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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
The Surge North; Riding the Death Train; The Politics of Immigration Crisis; Official: Israeli Military Calls Up Nearly 30K Reservists; "Pillowcase Rapist" Released; 12-Year-Old Boy Found In Father's Detroit Basement Says He Was Forced To Do Grueling Exercises
Aired July 10, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. Thanks for joining us. Breaking news tonight from the Middle East where there are new signs that Israel is gearing up for ground action in Gaza. We'll take you there shortly. But first the crisis here at home on the border.
Children in limbo on the border with more kids entering the country every single day. President Obama in Texas today continued to push Congress to act on $3.7 billion in emergency spending to address the immediate problem. He singled out House lawmakers as well for not acting on compromised Senate legislation addressing broader immigration reform. Also a pair of hecklers singled him out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The House Republicans, they haven't even called the bill. They won't even take a vote on the bill. They -- they don't have enough energy or organization or I don't know what to just even vote no on the bill.
(LAUGHTER)
And then they are mad at me for trying to do things to make the immigration system work better. OK? So it doesn't -- it doesn't make sense. So I'm sorry, what are you yelling about now?
Hey, sit down, guys, I'm almost done. Come on. Sit down. I'll talk to you afterwards, I promise. All right? I'll bring it back. I'm wrapping things up here. I understand.
So, see, everybody is going to start -- I'm on your side, man, sit down, guys. We'll talk about it later. I promise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Unclear what the hacklers wanted, harsh words as well from House Speaker John Boehner. He's been president for 5.5 years, Boehner said, when is he going to take responsibility for something?
Texas Governor Rick Perry today send President Obama a letter requesting 1,000 National Guard troops and predator drones to patrol the border and the kids keep coming. Gary Tuchman has been following some of them on their journey here
from Central America. This reporting you won't see anywhere else. This is what he saw today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I want to give you a look here to give you an idea of how open this is. There are police here. There are police all over here and no one minds that people are going across the river from here in Guatemala into Mexico.
You can see this family of three, a mother, a father and their little boy. They told me a short time ago, they are getting ready to go on this raft. The rafts are made of huge inner tubes and they're getting ready to go across from here in Guatemala into Mexico. They're hoping also to get into the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's from yesterday, not today. That's Gary's remarkable reporting that we showed you last night on Mexico's southern border where, as you saw, police appear to tolerate the flow of my migrants out of Guatemala. That's the border between Guatemala and Mexico. He's now right above what happens to be a heavily used unofficial crossing, Gary?
TUCHMAN: Anderson, I stand right now in Talisman, Mexico where it's absolutely pouring rain. A torrential storm right now and this is the border marker, Mexico, Guatemala. I take a step and I'm one time zone behind and I'm in another country. This is El Carmen, Guatemala.
This is an official border station where it is pouring right now and this is where it's done by the book, but if you want to cross from Guatemala into Mexico and you don't want to do it by the book, all you have to do is literally go below.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (on camera): Many people legally cross between Guatemala and Mexico. This is the Guatemalan side, the other side of this bridge is the nation of Mexico. The Mexican state of Chiapas. But most people do not have documentation to go from one country to the other, including the people who eventually want to end up in the United States. So what they do is something you will not see between the United States and Mexico or the United States and Canada for that matter, not miles away, not hours away, right next to the legal border crossing, here are people who are walking across this river to get from Guatemala to Mexico.
They walk, they swim, they also take rafts to illegally cross, and what's amazing is, no one at this border station, the Mexican officials or the Guatemalan officials seem to mind. They just let them cross. It happens all day.
So we're going to give you a look, we're going to go under this bridge to the raft area and show you what happens. Right under where you can legally cross, this is where you illegally
cross, right under this border station. This is the rafts and the inner tube, the wood, we paid our 10 quetzales, which is the equivalent of $1.30. We're going to go along on this raging rapid trip.
Hello. I go with you?
What you should know is these people, they tell us they are not planning to go to the United States. They just want to go to Mexico.
You ready? OK.
Everyone here is quiet and you got to duck your head so you don't get decapitated by the rope and now we crossed the international boundary and we're in the nation of Mexico. What happens when people get here who eventually want to get to the United States, this is standard, they climb on these rocks and there are trails and there are paths up there. There are also shelters there. So many people who want to begin their voyage to the (INAUDIBLE) will stay in the shelter while they figure out how they're going to get there.
