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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) Forcibly Removed from DHS News Conference; Officials Say, At Least 290 Killed in Air India Crash; Lawsuit Filed to Have Jan. 6 Memorial Installed at U.S. Capitol. Baby Brand Owner Visits D.C. To Push Back On Tariffs; Venezuelans Lose Protected Status, Hit With Travel Ban. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 12, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the lead. I'm Jake Tapper. And tonight, we're following breaking news out of Los Angeles, California, where the, mayor, Karen Bass just addressed reporters after Democratic Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a news conference earlier today when he interrupted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem trying to ask her a question. Law enforcement forced Padilla out of the room and onto the ground and handcuffed him.

Take a look at what happened during the event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into this city. So, I want to say thank you to every single person that has been able to do this.

Also, I want to talk specifically to the rioters and to the politicians in Los Angeles. I also want to talk about specifically

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Again, that is the sitting U.S. senator for the State of California since January 2021, Alex Padilla, being forced out of the room there.

This comes as a court hearing just wrapped up moments ago, California suing the Trump administration trying to stop their use of the California National Guard to keep order on the streets of Los Angeles.

Let's bring in CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid and CNN's Nick Watt live in Los Angeles. So, Paula -- well, let's go to Nick first. Nick, let's talk about the physical altercation with Senator Padilla. What is the administration saying about this?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristi Noem, Secretary Noem herself has made comments. Take a listen to how she characterizes what happened. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOEM: This man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped, did not identify himself, and was removed from the room.

I had a conversation with the senator after this. We sat down for 10 to 15 minutes and talked about the fact that nobody knew who he was. He didn't say who he was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: Now, I will point out this was not the Q&A section. I've been to a lot of press conferences. You keep your questions until the end. This was not the Q&A. But take a listen now to Senator Alex Padilla.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA): I'm Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary. Because the fact of the matter is a half a dozen violent criminals that you're rotating on your -- hands off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: So, he did identify himself pretty quickly. So, if they didn't know who he was, he said who he was pretty fast.

Now, I just want to also draw some attention, Jake, to that clip you played of what Secretary Noem was saying in the run-up. She was saying that federal personnel are here in Los Angeles to, quote, liberate the city from socialism and the overburdensome government imposed by the governor and Mayor Bass. Maybe she's saying the quiet part out loud, because that is not supposed to be the mission. The mission of ICE agents here is to be gathering up undocumented people and the mission of the National Guard and other federal personnel is to protect federal officers and federal buildings.

Kristi Noem has said they are here to liberate the city from socialism and says that this is going to be a blueprint for how they keep other communities safe around the country. Jake?

TAPPER: Yes, it's incendiary language, to say the least. Paula Reid, when do we expect a ruling from the judge in the case of California, the state of California suing to try to stop the Trump administration from using the California National Guard and the U.S. Marines to keep order during these ICE raids?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, the judge, said he will rule very soon, perhaps as soon as tonight on this high-stakes question of whether the president can federalize National Guard troops over objections from a state governor.

Now, earlier this week, as you noted, the state of California sued over this issue. They asked for an immediate block on Trump's plan to do this, and the judge declined to do that. He said he wanted to hear oral arguments from both sides before making his decision. It's notable that most of what we heard from today's hearing was the judge talking and throwing out hypotheticals.

This is Judge Charles Breyer. He is the younger brother of Justice -- retired Justice Stephen Breyer. He's been on the bench for about 30 years. But he spent a lot of time talking. And it was a little hard to decipher, Jake, which way he's leaning on this. Most legal experts say the state of California has an uphill climb here to win and prevail on this argument.

The judge, when he did question both sides, he seemed really focused on whether Trump followed the statute closely enough, if he went through the governor's office or sort of around him. But, again, we might find out the decision as soon as tonight.

TAPPER: Nick, on the protests, what are you seeing right now in Los Angeles? It's usually around this hour, 3:00 P.M. Pacific Time, that things start getting crowded and heating up a little.

WATT: Yes. Well, Jake, we're outside the detention center and there's been the focus of most of these protests. It sure is loud because for a start, they've reopened the ramps from the freeway. So, there is much more traffic, much more honking.

