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DHS Watchdog Reveals "Egregious" Conditions Inside ICE Facilities; An Increase In Migrants Arrive At U.S. Southern Border, Including 11,000 Children; Stunning Poll: Biden Ahead Of Trump In Conservative Texas; Biden Faces Backlash From 2020 Democrats For Plagiarism Accusations, Abortion Stance, Crime Bill; Trump Signs $19 Billion Disaster Aid Bill; Actress Marcia Cross Speaks Out On Anal Cancer, Warns On STDs; Trump Speaks At D-Day Ceremony In Normandy, France. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired June 06, 2019 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: That is a 32 percent increase over April and the highest monthly total in 13 years. And it includes 11,000 children.
Plus, take a look at these just released images from a new inspector general report. It details conditions so, quote, "egregious," with raw chicken bleeding openly in a kitchen where the manager was removed during this inspection.
This is just the latest in a string of reports revealing disturbing situations inside of the detention facilities. In fact, in one finding, braided bed sheets -- staff and detainees refer to them as nooses -- were found in not one, not two, but 15 cells.
One detainee told inspectors, quote, "I've seen a few attempted suicides using the braided sheets by the vents and then the guards laugh at them and call them suicide failures once they're back from medical."
James Hayes is a retired ICE special agent in charge for Homeland Security investigations.
James, you started your career as a Border Patrol agent. And you heard the descriptions. What is your reaction to these conditions?
JAMES HAYES, RETIRED ICE SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Well, they're definitely highlighting the importance of the inspection, whether done by the inspector general or being done by ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility. The purpose those inspections have is to identify situations like this where the standards aren't being met.
The report also states that ICE took corrective action immediately on- site. And certainly, if it was me receiving this report, I would be looking very closely at those facilities involved and taking corrective action and monitoring them more closely, certainly in the future.
BALDWIN: But you've been in facilities like these. I mean, is this typically what it is like or is what I described worse?
HAYES: It is not typically what it is like. And this is a number-one priority for ICE Leadership. It has been since I was in charge of these programs in 2008. That is why they implement the performance- based standards in 2008. They've been revised several times and improved upon. There's a detention monitor in every facility that ICE uses.
And the purpose is to make sure the standards are being met so that both detainees and staff are safe in those facilities.
So to see the conditions -- I have read that report and understand that ICE is taking corrective action already in those areas. And has also looked for the same types of patterns in other facilities nationwide. So they're taking this very seriously.
BALDWIN: Let's get to the heart of the issue, why so many people are coming. This is what one official told CNN this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLA PROVOST, CHIEF, U.S. BORDER PATROL: The fact that they know that if they bring a child and they are telling us this, that they will be let into the U.S., they're coming.
We have apprehended over 230,000 children being brought into the country illegally between the ports of entry already this year. That is unprecedented in numbers.
I would say the issue is the fact that we are unable to hold family units. And that comes from a Florida settlement agreement where we cannot hold a child longer than 20 days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That was a Border Patrol chief.
We know that the Obama administration and others had a policy of expedited removal or deportation.
Texas Congressman Will Hurd told us last night that the Trump administration changed the policies and interpretation to classify everyone as an asylum-seeker, which means they could stay in the U.S. for a finite number of years.
James, why would the Trump administration do that? Change the policy?
HAYES: I'm not aware of that policy change.
What I will say is the trafficking organizations and smuggling organizations, they're not using new tactics, Brooke. These are the tactics that they employed in the mid-2000s, 2006 and 2005 before we implemented -- the implementation of the stoppage of the Catch and Release.
They're actively using children. And there's now DNA testing that shows the children are not part of family units.
And so I think that is where the administration wants to focus and say, look, we have to focus on the smugglers in these organizations. We understand that what some of the children are being put through is horrible. But they've been unambiguous about the fact there's an emergency at the border and they are in desperate need of additional resources.
And, unfortunately, right now, there's a gridlock Congress and we just haven't seen it.
The numbers today, when you look at the average last year of people in Border Patrol custody pending transfer of 2,000 per day now somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 to 17,000, that is not a small increase. That is an unsustainable increase. And that is what you heard from the administration.
And before it becomes worse, I'm hoping there's congressional action, some type of supplemental funding like we had during the last time this occurred.
BALDWIN: Look to Congress.
James Hayes, thank you very much.
Joe Biden under attack on several fronts from his own Democratic competitors. But a surprising new poll shows he is beating President Trump in the state of Texas.
