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Protests Erupt in McAllen, TX, at Border; Children Separated from Parents Sent to Other States; Rep. Pete Aguilar Talks Immigration, Families; Trump to Speak at GOP State Party Conference in Las Vegas; "FOX & Friends Co-host Takes Heat for Comment on Immigrant Children; South Carolina GOP Congressional Candidate Seriously Injured in Crash; Toddler Illustrates Human Face of Zero-Tolerance Policy; Border Child Separation Policy is Making Some People Rich. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 23, 2018 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:00] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera, in New York. Thank you for being with us.

We have breaking news right now in south Texas. Shouting, chaos, anger. Protesters putting their own bodies in front of a bus at a migrant detention center. This is right along the border. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: This crowd face-to-face with Border Patrol agents in McAllen, Texas, as a bus loaded with children, we've learned, was attempting to leave the property.

Let's go right to the scene. CNN's Polo Sandoval is there with us.

Polo, who was on that bus? Do we know where it was going?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We don't. Ana, it seems that chaos has come to a close now. Things have come to a peaceful end here. After a relatively tense moment a little while ago, these members of a civil rights group, members from all over the state came here to McAllen, Texas, close to the U.S./Mexican border to stage a protest and demonstration outside a Border Patrol facility when one of these white unmarked buses that we know are used to transport some of these undocumented people pulled out of the facility and that's when the protest spilled on to the streets. Many members blocking the way and many waving to the people inside, including Denise Genovides (ph).

You traveled from Dallas, Texas, a member. Tell me about what unfolded. Did you come prepared to stand in front of a moving bus?

DENISE GENOVIDES (ph), PROTESTER: Definitely not. I didn't think we were going to see that. I mean, we came prepared to know we were going to protest and have a rally, but to see a bus full of children that I saw myself this little girl, I was telling her you're not alone, you know, we're with you, that way they know that. People are speaking up for her. She put her little hand on the window, you know, I saw a baby, little toddler in there. It was just very difficult to see. I'm a mother, you know, myself, and it was just very difficult.

SANDOVAL: What is it that you and the rest of your group know about the people who were on the bus, what kind of situation they may or may not have been in?

GENOVIDES (ph): This was unexpected, so we have no idea, you know, but that's something that we're definitely going to look into. We came here from a lawyer in Dallas and we're definitely going to look into what's going on and where they took these children, because we are looking for the girls. We want to know, where are the girls. And I saw girls in there, so we know they are transporting them. And as I was asking the Border Patrol agents, they say we're going to drop them off to somewhere. Where? Where? You know? To another state without their mother? You know? It's very difficult.

SANDOVAL: Denise Genovides (ph), thank you for your time.

GENOVIDES (ph): Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Good luck.

GENOVIDES (ph): Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Ana, it goes to show you this is, obviously, a very emotional debate. Immigration as it is, people are very emotional about both sides. Add children to the formula, to the mix, and this is the result. There are mothers and fathers who feel very strong about their position here, so much so, that they felt compelled to stand in front of a moving bus. We did ask some of the members of this group, and they told us that nobody was arrested. Very close to something like that happening. Crowd control did get called in and stood by. But things coming to a peaceful close here in the border city of McAllen just two miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, two miles from that line that many of these people cross illegally.

CABRERA: And, Polo, part of what is fueling this emotion is the confusion over what happens next. Since that executive order was signed on Wednesday by the president, meant to reunite families that had been separated, resulting in some of these children being taken to facilities such as the one there in McAllen, do we know if changes have been made and are reunifications happening at that facility, from that facility?

SANDOVAL: You know, just this afternoon a delegation of Democratic lawmakers from all across the country visited this very site before these demonstrators showed up. They went inside, saw for themselves the pictures that we have shown you. These pictures were provided by the federal government showing people behind some of this caging. And these Democratic lawmakers saying they kept getting, I do not know, from many of the personnel inside as far as when will this reunification happen, they said the answer was, they do not know. They are still waiting for more guidance on how to handle so many children. Well over 2,000 children still in the system being cared for by federal authorities. And it's important to point out, Ana, in the figure is both unaccompanied minors, who have come here themselves, and the minors separated from their parents, so mom and dad can be charged with illegal entry. As I can hear now, seems like the crowd is clearing out. These members are maybe headed home shortly.

