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President Obama's Immigration Plans; Historic Snowfall; Israel On Edge; Obama To Give Prime Time Address Tomorrow; Rep. Kinzinger Gives Republican View of President's Upcoming Prime Time Announcement

Aired November 19, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, new details on President Obama's immigration plans. We now know when the president will make his announcement. We also know more about who will and won't be protecting from deportation from the United States.

Also right now, six feet, yes, nearly two meters of snow socking in the city of Buffalo, New York and the southern areas. It's trapping people in their homes, drivers in their cars. We're going there live for a look at this historic snowfall.

And Israel on edge right now. The day after five people were killed in a vicious synagogue attack. Now the world is waiting to see what Israel does next.

Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem, 9:00 p.m. in Baghdad. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with the breaking news in the showdown over immigration reform here in the United States. CNN has learned President Obama will announce tomorrow night he's taking executive action, unilateral action on the issue. He'll address the American people during prime time. Once again, tomorrow night. And that puts him on a collision course with so many Republicans who say he will be overstepping his legal authority.

Our coverage this hour begins with our White House Correspondent Michelle Kosinski and our Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash. Michelle, what do we know about the specifics of what the president say -- will say when he makes his announcement tomorrow night?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. Well, as we are getting closer, more is coming out from government sources and others, people who have been close to the discussion over this. And it looks like it will include the parents of U.S. citizens, parents of people who have some legal status here, like green cards, but, potentially, will not include parents of the so-called dreamers. People who were brought here as children and are already eligible for what's known as deferred action or they are able to avoid deportation under action that President Obama took in 2012. So, it doesn't seem that those parents will be included. And the ones that will -- the ones that we will mention that we have mentioned will be included under this executive action. It's possible that they will have had to be in this country for maybe five years, maybe 10 years. Keep in mind, there has not yet been an announcement or really any detail coming out of the White House directly.

So, of the people that have been included that we believe will be included in this action, that could be upwards of 3 million people, possibly 3.2 million, 3.5 million.

We mentioned that those defer actions, the dreamers when President Obama took action in 2012. That is expected to be extended as well so that will include more people. So, we're looking at people who were brought here as children and some parents of people who already have legal status in this country -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So, we're talking about 3 million, 3.5 million, Michelle. There are, what, about 11 million undocumented workers in the United States. So, the remaining, they will presumably still be on this potential watch list to be deported, is that what the president --

KOSINSKI: Right.

BLITZER: -- will tell the American people tomorrow night?

KOSINSKI: It's possible. I mean, there could be other stipulations. There could be some leeway for special cases where families -- it would be a real hardship for them to be broken apart. We just don't know what kind of sort of slope there will be for those cases.

But what these people who are included under the umbrella are expected to be able to get would be the avoidance of deportation, possibly temporarily. I mean, this could be something like under the -- under what's known as DACA, the deferred action. I mean, they have to apply for that every two years. This could be the same thing. And they also have the right to work in this country. So, in simple terms, this is not, as of yet at least, a path to citizenship. It's basically the right to stay in this country for the time being and the right to work here -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, stand by, Michelle. I want to go to Dana Bash up on the Hill. Dana, I assume there's going to be a very negative, angry Republican reaction.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And there already has been, Wolf. You've heard it. We've all heard Republicans warning the president not to do this this morning. The number two Senate Republican, John Cornyn, was already on the floor because he had said that he'd heard this was going to happen. It was not a very well-kept secret that the president was planning this as early as this week. He called the president somebody who was abusing his power.

The speaker's office already, early this morning, put out a statement calling him emperor Obama, reminding reporters that when they write their stories, they should be -- remember the fact that the president himself 22 times has suggested, over the years, that he doesn't have the power to do what he's going to do by executive order. So, this is the context in which the president is making this statement signing this paper.

But, you know, the question is, what are Republicans going to do about it? And they don't have an answer to that. They have been meeting for days, even weeks to try to figure out what their options are. Republican sources admit they don't have good options but they are certainly going to try to fight this legislatively and maybe even legally.

BLITZER: What do the Republicans say, Dana, when a lot of people point out that Republican presidents, including Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, they similarly took executive action to allow certain people who had come to the United States illegally to remain in the United States?