[14:34:05] Plus, an emotional revelation from actress, Marcia Cross. Why she said her cancer is linked to HPV and her husband's throat cancer.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:40:02] BALDWIN: What's up with this stunning new poll out on the 2020 race that shows Democratic front-runner, Joe Biden, leading President Trump in one of the unlikeliest of places, deep ruby red Texas?
Let's go straight to Chris Cillizza, our CNN politics report and editor-at-large.
Texas?
CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER & CNN EDITOR-AT-LARGE: I know. OK, Brooke, first I would watch a daily segment called what's up with that in which we break down what's up with that.
BALDWIN: Every day.
CILLIZZA: More to the point, Texas. Biden 48, Trump 44. This is a Quinnipiac University in my home state of Connecticut, incredible poll. Should we be surprised? Yes. But shouldn't fall on the floor shocked because Beto O'Rourke almost beat Ted Cruz in 2018 and close and he loses. But Trump only won Texas by nine points in 2016.
This is not Kansas, Wyoming, Alabama, Mississippi. There are so much African-American and Hispanic vote in Texas. That it is not an absolute slam dunk. It's why Senate Democrats are talking about going after John Cornyn in the 2020 election. I'm not sure if it is there yet, but and if you are Biden you have to be, or Democrats generally, you have to be encouraged by a number like that.
BALDWIN: Encouraged by that but, yet, the man is under attack on multiple fronts. Can you could walk us through the incoming?
CILLIZZA: Yes. Yes, it is a bunch and it happened within the first 48 hours. The first month of the Joe Biden campaign, very smooth glide. Almost on cruise control. No problems. Goes up in the polls.
The last 48 hours trouble. First of all, plagiarism accusations he comes out with the climate change plan, and much awaited, and going further than Obama did, et cetera, et cetera. But it borrows language from several liberal interest groups. "Washington Post" reports that the education plan does the same.
That is bad if you are Joe Biden because you got run out of the 1988 race for plagiarism.
And number two, the Hyde Amendment. It is unclear when he supported this. It is name after Henry Hyde, a long time Illinois Republican House member, who said you can't use federal money for abortion services in any way, shape or form.
Most Democrats in 2020 are going to be opposed to that. Biden reasserted he is for it. Negative statements from a lot of abortion rights groups.
Last one, the 1994 crime bill. Let's go to what he said about it and talk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I wrote the crime bill, you say is a bad bill and there's only one provision that had to do with mandatory sentences that I opposed and that is a thing called the three strikes I thought was a mistake but a lot of good things from the bill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CILLIZZA: OK. So number one, the crime bill that I wrote and it had a lot of good things in it. Remember, this crime bill is seen, in retrospect, by Democrats, particularly liberal Democrats as the beginnings of a massive mass incarceration problem in the country.
You've seen a lot of people, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and others, criticize that bill as a mistake at the time, and even bigger mistake, in retrospect. And Biden standing by it. It is not a place that will win him a lot of liberal voters. So those things combined. And I think it is fair to say we're looking
at the first crisis. It is not -- not end stage problem for Joe Biden but the first crisis or bumps in the road of what has been a very clean presidential campaign without any sort of -- too much turbulence just yet.
BALDWIN: It is still so early.
Chris Cillizza, much more of that to go.
CILLIZZA: What's up with that?
BALDWIN: What's up with that?
Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Just into CNN, President Trump has signed that $19 billion disaster aid bill after several days had stalled the measure from getting passed.
He just tweeted, "Just signed the disaster aid bill to help Americans hit by recent catastrophic storms. So important for our great American farmers and ranchers. Help for Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, California."
The president including a photo that appears to have been taken on Air Force One.
White House Reporter, Jeremy Diamond, is with me.
So what is next? And how quickly can these folks get the help they need?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Brooke, it is notable that the president signed this $19.1 billion disaster relief bill. A bill that will benefit folks who suffered from natural disasters in the last year across the country really, as well as Puerto Rico.
And that is where there's something interesting here. Because this bill was held up for months. There were months-long negotiations between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill involving the White House as well and one of the main sticking points from the White House's perspective was President Trump's reluctance to approve additional funds for Puerto Rico.
You know he's repeatedly touted this false figure in talking about the amount of aid that he has already approved for Puerto Rico. And he was reluctant to give anything more. Which is why it is notable in this tweet to see him say here, "Puerto Rico should love President Trump. Without me, they would have been shut out."
[14:45:05] But of course, Brooke, it is the president who was reluctant to do that. This bill that he has just signed will approve a billion dollars in additional aid and support for Puerto Rico as well as all of these other states in the continental United States, as you just mentioned -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: So they'll get more of the help they need.
Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much for the update.