CABRERA: Polo Sandoval, in McAllen, Texas, thank you.

I want to take us now from Texas to Washington, because it's not just a scene happening there. Migrant children were separated from their parents and they have been sent to states far from the southern border. Officials in Grand Rapids, Michigan, have received 81 children, some as young as 3 months old. In New York City, there are more than 200 children at one shelter alone. The question now, with so many unknowns, how are these kids going to be reunited with their families?

I want to bring in CNN political reporter, Tal Kopan, who has been all over this story from the beginning.

Tal, at last check some 500 kids have been reunited with their parents, but there are hundreds, if not thousands more. What is the plan?

[15:05:40] TAL KOPAN, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right, Ana. Just to go over what we know, we do know 500 children who have been separated from their parents have been reunified since the beginning of this policy, which took place late April, early May, the prosecution policy that resulted in these separations. We also know Customs and Border Protection told us that all of the children in their custody, which would only be children who have been separated within roughly the last three days before they would have handed them over to HHS, those children should have been reunited. So that raises questions about the pictures we've been seeing about that bus, because those children within DHS custody should be being reunited with their parents or already have been.

But the big question mark, we know probably somewhere around 2,000 or more children, who have separated as a result of this policy over the last six or so weeks, they have already ended up in HHS custody. And those are the ones that we still do not have a clear plan for how they will be linked back up with their parents and those families will be back to unified.

CABRERA: There are still questions about whether parents even know where their kids are.

KOPAN: Absolutely.

CABRERA: There are kids in different places, some as far as New York. Has there been a method to where they have sent children?

KOPAN: I spoke with an HHS official the other day and was told that the children who are being sent to far-flung places across the country, most of them should be going there because they believe there's someone they can be reunited with there. They believe perhaps a relative or family friend, someone who may be able to sponsor them out of custody. That is what should be happening. But they also make some decisions based on factors that are fairly predictable. Of course, space, where they have room for these children. Other factors like the gender of the children, age of the children, those sort of factor down which facilities can actually accommodate them. So HHS is making decisions about where to send the children based on those factors. Proximity to a potential sponsor and space and demographic type concerns.

CABRERA: We don't know exactly how this reunification process is going to play out, as we have been discussing, but based on the experts that you've been talking to, any sense of how long a reunification process could take?

KOPAN: Well, the real answer is it could take a long time. And here's why. When the Department of Homeland Security began implementing this policy, basically, what they did was once the parent was sent over to Department of Justice custody to face criminal charges, the child was essentially re-designated an unaccompanied minor, so they were re-designated as if they had come to the country by themselves. Once that categorization was made, they were turned over to HHS and they are subject to all the same policies as if a child had come here by themselves, which means that HHS can't even legally release them except to someone who qualifies as a sponsor. Now, the parent when they come back from those criminal charges, which only take a few days, they go into an adult detention facility with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Those children can't be released into those facilities. So it creates a system where perhaps on the eve of deportation for the parent, or if the parent somehow is released from custody, those are really the only two points we know of at this point that they can begin to try to get their children back. And as far as we know, there's no plan placing the responsibility on the government to proactively bring these children to their parents. It is on the parent and the lawyers and caseworkers who are working with them to track down these children and try to get the gears turning at this moment in time.

CABRERA: We can all only imagine at this point how complex this process really is.

Tal Kopan, thank you very much for giving us your insight and knowledge into what's happening.

There's the short term, of course, then the long-term situation on all things immigration.

Joining us to discuss is Democrat Congressman Pete Aguilar, from California.

Congressman, in your view, clearly, the situation isn't over. Has the Trump administration righted the ship in ending the family separations? [15:09:45] REP. PETER AGUILAR, (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, they haven't.

