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New Day Saturday

Barry to Make Landfall in Next Few Hours; Announced ICE Raids Spreading Fear Among Immigrants; Hong Kong Protests Continue; Vice President Pence Tours Border Detention Facility, Discusses ICE Raids. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired July 13, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:00]

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN HOST: It could be a hurricane by the time it makes landfall in the next few hours but the rain is already there ahead of the storm. Over a foot is possible in some areas with winds holding at 65 miles per hour and storm surge rising as high as six feet. Some highways were already swamped, and nearly 50,000 customers, that's a new number, have already lost power.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: Louisiana obviously preparing, they're closing all of their floodgates as the mayor of New Orleans calls for voluntary evacuations, federal emergency preparedness. Officials warning of possible tornadoes as the storm passes and Mississippi's governor has joined Louisiana's in declaring a state of emergency. Want to begin our live coverage on the Gulf Coast. We've got people all over the place there. CNN anchor and national correspondent Erica Hill first live in Lafayette, Louisiana. And Erica, you said you were starting, you thought, to feel some of the bands of this coming through?

ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We definitely are. The rain here is light, but it is certainly picking up and has been for the last I would say for the last 45 minutes or so and this is just the beginning. What we are hearing stressed repeatedly that this is a very slow-moving storm and that's a reminder for people not to become complacent. You mentioned tens of thousands of people already without power. Some people as in in New Orleans being told to shelter in place. In other areas, there are voluntary, some places mandatory evacuations. The major concern is flood because not only does this storm bring with it a significant amount of rainfall, but we are talking about an area that is already saturated; a Mississippi River that is already swollen.

For a better look at what is headed our way, I want to bring in now CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar who is tracking this storm. And we're starting to feel a little bit of something here but obviously, far more intense for some other folks just south and east of us, Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes and that's actually the point I want to emphasize us look at the storm where it is now. This spot right here, this is what we deem the center of circulation. Often you'll hear people refer to this as the eye. Look at all the stuff to the south. That's all the rain; that's the convection. There really isn't much on the northern side of this storm. So really the majority of the rain still has yet to come. That also means the majority of the severe weather chances have yet to arrive with this storm. Winds are still sitting at 65 miles per hour moving only west/northwest at only five miles per hour.

Again, that's incredibly slow for this type of storm but that means it's going to have a longer time period to dump a tremendous amount of rain. In fact it's really only going to move just through the entire state of Louisiana in just the next 36 hours if that goes to show you anything. We do still expect landfall to be the next few hours over portions of Louisiana. The National Hurricane Center still saying it is very likely this will get to a low-end category-one hurricane right before landfall so there may not be much warning time that you get to know that it has transitioned into a hurricane.

Rain, we are starting to see those bands as Erica mentioned now finally creeping back in. Some of them are heavy; some of them are producing a lot of lightning but the heaviest rain is yet to come and likely will continue to do so for at least the next 48 if not even 72 hours for areas along the coastal regions. And then further north, this will continue well into next week just because of how slow this storm system is moving. Look at this map. Widespread amounts of around five to ten inches of rain. But you also have several spots where you see that pink color, now you're talking in excess of over a foot of rain. And look, it's not just the coastal regions. That pink line extends all the way up into Tennessee so you're going to have other states that will be impacted -- Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, also still likely to get some pretty intense flooding out of this storm.

Remember folks, this region of the country, the ground is already saturated. They've been dealing with intense amounts many amounts of rain. In fact, June of last year to June of this year, that 12-month period is the wettest 12-month stretch in United States history. So again, you have to be talking about how wet the region already is to begin with, and now we're going to be adding more rain on top of it. We also talked about the severe storms. The bulk of those are actually on the southern end of this storm. So for a lot of folks that may be thinking the center passes over me, I'm fine, the worst is over, that's not going to be the case. The worst of the severe storms will actually be later this morning and especially into the afternoon and evening hours.