BASH: It's a great question and they're right. Republicans did use their executive power when they were in the White House to do similar things. What Republicans now are arguing is that it was a different scale and a different time. I think if you want to sort of pull back the curtain a little bit, it's much more of an issue of a different time.

When Ronald Reagan was in the White House, he didn't have Republican Congress where you have, you know, so many members who -- never mind that they don't trust the president, it was somebody in their own party, but so many members who are in very conservative districts. It is a different time. The Republican Party is a different place.

And so, that is what is causing the heartburn, frankly, for many of these Republican leaders because it's important to underscore that John Boehner, the House Speaker, Mitch McConnell, who will be the Senate Majority Leader, they want to get this done. They know -- when I say this, some form of immigration reform legislatively because they know how critical it is to grow the Republican Party and not to make the Republican Party just the party of white men. And that is their fear going forward. But it will make it a lot harder, they argue, both in private to the president and publicly about -- make it harder to do so when their rank-and-file won't follow them because of this action.

BLITZER: Here's what the president said about this issue last week while he was still overseas. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I gave the House over a year to go ahead and at least give a vote to the Senate bill. They failed to do so. And I indicated to Speaker Boehner several months ago that if, in fact, Congress failed to act, I would use all the lawful authority that I possess to try to make the system work better. And that's going to happen. That's going to happen before the end of the year.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: That was the president just the other day. Let's bring in Juan Carlos Lopez with CNN Espanol who's been covering the story very closely. So, we know the basic parameters of what the president will tell the American people tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, in his prime time address, that he's going to go ahead with this unilateral executive action. You heard Michelle Kosinski at the White House say maybe 3 million, 3.5 million people will be affected. They will be allowed to remain legally in the United States. How is this going to play in the Hispanic community?

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: It's going to be huge, Wolf. If you take into account -- we were talking about deferred action. Deferred action in 2012 was announced by the president. He obtained 71 percent of the Hispanic vote in that election that year. Think about this. It could be anywhere between 3.5 million and 5 million people who will benefit directly from this temporary status.

Now, we've had temporary protection for eight different countries. El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua have it, Honduras since 1999. It's not about the citizenship. It's not legal status. They can work. They can live. And they've been here for a long time.

So, this is going to change people's lives. And I think it has a very deep impact about what can happen in the elections in 2016 on the Hispanic vote. And whatever the Republicans do to counter those executive actions will be seen as the -- by the Hispanic community as a sign of what the Republican Party wants to do with them.

So, a very important single interest and singled by the president on executive power and on his relation with the Republicans after that resounding defeat we saw just days ago.

BLITZER: Earlier, you know, the president did take executive action granting legal residency for the so-called dreamers, the children who are either born here in the United States or came here at a young age, grew up here in the United States. About 600,000 dreamers were affected. They could stay. But apparently based on what we're hearing from the White House, their parents will not receive this kind of special benefit. They will not be able to get some sort of legal residency. I assume there'll be some disappointment as far as that's concerned.

LOPEZ: There will be. And there's been pressure from different groups. Most groups want the largest number of people, this 11 million undocumented, to be benefited. Now, with deferred action, it's not illegal residency. It's also a temporary status. They have to apply every two years. It doesn't grant any right to citizenship but it gives people the right to work, to get a license in states that most are giving it. So, there is a lot of pressure, a lot of hope but a lot of controversy will come. It will be an important night.

And it's interesting, the announcement happens tomorrow night right around the Latin Grammys. So, I don't know if there's any connection between that or not. But it's going to be a night where a lot of people will be watching T.V. BLITZER: I'm sure they will. And they'll be anxious to get the

details of, specifically, what the president is going to say. Juan Carlos, thanks very much.

Joining us now for some reaction, the Illinois Republican Congressman, Adam Kinzinger. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us. So, we know the general outlines --

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: Yes.

BLITZER: -- of what the president's going to do tomorrow night. What's your reaction? Are you welcoming what the president is going to do with this executive action or are you critical of the president?

KINZINGER: I'm critical of the process. I mean, look, I'm a supporter of immigration reform. And, frankly, a lot in my party are supporters of immigration reform. And it's something that, you know, is going to take a lot of time to talk about. We all know that there are people with different views, even within my own party on it. And so, this these to have a process where we have debates. We bring forward bills. See what the new Congress does.