They haven't given any clarity. As Tal just mentioned, there's been a series of actions over the last 72 hours, but none have given clarity as to how we end family separation and how we reunite these families. The administration has thrown up continued barriers and haven't given any guidance on how we should do this. This is what Congress should step in and play a role. Unfortunately, the administration has created this crisis. Even though they could solve it, they choose not to.

CABRERA: What role does Congress have then in addressing the root of the problem?

AGUILAR: Every Democrat has signed on to a bill that would end family separation and begin that family reunification process. If the president won't end this, then Congress should. We have a role to play here. But the American public should know the president created this crisis. And then he has backed away from this. And he's gone back and forth waffling, offering no leadership as to what we should do and how we reunite those over 2300 children to their parents.

CABRERA: I hear what you're saying, but I guess I'm asking for specifics. If you think you have the answer on how to reunite the families, what is the answer?

AGUILAR: Well, we know what doesn't work. What doesn't work is forced family internment, which is exactly what the Trump administration, as well as the Paul Ryan compromise bill does. It would create a scenario where all the family is detained together indefinitely. But if you want solutions, there was a program management plan that resulted in 99 percent success rate. So while individuals were going through the judicial process, the asylum process --

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: Right. Those were asylum seekers specifically.

AGUILAR: Exactly. But they would be allowed to have case management work done. A 99 percent success rate. By the way, that costs $30 per family. Right now, the cost alone to these detentions is astronomical, $700 per child separated per night, $300 per family unit if they are all kept together. Why not have a program that has a proven success rate of 99 percent where we can monitor, where we can track, where we can really work these cases to ensure that individuals have the justice that they are allowed within our asylum process?

CABRERA: The president and other Republicans have accused Democrats for being for open borders. Is that the case?

AGUILAR: That's not true. But we can't -- the rule of the road is to have asylum process and have individuals be prepared and be allowed to file for asylum. What the president says related to immigration, if the president's speaking related to immigration, he's probably lying. That's the unfortunate part of this scenario. Republicans have walked away from bipartisan solutions for immigration reform. Just this week, they abandoned bipartisan efforts in favor of Republican-only efforts that still didn't pass. And they are going to continue to advocate for Republican-only solutions next week that might have even less support than the bill on the floor this week in Congress.

CABRERA: Don't Democrats need to work with Republicans, though, given that Republicans are, in fact, the ruling party right now? There were more Republicans elected in the last several elections than Democrats, and so doesn't that give them a little bit of the leadership role here in terms of making a solution?

AGUILAR: We prefer to call them the majority party rather than the ruling party. But what I would say is, there are bipartisan solutions available. I've introduced a bill, and the lead Democratic co-author, her bill, the USA Act, with Republican Will Hurd, from Texas.

CABRERA: Will Hurd, right.

AGUILAR: Exactly. So that pairs a DACA solution with modest border security, having operational control of our southern border, but doing so in a way that creates a path to citizenship. And 30 Republicans, 30 Democrats on the bill. If that bill was on the House floor next week instead of a partisan bill that the speaker is advocating, we would have more than 218 votes and send it over to the Senate. This exact bill was introduced in the Senate, as well. McCain-Coons received more than 50 votes. We don't have the 60-vote threshold. But this is what needs to happen. We need to work in a bipartisan way in order to solve this. Democrats have come forward, signed a discharge petition, 23 Republicans did. We fell two signatures short of a discharge and, unfortunately, Republicans, most Republicans, abandoned those bipartisan efforts this week.

CABRERA: There's this bill, the so-called compromise bill, though we understand Republicans are hoping to put a vote up for everybody in the House this upcoming week. It does have protection for DREAMers. It does address the separations at the border between family members. It does have some money for the president's wall. That's why they are calling it a compromise bill. Why not support that one?