Actress Marcia Cross, from "Desperate Housewives" and "Melrose Place," she is going public about her personal health battle. She says she doesn't want anyone to be ashamed of anal cancer. What she says is a connection to a common STD she wants all of you to know about.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:50:13] BALDWIN: "Desperate Housewives," "Melrose Place" star, Marcia Cross, is now being incredibly open about her battle with anal cancer. Cross wants to end the stigma and shame surrounding it. The 57-year-old actress said she learned that she had anal cancer during a routine digital scamper formed by her gynecologist last year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIA CROSS, ACTRESS DIAGNOSED WITH ANAL CANCER: I was so not thinking anything was wrong because I didn't have any symptoms, and she gave me an exam and she kind of came around and said, well, I just want you to know, whatever it is, it is curable. And you're just like, oh, what? What are you talking about?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Her husband, Actor Tom Mahoney, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2009. And her doctor now suspects that Cross and her husband's cancer came from the same type of HPV, a commonly sexually transmitted infection. HPV would be transferred via sexual intercourse or skin to skin contact.
Cross and her husband are both in remission after undergoing radiation and chemotherapy.
Dr. Celine Gounder is an infectious disease specialist at NYU School Medicine.
And so, Dr. Gounder, nice to have you back.
Got a bunch of questions on this. Number one, the fact that Marcia Cross and her doctors are connecting her cancer with that of her husband's throat cancer, what is your reaction to that?
DR. CELINE GOUNDER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Well, we know, Brooke, that HPV is one of the most common causes of throat cancer and anal cancer is caused by HPV. So if they are the same strain, it would completely make sense that probably, at some point, one of them infected the other and, unfortunately, developed these cancers.
BALDWIN: And we'll go on that a little bit and we're having the conversations, I think it is important. You say there's a misconception that oral sex is completely safe in terms of STDs. GOUNDER: Oral sex, yes, is not completely safe. While the risk of
HIV transmission is much, much lower. Other STDs, like gonorrhea and HPV and herpes, could be transmitted through oral sex. And a lot of young women in particular are engaging in oral sex thinking, well, I won't get pregnant that way. But we do need to think about the STDs.
BALDWIN: Sure. And her point also -- kudos to her from coming out on live national television and talking about something so incredibly personal and to reduce the stigma.
Why is that such an important piece to this?
GOUNDER: I think people just jump from, she has anal cancer and she must have had anal sex. And first of all, that is not necessarily true.
BALDWIN: Yes.
GOUNDER: But American sexual behaviors are changing. We know over half of the American men and women -- I'm sorry, more than 90 percent of American women are engaging in oral sex. And about a third or so of American women and over 40 percent of men are engaging in anal sex. So this is very common.
BALDWIN: Yes.
GOUNDER: It is not something we should be sweeping under the rug or discussing with our doctors and we should be talking about the risks associated with this.
BALDWIN: And lastly, she makes this point, she has these twin 12- year-old daughters, and she said they're getting that HPV vaccine or it is a round of two to three vaccines.
Just remind everyone what that is and how that could prevent it.
GOUNDER: Right. So there's Gardasil and other formulations of the HPV vaccine, but it does make a big difference. If you can start the vaccines in the adolescence, before they start having sex -- and we're only covering about 50 percent of them -- but if you could vaccinate, you could prevent the infections.
And no vaccine is 100 percent but the risk of having throat cancer, anal cancer and cervical cancer with vaccination is diminished incredibly.
BALDWIN: I'm so glad we had this conversation. I appreciate you having this conversation with me
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: My pleasure. Good to see you again.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi just made her strongest comments yet about President Trump. And she reportedly told Democrats that she would rather see the president behind bars than be impeached. Astounding words from the speaker of the House.
And more on our news just in. We're seeing now the autopsy results, the preliminary autopsy results in the deaths of those three Americans who were all staying at that same resort down in the Dominican Republic. I'll talk with a forensic expert about his analysis from those results.
[14:54:17] We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: And, of course, we're hearing solemn words of praise honoring World War II veterans today on this, the 75th anniversary of D-Day. That is when allied forces invaded Normandy to start that final push to defeat the Nazis.
Here is President Trump and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, saying thank you to World War II veterans for their service and huge sacrifices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You're among the very greatest Americans who will ever live. You're the pride of our nation. You are the glory of our republic. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
EMMANUAEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: We know what we owe to you, Veterans, our freedom. On behalf of my nation, I just want to say thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: President Trump today saw the human price paid by thousands of Americans buried under all of the white gravestones in a cemetery overlooking the beaches they stormed on June 6th, 1944.
[15:00:08] We continue on. You're watching CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.