[18:05:00]

No violence, nothing thrown, a lot of insults thrown at the plain clothe, unmarked vehicles of what we assume are federal employees coming in and out of this detention center. As you say, Jake, usually, it picks up yesterday at about 7:00, 7:30 P.M. The police declared an unlawful assembly outside city hall and began arresting people. Then the curfew kicked in at 8:00. We have just heard from Mayor Karen Bass that the curfew will be extended again tonight, 8:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M.

Karen Bass and all of the local officials on the ground here, Jake, very eager to make it clear that they have this situation under control, that they do not need federal help. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Nick Watt in Los Angeles, Paula Reid in the D.C. bureau here, thanks so much.

For reaction, let's turn to Republican Senator Bernie Moreno from Ohio. He is on the Senate Homeland Security Committee. He was born in Colombia, became a U.S. citizen at age 18 legally. Senator, thanks for joining us.

Sir, I'm sure you've seen the video of your colleague, Senator Padilla, interrupting and then being forcibly removed from the news conference with the secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. Take a listen to what Kristi Noem said about the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOEM: I wish that he would have reached out and identified himself and let us know who he was and that he wanted to talk. His approach, you know, was something that I don't think was appropriate at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: Now he did identify himself when they were trying to push him out of the room, but what's your reaction to all of this?

SEN. BERNIE MORENO (R-OH): Well, first of all, let me just say this. Alex Padilla is a good man. I've gotten to know him here in the United States Senate. But the reality is senators are not above the law. There's one way which is to wear this pin here on my lapel. That's what identifies us to law enforcement here in the Capitol is the United States senator. The Secret Service have one job, which is to protect the secretary of Homeland Security when that -- when she's out and about in different places.

And you can't lunge towards a podium. You can't interrupt a live press conference. Jake, you've been at this for a long time. You know, that's not something that's allowed. It's a behavior, quite frankly, that's not becoming of anybody, let alone the United States senator. But, again, being a senator doesn't absolve you from being able to act in an unruly matter. If any regular citizen had done it, Secret Service would've done the exact same thing.

And, look, the reality is this is a distraction from the core issue. The core issue is that in Los Angeles and in California, they refuse to protect their citizens and instead are protecting criminal aliens. The reason ICE is under attack is because rather than turning over these criminal aliens into jail, where one ICE agent can collect one criminal alien and deport them, they release them out into the community, which forces them to bring teams of people into dangerous places where they have to go find the criminal aliens.

So, look, all we're asking for is a low bar. Protect your citizens, cooperate with law enforcement and allow us to expel the people who shouldn't be in this country in the first place.

TAPPER: So, right now, the state of California is suing to try to stop the Trump administration from using the California National Guard and the Marines for the law and order events, the law and order activities in Los Angeles.

Earlier today, the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, was on Capitol Hill. He was asked by Democratic Congressman of California Ro Khanna if Secretary Hegseth would respect court rulings on U.S. service members being used for law and order in Los Angeles. Take a listen to that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Can you assure the American people on two things, you will respect any Supreme Court decision on this matter about whether the Marines are constitutional and you will respect the district courts when they rule before the Supreme Court rules?

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: What I can say is we should not have local judges determining foreign policy or national security policy for the country.

KHANNA: So, you're not willing to say you would respect those decisions?

HEGSETH: What I'm saying is local district judges shouldn't make foreign policy for the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Senator, what's your reaction to that? Do you have any concerns about Secretary Hegseth setting this precedent that the Pentagon does not have to respect a court ruling?

MORENO: Well, that's just objectively not true, Jake, that's not what he said. Look, this administration's followed every court ruling. By the way, even including the ridiculous one that we had to bring back an El Salvadorian citizen who is a criminal alien convicted of awful crimes shouldn't have been in this country in the first place. And we literally had to bring him back to El Salvador to tie up our court system to prove what we already know, what he already gone through, which is that he shouldn't be in this country.

Now, look, what we have to do is --

TAPPER: What crimes was he convicted of?

MORENO: He was -- he came into this country illegally, right? That's -- and the judge heard his case. And the judge -- but Jake, the judge heard the case.

TAPPER: Right, and the judge said --

MORENO: You can't come to this country legally.

TAPPER: Right. But the judge said he couldn't be deported back to El Salvador.

MORENO: Right, and that -- and so he could have been deported to any of other a hundred different countries.

TAPPER: Right, but that was the issue.