AGUILAR: Well, I won't be supporting this and no Democrat should be supporting this. And this is exactly why. This doesn't have a true path for DREAMers. The Libertarian Cato Institute said only 18 percent of DREAMers would qualify. This is a fake path for DREAMers. It would codify the president's -- what the president wants, which is forcing families into internment camps, and spend $7 billion for these detention facilities. This is not a compromise of Congress. This is a compromise between the right and the far right. And that's not a viable solution. While ending family reunification and stealing visas from the diversity lottery in order to get there, potentially, a 23- year path to citizenship for some. This is a wrong bill at the wrong time. We need to focus on bipartisan efforts.

[15:15:39] CABRERA: Congressman Pete Aguilar, thank you very much for joining us.

AGUILAR: Thank you. CABRERA: Coming up, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says she was kicked out of a Virginia restaurant because she works for the president. That story ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:11] CABRERA: Any moment now, the president is expected to speak in front of a crowd at a casino in Las Vegas. We have reporters both inside and outside the event.

Our Sarah Westwood is there with the president.

Sarah, fill us in on what's going on, what we can expect.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN REPORTER: President Trump here to address the Nevada state party convention. President Trump's remarks are expected to focus on the needs to expand GOP congressional majorities in November. It's a theme he's returned to repeatedly this week as immigration talks in the House have hit a series of complications. Trump has argued that the immigration push he backed as recently as this week should perhaps be put on hold until more Republicans are elected. So in that context, we may see President Trump bring up immigration. He's also expected to add some support to incumbent Senator Dean Heller, considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans heading into this cycle. President Trump greeted here in Las Vegas by protests because this is happening against the backdrop of national outrage over his zero-tolerance immigration policy -- Ana?

CABRERA: Sarah Westwood, we know you'll continue to keep up posted. Thank you.

Politics and immigration continue to play out, sparking fierce rhetoric. "FOX and Friends" co-host, Brian Kilmeade, is now apologizing after taking heat for comments he made on children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN KILMEADE, CO-HOST, FOX & FRIENDS: Like it or not, these aren't our kids. Show them compassion. But it's not like he's doing this to the people of Idaho or Texas. These are people from another country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Kilmeade later tweeted an apology saying, "I didn't mean to make it seem like children coming into the U.S. illegally are less important because they live in another country. I have compassion for all children, especially for all the kids separated from their parents right now. Nobody wants to see children in these circumstances. Glad they are on their way to being reunited with their parents."

Let's talk it over with two CNN political commentators, Maria Cardona, a Democratic and a strategist and former communications director of Immigration and Naturalization Service, and Steve Cortes, the former head of Trump's Hispanic Advisory Council. Steve, you hear comments like that and you think, does the Republican

Party under Trump lack compassion.

STEVE CORTES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I don't think so. I'm glad he walked the comments back, though. Look, this is an incredibly emotional issue. A lot of people on the right, a lot of Trump supporters feel we're a country in some ways under siege. A lot of people on the left believe illegal immigrants are treated as subhuman. So the emotions are incredibly high on both sides. I think it would do well for all of us, as Americans, to have good discussions, to dial back the invective and rhetoric at times and the emotions and let's try -- it's an emotional issue -- but let's try to be as constructive and calm as we can about which policies will work best.

But in terms of compassion, I have enormous compassion, as does the president. That's why he issued the executive order for these children who are in a terrible spot. But it's important for us --

CABRERA: He put them in that position, let's remember.

CORTES: No, no. No. Their parents put them in that position. That's a key point, Ana. The president didn't tell those parents or those adults -- in cases, they're not their parents -- but tell those adults, please, take children with you and commit a serious crime of trespassing on our sovereign border. They made that decision, just as a criminal of the United States. If I take my child with me and stick up a convenience store right now, I will be separated from them. That's terrible for the children. It's not their fault. But that doesn't mean the cop who arrested me is at fault, nor is the governor, nor is the president. I'm at fault.

CABRERA: The president is the one who chose to separate the families through his zero-tolerance policy.

Maria --

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Exactly.

CABRERA: That's the initial question about compassion.

CARDONA: Right. That's exactly right. And I think the majority of the American people are seeing that this administration and this president has zero compassion.