This is the easy part. People are very friendly. It costs almost nothing. But to get to the United States border could take weeks, if they're successful. In many cases they are not successful. But this for many people is the beginning of a journey.
This is the trail that Guatemalans, Hondurans, Salvadorans first see when they step foot into Mexico from the river. It's rocky, jungle like, steep at spots. We should tell you that the people who are in our boat, it's not clear where they were going. No one wanted to tell us they were going to the United States. Some swore they were just staying here in Mexico. But you really never know. Because once you get into Mexico, that's when the serious business begins.
That's when you've got to look for shelter, look for help to get into the United States. You can see it's watery, you have old people, you have young people navigating this, trying to make their way into town, this is the town of Talisman, Mexico.
By the way, they used to, over the river, have zip lines, zip lines like you would see in recreational places. The zip lines were taken down by the Mexican government not because it's illegal to cross but because it wasn't safe. People were getting hurt, sometimes killed when the zip lines collapse.
And once people get up this trail and they into the little town, they figure out how to get to the shelters to continue their journey towards the U.S. border. So these vans go directly to Tapachula, that's a town 20 minutes from here where there are shelters for migrants, where they can get advice, and food and health care, and you can see the people on the bus here --
Hello. Tapachula?
They are all going to Tapachula. United States? He said he's going to the United States.
Anyone else? OK. The bus is leaving. If they are going to the United States, they don't want to tell us.
Close the door.
(Voice-over): But the door is reopened, more people journeying north.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And Gary, the point you left those people, they still have around 1600 miles left to travel to try to get to the United States. How are they making the rest of the way?
TUCHMAN: What many of these immigrants do, Anderson, is they head about three hours away from here to my right to a train. The freight train called in Spanish it means the beast. And it's called the beast because it literally is beastly. It's a freight train that many immigrants ride on top of. They ride in between the cars. It's very dangerous. They hop on while it's going, they hop off while it's going. Many people are injured, many people end up being killed and that's where they are heading, many of these people right now.
We can tell you the train as of this moment is derailed. There is a problem with it. You have hundreds of immigrants waiting around in this town with this train stop, hoping to hop on it for a ride up to the United States when it starts going again -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Gary Tuchman, appreciate it. Got to get out of the rain.
The train Gary mentioned is a dangerous way that many of these kids are making it north. The risks are many as Gary mentioned. There are derailments like there was just today but there is just one danger as -- there is not just one danger, I should say, as our Karl Penhaul found out when he rode the train.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some call it the beast. To others, it's the train of death. But to all these illegal migrants, it's a free ride bound for their American dream of washing dishes, picking lettuce or carrying bricks.
ELVIN CHINCHILLA, ILLEGAL MIGRANT: If we work under the sun and other things over there now, if you -- if you -- if you're born over there, your life is going to be different. You're going to work in Arby's, go to a nice high school, go to a nice college, you know? I don't think we're stealing their money or their job, you know.
PENHAUL: Like Elvin, most aboard are from Central American countries like Guatemala and Honduras. They'll spend days clinging to cargo trains as they grind through Southern Mexico up toward the U.S. border. Human rights groups estimate thousands have died falling from trains
like this, some of them mutilated under its wheels. En route to the U.S. border, many more have been robbed, raped and kidnapped.
The Mexican authorities do little to prevent them riding or to deter gangs from preying on them. So when I caught up with this group of migrants at a free hostel in southern Mexico, I wondered why they were ready to sacrifice so much.
CHINCHILLA: It's really the American dream, you can make money and live better, help your people over here.
PENHAUL: Elvin once worked in the U.S. before being jailed on a drug and drunk driving charge and later deported.
CHINCHILLA: And now I want to do the things right this time and I don't want to get in trouble again. Yes, we're trying it. I'm not -- I don't think I'm a bad person.
PENHAUL: By next morning, hope has become apprehension as they wait by the tracks. Some smoke a marijuana joint to calm their nerves.
I scramble onto the train, I tie myself on for safety. I got off at an unscheduled stop a few hours later, but I heard the train arrived without incident in the town of (INAUDIBLE).
(On camera): It's been a tough 12-hour ride to get here, but the migrants still face many more days of travel to get to the U.S. border.
(Voice-over): Fr. Alejandro Solalinde has been giving migrants a free meal and a bed at this hostel for the last five years. Bitter experience tells him they will press on despite the risks rather than go home to poverty.