MORENO: Right. And so now think about how insane that is. We're using taxpayer dollars to bring an El Salvadorian citizen back to the U.S. only to re-deport him to one of another a hundred countries.

[18:10:03]

This is insane, Jake. Look, as a legal immigrant to this country, can we please agree that we want to respect our laws and reward the people who patiently wait in line and stop advocating for people who skip the line, break our laws to come here. We want to be a country -- we are a country of immigrants, but we can't be a country of illegal immigrants. This isn't complicated. This is very, very easy. Advocate for legal immigration and zero tolerance for illegal immigration.

The American people voted on this, Jake, on November 5th. It was overwhelming. And I hope my Democrat colleagues come to the table and say, look, we agree with you. If you're in this country illegally, you can't be here. Maybe you go back temporarily, apply for a regular order to come in, respect the people, millions, by the way, that are waiting in line. And let's have a conversation about legal immigration and stop the nonsense about protecting criminal aliens in this country.

TAPPER: So, you were just five when your parents moved you to the United States from Colombia. There are Colombians who are trying to flee Colombia for countries like the United States because of conflict, because of violence, because of lack of opportunities. You know the desperation in Central and South America, not all of Central and South America, but in parts of it more better than I do. What is your message to them?

MORENO: Wait in line. If you want to come to the United States, the America will welcome you. Our family was welcomed with open arms. I was given more opportunities because I was welcomed to this country than I could ever have imagined. The greatest day I had, Jake, was when I stood in front of him an old Marine, who made me pledge allegiance to the United States of America and said, I only have one flag to respect, which is the American flag. This is a great country. We're a generous country. A million people are given citizenship every year. We allow millions of people to come here illegally.

You have to wait in line. You can't skip the line. It's very simple. By rewarding those who skipped a line, we're disparaging those who want to come here, add value, assimilate, learn our language, and become part of this great country.

TAPPER: Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it, sir.

MORENO: Thank you.

TAPPER: We're continuing to follow the breaking news out of California as we wait for a judge's ruling on President Trump's use of the National Guard in Los Angeles. We're going to bring you those details the moment it happens.

Plus, a live report near the scene of today's horrific plane crash that left hundreds of people dead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: In our World Lead, a tragic incident, at least 20 -- at least 290 people are dead after an Air India plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad in the air for just 30 seconds. It was on its way to London before disaster struck. The passenger aircraft was carrying Indian, British, Canadian, and Portuguese nationals. It was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner headed for the U.K.

CNN's Vedika Sud is live in Ahmedabad, India. And, Vedika, what's the latest on the ground there?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN JOURNALIST: It's about 3:46 A.M. here local time. It's pitch dark. But what you can see behind me, we're just 20 meters away from the crash site. I'm now going to show you the buildings that the aircraft plowed into. I can see about five or six of them. They're absolutely charred. You can see some cranes in front, because through the night, you're seeing rescue and search operations continue for any clues, any evidence, any remains of passengers as well.

So that's what's really happening here. There's scores of police personnel and security officials around behind those walls, the combing operations will continue till the break of dawn and after.

Just to give you a sense of the crash site here to the left where you see the trees, behind that is the tail of the aircraft that hit the building. You can't see it right now because the trees are obstructing it and because it's pitch dark.

Now, if I take you to my right away from the buildings, you can see some charred trees here. I can still see smoke coming out from some of them. You might not be able to see that on camera.

And here is an image I really need you to see this to my right is the wing of the aircraft, absolutely charred, the debris lying all around it. And the smell is so strong that comes through this wing of the aircraft and around us the burnt metal, really, that you can smell it, you can taste, it leaves a bit of taste really, and a very strong taste in the mouth.

Like you said, 242 passengers were on board that flight and only one survived, a miracle survivor who was sitting in sitar lebany. Back to you.

TAPPER: All right. Vedika Sud on the ground in India for us, thanks so much.

The Air India plane that Boeing 787 Dreamliner was in the air for less than a minute. CNN's Tom foreman's at the magic wall to take us through each second here. Tom, can you give us some insight as to what exactly happened?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The biggest insight we have is that this is an enormous mystery. The 787-8, which is what this is, enormously popular, enormously successful airplane around the world ever since it was introduced about 14 years ago, this particular plane that we're talking about here, more than 14 -- more than 41,000 miles flown or hours flown, doing well in every way. So, why did it go down?

