whose miracle helped pave the way for Mother Teresa. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:15] HARLOW: The massive storm that is beating up and soaking a lot of the eastern seaboard is making quite a mess this Labor Day weekend for a whole lot of folks. What's making this already deadly storm so unusual is that it is expected to turn into a hurricane again. It is moving out to sea right now, and that's where it's expected to get stronger. Our meteorologist Tom Sater is joining me now in the weather center. Tom, you think when it's moving offshore, that we're fine, we're in the clear, it doesn't matter. Where is it now, and is that the case?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's going to sit and spin for a couple days, Poppy. If you go back to the history with this, it's more of a nuisance storm, but it has taken lives in Florida, to North Carolina, to Virginia. And now, it's going to pivot a little bit, like a little dogleg left, and then kind of hang out for a while. So, there are still some life-threatening properties with this, but if you don't put yourself in that position, I think we'll be OK. There's more rainfall in the panhandle of Florida several hundred miles away than we're getting with this. So it's not a big rainmaker. And again, many are surprised to see the sun out along the beaches. But the threat is still going to be the high waves, the rip currents. So there's a reason why you still have warnings in effect. In fact, up around the Cape Cod area, southeast New England, that was under a watch, it's not a warning because it's like a giant fan that's just going to be sitting for a few days, and it throwing waves of water on the coastline. Yes, many of them are flood-prone areas, but other areas are going to flood. Notice on the satellite how all the clouds get ripped to the top here.

We have high winds aloft. It's ripping away at this, keeping it from strengthening. But it's only four miles per hour away from hurricane strength again. But because of this pivot move, and it doesn't move for a couple days, when this first box is Monday at 2:00 p.m., then Tuesday, I should say 2:00 p.m., and we get into Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, it's hanging out here. It's such a broad storm, Poppy, that the winds circulating clockwise are going to affect the beaches and the coastline, all the way from areas say Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, all the way back to Delmarva.

So the possibility here, not just with rip currents, as beaches are closed unfortunately for the Labor Day weekend, but it's still a possibility to see three- or four foot of increased water. The system will spin for several days. We like them to see move out, and typically they do. History tells us they do. This one is just going to be pivoting for a while. So it's almost more of a threat not just for beach goers, but for fishing vessels and merchant ships. I mean, they're watching this, too. So a nuisance storm on your Labor Day weekend unfortunately as some wind gusts on the coast could approach 50 miles per hour. Again, if it was just a few miles closer, it would be a much worse story. But it's still a storm. We all need to know, it's still there.

HARLOW: Yeah, and still a deadly storm, as you've said.

SATER: Right.

HARLOW: All right. Tom, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Coming up after the break, many Catholic faithful have waited nearly two decades for this day, as the Pope declared the newest saint.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint. And we have enroll her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by the whole church.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Ahead, we will meet the woman who says she was healed by Mother Teresa, declared a miracle by the Catholic Church, making today's canonization possible. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:22:20] HARLOW: The late Mother Teresa is now a saint. A Vatican crowd estimated at 120,000 people looked on this morning as Pope Francis declared Mother Teresa the church's newest saint. The Catholic nun devoted her life to helping India's poor, known also as the Saint of the Gutter. Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity Sisterhood. And soon after her death in 1997, Pope John Paul II fast tracked her path to sainthood. Nineteen years later, with two miracles attributed to her, Pope Francis today held a canonization mass formally declaring her a saint. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS: she was your model saint. I think that perhaps we should have a bit of difficulty in calling her Saint Teresa. Her sanctity is so close to her, that we will continue to call her Mother Teresa, with so much sanctity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Alexandra Field spoke with the Indian woman whose healing -- whose healing, I should say, opened the door for sainthood for Mother Teresa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mother Teresa's ascension to sainthood is rooted in a modest village in eastern India. You believe really that you're here today because of a true miracle?

MONICA BESRA, MOTHER TERESA'S FIRST MIRACLE: I have been cured by Mother Teresa's blessings, not because of doctors' treatments.

FIELD: Thank you so much for having us here in your home. Monica Besra says there was a miracle here 18 years ago.

BESRA: I saw a spark of light emerge from Mother's photo and reflect on my tumor, she tells us. Later, a pendant given to her by one of Mother Teresa's missionaries was placed on that tumor.

The sister left the locket on my stomach where I had the tumor and tied a black thread there and put me to sleep. When I woke up at 5:00 a.m., I saw there was a photograph of Mother Teresa behind me. I told sister the big tumor in my stomach is no longer there. Then I showed everyone where the tumor was, and the locket.