REV. ALEJANDRO SOLALINDE, MIGRANT HOSTEL FOUNDER (Through Translator): This is an interminable exodus. It never ends but I'm sure they are going to make history. They are going to rebuild America.
PENHAUL: But before they make that history or achieve their own more modest dreams, these poor migrants must first survive the train of death.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Karl, it's extraordinary just to see those -- you know, those young kids, people of all ages on board that train, packed on top of the train. What's it like to ride it? What's it like to be on it? You've ridden the route several times.
PENHAUL: Yes, I've ridden that route several times, Anderson, and every time it is terrifying. It's terrifying for a number of reasons. First of all you've got to jump the train and for undocumented migrants the safest time for them to get on that train is when it's actually started to move. That way they're not going to get hassled by police or by railway workers as they try to jump the cargo train and that itself is a feat because the migrants themselves will tell you how they try to run alongside the train, get ahold on the railings and they say that sometimes they feel this whack of air that drags them underneath.
And so you see a lot of migrants jumping those trains but also certain key points along the route, there are migrant hostiles, the migrants that have been mutilated by the train's young men who've lost a leg or both legs or an arm because they've fallen under the train and then, of course, one of the biggest problems and that is marauding gangs.
COOPER: The guy we heard from in your piece, Elvin, he's ridden the train many times and he's not the only one. There is a lot of people who have done that.
PENHAUL: There are a lot of people there. I think even in 2010 when I was talking to people familiar with the situation, they say that about 30 percent of the migrants trying to get back into the U.S. are returnees. They may have arrived from the U.S. and then been deported or trying to get back again.
This guy, Elvin, for example, I stayed in touch with him since 2010 on Facebook, the occasional phone call, and to my knowledge he's ridden that train again another four times. He has a number of reasons for trying to get back into the United States. He has a family in the United States. He has a baby girl. So he's always desperate to get back to see her. He's also wanting to earn cash that he can send back to his family in Guatemala.
COOPER: That's incredible story. Karl Penhaul, thanks.
A quick reminder, make sure you can set your DVR so you can watch 360 whenever you'd like.
Just ahead tonight, what Texas Governor Rick Perry is saying now about his claim that the Obama administration may have somehow manufactured the immigration crisis. That and President Obama's objection to visiting the border, that it would be just a photo opportunity. He's getting a lot of heat from people who say they can fill a photo album with all those photo ops just like any president.
Later, more rockets leaving Gaza, many more Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, and now breaking news. New military move preparing for the possibility of sending ground troops into Gaza. We'll have the latest from our Ben Wedeman who's there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Last night we talked about how politics is making already a contentious issue immigration into a quagmire. We showed President Obama complaining about the political posturing and defending his decision not to visit the border, saying a photo op is not substitute for real action.
We also showed you Texas Governor Rick Perry, there with the president yesterday who once defended using tax money to educate undocumented kids now hinting at conspiracy theories about how the president somehow maybe behind the wave of kids coming here.
Tonight in our "Keeping Them Honest" report, a look at the president's sudden distain for photo ops and an update on Governor Perry defending a statement he made that he still can't provide any factual evidence for.
I want to start now with the governor. This was him last month on FOX News talking about the border crisis and in his mind a possible, just possible reason for recent influx of undocumented immigrants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: You either have an incredible inept administration or they're in on this somehow. I mean, I hate to be conspiratorial but, I mean, how do you move that many people from Central America across Mexico and then into the United States without there being a fairly coordinated effort?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, we just showed you, it's called a train. But he's not saying, he's just saying. Suggesting perhaps a conspiracy by the administration to bring about a situation that's done little for the administration except make it look pretty bad. In any case, Governor Perry offered absolutely no facts to back up that hint of a conspiracy, not then, not ever. However he did say something during an interview with CNN's Kate Bolduan that aired this morning on "NEW DAY".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: On this latest crisis, I have to ask you, Governor. You said last month that the administration on this issue was incredibly inept or they're in on this somehow. After your meeting today with the president, which one is it, Governor?
PERRY: Well, I don't know, and that's the reason I asked that question a month ago was, why haven't we had any more action out of this administration? And you know, again, the president has come to Texas. The president was gracious and allowed me to give him my insight on this, and I appreciate that, but the fact is, he still hasn't acted, and so actions are really important in this process.
BOLDUAN: But words are important here as well, as you're saying, as you think, as Republicans believe, that the president's words in talking about the Dream Act previously, that has sent the wrong message to Central America so words do matter in this debate.