We keep talking about it, it's less than a minute. I want you to watch this video. When you see the plane actually take off the ground there, this is important. It takes off and it's actually only climbing for about 12 seconds. Once it reaches this point, even though it's still level, everything would look normal. From that point on, it levels out and starts heading down. It's actually in the air for only 30 seconds. That's how long it is off the ground before it is backed down.

What happened in that amount of time? One of the main things we know is that it's way too short of a time for any kind of reaction if something goes wrong, whether it was a mechanical issue with the plane, some kind of atmospheric issue. They've had a lot of bird strikes in this area, but there's no evidence of bird's ear, or a human mistake. Did somebody in the cockpit do something that they should not have done or something all together different?

[18:20:00]

That's one of the reasons why it is so critical as they go through the black boxes, the flight data recorder, the cockpit recorder, which are located in the tail of the plane, which we've seen pictures of all day stuck into a building over here. Those may be the biggest clues they have as to what was going on in this plane.

And, again, during that very critical period of time, and as I'd like to point out, Jake, this was a transitional period of time. You know, when you take off in a plane, there's that moment when you feel the plane coming off the ground, but you don't really feel like you're flying yet. You haven't really settled into the flight portion. That's when this happened. In 12 seconds, somewhere in there, whatever went wrong, and by the total of 30 seconds it was on the ground and it was a catastrophe.

TAPPER: It was horrible. Tom Foreman, thanks so much.

A political and legal fight brewing over a plaque meant to be displayed at the U.S. Capitol honoring the officers who defended democracy and the counting of the electoral votes on January 6th, 2021. Two officers who were there that day will join us live to discuss why that plaque has not been hung up yet, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, two police officers who defended the Capitol during the January 6th insurrection and filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the installation of a plaque honoring the police officers who protected the building during that attack.

The legislation authorizing the memorial received bipartisan support at the time. It was passed by the House. It was passed by the Senate. It was signed into law by President Biden in 2022. That was more than three years ago, and the plaque still has not been installed. And now former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, say, quote, they're bringing the suit to compel Congress to follow its own law and install the mandated memorial to honor the women and men who saved the lives of those inside the building, and to ensure that the history of this attack on the Capitol and on democracy is not forgotten, unquote.

One would think it wouldn't be that controversial to install this plaque. It's already been made. It's been sitting in storage since last year. It reads, quote, on behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended the symbol of democracy on January 6th, 2021. Their heroism will never be forgotten, unquote. Also, there's already a plaque of a similar size already hanging in the Capitol. This one honors Officers Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson who were killed in the line of duty in 1998.

So, why hasn't this new plaque been installed? Well, here's the reason the architect of the Capitol gave back in April.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS E. AUSTIN, ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL: When making modifications on the House side of campus or on the House side of the Capitol building, past practices that for modifications are directed by the office of the speaker.

We have not received final instructions to install the plaque.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, House leadership changed in 2023 when Republicans took control of Congress, then there was a whole bunch of drama about who the speaker would be, and that was before the plaque was ready to be installed. But the architect says he needs direction of the current House speaker, Mike Johnson from Louisiana, to hang the plaque, but that Speaker Johnson has not given that authorization yet.

Now, Democrats say Republicans are trying to rewrite, if not erase history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): The reason why the law hasn't been complied with and a plaque hasn't been erected is because Republicans directed by their puppet master, Donald Trump, have been told, try to erase January 6th, as if it has never happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Here's the reason given by now former Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF J.T. MANGER, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: Like so many things here, it just has become a very politically divisive issue. And my hope is that that both sides can, you know, find some middle ground to find a way to honor those officers that were here on the 6th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What kind of world are we in that honoring police officers who defended the Capitol, including those no longer with us because of that horrible day, who protected the Capitol, including protecting many of these very same House Republicans? What kind of a world is this too political?

CNN has reached out to Speaker Johnson's office for comment. We have not heard back. When CNN asked Speaker Johnson about it last month, he said the issue was not on his radar. We should remind you more than 140 police officers were injured on January 6th. One of them, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died in the immediate aftermath. Then Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Brian Sicknick's mom, Gladys Sicknick, that Congress would put up a plaque honoring her son in the Capitol. And the Sicknick family had this mockup made that we're showing you exclusively right now, but they have heard nothing from the Capitol, from House leadership, from Speaker Johnson's office. The Sicknick family feels left in the lurch, as do so many officers.