And I actually agree with Steve on one thing, which is that we should be sitting down and calmly talking about this without any invective and hyperbole. But that's impossible when the occupant of the Oval Office starts his campaign by calling Mexicans rapists and criminals. And when he continues his campaign by talking about Muslims and talking about minority communities in such an incredible degrading way. When he talks about immigrants coming to this country who are only seeking a better life as an infestation, as vermin. It is impossible to look at him to say, oh, my goodness, yes, he only has compassion.

CORTES: Maria, he did not -- (CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: Hey, I didn't interrupt you, Steve. Let me finish.

So the bottom line here is that most Americans are looking at this as a completely inhumane, diabolical, indecent un-American move that this president made that was voluntary on his part. It was not called for by any law. He's doing it because he wanted to. He tried to walk it back by the executive order, which was just B.S., because it does nothing to walk it back. And now he's seeing the complete debacle he himself has created.

(CROSSTALK)

[15:25:08] CABRERA: I mean, the fallout has been pretty tough.

CORTES: He did not call illegal -- he did not call immigrants an infestation. He loves immigration. I love immigration.

(CROSSTALK)

CORTES: He's married to an immigrant. He's the son of an immigrant. So am I. He called illegal immigration a problem.

CARDONA: Steve

CORTES: Legal immigration is a treasure to this country. We can't conflate the two.

Maria, you continue to do this, and so do many people on the left.

Illegal immigration and legal immigration are not even in the same sphere. They are not the same thing. I would argue illegal immigration is a threat to legal immigration and an affront to legal immigrants who do it the right way.

CARDONA: Of course, you would argue that, because you're completely misguided and have no clue how immigration has helped this country and what the immigration laws are.

CORTES: Legal immigration.

CARDONA: And what the immigration laws are.

Steve, the reason why most of the Latino community, most of the immigrant community, and most of the multicultural community cannot stand this president and supporters of him is because you don't understand what this issue is really like. You can't tell a mixed- status family, Steve, oh, hey, we love your children because they are legal here or because they came here legally, but we hate your parents and your grandparents because they are here without documents. That does not work.

CORTES: Who said we hate anybody?

CABRERA: I guess -- can I interject for a second? CARDONA: You just said that you dislike illegal immigration.

CABRERA: Hold your thought, Maria.

Because the bottom line is, what do we get out of all this? The president got a week of headlines. Cabinet members have been booed out of restaurants.

CARDONA: Yes.

CABRERA: The president ultimately backtracked on this major issue, Steve, for what?

CORTES: Listen, I wish he hadn't backtracked, quite frankly. I think that was a mistake. Unfortunately, he might have projected to his critics that if you call him Hitler 5,000 times, totally without merit --

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: I didn't hear that happening.

CORTES: -- accommodate you. Oh, it certainly did happen. Let's talk about, for instance, former CIA -- he's been on this network -- former CIA director -- these aren't wackos on social media. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden, who tweeted a picture of Auschwitz and compared it to our border security and compared our ICE officers to the S.S. Let's talk about MSNBC comparing --

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: Right. He didn't call -- he didn't call the president Hitler.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: I want to make sure the facts are out there.

(CROSSTALK)

CORTES: If you're being called the head of a Nazi organization, you're Hitler.

Donny Deutsche (ph), on NBC

(CROSSTALK)

CORTES: No, on MSNBC, said anyone, not only the people involved, he said anyone who supports Trump is a Nazi. This is not some confined fringe element, crazies on social media. This is allegedly serious people. The former head of the CIA telling us this is a Nazi-like experiment. The rhetoric on the left has been insane.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: Laura Bush, who is a Republican, who is a former first lady, also talked about Japanese internment camps. And this situation --

(CROSSTALK)

CORTES: That's completely outrageous. By the way, her husband signed a law that created --

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: I do hear what you're saying. I do hear what you're saying, Steve.

Because, while the president and Republicans may be at risk of looking too callous here, Maria, are Democrats at risk of looking like they are maybe too soft on illegal immigration?