Do you really honestly believe as you said in that interview last month that the administration might be in on this somehow? I mean, you're suggesting there's some kind of conspiracy here.
PERRY: No, what I'm -- what I'm suggesting is that this administration and their words and their actions or the lack thereof are part of the problem. I think you're putting the words of conspiracy in my mouth, which I did not say. BOLDUAN: No, you actually did say the word, "I hate to be
conspiratorial, but I mean, how do you move that many people from Central America --
PERRY: And I hate to be conspiratorial. I hate to be conspiratorial. I did not say I was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: All right. Let me just explain how this works. In colloquial English when you say, for example, I hate to make unfounded accusations but, it means you're making an unfounded accusation, or let's say you said this, I don't know, like, I hate to make up stories I can't back up but, it means you're making up a story you can't actually back up.
That seems to be the case here.
Now let's turn to the president on his explanation for not going to the border. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: There is nothing that is taking place down there that I am not intimately aware of and briefed on. This isn't theater. This is a problem. I'm not interested in photo ops, I'm interested in solving a problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So what's strange about that is much of what the president does is create photo ops. He does it on the campaign trail and he certainly does it as president of the United States. In fact, earlier in that very trip, he was on the trip that he was on, he had a photo op at a pool table in Denver and that's just one of them. Take a look.
The president meeting with regular folks in regular places. Those are photo ops. Some of the many recent photo ops with the president. He does plenty of them. Every president does. Some are goofy, some self-serving, some are purely political. Others are for more than that. Far more.
President rallying the people who put a man on the moon, for instance. A president calling on the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin wall. A president sending a message to the perpetrators of 9/11 or this president comforting Sandy survivors. You can call each and every one of them photo ops.
None of these presidents had to go to those locations. Kennedy could have sent LBJ, Reagan could have spoken from the Oval Office, Bush from the situation room, President Obama could have sent the FEMA director.
But he and they chose otherwise because they, like all presidents, knew that being there, simply being there would focus attention on something that deserved attention in a way that only the presidents can.
Joining us is Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar and documentary filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas, writer and director of "DOCUMENTED" which airs this weekend on CNN.
Congressman, you said that this will be the president's Katrina moment. Is that really how you see his trip to your state and was it, in your opinion, a big mistake for him not to go to the border?
REP. HENRY CUELLAR (D), TEXAS: Well, first of all, I think any leaders will defined on how he or she will handle a crisis different, and this is certainly a humanitarian crisis. Listen, I've been able to go and talked to the young kids that have been coming across. And when you talk to somebody like Emilia (ph), a 9-year-old from Honduras or Miguel, a 14-year-old from El Salvador, and you see, you know, the pain and the hunger and the fear that they have in their faces, I think somebody should take a personal look at that.
And number two, you know, certainly we got to thank the Border Patrol for doing a great job under the circumstances and number three, you know, my area is a very poor community. It's a border community. We don't have a lot of money but I can tell you the churches, and the nonprofits have been working so hard to provide humanitarian care and I think it's -- leaders should be able to see this firsthand.
COOPER: And, Congressman, I understand someone from the White House actually called you up angry that you were criticizing the president publicly. What did they say?
CUELLAR: Well, let me put it this way, I thought we had a very constructive positive conversation. I'm still calling for the president to come down to the border. Apparently he didn't do it on this visit but the door is open for him to go down there. My community leaders, my -- you know, my churches and other folks have asked me, why did the president not come down to the border? That's all I'm asking.
I'm not asking for anything else, come down to the border and just see it for yourself. If it's not important, then why is he not -- why is he asking us for $3.7 billion of help? And I want to be supportive of the president on that funding.
COOPER: I got to push you, though. I mean, can you give any detail of what -- I know you don't want to say who called you from the White House but when you -- did they yell at you? I mean, you said it was constructive dialogue. Clearly, they are not happy at you being on television talking out. What -- can you say anything that they said?
CUELLAR: Well, you know, let me put it this way, I think they're very smart. They're not going to yell at a member of Congress who sits in Appropriations. There are lots more of that. So there was no yelling. There were conversations.
But, again, I will say this that, again, I'm still saying what I've been saying, this is a humanitarian crisis. What is wrong by having the president go down there? He was only 242 miles from the border when he was in Austin. He was only 72 miles from Lachlan Air Force Base where I've been at to see the young kids there.