Joining us now, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, one of the officers who filed this lawsuit to force the hanging of the plaque, also with his former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, they both defended the capital on January 6th. Daniel, we should note, is here in his personal capacity and not on behalf of his employer. And Aquilino Gonell, as we know, is retired, which we've covered before.

Why did you and Harry Dunn, the other officer that brought this lawsuit, why did you decide to file this lawsuit?

DANIEL HODGES, DEFENDED CAPITOL ON JAN. 6: It's really simple. My colleagues deserve it.

[18:30:00]

You know, they sacrificed themselves. They sacrificed their health, their peace of mind. Some of them sacrificed their jobs. Some of them made the ultimate sacrifice to defend democracy, to make sure that our elected leaders had the time to get away safely, to make sure the vice president was safe, to make sure the transfer of power happened and that the will of the people was carried out.

But it's politically inconvenient for certain powers in Congress that they acknowledge the truth. And they're -- unless someone forces them to do it, they're not going to. So, we have to do everything we can to make sure that the truth is not erased and that we remember January 6th for what it was, which was a violent insurrection against the United States of America.

TAPPER: And, Sergeant Gonell, why do you think the House leaders, Speaker Johnson and others, have not yet hung up this plaque? Do you have a theory? Have you talked to anybody who has given you an answer?

AQUILINO GONELL, DEFENDED CAPITOL ON JAN. 6: Not to this day. Not a single member of Congress from the Republican side have reached out to any of us from the Republican side, except for this Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, to get -- to find out what we endured.

There's no -- it's a lack of courage, I think, in my opinion, for them not to install the plaque. They continue to defer to the architect of the Capitol, and the architect of the Capitol defer it back to speaking Mike Johnson to a point in the past, off the record, Speaker Mike Johnson said to one reporter, I'm still undecided onto which bathroom to install the plaque.

And that's a disgrace because he's only alive today because of the effort that we did on January 6th, to help him escape from that peaceful mob that was intended to harm the elected officials from every single state of the country. TAPPER: So, earlier this week, President Trump said he was talking about the need to protect the ICE officers conducting these deportation rates in Los Angeles and elsewhere. He said, when they spit, we hit, and said it's disgraceful that ICE officers can't be safe. What was your reaction when you heard that given the fact that this is obviously happening, not to mention the pardons that President Trump issued of the very people who were beating you in that horrific video when you're stuck and you're screaming?

HODGES: Yes. It is just more smug pandering. My immediate reaction was remembering all the times I've been spat on the job and not hit the person because I'm not a child. I can control myself. But he just -- Donald Trump doesn't actually care about the police and he doesn't care about the military. That's why he called my fellow veterans suckers and losers. That's why he pardoned all these people who assaulted us on January 6th. He doesn't care about any of that. He cares about anything that secures power and increases his wealth.

And because, for whatever reason, the American people saw fit to elect him to the presidency again, it is law enforcement's job to secure his power until his time in office is over. So, that's why he wants to continue to pander to law enforcement and build up this idea that the GOP is the party of law and order so that law enforcement will be on his side.

TAPPER: I know it's also been disappointing for you guys as veterans and law enforcement officers that law enforcement organizations have not really stood with you.

GONELL: Correct. And that's kind of like the fallacy that and the service as well, the lack of -- not the lack of the indifference that we have been shown from our fellow colleagues. Because right now, I could sympathize with what they're going through in L.A. with the riots, whatnot, but they did not sympathize with what we went through on January 6th.

And when he says, the president, that he would -- even if you spit on one of the agents, they're going to face the weight of the prosecution. That's the type of response that we wanted on January 6th. And we didn't get it at all. So, for him --

TAPPER: Well, you got it. It's just that he then pardoned them.

GONELL: Well, his response to sending the National Guard, that's what I mean, that we didn't get.

TAPPER: Yes.

GONELL: And then he pardoned the people who assaulted us.

TAPPER: Thanks to both of you. And I assure you that on this show and among me and my staff, we have not forgotten and we honor the service and what you did that day. So, thank you.

GONELL: Thank you.

TAPPER: On a personal level.

GONELL: And on one last thing. The -- we are not -- the lawsuit was brought up not for millions of dollars, frivolous lawsuit like the Proud Boys are doing, or the Ashli Babbitt family.