Those threats include damaging winds, the potential for some large hail, and, yes, a lot of brief little spin-up tornadoes. And oftentimes in tropical systems, you don't get a lot of warning time with these tornadoes because they spin up so quickly from that rotation that's built in within the storm. Storm surge, again guys, is going to be a main concern. The light color here about two to feet, three five feet, and even in some cases as high as six feet for some of that storm surge before the system finally does make landfall.

PAUL: Allison Chinchar with the latest for us. We'll continue to check in with you. I want to bring in now CNN's Gary Tuchman who is in New Orleans. There was a lot of concern early on, Gary, about the waters potentially topping the levees there. As I understand, that threat officials believe has been reduced a little but that is, of course, no reason for residents to let their guard down, Gary.

[06:05:00]

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly right, Christi. Everyone is still waiting for the worst of this weather to arrive. You know, this is early Saturday morning in New Orleans. But early Saturday morning traditionally is late Friday night for the thousands of revelers who come here every day of the week, 365 days a year. But it was very unusual late last night when we were out, how quiet Bourbon Street was, how quiet here on the French Quarter it was as everyone is awaiting this storm.

Right now I'm standing on top of a flood wall near the banks of the Mississippi River. The flood wall separates the French Quarter from -- I'm going to hop down to give you a look right here at that big steel contraption. This is a floodgate. It is shut and this whole area in the French Quarter by the Mississippi River is closed to the public.

I and you watching are the only ones down here right now. This is where the New Orleans street car comes through in the French Quarter. No street cars today because the Mississippi River over there is the danger. Unlike Hurricane Katrina 14 years ago where levees failed, water streamed over, hundreds of people died, this is not the same situation thankfully. This is no Hurricane Katrina. We don't know what's going to happen here, but the dangers are the Mississippi River because this flood wall is 20 feet above the level of the Mississippi. The concern is, is that if the water goes over 20 feet of the Mississippi River, you could have immense flooding here in New Orleans.

Earlier in the week, the forecast was that the levels would go above 19 feet, and that's because of flooding that has happened in the previous days and weeks. However, just over the last few hours, forecasters have come back and said it looks like now it will be much lower, 17 feet and that's good news. The reason they say that, they still expect between 10 and 15 inches of rain here in New Orleans, which is a tremendous amount of rain. Consider the fact that usually one inch of rain is 10 inches of snow. That's equivalent of 100 to 150 inches of snow. It's tremendous amount of precipitation but as Allison was just explaining, this is going to take a long time to go through. It's going to -- right now it's not raining at all; it was raining earlier. But because it's going to take so long and be spread out, the feeling is the water won't rise as fast and that potentially could be good news for this scarred city, scarred throughout the generations from hurricanes and tropical storms of New Orleans, Louisiana. Christi, back to you.

HILL: All right Gary, thank you. I'm going to take it. I also want to go to CNN's Natasha Chen who is in Morgan City which is in St. Mary's Parish. It's about 60 - 70 miles from where I am here in Lafayette and there's a lot of staging happening here in Lafayette for potential rescues. There are boats. There are high-water vehicles, buses to bring people to safer ground, and Natasha, there's some concern that some of the rescues may be happening in the Morgan City area. NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Erica, there definitely was a

voluntary evacuation ordered yesterday. But we didn't see a whole lot of people trying to desperately leave town though people are prepared for potential flooding. Right at this moment, though, it's the wind that's picking up. In fact, I'm trying to keep my hat on my head at the moment. I also want to mention that across the river from where we're standing, just about ten minutes ago, we saw this huge glow of light and it looked like potentially a transformer that blew there. And we know that some customers right now across the state including here in Morgan City are without power.