COOPER: Right.
CUELLAR: He was only 72 miles. Air Force can do it in 15 minutes or less.
COOPER: It also makes no -- I mean, you know, they do president -- the president does photo ops all the time. To say he's not doing it because it's a photo op doesn't seem to make much sense to me.
Jose. you take issue with the way Governor Perry has treated the situation and immigration reform more broadly.
JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS, FILMMAKER, "DOCUMENTED": Well, I mean, I'm sorry, Governor Perry just said that he wanted to send the National Guard here? I mean, I've been here now for a few hours. Like for what? Is the governor afraid of teddy bears? Of these kids? What are we afraid of here?
I mean, I just find it so tragic, really, the kind of leadership that's happening in Texas with Governor Perry, right?
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Do you think more personnel --
VARGAS: I mean, you have a governor that keeps --
COOPER: Do you think more personnel are needed on the border not just for border security but just to deal with this influx, Jose?
VARGAS: Well, I mean, the thing is, we're conflating -- Governor Perry has been conflating these two issues, right? Governor Perry, as with other Republican leaders have been saying that the surge has happened because President Obama has not enforced the law. I'm sorry, the same President Obama that has deported two million people in five years?
The president is enforcing the law. That's why a lot of advocates have been calling him deporter-in-chief. And yet Governor Perry has been taking advantage of that, conflating immigration reform and the lack of action and solution there with this humanitarian crisis.
And let me just say this, right, Governor Perry three years ago lost the primary, right? And the Republican Party when he said that how can you not have a heart for these undocumented students in Texas? Where is Governor Perry's heart when it comes to these refugees in his state?
COOPER: Well, he quickly --
VARGAS: What is the solution here?
COOPER: And he quickly backed away from that statement.
Finally, though, Congressman, you've been very critical of the 2008 legislation that expedited deportations for kids from countries that border the U.S., Mexico and Canada, not from countries that don't like Honduras and Guatemala. You voted for that legislation, though.
What happened?
CUELLAR: The thing is we have now seen the smuggling organizations that probably make more than $240 million a month. Taking advantage of an incentive, saying that if you come in and then -- you know, you're put in HHS, and they're taken to somewhere else, and you have to wait two years for a hearing, I don't think that's the right approach.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Do you want to see that bill repealed? The law repealed?
CUELLAR: No, no, no. No, let me -- let me be very clear about this. I do not want to see the human trafficking bill repealed. I just want to make sure that everybody is treated the same, contiguous and noncontiguous country.
COOPER: All right.
CUELLAR: Countries. I want to make sure that the asylum, the credible fear, all those protections, the due process are strengthened under the -- under the proposal that we're looking at.
COOPER: Congressman, appreciate your time. Jose Antonio Vargas, as well, thanks.
Just ahead tonight -- just ahead tonight we have breaking news in Israel. The military has called up about 30,000 reserve troops.
Plus why a California community doesn't want this man to live in their town or anywhere close to it. We'll explain ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Breaking news in Israel tonight, the military called up close to 30,000 reservists according to a spokesman for the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces. He told Wolf Blitzer the call will allow Israel to mobilize ground defense as soon as possible if needed. He reiterated the right to defend itself by militants and said the U.S. is prepared to help workout a seize fire. Tonight a seize fire seems a long, long way off.
This is what it looked like in Gaza this morning. Israel's military hit more than 100 targets overnight, at least 81 Palestinian haves been killed since Israel began air strikes this week. This funeral was for a young girl that died this morning. Officials say 22 Palestinian children have been killed so far.
Hamas which controls Gaza isn't backing down. Rockets are reaching deeper into Israel. Sirens there blaring in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities throughout the day. In Tel-Aviv, people ran for cover. Israel's iron dome has intercepted many of the rockets fired from Gaza, but not all of them, some homes were damaged and destroyed and other cities in southern Israel. Two Israeli soldiers were wounded.
Senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman joins me now from Gaza City. I understand, I've been reading your tweets just in the last 45 minutes or so. There has been activity tonight. What has gone on?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anderson, we've heard incoming artillery fire from the sea along the Gaza coastline, at least the Gaza City coastline. We alos understand that in some of the neighborhoods inland from here, there is also been air strikes. There was an air strike on a seaside coffee shop, as well.
We've heard lots of ambulances as well. It definitely looks like there is a pick up in the level of activity. That follows an odd evening. We saw multiple rockets fired into Israel from the late afternoon and into the evening and normally what happens there is a very quick response but nothing happened, nothing came.