FIELD: The majority of people here are Hindu, but after she was cured, Monica converted. There are about 10 families in the village who are all Catholic. They even built a church in Mother Teresa's name.

To the Catholic Church, she is a saint in part because of Besra's miracle, two are needed to fulfill the church's requirement for canonization. But Mother Teresa's critics say the canonization is more veneration for a woman whose deeds never measured to the size of her global reputation.

Some have made allegations about poor hygienic conditions at facilities run by her charity. A longtime volunteer from her organization the missionaries of charity rejected the claims, calling them rubbish. Dr. Chatterjee is one of her most vocal critics. He doesn't believe there was a miracle. He credits doctors who previously treated Besra, some doctors claim her tumor was really a cyst caused by tuberculosis.

[17:25:27] AROUP CHATTERJEE, MOTHER TERESA CRITIC: Even in India, hardly anybody believes the miracles to be genuine. The doctors made statements to the effect that they were no miracles.

FIELD: But Mother Teresa remains revered the world over. Catholic sainthood will further cement her legacy of doing good among admirers, among believers. To them, Monica Besra is living proof. Alexandra Fields, CNN, West Bengal, India.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Alexandra, thank you so much for that. Fascinating.

Coming up, politics and some Republican incumbents concerned that Donald Trump could hurt their chances of getting re-elected in November. Could split ticket voting be their key to victory? Ron Brownstein says not so fast.

Coming up, what history tells us about splitting the ticket, and what it all means for the race for the White House, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:29:30] HARLOW: Some Republican senators up for re-election in battleground states are trying to map out a win in November without any help from Donald Trump. Let's take Pennsylvania, for example. Pennsylvania's Republican senator Pat Toomey, "The New York Times" quoted him as telling reporters on a conference call last month that, quote, "Donald Trump is in a category unto himself", and he said the Pennsylvania voters quote will make a completely different decision when it comes to down-ballot races.

But are embattled incumbents relying too much on voters splitting the ticket? What does history tells us?

Ron Brownstein wrote a fascinating piece for "The Atlantic", joins me now from Los Angeles. And you put it this way at the end of your piece, you write this. You write, most Republican candidates have tied themselves in knots trying to separate but not break from their nominee. After all those contortions, many may find their fate uncomfortably intertwined with his. Make the case. Why not, why wouldn't a voter go and split the ticket?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, for the Republicans in the Democratic-leaning states to engender a lot of split ticket voting, will require a reversal of really the political history in the last four decades. We have had a fundamental change in the way we vote for Congress since the 1970s. you go back to the 1970s and 1980s, it was common for voters to split their ticket, to go one way for president, the other way for the senator. In fact, in 1972, 28 percent of all voters voted for a different party for the senate than they did for president.

But what's happened, Poppy, over the last generation is that Congress is becoming more quasi parliamentary institution, with the highest levels of party discipline and party liability since the turn of the 20th century, voters in effect have responded by treating Congressional elections more as quasi parliamentary elections, less about the individual, more about which party you want to see control of. And the result is you have seen a significant decline in split ticket voting, only 10 percent of voters in 2012, compared to 28 percent in 1972 split their ticket. And the result of that has been that it's become much harder for either party to win senate seats, in states that usually vote the other way for president, much bigger alignment between presidential results and senate results.

HARLOW: So more divided we've become really.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: You write here, we've seen a quote long-term evolution in voters' behavior, as you just explained. But then you noted back in '96, for example, what helped Bill Clinton could possibly help Trump.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. Right. So what Republicans did in 1996 and toward the end of the race when Bill Clinton was clearly ahead of Bob Dole was to argue that in effect, the presidential race is over. You need a Republican senate as a check from Bill Clinton that you're somewhat ambivalent about. You're already starting to see those kinds of arguments from Republicans, like John McCain has put that argument forward in Arizona. It will get louder as you go forward. Here is the reason why. As I mentioned, the alignment between the way states vote for the president and the way they vote for senate is becoming tighter. There were 26 states that voted both times for president Obama. Democrats now hold 41 of the 52 senate seats in those 26 states. Republicans are defending 7 of those remaining 11 in this election. And that's why this is so challenging. It's not where Donald Trump is overall, nationally, which is a problem enough. The particular problem for Republicans is when you look at states like Illinois, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, those are states where he is trailing presidentially and where their senate candidates today are all trailing. That is the absolute dead center of their vulnerability this election. That's why they need to maximize split ticket voting, and where again they are running against this tide of history.