We talked to someone earlier who said that he was hanging out at a hotel that still had lights on because the generator at his home wasn't working. And I do also want to point out that we are still under curfew for about another hour or so. Officials in this city and police are sort of patrolling the area, trying to make sure that most people aren't trying to come out and drive around town in the dark here especially as this wind is picking up and also because you don't actually know where you're going to run into flooded waters. Right now we're at the top of a staircase on the Morgan City seawall and right at the bottom of the stairs we can see that water has come up over the bottom few steps and the river has completely flooded this area where there are typically trash cans and benches, where people can come and sit, so this is not an accessible area. They don't want people here at the moment, and of course, expecting the worst to come in the next few hours. Erica.

HILL: All right, we'll continue to watch that. Natasha Chen for us in Morgan City. Also with us this morning, Juliette Kayyem, CNN Security Analyst, former, of course, Department of Homeland Security. She was a former assistant secretary there, director. Juliette, as we look at all of this and what the security concerns are, it's the fact this is such a slow-moving storm and people are going to hear this a lot today, but it's important to stress that fact, that people not become complacent and think, well, the worst is over, it's been a few hours, now I can go out and see what's happening.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: That's exactly right. So this is what we call a slow roll disaster. In some ways it's good, right?

[06:10:00]

People can prepare. It gives you more time to surge resources to protect people. The challenge is, of course, that there's not a single moment that people are responding to. Not like an explosion or some sort of other incident where you can say, "Hey, there's that, I can respond to it." This is going to be not just 48 hours. When you think of how saturated the soil is in Louisiana and in areas around Louisiana, this is just going to be cumulative impact, more water getting into the soil which means that structures like poles, trees, and other things are looser so that the wind is going to bring them down.

You also have people, as you said, can get complacent, think that the worst is over, and not listen to first responders. So this is a challenge for first responders but let's end with the good news, at least some the trajectories we're seeing right now for New Orleans, there was a lot of questions about why they chose not to evacuate. It appears at least at that stage, that was the right decision. People shelter in place and hopefully this trajectory holds and New Orleans won't be hit as bad as they originally thought.

HILL: We know too some 3,000 National Guard troops here. It's also important to point out, though, when we have not just state declarations but federal declarations. That obviously opens up funding. It makes things a lot easier in terms of that planning, in terms of the coordination. Walk us through why that's so important especially when are looking at some resources that are stressed because of the flooding and the saturation that we've already seen prior to Barry.

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. So there's two pieces to this. And -- let me begin with Hurricane Katrina because we keep referencing Hurricane Katrina. The good news is that we actually learned a lot from the disaster and the mistakes made during Hurricane Katrina. Two of those lessons you're seeing right now. The first is that the federal government can pre-deploy and pre-active by declaring an emergency. This is what President Trump has done.

It means that the federal government doesn't have to sit back and wait for the state to make some calculation whether it's in trouble. This just means that there's a better flow of resources and communication early on because you can always retreat if it's not as bad as you think so that's the first lesson.

The second is, of course, the use of the National Guard early on. The military is quite good at supply-chain logistics. That's what they're really, really good at and they can move things quickly. So you're seeing the activation of the National Guard, you're seeing other states deploy their National Guard under mutual aide compacts, and you might see more of that as this storm continues so those are two lessons out of Hurricane Katrina that puts Louisiana and its surrounding states in a better position than they were obviously in 2005.

HILL: Juliette, also appreciate your insight. Thank you.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

HILL: Our team coverage from the region will continue but for the moment I want to toss it back to Christi and Martin in Atlanta with more of the stories we're following on this Saturday morning. Guys?

PAUL: Great job, Erica. You and the crew stay safe there. So appreciate it. We're going to be talking to Erica throughout the morning.

We do want to tell you about the hundreds of people who are in the streets protesting President Trump's upcoming migrant raids. Thousands of immigrant families are on edge this morning ahead of tomorrow's immigration crackdown. We'll talk about it. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:15:00]

SAVIDGE: Across the country there are demonstrators that took to the streets Friday protesting President Trump's order for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct raids on migrant families. This morning, thousands of families are on edge as those raids are set to begin tomorrow.