People here in Gaza, they know these patterns and they are starting to worry. Of course, we've heard all this talk about a ground incursion by Israeli forces and that is what people expect next. I was to the north of here in a town where apparently people had heard from the Israelis that they should leave that area.
That area has about 100,000 people in it. It's an area close to the Israeli border, one from which rockets are occasionally fired and always there are air strikes back. But one man told me even if I could go, where do I go. I have nowhere to stay, I'll stay put in my house and hope I'll weather this storm, but a storm seems to be coming -- Anderson.
COOPER: Israel talks about the targeted nature of a lot of these rocket attacks. We just saw a little being buried this morning. What accounts for that?
WEDEMAN: They are targeting. I know what targets they are hitting. However, the problem is as I've seen in multiple instances in the last three days is that they know the house they want to hit. They know the person they would like to hit as well but that person has a wife, children, grandparents, living in the house.
The Israelis have this system called a knock on the roof where they make a phone call often times to female members of the family saying you have 5 minutes to leave the house. Leave for the sake of your children. There is one instance at a house we actually went to soon after this house was hit, they didn't hit in 5 minutes, nor 10 minutes.
And eventually the family went back in the house and then it got hit and seven people were killed. You can talk all about smart weapons as much as you'd like, but at the end of the day, these are high explosives being used in very crowded areas -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Ben Wedeman, appreciate you joining us, Ben. Thanks very much.
Up next, what would you do if a judge ordered a serial rapist to move into your neighborhood despite the objections of the district attorney? Well, a California community is vowing to drive this convicted rapist out. We'll have the story.
Plus new details tonight about the alleged abuse a 12-year-old Detroit boy says he endured before he was found in his dad's basement after being missing for 11 days, and John Walsh joins us ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back. In Crime and Punishment tonight, a California community is outraged vowing to drive out their newest neighbor. His crimes are infamous in the state. He is a serial rapist. He has been in and out of prison. Each time he's been release, he has gone on to rape again.
At the state mental institution where he has been confined since his last conviction, he was considered a sexually violent predator, nothing, nothing in his history suggests he's been rehabilitated. Still a judge thought it was a good idea to release him over the objections of the Los Angeles district attorney.
Now that same judge decided where the serial rapist would live and now that he's in his court assigned home, the reception has been anything but welcome. Stephanie Elam reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You shouldn't have been let loose. You can't live here and we haven't forgotten.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pillowcases now line the fence outside of this unremarkable house on a lonely stretch of dirt road.
CHERYL HOLBROOK, RESIDENT: It's our money, your money, our taxpayer money. I mean, that is just absurd. It's bad enough this sick cow is here.
ELAM: The focus of this community's attention is the newest resident, Christopher Evans Hubbard, who arrived yesterday afternoon to a crowd of people protesting his being here.
DEBRA HILL, RESIDENT: Our goal is to finish what we started and that's to keep him out. They delivered him but we don't have to keep him here.
ELAM: He isn't the only name for this man. The other, the pillowcase rapist. The monocore for his pension for covering his victims' heads with a pillowcase and raping them. He admitted sexually assaulting up to 40 women through the 1970s and '80s, 40 women. Hubbard served six years in jail and was released in 1979.
Prosecutors say he then raped another 23 women. After serving two more prison sentences for rape and burglary, Hubbard was paroled in 1993. Part of that parole included a psychological evaluation, which led to his parole being revoked. Instead he was sent to a state mental hospital. Psychiatrists testified that due to a mental disorder, Hubbard had a high risk of reoffending.
(on camera): He's in his 60s. Do you think he has the same appetite to commit these crimes as he did before?
HOLBROOK: Yes, he's non-curable.
ELAM (voice-over): Last year, Hubbard petition for his unconditional release. Los Angeles County officials were stunned when a judge in Northern California, the place of Hubbard's last known rape ruled that the sex offender be placed where he grew up, L.A. County.
MIKE ANTONOVITCH, L.A. COUNTY SUPERVISOR: He's not living in a cage. He'll be roaming around. That's the problem. That's how rapist attacking. That's how he attacked in the past.
ELAM: Under state release rules, Hubbard is wearing an electronic monitor, has a curfew and for now, around the clock security keeping an eye on him in the house. They also take him to his weekly psychologist visits.