[18:35:00]

It's just to honor the officers.

TAPPER: Yes.

GONELL: Our colleagues. So, they talk about reparation, restitutions to the attackers who caused all that damage, but not to the officers who endured the injuries that they --

TAPPER: Yes. And I know you were medically discharged because of your injuries from that day.

Thank you for being here.

GONELL: Thanks for having us.

TAPPER: And thank you for what you do and what you did.

HODGES: I appreciate it.

TAPPER: Coming up next, Trump's immigration crackdown and a closer look at some of the people being swept up in it who are not necessarily dangerous, hardened criminals. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: And we're back with the breaking news in the National Lead, and standing by for a judge's decision from a federal hearing that wrapped up just moments ago. The state of California went to court and filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump's use of the National Guard in response to protests in downtown Los Angeles that have been violent at times. We'll bring you that ruling when we get it.

Let's take a closer look at who exactly immigration officials are rounding up in recent raids. The Department of Homeland Security pointed me to this news release when I asked them, who are these criminals that you are arresting. They call this a list of the worst of the worst criminals captured in Los Angeles. Top of the list, for example, Kwong Chan Fan (ph).

[18:40:01]

He's a 49-year-old man from Vietnam. The Department of Homeland Security says he was sentenced to 15 years to life for a second degree murder conviction.

Number two on the list from DHS, Rolando Veneracion-Enriquez, 55 years old from the Philippines. DHS says his rap sheet includes a burglary in California and a judge sentenced him to 37 years in prison for sexual assault. Here's what the White House says about these kinds of arrests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Law abiding American citizens do not want these public safety threats living in their communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, she's absolutely correct. No argument there. Law abiding citizens do not want public safety threats living in their communities, 100 percent, full stop. But there are also those with no criminal history beyond entering the United States illegally who have been wrapped up in these raids. For example, Gladys Pineda, a mother of three, who lived in the Chicago area for ten years, ICE agents confronted her last Wednesday at court. She was there for a routine check-in for her asylum case. And the very next day, a judge granted her a stay, allowing her to stay in the country. But today, her attorney told CNN she remains in custody in Detroit.

There's 18-year-old Michael Duarte (ph). He is a high school student, an immigrant from Colombia. His attorney says he was driving to a field trip when police pulled him over. They accused him of tailgating an officer. Duarte's attorney says police then called Border Patrol because of a language barrier. Border Patrol detained the teen and that was May 20th. His attorneys say Duarte had no criminal history other than an order for his removal for entering the U.S. illegally. They tried to get a court order so the teen could stay in the U.S. to graduate high school, but a judge denied that. It's unclear where Duarte is now. His lawyer says he might have been deported yesterday.

To be clear, the Trump administration does not shy away from arresting people who are in this country illegally who have otherwise no criminal history and otherwise seem to be contributing to society. Here's Trump's Border Czar Tom Homan this week on MSNBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, BORDER POLICY ADVISER: And I said from day one, January 20th, we will prioritize public safety threats and national security threats.

And when we find them, many times are with others. Others are in the United States illegally, may not be a criminal target. But guess what? If ICE is there arresting that bad guy, other aliens are there, we're going to arrest them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Again, Mr. Homan saying that ICE will prioritize the threats. He didn't say ICE would only arrest those with criminal history. It is a good lesson there in listening to those campaign promises and not dismissing every pundit who decries elections have consequences. They do. And often those caught up in the dragnet are those consequences. Our small business series next with a Minnesota mom whose line of baby products landed her on Shark Tank. How are tariffs affecting her company? Have they had to raise prices? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:46:31]

TAPPER: And we're back with our "Business Leaders" series where we talk to small business owners coast to coast about President Trump's tariffs. Some are in favor of tariffs, others not so much.

My guest today is a U.S. veteran and a Minnesota mom who launched her product, Busy Baby, with a simple goal, to stop babies from dropping toys on the floor while sitting at the table. She's now gone from a prototype to a line of six products.

And Beth Benike is here with us now.

We're so glad to have you here in studio.

Our viewers might recognize you. You're a recognizable face from "Shark Tank". Your product has taken off since you appeared on "Shark Tank". Have the tariffs impacted your ability to grow your business at all?