PAUL: Now they're targeting nine cities across the country. A U.S. official says they're focusing on families who've already had court orders to be removed. An I.C.E. spokesman said, quote, "I.C.E. prioritizes the arrest and removal of unlawfully present aliens who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security," unquote. Now while the Trump Administration I say they're focusing on those who quote, "pose a threat," thousands of undocumented immigrants are really living in fear ahead of these raids. Here's CNN's Sara Sidner.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This undocumented father says he's never felt this much stress and fear in his 15 years living and working in the United States. What did you think when you heard the raids would be happening again?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (by interpretation of Sidner) It's very stressful. It's like you have a disease that's killing you, like cancer, something that makes you feel desperation, he says.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police. Open the door.

SIDNER: Fear and desperation are exploding in immigrant communities across the country after the Trump Administration announced raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents set to begin this weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (by interpretation of Sidner) Psychologically, you live in fear. You live thinking that any day, any moment, you will get a knock on the door.

SIDNER: He lays out his documents to show he pays his taxes. He's worked hard as a repairman to achieve the American dream.

Do you think the president has achieved his goal of making people who are here undocumented want to leave?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (by interpretation of Sidner) Yes, he's achieved that.

There are many people who don't have a choice, he says. He knows the life built with his wife together in California could be wiped away with a knock on the door from an I.C.E. agent. He says he left El Salvador for economic reasons after his first wife died in childbirth and he could not make enough money to provide for his three children there. He entered the U.S. illegally via the Rio Grande in 2005, missed a court date and the court ordered his deportation. He said that is his only crime. He's been trying to remedy it through the courts which includes making scheduled visits with I.C.E. which leaves him even more vulnerable. At his church... ADA VAILENTE, PASTOR: I'm putting myself, my church at risk.

SIDNER: His pastors made clear they're willing to face the consequences of helping the undocumented.

A. VALIENTE: This is what we need to do. We need to walk beside our vulnerable.

SIDNER: Their church is a member of a network of churches preparing emergency shelter for people to go into hiding in the short term and if need be, indefinitely.

[06:20:00]

MELVIN VALIENTE, PASTOR: We have a higher law, the law of love, compassion, and the law of God.

SIDNER: A Trump Administration official says that there are about a million people that have deportation orders similar to the gentleman that we spoke with and that thousands of people that have those orders will be targets of I.C.E. But he's clear that he says those folks have gone through the judicial system here, and that I.C.E. agents are only following the law. Sara Sidner, CNN, Los Angeles.

PAUL: Sara, thank you so much.

You know coming up at this hour, CNN sat down with Vice President Mike Pence just moments after he toured two migrant border facilities. His response to some of the alarming conditions he saw there. We'll show that to you.

SAVIDGE: Meanwhile, you can mark it as a win for President Trump, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the DOJ can give preference to certain U.S. cities that would use grant money on illegal immigration. A panel of judges argued that the DOJ didn't pressure an applicant to cooperate on immigration matters; rather, they only encouraged participation.

PAUL: Now it all stems from a lawsuit from the city of Los Angeles. They claim the city did not receive funding from a grant program after it chose to focus on building trust between communities and law enforcement agencies with no mention of illegal immigration because of its policy as a sanctuary city.

SAVIDGE: And still to come, Tropical Storm Barry has coastal parish leaders on high alert. We'll talk to the president of St. Bernard Parish which is under a state of emergency this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:00]

PAUL: Twenty-five minutes past the hour. We are so grateful to have you with us here on this Saturday morning. I'm Christi Paul with...

SAVIDGE: I'm Martin Savidge in for Victor Blackwell. It's great to be with you all. Tropical Storm Barry is pushing toward the Gulf Coast with maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour; just under hurricane strength. It is expected to be a hurricane when it makes landfall. Dangerous storm surge, heavy rains, and wind conditions are of course the biggest threats this morning.