HARLOW: So let me get your take on this. There's some fascinating reporting this week from our Dana Bash about the reverse coattail effect, right.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

HARLOW: She noted that right now you've got polls in several of these competitive senate races, showing GOP candidates, senate candidates outperforming Trump. Look at Ohio, or look at Florida, where Clinton leads Trump by 9 points among likely voters in this poll. Rubio in that same poll had a 5-point lead over his closest rival before he won the primary. So the question is could Rubio's popularity actually help Donald Trump at the polls, sort of the reverse coattail effect. Do you buy it?

BROWNSTEIN: I think they'll be happy if they can just survive the overall situation. Like I said, there are seven states that voted twice Obama, where Republicans are defending senate seats this fall. You can really divide those into two categories. The first group is Wisconsin, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, where Clinton seems to have established a clear lead. The second group is Ohio and Florida, and Iowa, where the presidential contest is much tighter and the senate races lean more toward the Republicans. Look, in many of these states, you may see the Republican run better than Donald Trump. The problem is they may not run well enough. The hole may be too big for example in a place like Pennsylvania, certainly in Illinois for them to overcome it. That's going to be the challenge.

Now, Democrats may have made this a little easier, because as you know, since the convention on, rather than trying to tie Trump to the Republican Party, Hillary Clinton core argument has been that he's kind of an option.

HARLOW: Right.

BROWNSTEIN: He's not representing the mainstream or Republican thinking, and that may make it easier for the Republican senate candidates to separate to the frustration of the Democratic senate strategists.

HARLOW: And they may be thanking her for that, the Republican senate candidates. Ron Brownstein, nice to have you on.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Voters don't split the tickets anymore. Thank you so much. Nice to have you on.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

HARLOW: All right. Up next, a major break in a Minnesota cold case from 27 years ago. You probably know that face. It is the face of Jacob Wetterling. And news now that his family has dreaded, their 11- year-old son confirmed dead. His remains discovered. We will talk about the community reaction and what is next in this case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:38:40] HARLOW: A mystery and a tragedy that consumed a small Minnesota town for 27 years is now closer to being solved this weekend. But it's no comfort for the family of the little boy at the center of all of it. Jacob Wetterling was 11 years old when he was kidnapped at gunpoint. It was 1989 and it happened in St. Joseph, Minnesota. His heartbroken mother now confirms that the FBI found and has positively identified Jacob's remains. More details on how they found him in a moment. First, though, how his hometown is reacting today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were all in that church service that night.

NINA MOINI, WCCO CORRESPONDENT: The same place they gathered in 1989 when Jacob was taken.

The prayers were different on this night. Darlene Becktold hoped for a long time that Jacob Wetterling would be found safe.

DARLENE BECKTOLD, ST. JOSEPH RESIDENT: From that moment on, life changed because you were afraid to let your kids go for a bike ride alone. You were afraid to let your kids go out of your sight.

MOINI: As the years passed by in St. Joseph, he was never far from people's hearts.

LINDSAY VOJTASEK, ST. JOSEPH RESIDENT: Everybody in this community has been talking about him all day, and my whole life.

[17:40:01] MOINI: Lindsay Vojtasek doesn't know the family, but she cares. Visiting the last place Jacob was seen alive.

VOJTASEK: I just wanted to show support for Patty and the Wetterlings, just and give some kind of love.

MOINI: It wasn't the ending they hoped for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emotional, the whole town.

MOINI: Yet somehow, they feel their prayers have been answered. Jacob is found.

BECKTOLD: We've been here for them, with them, for all this time, and hoping and praying. Thank God, finally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That was our Nina Moini of our affiliate WCCO reporting from Minnesota. And like I mentioned earlier, Jacob was taken by his kidnapper 27 year ago, all that time, his family never let go of the hope that he might still be alive. John Walsh of The Hunt will join me with me much more in the case next hour. He's done deep research about the Jacob Wetterling case. It is part of the CNN series, The Hunt. He knows the family very well.

Right now, I want to bring in someone else who knows the family very well, Bob Lowery. He is vice president of Missing Children's Division of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He was instrumental, we are told, in reigniting interest in this case that led to the major break that we have just seen this weekend. Bob, thank you so much for being with me.

BOB LOWERY, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Well, thank you, Poppy. I appreciate being on.