BETH BENIKE, CO-OWNER, BUSY BABY: I mean, we might go out of business in the next six weeks. So, yeah. Yeah.

TAPPER: Really? Why?

BENIKE: It's devastating.

I had two containers of product ready to ship from China, and I missed the deadline on April 7th, so we had to leave our products in China until this tariff came down to what is a reasonable, still devastating amount, but a reasonable amount. So, our products just left China and won't get here until mid-July. But since we had that eight-week pause, our inventory is almost gone. Our warehouse is almost empty.

TAPPER: Have you -- have you had to raise the price of your products at all?

BENIKE: I have not yet because the products that I had in my warehouse weren't tariffed. Ive never had to pay a tariff before. So, what's in the warehouse now? I'm not going to pass along cost that didn't exist to my customers --

TAPPER: Right.

BENIKE: But now, my warehouse is growing empty and I don't have revenue coming in. But I still have my operating expenses. I still pay my lease, my insurance, my loans, my labor, everything.

TAPPER: Yeah.

BENIKE: But I don't have revenue now because my warehouse is empty.

TAPPER: So, one of the goals President Trump says, is to return manufacturing to the United States. And that's a laudable goal. I assume these are not products you can buy in the United States.

BENIKE: No, I mean, these are all my patented products. I've tried to manufacture them in the U.S. when I first started the business eight years ago, as an Army veteran and as a proud USA American, I not only wanted to make them in the USA, but I wanted to make them in Minnesota. So I worked with the factory in Minnesota, and the first obstacle, the barrier for that to even happen was the raw material, because we don't have raw material here for food grade silicone.

The next --

TAPPER: Where do you get it?

BENIKE: It comes from all over the United States or all over the world. I'm sorry, but primarily Asia.

TAPPER: And you just can't get it here?

BENIKE: You just -- you can't get it here. It's -- I mean, you can get it here from third parties.

TAPPER: Oh, right. Right.

BENIKE: Who've already imported it themselves.

TAPPER: Right. But you can't -- it's not manufactured here.

BENIKE: Yeah. No, it's not manufactured here. So that's the first barrier. But then the next barrier was the volume of product that had to be made in the U.S.

So, these U.S. manufacturers are wonderful. And I've talked to many of them in the last month looking for a new solution. But because their costs are higher, not just the cost of labor, the cost of their land, their property insurance, their taxes, you know, it's more expensive to run a business here in the U.S. than it is in other countries.

So, they require higher order quantities in order to make the business profitable for them. And so, I couldn't -- I couldn't start making 20,000 units of a new product I invented that I didn't know if anyone was even going to buy it.

TAPPER: Right.

BENIKE: So we started in China and that's where we've stayed. And even now, trying to get quotes with other manufacturers in the U.S. now those quotes are coming in so high, it's still not feasible for me. One company wanted a $2 million commitment for a one-year production run. I don't think I've made $2 million worth of products in the lifetime of my company. I couldn't do that in one year.

TAPPER: So you are here in dc to talk to the U.S. chamber of commerce about the impact of these tariffs, what's your message to them?

[18:50:01]

And has the U.S. Chamber of Commerce been as aggressive as you want them to be when it comes to conveying your experience to the Trump administration?

BENIKE: You know, I don't think I have any expectations of the Chamber of Commerce. I think that they have really good goals that align with my goals. And I'm here to advocate for small businesses and for relief from these tariffs, immediate relief from these tariffs. I was also on Capitol Hill today with Representative Kelly Morrison, who introduced a bill to the House that is the duplicate of what was introduced in the senate. Thats the small business liberation bill.

We need our representatives, our congressmen on both sides of the aisle to vote for this bill. It could erase tariffs for small businesses like that. It is a simple one-line bill that would exclude SBA, U.S.-owned businesses from these tariffs. That would not only help me, it would help hundreds of thousands of businesses in the U.S. And it could be gone tomorrow if we could get Congress to get themselves back in control of tariffs as they are supposed to be for the Constitution.

TAPPER: Well, let's hope that somebody from Congress was watching the show or was watching the clip when we put it out on social media.

Thank you so much and best of luck to you. And I'm sorry you're going through this.

You can find busy baby products online or at Walmart or Target. Beth Benike, thank you so much.