PAUL: And in addition to that, it's the fact that these are going to be sustained rains for days, that is what's so threatening. Officials in St. Mary Parish say they're expecting 10 to 20 inches of rain over the next three days. Already more than 50,000 customers do not have power across the state. So we're very early into this and already we're seeing that many people without power.

SAVIDGE: Yes, that number is definitely going to go up. Let's go straight out to CNN's Erica Hill who is in Lafayette, Louisiana, this morning for us. Erica?

HILL: Yes guys, good morning. We always talk as we're looking at a storm about the lessons learned and the preparation. I can tell you some of the preparation happening here in Lafayette, we'll give you a sense of where we are, is about two hours by car west and just slightly north of New Orleans. What's happening here, there's a lot of staging going on. So there are boats, there are high-water vehicles staged. There are also a number of busses so that when those calls come in for rescues, they can launch quickly from here.

The hope is that the flooding won't be as bad in this area. So the main water source here that we're watching is the Vermillion River. And while we talk a lot about the rivers especially the Mississippi. We talk about how they're much higher than usual, concerns for New Orleans in particular. Here in Lafayette with the Vermillion River it's actually a little bit below where it normally is that time of year and when we're looking at a rain event, like the one that is starting here and it's going to last for days essentially, that's good news. That being said, there's a slightly increased concern, the sheriff telling our own Nick Watt yesterday that now they're looking at that river a little bit more closely because they do think it could rise more than was initially thought.

So as they keep an eye on that, keep in mind they're also keeping an eye on everything happening around the region so that when again those calls come in for rescues, they're able to launch from here as needed to bring people to safety.

I want to take you back down to New Orleans now. Joining us is Guy McInnis, he's the President of St. Bernard Parish. You know we talk so much about lessons learned, Guy, there's also a concern that people will look on their own personal lessons that they think that they have learned in storms past and perhaps not listen to the most updated information because each storm as you know all too well is different. What is your sense about the folks there in the area and how they are responding to your messaging and whether they're taking this as seriously as you want them to.

GUY MCINNIS, ST. BERNARD PARISH PRESIDENT: Am I on? I'm sorry. In St. Bernard Parish they're really taking this storm seriously. They're staying off the roads. We have been blessed with not getting the brunt of this storm right now but we're still looking at the weather bands coming through. It was kind of contentious here the last few days with worrying about the overtopping of the Mississippi River levee. So now that those calms and those prayers are answered, we're making sure that we don't get a 3deluge of rain which could be devastating to our Parish.

HILL: And there's such a focus on the levee system, the fact that the levees have been closed around New Orleans. Just walk us through what that means and how that has changed things for you in the city, in the parish.

MCINNIS: You know, there's a $14 billion levee system around our parish, Orleans, and Jefferson. So what has happened is this is the first time what I understand that they closed down all the gates around that system so my Parish has about six gates that that would shut down. When you do that, the people start worrying. People start asking questions. Why are we doing all of this. So you know, we're being pre-cautious. Governor Edwards is doing a great job in getting messaging down to the local communities so we wanted to make sure our citizens are safe. We take it serious. We want to be vigilant in making sure all of our citizens are safe, that's our job.

HILL: We know this is a slow moving event. We know that the rain and the storm will be with us not just for hours but potentially for days. But I know you're also looking beyond that in terms of what comes next. What are you looking at in terms of flooding especially after as you mentioned there's a lower concern now -- now that the crest has been reduced to about I believe 17 feet. There was concern it could be 20 and overtop the levees so now when you're looking at the flooding threat, what are you seeing?

MCINNIS: You know, for our community it's three prong, right: the river, the rain, and the storm surge. So the storm surge, it seems like we're only going to top out at around six feet in our outlying areas, that's outside of our levee system. I just took a ride down there with John Lane(ph), my coastal executive director, to Hopedale, Delacroix, our fishing community, to make sure that the storm surge didn't affect them so much and if they needed any resources. So we think we're going to be okay with the storm surge. Like I said, we're waiting to see if we're going to get some serious rain here today. It doesn't look like that but with these bands coming in, you never know. So we are prepared. All of our crews and our community are out there making sure our drainage is clear, and we're going to make sure we respond to any of our citizens' needs when appropriate.