I think the president, frankly, is going to be kind of spoiling the party with this. He's going to tick a lot of people off, you know, basically saying, look, I gave Congress time but they didn't do what I wanted, therefore, I'm going to do it on my own. And I think that's one of the big concerns. It's not so even so much the issue of what he's doing, although we think he's overstepping his power.

But the fact that, now, we have a lot more issues on immigration we have to deal with from border security to high-skilled visas to the other 10 million people that aren't going to be affected by this. And I think this is going to stall that discussion. And one of the things I'm concerned about is, as your previous guest said, the politics of it. The president may be looking at the politics of this versus actually solving it long term because I think we have a real opportunity to solve it. But this isn't going to help.

BLITZER: I know you support immigration reform. A lot of Republicans in the House support immigration reform. It was passed overwhelmingly in the Senate, Republicans joining the Democrats to pass it but it's languished. The speaker of the House hasn't allowed it to come up for a vote for well over a year. So, the president says, you know, it's enough is enough. I have the legal authority to take action. I'm going to take action. If Congress wants to come up with legislation that I can sign into law, that will supersede the executive action he's about to take. But what do you make of his argument that the House Republican leadership has refused to do what the Republican leadership, a lot of Republicans in the Senate, allowed to go forward, that legislation that passed?

KINZINGER: Well, as you know, last year, you know, with the discussion with the Senate bill, immigration got very divided and it became a really kind of hot topic. And so, you know, that's a real issue. You have people running in elections and that kind of comes into play and everything else. But when the president's concerned, he doesn't get to pick Congress. He doesn't get to just make laws if Congress doesn't go along with it. We exist for a reason out here. And, you know, you may not like everything that goes on in the sausage making of Washington, D.C. and behind the doors and, you know, watching what's going on on the floor, but that doesn't mean you can just say, I don't like that, therefore, I'm going to just do it anyway.

And I think, again, we have an opportunity with the new Congress, a larger Republican majority, a Republican Senate, to get something that we can put on the president's desk. Do a little back and forth and ultimately come to something that both sides can maybe hold their nose on certain parts of but agree to in a broader package.

But I got to tell you, anybody that thinks this step Friday is going to do anything to make immigration reform more likely out here I think is fooling yourself. It could still happen. I hope it does. But this is not a good start to what needs to be a strong kind of across- the-aisle approach to say, look, we've had some real issues we need to deal with here.

BLITZER: Because the president, presumably, will point out -- yes, Thursday night, tomorrow night, he'll make his announcement. He'll follow up with an event in Las Vegas on Friday. He'll make the point that it's going to take several months to begin implementing this new policy, 3 million, 3.5 million people who are here undocumented, they will eventually get some sort of legal status, at least temporary legal status, in the United States. Congress, it will put the pressure on you guys in Congress to come up with legislation. Here is the question. Will you support legislation going forward similar to what the Senate passed if it came up for a vote in the House?

KINZINGER: Well, I don't speak in hypotheticals on that. But, yes, I mean, say, if we get something that solves the border issue first -- I'm an international guard pilot. I've worked the border of Mexico and ISR, Intelligence Surveillance for Cognisense Capacity. And there's a lot of areas that aren't secure. That's going to be important. And dealing with the folks that are here. You're not going to deport everybody and you shouldn't. And then, high-skilled visas and fixing our immigration system. I would be supportive of something like that.

But, again, we need to -- really, the president, I mean, if he would have come out, actually, tomorrow and said, look, I'm going to give the Republicans one last shot. In the very least, I'll delay this until March, give the new Congress an opportunity, I think he'll be in a better position. But I'm just afraid, as a supporter of reform, that what's going to happen over the next few days, this whole situation is going to collapse. And I'm going to tell you, when the president's out in two years, I mean, his executive orders don't necessarily follow with him.

BLITZER: Right, an executive order signed by a president can be changed by the next president -

KINZINGER: Right. BLITZER: -- if it's a Republican president, they may change it. If it's a Democratic president, they may keep that executive order. One final question, Congressman, before I let you go. Is the president legally authorized to do what he's about to do, revise some of the implementation of existing law? And they point out that former president George H. W. Bush did it, that Ronald Reagan used executive authority to change the implementation of immigration policy. Do you have a question about the legal authority that the president has?