Just today, the Trump administration revoked the legal status legal status for immigrants in the U.S. from four specific countries that reporting first on CNN. It's not the only immigration crackdown affecting many of them. We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:55:32]

TAPPER: We're back in our national lead. First on CNN. CNN has learned that the Department of Homeland Security today is informing hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the United States, legally, that their permission to live and work in the United States is being terminated, and that they should leave the country.

CNN obtained a copy of the notice going to nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who came into the United States under a Biden era parole program.

For Venezuelans, this amounts to a triple whammy of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration crackdown.

CNN's Randi Kaye reports now from Florida, where many of the 350,000 Venezuelans in that state are living in fear.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADELYS FERRO, CO-FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VENEZUELAN AMERICAN CAUCUS: They are closing the walls on us. The uncertainty, the pain, the fear, the isolation is just overwhelming for our community right now.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Adelys Ferro is talking about the Venezuelan community. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who had fled to the United States have been told their temporary protected status, or TPS was terminated.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want to keep bad people out of our country.

KAYE: And just last week, the Trump administration issued a partial travel ban on Venezuela, restricting travel for Venezuelans to the U.S.

FERRO: We are again pawns on their political game.

KAYE: Ferro is the co-founder and executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus.

FERRO: It's a racist, xenophobic, bigot and discriminatory attack against a community that hasn't done anything wrong.

KAYE: In Doral, Florida, where around 40 percent of the residents are Venezuelan, people told us they came here full of hope, seeking a better life. And they are not the criminals. The Trump administration has painted them to be.

LUIS ATENCIO, VENEZUELAN AMERICAN: Do I look high-risk to you?

KAYE: For Luis Atencio, the travel ban makes it impossible for his 85 year old grandmother, who still lives in Venezuela, to visit him.

ATENCIO: It just feels like the administration is piling on us, when -- when you would think that they would help the people who are fleeing a dictatorship basically.

KAYE: This woman, a single mother who works as an economist here, has lost her temporary protected status and asked us not to show her face out of fear. She told me she's posted critical comments about the Venezuelan government on social media and fears political persecution if she returns.

You're not a criminal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

KAYE: You're here legally?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

KAYE: When I asked what will happen to her nine year old Venezuelan son if they have to leave, she started to cry.

It's hard for you to talk about -- you're worried for your son having to grow up in Venezuela.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-huh. I'm sorry.

KAYE: Don't be sorry.

Would your son be safe in Venezuela?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

KAYE: Liz. Rebecca Alarcon, who is five months pregnant, says her family in Venezuela now won't be able to come for the birth of her baby.

LIZ REBECCA ALARCON, VENEZUELAN AMERICAN: My grandmother, who I haven't seen in two years since my first baby was born, I have no way of having her come.

KAYE: Venezuelans we met, painted a terrible picture of life there. Political persecution, hunger, unrest and skyrocketing inflation.

ALARCON: We have a crisis in the western hemisphere that has never been seen before. With more than 8 million people leaving the country. That -- that is unheard of.

KAYE: How do you feel when President Donald Trump says that Venezuelans are criminals, or we have to get rid of the bad people?

ALARCON: It's an absolute lie about our community.

KAYE: What's the fear like in the community right now?

ATENCIO: There's people who will not leave their homes because they feel that, you know, maybe if they're on the wrong street corner or the wrong place, they could be rounded up by ICE.

KAYE: Are you hopeful that that some of these people will be able to stay?

ATENCIO: If I'm being real, probably not. I'm not really hopeful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (on camera): None of the people we talked with, Jake, voted for Donald Trump, despite how well he did in the election in Miami-Dade County. It's also worth noting that the Trump administration has told Americans that it's not safe for them to travel to Venezuela. In fact, the travel alert level is at its highest, level 4, although the administration is sending back Venezuelans who came here legally back to Venezuela.

And, Jake, it goes well beyond the people that we spoke with. Real people are being impacted by this. We heard the story of a child who is on dialysis, of grandparents who are both being treated for cancer. These are real people who are going to be forced to leave this country and head back to Venezuela, unless they can find somewhere else to take them in -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Our thanks to Randi Kaye in Florida and Priscilla Alvarez for the reporting at the top of that.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and on TikTok @jaketapper. You can follow the show on X @TheLeadCNN. Have you ever missed an episode of the lead? Well, you can listen to the show whence you get your podcasts.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.

Erin, take it away.