JOHN PERRY, SUNSET SECURITY: He's optimistic and hopes he can reintegrate back into society and live a normal life.
ELAM: Hubbard could not be reached for comment, but the people in this ruled community are aiming to make him as uncomfortable as possible so that the serial rapist will leave.
SHARON DUVERNAY, RESIDENT: We're the unwelcoming, welcome committee.
ELAM: Sharon Dupernay who says she was raped as a child lives in the next house over.
DUVERNAY: Having this man next to me is a terrible trigger for all that ugly stuff that happened to me. I won't be able to come out of my house now. Every noise that I hear, I will be on high alert. I feel like we're basically the prisoners.
ELAM: These women vow to keep vigil outside of the house until Hubbard leaves.
HILL: Hubbard fears strong women. He goes after the weak. He fears us.
ELAM: Stephanie Elam, CNN, Palmdale, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: John Walsh spent most of his life tracking down criminals who target children and women. The former long time host of "America's Most Wanted" is now the newest member of the CNN family. He joins me tonight.
The pillowcase rapist, this guy 40 rapes that we know about and was convicted of and yet he gets out. What do you make of it?
JOHN WALSH, HOST, CNN'S "THE HUNT": I'm a great advocate for undetermined civil confinement, that means if a guy is a child killer or horrible serial rapist, serial pedophile, he may be sentenced to 15 years, but at that time, they can decide whether he is fit to be released into society, maybe put in a mental facility not as secure as a real prison.
COOPER: In crimes where people can't be cured, where people, where rehabilitation doesn't work.
WALSH: Or psychologists say this is a terrible danger to society. The state law says he can only serve 15 years and he needs to be paroled, but he's such a danger, he's actually a health menace to the safety and security of children or women or whatever.
So this guy had served some time and of course, as you know, he was released previously and admitted to raping violently at least 20 women while he was out for that two-year period and is back in. And now against the pleas of all the victims, the district attorney, many, many people, a judge decided to put him in a halfway house in Los Angeles County. And here is a guy who brags about the 40 plus rapes he got away with.
COOPER: The pillowcase rapist is going to have a GPS, ankle monitor 24 hours a day. He'll have supervision for, you know, the first six months to a year, that's not enough you're saying.
WALSH: Anderson, what happens in year two, year three? A guy raped violently 40 women and jokes about it and admits that he did it. The U.S. Marshal says right now after we passed the Adam Walsh Sex Offender Act there are at least 100,000 level three rapist and pedophiles, the worst of the worst who have broken or violated parole or probation and cut ankle bracelets off at large right now. A 100,000 rapist level three sex offenders at large, who is going to monitor this guy four years from now?
You think he's going to go to work for Bank of America or become a college professor? What has he done his whole life? Did he do the first time he got out, raped 20 more women. If you don't care about the fact many are incurable and you're going to release them, you have to figure a way to track them or keep them out of society, Anderson. How many people do you have to rape in the state of California before they say you've given up the ability to walk on the streets? You can't breathe the same air.
COOPER: We all think that somebody cuts off an ankle monitor, they are instantly picked up but there is plenty who have done that and out and about.
WALSH: Little tiny sheriff in a little county, five-man squad and he cuts the bracelet off, moves to New York, who is looking for him? Nobody is looking for him. I think the people of California in particular in the Los Angeles County have to be outraged and people need to know who this judge is that said, you know what? He may not be cured. He served his time. I'm going to make sure he's monitored.
What happens when that judge retires and this guy is still alive? What do you think those 40 victims are thinking today? He only served that little amount of time and they will put him back on the streets and pay for where he lives? It's really unacceptable.
COOPER: John Walsh, thank you so much.
WALSH: Thank you.
COOPER: As I said, John is now part of the CNN family. We're very excited to have him here. His new show "THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH" premieres this Sunday on CNN at 9:00 p.m. He'll be back in the program tomorrow night. Don't miss it.
Up next, remember the 12-year-old boy who was reported missing for 11 days only to be found in his family's basement? There are new details being released on the alleged abuse he faced over the years from his dad and stepmother.
Also toxicology test results were released today in the death of the Georgia toddler who was left in the hot car. Details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: A 360 follow tonight, the 12-year-old boy found in the basement of his dad's Detroit home after being missing for 11 days says he was put there as punishment. The new details are revealed in court documents. The boy claims his father and stepmother forced him to do a grueling workout, twice a day, every day, 200 sit ups, 100 push ups, 100 jumping jacks, 25 curls with a 25 pound weight and thousands of revolutions on an elliptical machine.