CARDONA: No, because the fact of the matter is, is that Democrats have been the one pushing a sensible comprehensive immigration bill that actually strengthens border security. And Republicans have been unable to come to the table to talk about sensible immigration reform. What Democrats will not support is an anti-immigrant bill that spends billions and billions of taxpayer money for a ridiculous wall that will not work, because the majority of Americans do not want it, and to put in place an immigration -- a new immigration law that actually decreases legal immigration, which has been great for this country. And it is a complete pathway to try to become a draconian anti- immigrant country, which is, frankly, what Trump and his advisers, like Steven Miller and I guess Steve Cortes, want.

CORTES: No. No. That's not at all they want.

CABRERA: Steve, I'll give you the last word.

CORTES: By the way, the wall, the wall was the foundational promise of his 2016 campaign. So for you to say that's been refuted by the American people is just false. In point of fact --

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: It has been reputed.

CORTES: In point of fact --

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: The majority of Americans don't want it.

CORTES: It was the thing that got him elected in 2016. He was unambiguous of it then and he is now. A wall would solve, by the way, 95 percent of these problems. We would not have separated families if we had the proper barricades at the border. A wall is the merciful solution to controlling our border.

CARDONA: Again --

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: A lot of experts disagree.

Got to leave it there.

Maria Cardona and Steve Cortes, as always, appreciate both of your thoughts on all of this.

CARDONA: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: As I mentioned to Maria and Steve just now, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says she was kicked out of a Virginia restaurant because she works for President Trump. Sanders tweeted last night, "I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, to leave because I work for the president, and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me."

CNN reached out to the owner --

for comment. Protesters booed Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at a Mexican restaurant on Tuesday.

Coming up, a Republican candidate running for U.S. Congress is seriously injured in a deadly wrong-way crash. We'll have details and an update ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:00] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: As I mentioned to Maria and Steve just now, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says she was kicked out of a Virginia restaurant because she works for President Trump. Sanders tweeted last night, "I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, to leave because I work for the president, and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me."

CNN reached out to the owner of the Red Hen restaurant for comment.

Protesters also booed Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen as she dined at a Mexican restaurant on Tuesday.

Again, we've reached out to the restaurant owner and have not heard back.

Coming up, a Republican candidate running for U.S. Congress is seriously injured in a deadly wrong-way crash. We'll have details and an update ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:00] CABRERA: Breaking news, South Carolina Republican Congressional Candidate Katie Arrington is in the hospital after a very serious car accident. Police say an oncoming vehicle traveling in the wrong direction hit her car. The driver of that vehicle was killed. Arrington and a friend traveling with her are hospitalized with serious injuries.

President Trump writing on Twitter that his thoughts and prayers are with Arrington.

CNN political reporter, Rebecca Berg, is joining us now.

Rebecca, what more can you tell us about her condition?

REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. Well, what we know so far, Ana, is that obviously, Katie Arrington is hospitalized today. We expect she will undergo multiple surgeries, her campaign says, as a result of the injuries she sustained in this very serious car accident. She, in terms of the injuries that we can tell you about right now, she suffered a fracture to her back, broken ribs, a partial collapse of the main artery in her leg. So some very serious injuries.

And let's hear what her campaign manager had to say today outside of the hospital.

We don't have that sound, I'm told. But he did say that she is a woman of faith, a very strong woman, certainly, they hope and expect that she will be back to work soon.

And the time frame they have given us is maybe two weeks of hospitalization if the surgeries go according to plan.

Now, in the meantime, the campaign has been put on hold. Her Democratic rival, Joe Cunningham, telling -- tweeting this morning, rather, that he is suspending his campaign activities for the time being in light of Katie Arrington's serious injuries, this very serious accident. So this campaign is on hold for now.

But this is a safe Republican seat. We do not rate this as a toss-up race. And Katie Arrington, as the Republican candidate, certainly, the favorite to win, depending, of course, how her recovery goes. We'll be following that and watching for updates.

CABRERA: We wish her the very best in her recovery.