HARLOW: This is the name -- I was just going to say, the moment I saw this news break last night, Jacob Wetterling, it struck me so much. I grew up in Minnesota. My entire life, I just remember this family and this case and the nonstop search for him. You know the family personally. What have you heard from them, how are they doing, how are they coping?

LOWERY: We spoke with Patty just the other night, and obviously, this has been very devastating for the entire Wetterling family. This is obviously not the news that they wanted, nor did any of us. We were really hoping that we would find Jacob and return him home, just like we've seen with other children. Sadly, this wasn't the case. But in this case, the Wetterling's do have answers that they were desperately seeking, for the last 27 years had no idea. And that goes for the community as well. At least we know now what happened. But it obviously doesn't console us any.

HARLOW: Can you tell me more about your role? I mean, we know you were really instrumental in bringing the focus back to this and getting those answers 27 years later.

LOWERY: Well, you know, we worked with Patty and Jerry and the entire family. We sat down with the law enforcement in the county where the FBI, Minnesota BCA, we offered resources to the National Center. And of course, just two short years ago was the 25th anniversary of Jacob's abduction. Obviously, we didn't want to commemorate this as an anniversary, but a remembrance of Jacob and his life and the search that had been going on for so many years. So with the help of John Walsh and others, we came to Stearns county, we had billboards erected all over town who were partners of the Outdoor Advertisers Association. We did a media push, and we reminded people in that community we were still searching for Jacob. But we also worked on looking at a lot of the records from over the years. There were a lot of patterns of child abductions that did occur, or seemed very similar to what happened with Jacob. And it seemed to be some connections to those. And I think law enforcement was aware of them. But I believe we brought attention back on to those. And the FBI deployed some additional teams up there and was able to resolve what happened.

HARLOW: And what can you tell us about how was the FBI able to locate his remains? What was the central crux of the break?

LOWERY: Well, the offender that was charged, was in custody on the child pornography investigation. And obviously, I can't go into depth on that, but the focus as I have said was on that individual. Also, the FBI was able to work with local law enforcement. They found some evidence from years ago that they had tested and that connected this individual to another one of those similar child abductions that we believe that was connected and do know it was. So that was really key on getting this case broke.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Go ahead.

LOWERY: But it does remind us that no matter how long these children are gone, these investigations and these searches continue very diligently, not only by the National Center, but by many others.

HARLOW: Incredible work by all the officials involved trying to get answers for this family. You know, I was reading a little bit more about Jacob this morning. You read things like, he loved peanut butter. He loved football. He was going to the store with his siblings. And in St. Joseph, Minnesota, you can't think of a safer small town. And his life was ripped away. And his family could have chosen, as their foundation said in their statement yesterday, darkness. But instead, they chose light. And they did an incredible thing in their son's name, by passing a major law in this country that has changed things in every single state. What has it done?

[17:45:15] LOWERY: Well, Patty Wetterling especially has been a tireless advocate for children. She's been an amazing champion for protecting kids. And one of the things that was passed and became law was she registered sex offender registry that is so desperately needed, so that we can keep track of those offenders, especially those who are going to offend against children or have offended. And this has been really key on keeping us on top of the activities of these individuals, making sure that they don't offend again and protect kids. But Patty's done many, many other things as well over the years. Not only was she instrumental in that, she also has set-up the Jacob Wetterling Foundation in Minnesota. She became also the chairman of our board at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. So she dedicated her life and her energy in her son's name to helping children.

HARLOW: It's pretty incredible to take that grief and put it to action to help so many others like that. Bob, Lowery, thank you to you for what you did on this case and to your entire team, and for being with us tonight.

LOWERY: Thank you, Patty.

Next hour, as I have said, "THE HUNT'S" John Walsh will join me. He knows the Wetterling family very well. He will tell us more about this case. And then at 7:00 Eastern tonight, you will hear from Jacob Wetterling's parents in the episode about their son. We'll be right back.

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[17:50:30] HARLOW: All right. In this week's American opportunity, we hear a lot about jobs and the selection, the need for work for those who are struggling the most, and no one arguably have a harder time with this than the homeless. But there is one city who has found a way to get them to work, and to get them the help they need the most. We're talking about Albuquerque, New Mexico. The city's innovative program has a special urgency there after a community tragedy. The death of this man, James Boyd, homeless with severe mental ill and a criminal record of violence. In 2013, two Albuquerque police officers shot and killed Boyd after an intense standoff. You'll remember this video. That case put a spotlight on the lives of the city's homeless. The city did pay $5,000,000 in the settlement over the shooting and Boyd's parents donated $200,000 of that to groups that helped the homeless.