KINZINGER: Yes, I do have a question about hat, and if you look at I think past situations where presidents have done that, they've involved Congress in a much broader way. Of course I wasn't out here then. But I do have some concerns. I think when we see the orders and how people are going to look at this that are Constitutional experts, and say, 'Is he operating within his authority?' and I think will react accordingly. But, again, this is something that needs to be done and I think we have a brief opportunity, but I'm just afraid of what tomorrow's going to bring in terms of fixing the system if the President goes ahead - sounds like he's going to.

BLITZER: All right, Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

KINZINGER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, let's get a different perspective. The former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is joining us on the phone right now. I assume you're pretty happy with what you're hearing about what the President will announce tomorrow night, Mayor?

ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, FORMER LOS ANGELES MAYOR: Oh, the answer's yes, and I am because I want to keep families together. Every - last year more than 400,000 families or individuals were deported and this notion that the border's not secure - actually it's more secure than it's been at any time in our history. We spend more on border security, you have less people crossing the border illegally than at any time in the last 25 years.

And the notion that this is somehow an illegal action - look, for 70 years we've been doing executive action. Roosevelt and Truman did the Bracero program, brought in millions of agricultural workers into the United States. Eisenhower and Johnson and Kennedy brought in Cuban refugees. My uncle, my stepdad came in as a result of that. Ford - you talked about Republicans - it wasn't just Reagan, it was Bush and Reagan, Eisenhower and Ford, all of whom have engaged in executive action.

And in terms of judicial discretion, let's be clear. We've done it 20 times since the 1970s. So this notion that this is somehow - and by the way, virtually every time the Congress has ratified or approved these actions by a president. So, this isn't anything new. The President may have said that he didn't have the authority, but he obviously hadn't consulted with lawyers or didn't understand that this has been done many, many times for 70 years.

BLITZER: All right, well let me point out to you that the President repeatedly has said over the past six years under pressure from Hispanics and others in the United States to just go ahead and unilaterally sign an executive order changing the rules. And he was interviewed on Univision about a year or so ago I'm going to play for you, Mayor what the President said then.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system, that for me to simply, through executive order, ignore those congressional mandates, would not conform with my appropriate role as president.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BLITZER: All right, as you know, Mayor, he's a former constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago Law School. He also pointed out in a separate interview that he's the president of the United States, he's not the emperor of the United States, and as a result, he can't simply unilaterally make these executive decisions and change the implementation of the law - to which you say what?

VILLARAIGOSA: Well, very clearly what I just said. He may have said that again and again and again. But he obviously was wrong. They've been doing it for 70 years. As I said, judicial discretion has been exercised 20 times since the 1970s. The only reason he's doing it now is because he knows it is legal. And so he did his research since those remarks, and clearly he believes that he has the authority to do it, presidents had done it before him. And I heard Dana Bash say that the Republicans understand they have limited options here and they have limited options because, as you said earlier, Republican and Democratic presidents had done this. Oftentimes with millions of people, by the way, again and again.

BLITZER: And that's correct. The Republican presidents have used executive orders to go ahead and allow certain people to stay here in the United States - people who came here illegally and so I'm sure the President will cite those precedents when he --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- tomorrow night.

VILLARAIGOSA: And the way cure all of this - the way to cure all of this is to pass a bill. And this notion that people are angry and upset - what they - we're all grownups here - when you're duty-bound to address a problem, you fix it. And that's what the Congress can do. And that's what I hope they will do.

BLITZER: And the President will certainly put the pressure on Congress to go ahead and do that because it'll take several months to be implementing this new policy that could affect three or three and a half million people who are living in the United States right now. Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, always good to have you here on CNN. Thanks very much for joining us.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP - AUDIO GAP?)

OBAMA: -- system is broken. Unfortunately Washington has allowed the problem to fester for too long. And so what I'm going to be laying out is the things that I can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system work better, even as I continue to work with Congress and encourage them to get a bi-partisan, comprehensive bill that can solve the entire problem. So, tune in tomorrow night at 8 o'clock here from the White House where I'm going to making this announcement and then Del Sol High School, I will see you on Friday. Thanks everybody.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BLITZER: All right, the President making that announcement on Facebook just a few moments ago.

Let's get Democratic reaction from Capitol Hill. Right now, joining us Congressman Eliot Engel of New York. He's the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Do you believe the President has the legal authority to go ahead and unilaterally allow 3 million/3 and a half million people who don't have documentation right now to remain in the United States?