HILL: Guy McInnis, I appreciate you taking the time for us. We know you're a busy man. We'll continue though to bug you for updates and check in with you. Thanks again.

MCINNIS: Thank you.

HILL: The rain, as we just heard, the rain, we will be seeing these different bands for some time. A little lighter here now in Lafayette but we know that will not be the case for the hours to come. For now, Christi and Martin, we'll send it back to you in Atlanta.

PAUL: All right, you take good care, Erica, you and the crew there certainly because we know that the worst is on its way.

SAVIDGE: Yes, we're only starting on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

SAVIDGE: (voice over) Happening now, violent clashes between Hong Kong police and protesters near Hong Kong's border with mainland China.

PAUL: Today's standoff is capping off a month of protests that have seen as many as two million people march through the streets of the Chinese territory there. Matt Rivers is with us from Hong Kong. Matt, help us understand what's happening there today, what these people want.

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, the protests that we saw today, Christi and Martin are smaller than what we've seen in the past and seemingly more centered on a more localized issue here which would see critics say that people from mainland China, which isn't far from where we are, come here to this border town and take advantage of this place economically and it makes life worse for the people that are here.

Overall, the message of the people that are here today is that it's yet another example. What happens in this town is yet another example of what they say is the Hong Kong government's inability to do its job which is to protect the rights and the interests of the -- of the people of Hong Kong. So what happens here is oftentimes they use umbrellas like you saw right there. Sometimes they don't want their identities shown. The protests fear that they could face retribution from their own government and mainland China.

But this has just capped what's been essentially two months of consistent protests, almost every single weekend. It started with a very controversial extradition bill which would see suspects from Hong Kong allowed to be extradited to mainland China. That opens up people here in Hong Kong to China's notoriously opaque legal system. That kicked all this off but really what this is is, Christi and Martin, is just people here in Hong Kong expressing their fear over becoming just another Chinese city like Shanghai or Beijing.

Hong Kong has had democratic-style freedoms for decades now that they believe are being eroded away and so every weekend you're seeing protests like this and they have turned a little bit violent today. We saw clashes between protesters and police. This is a relatively leaderless movement here and so when police and protesters are in these cramped spaces it does tend to get a little violent. It's calmed down for now but we're going to be here for the rest of the night mainly because these protesters look like they're gearing up. You see right here they're starting to build metal barricades and so they're going to be here for awhile and we're going to be here to see how this turns out.

PAUL: All right. Matt Rivers, thank you so much. You take care of yourself there as well certainly. SAVIDGE: Well thousands of undocumented migrants living in fear as

I.C.E. prepares to start raids across the country tomorrow. CNN sat down with Vice President Mike Pence. You're going to hear what he has to say about the raids coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:00]

PAUL: Thirty-seven minutes past the hour now. Good morning to you. Vice President Mike Pence defending the I.C.E. deportation raids that are set to start tomorrow in nine major cities across the country. He actually sat down with CNN's Pamela Brown after touring two border facilities yesterday and he says these raids are a way to enforce U.S. laws and stem the flow of illegal immigration. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's important to ask you about the I.C.E. raid on Sunday that the president talked about. Who exactly will agents be targeting?

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I can't speak about the timing...

BROWN: The president said Sunday today.

PENCE: ... of a law enforcement activity. And but let me -- let me say that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has continuously been doing their job over the course of this administration. But the upcoming efforts are going to focus exclusively on individuals who have been fully adjudicated and ordered by a judge to be deported.

BROWN: What about families?

PENCE: These will be individuals who are facing a deportation order, and the priority that Homeland Security and I.C.E. will be placing will be on those individuals who have also committed other crimes in this country and represent a threat to our communities.

BROWN: So not just crossing the border illegally but other crimes?