Rebecca Berg, thank you.

BERG: Thank you.

CABRERA: Coming up in the NEWSROOM, as children are being detained along the border, one man is earning a lot of money. Why the CEO of a Texas facility is one of the highest-paid charity bosses in the country, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:41:54] CABRERA: She has been called the human face of the Trump zero-tolerance policy at the U.S. border. The haunting image of a little girl from Honduras even made it on to the latest cover of "Time" magazine.

I want to bring you an update to her story. These pictures of a sobbing almost 2-year-old Yanella went viral last week, galvanizing calls to put an end to child separation, a practice many branded as cruel and inhumane. Yanella's fate was unclear when I spoke with Getty photographer, John Moore, who captured this image.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MOORE, PHOTOGRAPHER, GETTY IMAGES: They had been body searching people as they were loaded into vans to be taken to a processing center, where they were possibly separated, parents and children. And one of the last people to get on the bus was the mother of this child and her daughter together. And when they went to body search her against the vehicle, they asked her to put down her child, and right then, in that moment, the little girl broke into tears. And, you know, it's not unusual for toddlers in any circumstance to have separation anxiety, but I think this particular situation with the separation of families leads and gives a new meaning to that phrase.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I did ask him in that same interview whether he knew what had happened to her. He told us all he wasn't sure.

And now we've learned, the "Washington Post" reporting that she is one of the lucky ones who, in the end, was not separated from her mother. But she is one of thousands of children who have become political footballs facing fear and an uncertain future, leading to the reversal of that separation policy on Wednesday.

The fact that Yanella was not separated from her mother ignited another round of recriminations and cries of fake news. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeting, "It's shameful that Dems and the media exploited this photo of a little girl to push their agenda. She was not separated from her mom. The separation here is from the facts."

Now, to be clear, CNN has reported only the facts, and will continue to do so.

More than 2,000 migrant children have been separated from their parents at the border since the end of April. And President Trump announced the reversal of that separation policy on Wednesday amid widespread outrage. And Yanella and her family remain at a detention center in McAllen, Texas. We'll keep you posted on her ongoing journey as we learn more.

The Trump crackdown that led to thousands of migrant children being separated from their parents is making some people rich. Dr. Juan Sanchez is CEO of a nonprofit that provides housing for some of these children. The separation policy has been a windfall for Southwest Key programs and for Dr. Sanchez personally.

As our Drew Griffin reports.

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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He calls himself el president. His staff once played "Heil to the Chief" and applauded when he arrived at one facility. It may be all tongue in cheek humor, but there's nothing funny about how much Juan Sanchez is being paid to run Southwest Key, a nonprofit housing half of all the migrant children separated from their families.

According to the latest tax filings in 2017, Sanchez's Southwest Key nonprofit paid him $1.47 million, doubling the $770,000 he made the year before.

Is that a lot, even for a nonprofit of his size? Apparently, yes.

[15:45:23] DANIEL BOROCHOFF, CHARITY WATCH: The head of the American Red Cross receives a $600,000 salary. It's a multibillion-dollar charity that controls half of our blood supply, lead disaster provider. You've got this charity, the budget is like a tenth of its size, not nearly the size of the responsibilities, so it does appear high.

GRIFFIN: CNN analyzed nonprofits as large as Southwest Key and operating under similar classification, and found Sanchez paid among the very top. He operates 83 shelters or schools or detention centers across the country.

The federal government contracts in the last 10 years add up to $1.5 billion.

By many accounts, Southwest Key does provide safe housing to unaccompanied minors, though they have been cited in the past for some violations.

In an interview with Boston's KRLU-TV, Sanchez said the new Trump policy left him inundated with children.

DR. JUAN SANCHEZ, CEO, SOUTHWEST KEY: We never imagined that we'd have this many kids. We never imagined that we would see the kind of policies that we're seeing now.

GRIFFIN: Sanchez's defense of his high salary, the early years were a struggle.