With me is now is Albuquerque mayor Richard Berry. He created a program called There's A Better Way. And it's a program where literally, mayor, you go around and help homeless people work. And you say it was an aha-moment that led you to create the program. Walk us through it.

RICHARD BERRY, ALBUQUERQUE MAYOR: Well, Poppy, thanks for highlighting the program. I live in a great city full of wonderful people and they're caring and giving individuals in Albuquerque. And, you know, e see people handing $5 out their windows because they want to do the right thing, but we keep talking to our community about there is a better way. I try to simplify government as much as I can as mayor, and other mayors all the country do that. I simply saw a gentleman who had a sign that said, I need a job. I went back to my office. I asked my staff to just come up with $50,000. Let's find an old man in a motor pool, let's give to one of the great nonprofits, and let's drive around the city and ask these folks if they would like to work for $9 an hour, help us clean up an already beautiful city. And then most importantly, at the end of the day, while they're getting their money, let's connect them with the mental health services and substance abuse services they need to get off the corner.

HARLOW: Because, you know, 24 percent of cities have banned pan handling, 76 percent have banned begging, basically, in certain areas. You as a Republican mayor, have taken a totally opposite stance to that and said, nope, we're not going to ban it, we're going to put these people to work. There are some limits, right. They can only earn up to $600 a year. Is it a Band-Aid? What's the long-term transition plan for these folks?

BERRY: It's a connector. So already, we've had 1600 people, Poppy, that we have picked up for day work that have been connected with permanent employment now. We've been able to house a number of them in our homelessness initiative called Albuquerque Heading Home. We have connected a number with substance abuse and mental health services. We've created over a thousand days of day work. We're giving people the dignity of work. And when you invest in people, they're much more likely to invest in themselves, so this is a pathway. Every city in America has panhandlers. There is a recent Supreme Court decision that is really going to squash a lot of these anti-panhandling measures around the country from what I can tell and what I'm reading. So, look, there is a better way to do this. There is a better way than handing $5 out the window. We're asking you to go to community to go to a local nonprofit and give your dollars there. Now, we can a collective impact as a community and we help more of these individuals that are going to need our help.

HARLOW: Look, if you look at the numbers, they back you up. If you just want to look at the data, you commissioned this University of New Mexico study on the cost benefit. What did you find?

BERRY: Well, with our housing first model, which we've housed over 600 people in that, I can tell my taxpayer, look, as a Republican mayor, I'm a fiscal conservative, we all care about the homeless. I can house the homeless for 31 percent less for you and I as taxpayers than letting them struggle for survival on the streets. So we already have a heart for the issue, now let's be smart about it. That's why we call that program a smart way to do the right thing, and better way is an extension of that. Let's reach out to these individuals. These are members of our community. They care about their community. We've cleaned up over 20 city blocks. They take pride in their community as well. Let's stop treating folks like second-class citizens and get them you know engaged in our community and most importantly get them connected to the services they need, so their life can get in an upward spiral. HARLOW: I think like you say, it's the dignity of a job, right? So

many of us walk by this morning, I walked by a man asking for money on the streets of New York, and I think oftentimes we've become immune to it, and these are the people that need to be embraced and helped the most with a job, with the ability to lift themselves up. Very quickly, before I let you go, it works in your city. Would it work in a big city like New York City?

[17:55:10] BERRY: We've had over 100 cities reach out to us around the world actually. I talked to cities in Canada and Australia, and other places, Hawaii passed a law similar to this to allow for this in Hawaii. Absolutely. You can do this to scale. I started with $50,000 two days a week. Those are the numbers I just gave you. We just doubled the program. This can be done anywhere, any town. There is always something that needs to be done and everybody has someone in their community that needs someone to reach out, and get them, to help them.

HARLOW: It's a fascinating program. Thank you for sharing a little bit about it with us tonight. Mayor Richard Berry, thank you.

BERRY: Thanks.

HARLOW: All right. Well, tomorrow is Labor Day. Traditionally, the real start of the race for the White House, but come on, have you been watching the news for the past year? This election has been anything but traditional.

Ahead, we will talk about the state of the race and the latest questions about Donald Trump's immigration policy and how his campaign is explaining it to voters now. That's next, stay with us.

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HARLOW: Top of the hour, 6:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm Poppy Harlow. Thanks for being with us this evening.

Today, the Donald Trump campaign once again facing questions about where the candidate actually stands on illegal immigration, the very issue that Trump made the cornerstone of his campaign.