PENCE: The focus and the priority will be on individuals who have also committed other crimes, but it's very clear in my conversations with Immigration Customs Enforcement officials and DHS, that every individual who will be apprehended in this upcoming effort has already been ordered out of the country by a judge, facing a legal deportation order. And we expect Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to act on deportation orders and remove people from this country that our courts have said should no longer be here.

BROWN: But are you concerned families will be separated? Will families be separated?

PENCE: People will be separated from this country who our courts have ordered to be deported. BROWN: So families could be separated?

[06:40:00]

PENCE: But I want to be - I want to be clear on this Pamela. The priority is going to be on individuals who have committed crimes in this country, people who -- members of MS-13, and people who have engaged in violent acts in this country in many cases. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement will be moving against those individuals and deporting them under the law and under a lawful order by a judge that they be deported. That's what the American people expect us to do. We have to have border security, but we also have to have interior enforcement.

BROWN: But what happens if a child is at daycare or summer camp, the parent is arrested. Is that child going to go home to an empty house? What's going to happen?

PENCE: Pamela, I - I am very confident that the American people recognize that the way forward to deal with this crisis of illegal immigration is to enforce our laws. And in enforcing court-ordered deportation orders is exactly what we have Immigration and Customs Enforcement to do. The American people expect us to secure our border. They expect us to enforce our laws and put the interests of Americans first.

(END VIDEO)

SAVIDGE: And our thanks to CNN's Pamela Brown for that interview. Still ahead, migrants are on edge ahead of the immigration raids tomorrow. But did President Trump blow his cover and give away his plans by touting the raids? We're going to talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:00]

SAVIDGE: This morning, thousands of families across the country are worried as immigration raids are set to begin tomorrow. Senior White House administration official is speaking out ahead of that crackdown, telling CNN that there was some frustration inside the Department of Homeland Security on Friday. That official said the president's comments about the upcoming immigration raids were head scratching, saying that the comments could potentially jeopardize the operation. So let's talk about that with CNN political commentator Errol Lewis. He joins us this morning. Good morning Errol.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

SAVIDGE: So we've heard this from the president time and time where he says he doesn't forecast his moves, clearly he did just that and I think it frustrated some at DHS. How hard is it going to be for officials to conduct these operations after essentially their cover is blown?

LOUIS: Yes. It will be much harder if the intention was to actually conduct the kind of deportation removal actions that were being discussed. I mean, look, the reality is the -- the whole point of the exercise appears to have been so that the president could sort of set us all on this national alert so that local news organizations from coast to coast are going to be looking at this, they are going to be covering it. They've certainly put out so much information that anybody who has an effort or any kind of intention of making plans had an opportunity to do so. So actual removal may not be have been the point at all, Martin. Certainly it would be harder if that was the goal.

SAVIDGE: Which gets plea to my -- gets me to my second question which is this primarily seems to be a spectacle of the president's own creation, designed to appeal to his base in the matter that he's getting tough on immigration, as you said, and face it we've got an election upcoming.

LOUIS: That's right. We spend so much time looking at the democratic candidates for president, we should not lose sight of the fact that the incumbent would like to be reelected and so Donald Trump does have a lot of political ground that he needs to make up. The polls are not entirely to his liking and so yes, this is how you fire up the base. It's a core political promise that he's made. There doesn't seem to be much policy thinking behind it frankly. Again, even the removal itself is being kind of jeopardized by the clear political needs of the moment but that's what candidates do. That's what politicians do when their political life is on the line.

SAVIDGE: But your -- I'm not saying you, but the president if that is the case, the moral question here becomes that you are putting families through absolute hell as they fear they may be separated or what may come all for the purpose of making the political point with your base?