SANCHEZ: When we started, we started with nothing, low salaries, no health insurance, no 401Ks, nothing. Over time, our board had got to a point where they said we are now in a position where we can pay you a decent salary.

GRIFFIN: That history doesn't quite match with the group's own tax filings. CNN went back to 1997, where Sanchez was paid nearly $130,000. Nearly every year since, except for two gap years showing no income, his salary has increased. That doesn't even include his wife, listed as the vice president, who in the latest filings made an additional $262,000.

Marc Owens, who, for 10 years, ran the IRS Department on Nonprofits, says compensation should be adequate to what Sanchez could make in the private sector performing similar work. He sees nothing comparable.

MARC OWENS, FORMER DIRECTOR, IRS DEPARMTENT OF NONPROFITS: The salary is extraordinarily high for a charity, even a large charity. It's a complex organization with a lot of for-profit and tax-exempt subsidiaries and the president is making a lot of money. GRIFFIN: Drew griffin, CNN, Washington.

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CABRERA: I want to take you live now to Las Vegas, Nevada, where the president is addressing the Nevada GOP convention. Let's listen in.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But in so many ways our country is taken advantage of, and we're settling it up and we're going to all --

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[15:52:24] CABRERA: A 2013 "CNN Hero" is running the equivalent of 65 marathons, that is 1,700 miles, from Seattle to San Diego. The reason? He is hoping to raise $250,000 to help provide free rides for children with cancer to their chemotherapy treatments.

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RICHARD NARES, CNN HERO: Say good morning, daddy.

My son, Emilio, was diagnosed with leukemia.

EMILIO NARES, SON OF RICHARD NARES: I love you.

NARES: I love you, Batman.

We were fortunate. We had rides to the hospital to bring Emilio. And many families don't have that support.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to blow the kiss to the camera?

NARES: They can't start the fight without getting to the hospital. We get them here in a nice clean environment and on time.

Yes.

No child should miss their treatment due to lack of transportation.

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CABRERA: To learn more about Richard's run, head to CNNheroes.com, and while you're there, you can also nominate someone you think should be a "CNN Hero."

This is President Trump speaking live right now to the Nevada Republican convention this hour. We'll continue to monitor his speech. We'll bring you highlighted throughout the hour ahead.

We'll be right back.

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[15:57:55] CABRERA: The partial collapse of a distillery building in Kentucky sent barrels of bourbon tumbling down a hillside Friday. The Barton 1792 warehouse holds up to 20,000 barrels, and about 9,000 were affected. A wall was being repaired on this building when the collapse occurred. No one was hurt. The EPA was called in as a precaution as it's by a nearby creek. According to our affiliate, WLKY, water samples came back clean.

"The Late Late Show" host, James Corden, got to rock and roll with music legend, Paul McCartney. The appearance also included an interesting tidbit of history from McCartney about the inspiration for one of the Beatles' most famous songs, "Let It Be."

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PAUL MCCARTNEY, SINGER/SONGWRITER & FORMER BEATLE: I had a dream in the '60s where my mom, who died, came to me in the dream and was reassuring me, saying, it's going to be OK, just let it be. I went, oh. I felt so sort of great and, like, boy, it's going to be great, you know? She gave me the positive words. So I woke up, and I went, what was that, what'd she say? Let it be.

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CABRERA: This segment also included McCartney and Corden rocking out behind the wheel to the Beatles song "Drive My Car." They also got out of the car and jammed out for some time to "When I'm 64" with McCartney at the piano and Corden joining in on vocals.

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(SINGING)

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CABRERA: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera, in New York. That you for being with us this weekend.

Right now, President Trump is in Las Vegas speaking at the Republican state convention. But before he took the stage, emotions and anger boiled over on the U.S. border with Mexico.

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(CHANTING)

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[15:59:54] CABRERA: This crowd shouting at Border Patrol agents and police officers, physically blocking a bus loaded with children from leaving a migrant detention center in Texas. That bus eventually did depart with those children on board.

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DENISE GENOVIDES (ph), PROTESTER: To see a bus full of children that I saw myself, this little girl. I --