According to court documents, if he did not finish the work out in less than an hour, he would have to do it all again. The boy says it was his stepmother who put him in the basement after accusing him of lying about his evening workout. The boy also claims his father abused him for the entire two years, in his words, he lived with him and accuses the father of hitting him many times with a PVC pipe.
It was two weeks ago when HLN's Nancy Grace broke the news on TV to the father that his son was found in the basement, a basement that had been apparently searched by police. Remember the moment? Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST, "NANCY GRACE": Charlie, we're getting reports your son has been found in your basement. Sir? Mr. Bothuell are you --
CHARLIE BOTHUELL IV, SON MISSING FOR 11 DAYS FOUND IN HIS BASEMENT: What?
GRACE: Yes, we are getting reports your son has been found alive in your basement.
BOTHUELL: What?
GRACE: Yes, that's what -- if you can hand me that wire very quickly, yes, we're getting that right now from, yes, how could your son be alive in your basement?
BOTHUELL: I have no -- I have no idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: All right so later that same night, the father talked with a local TV station.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOTHUELI: I'm shocked. I looked. The Detroit police looked, the FBI looked, repeatedly. They were in my house until 3:00 in the morning on occasions and all night when the lieutenant kept me and my family at the police station from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The Detroit police and task force were here all night executing search warrants.
For anybody to imply that I somehow knew my son was in the basement is absurd and wrong. I love my son. I'm glad he's home and he's going to have the great future that he deserves to have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Susan Candiotti joins us now with more in the Bouthell case so obviously some heavy allegations now about the dad, any evidence that the step-mom was involved?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Child services telling us in court documents that there are indications, claims of physical and verbal abuse. The boy is saying the step-mom punched him and that she told him things like I can make you disappear and quote, "I know where the sharp knives are." So there is still investigating to do on her as well.
COOPER: I still don't understand, are they saying that this little boy was in the basement the entire time? Do we know?
CANDIOTTI: They are indicating that they have no reason to disbelieve that he was there much of the time, but they are saying he might have moved and we're not talking about when he went upstairs and forged around for snacks and things to drink. There are indications he wasn't there the whole time. Remember, there was no signs of where did he go to the bathroom and this kind of thing. Beyond that, they said that they will be telling you more when their investigation is complete.
COOPER: Where is the boy now?
CANDIOTTI: He is in the custody of his biological mother, but he's living with some other relatives and there are two other siblings, they are living someplace, too. The court today ordered a new psychiatric -- psychological evaluation of him to see whether he's up to any visits from his father.
COOPER: I mean, still no charges have been filed, is that right?
CANDIOTTI: Not yet. The investigation is ongoing and the district attorney, it will be up to her to decide once she sees what the police have to determine whether anyone will be charged, whether he will be charged, he and the step-mom, you know.
COOPER: We're still in the clear whether the family knew he was in the basement or does it seem like they didn't know or we don't know.
CANDIOTTI: Well, police say that it was the stepmother, the boy says the stepmother put him down there behind this big 55 gallon drum and said don't you move. I don't care what you hear upstairs, you stay where you are and also remember the father in these documents has acknowledged that he used a PVC pipe to discipline his son, but he denies he abused him.
COOPER: All right, Susan Candiotti, that poor little boy. Thanks very much. We'll have more on that obviously.
Just ahead also, President Obama said it was -- well he said so sue me, now House Republicans are. Details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Pamela Brown joins us right with the 360 Bulletin -- Pamela.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, House Republicans answering President Obama's challenge to either get things done or if he tries to do it for him, sue him for trying. Today, House Speaker Boehner said all right, Mr. Obama announcing GOP members will go through with a lawsuit against the president over executive action he's taken while enforcing the health care reform law. Boehner says that's not the way our system of government was designed to work, the White House calls it a political stunt.
And a 360 follow toxicology tests on Cooper Harris, the Georgia toddler found dead in a hot car last month revealed nothing abnormal. Meanwhile Cooper's father Ross Harris who is charged with murder lost his job at Home Depot.
Quite a sight off the coast of Southern California, it looks like an oil spill, but it's actually a massive school of a anchovies?
COOPER: They are swimming in them? Thanks very much. That does it for us. See you again at 11:00 p.m. for another edition of 360. CNN original series, "THE SIXTIES" starts now.