LOUIS: Well, yes, I'm not sure what else you can conclude, Martin. I mean to the extent that there's a policy goal behind all of this, you hear things from time to time from the administration that suggests that the very chaotic nature of all of this stuff, the randomness of it, the collateral deportations, meaning if along the way they find anybody else who's deportable, that they'll be snatched up by I.C.E. That that appears to be, once in awhile you hear this from the administration a message that they want to send back somehow to Honduras or Guatemala or to Mexico so that people won't try to make illegal crossings and won't try to stay in the country and remain undocumented, but it seems very unlikely. Nothing that we know about how people actually operate suggests that that would be effective. So what we're left with is this kind of random sort of whack-a-mole sort of a national hunt that is really going to be very disruptive over the weekend and beyond.

SAVIDGE: Yes, it will. We'll have crews in many cities following it. Errol Louis, thanks very much.

LOUIS: Thank you, Martin.

PAUL: Listen, it was a pretty emotional homecoming for the Los Angeles Angels last night. Vince Cellini, what happened? VINCE CELLINI, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Christi, the team, the

Angels, returned to the field for the first time since the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs and honored him in the best way possible. Wait until you see what happened. It was amazing in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

PAUL: Fifty-three minutes past the hour now. You know the Los Angeles Angels were honoring their late teammate, and this was an unforgettable night.

SAVIDGE: Yes, it was. Vince Cellini has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Good morning.

CELLINI: Yes, guys all the emotions were on display, all the feels. It came together last night in Anaheim. The Angels playing their first home game since the July 1st death of their beloved teammate, Tyler Skaggs. On the eve of what would have been Skaggs' 28th birthday, the entire team took the field wearing his number 45 and then after a 45- second moment of silence, his mother Debbie delivered a perfect strike with the ceremonial first pitch and that really set the stage for one of the most impressive, inspired performances of the season; this against the Mariners.

All-star slugger Mike Trout just lays into this pitch; a mammoth 454- foot home run and a seven-run first inning. The Angels could do no wrong and pitchers Taylor Cole and Felix Pena teamed up to throw a no hitter in a 13-0 victory. According to stats, the last time there was a combined no hitter in the state of California, July 13th, 1991, the same day Tyler Skaggs was born. After they celebrated the final out, the Angels all removed their number 45 jerseys, laid them on the mound in tribute one by one.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

MIKE TROUT, LOS ANGELES ANGELS OUTFIELDER: Tonight was in honor of him. You know he was definitely -- definitely looking over us tonight. He's probably up there, you know, saying we're nasty and, you know, just what an unbelievable game to be a part of. Like I said, I'm speechless. I can't -- I can't -- this is the best way possible to honor him tonight.

(END VIDEO)

CELLINI: Just an incredible display.

[06:55:00]

Now get your strawberries and cream ready for breakfast at Wimbledon. This morning, Serena Williams continuing her quest for a record tying 24th Grand-Slam title. This is Serena's 11th Wimbledon final. Standing in the way of history, Simona Halep, last year's French Open winner in her first Wimbledon the final. The match gets started at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. It should be a really good one. Both of these players playing very well as they are heading into this final so we'll keep an eye on that for you.

PAUL: All right.

CELLINI: All right.

PAUL: Vince Cellini. Thank you so much. You have a tough job.

CELLINI: Yes?

PAUL: Watching all these sports games.

CELLINI: What are you trying to say?

PAUL: I'm trying to say you got it good.

CELLINI: Somebody's got to keep track...

PAUL: I'm trying to say you got it good buddy.

CELLINI: I do. I do.

PAUL: Vince, thank you.

SAVIDGE: Glad to see you.

CELLINI: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Well, we'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: I want to wish you a good morning. So grateful to have you with us as always here. Welcome to Saturday, I'm Christi Paul.

SAVIDGE: I'm Martin Savidge in for Victor Blackwell. Delta Airlines has canceled all their flights into New Orleans airports today as Tropical Storm Barry moves closer to the gulf coast. The storm could come ashore as a hurricane within the next few hours but the rain is already coming down. Over a foot could fall in some areas with storm surge rising as high as six feet --

[07:00:00]