REP. ELIOT ENGEL, D-NEW YORK: Well, let me say first of all I think it would be preferable to have the Congress do it. The Senate sent a bill to the House 16, 17, 18 months ago, and the House hasn't acted on it, mainly because Speaker Boehner knows that if it was brought to the floor, it would pass and the leadership there didn't want the bill to pass. I believe that the President - this is a last resort. And Congress still has a chance to pass that bill or some other kind of bill. But I think the President is frustrated that nothing seems to happen. We have 11 million people here who are undocumented or illegal - anything - any way - you want to say it. And they're not going back and so, in my way of thinking, It's ridiculous to have these people in limbo. We all know they're here, we all know they work. I think what the President's doing makes sense and I think he would not be doing it if he thought that he didn't have a good, sound legal basis to do it.

BLITZER: Because for six years he didn't - he repeatedly suggested he didn't have the legal authority to go ahead and take this kind of action he's about to take. Here's a clip - a separate clip. We early played a clip of what he told Univision a year or so ago - a year and a half ago - February 2013. Listen to what he said then.

OBAMA: This is something that I've struggled with throughout my presidency. The problem is is that, you know, I'm the President of the United States, I'm not the Emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed. And Congress right now has not changed what I consider to be a broken immigration system.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BLITZER: All right, so what's your reaction when you hear him give that argument - that's a year and a half ago when he said he's the President, he's not the Emperor, and he simply can't do what he's about to do. Has he flip-flopped?

ENGEL: Well, I guess he thought that Congress would certainly have passed something, and now, again, it's a year and a half. I think his preference would be - and my preference as well that the Congress acts. But if the Congress is simply not going to act, he's going to do what presidents before him have done - Ronald Reagan, then George H.W. Bush both acted on immigration and I think that he's factoring in the fact that there has been inaction by the Congress over these 17 or 18 months.

BLITZER: One the things that, presumably based on our reporting he's not going to do, is allow the appearance of the so-called 'dreamers' - the kids who grew up here in the United States - about 600,000 - he gave temporary legal status to earlier through executive action. Those parents are not going to be part of this new group that will have access to some sort of legal status in the United States. Is that a mistake on his part?

ENGEL: Well, I don't know and I don't know what he's going to do or not do. I just know he's going to do something. Look, I think it's a mistake for Congress to punt on this. This is a burning issue, it's an issue of fairness and equality. The senate bill that was passed had a little something for everyone in it, it had tighter border security. I'm not one of the people who thinks that we shouldn't have border security.

I think that we have a right to secure our borders. But I think we can secure our borders, at the same time be compassionate to 11 million people who are here, who are here to stay. You go out anywhere in America in the suburbs or any place and see who's taking care of people's lawns and doing the kinds of jobs that nobody else wants to do. These people are here and we want to make them work their way to citizenship. The senate bill I think provided a 14-year term before many of these people could become citizens, and that's hardly amnesty.

I just think that the Republicans are being ridiculous and unrealistic about all this, and I think the President is frustrated and fed up and I think he's made the decision to go ahead and do the kinds of things that presidents before him have done.

BLITZER: Should these millions of people who are now going to get some sort of legal status to remain in the United States be eligible for health benefits - federal health benefits, for example, because we're told that they won't be.

ENGEL: Well, that's another issue. I think the first issue we really need to deal with is taking away the limbo that these 11 million people have. And then we can make those other decisions afterwards. But, again, I think the plan -- that bipartisan plan that was passed by the Senate that makes these people work their way to citizenship, 14 years in some instances, pay a fine and continue to do what they've been doing. No one believes if the president does nothing and Congress does nothing that these people are going back. They're here to stay. We ought to make a system that works. And I think that's what President Obama is trying to do. BLITZER: Eliot Engel, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs

Committee.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

ENGEL: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll have much more on the breaking news coming up.

Also, other news we're following, including a wall of snow barreling through a home, just one of the unbelievable images coming out of Buffalo, New York, a city that's getting slammed right now by a deadly storm. We're going to speak with a resident of Buffalo, the former Buffalo Bills quarterback, Jim Kelly. He will give us an eyewitness account of what's going on in my hometown, Buffalo.

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