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Israel Back At The Table For Hostage Negotiations; Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) Discusses Immigration; Mother Of Boy Arrested For Urinating In Public Refuses To Sign Probation Agreement, Wants Charges Dismissed. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired December 20, 2023 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[13:31:16]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We're seeing some really disturbing new images coming out of Gaza. Elderly people, women, children running or being carried from the site of the explosion to a hospital in Rafah. This is in the southern part of Gaza.
Journalists in the area say these explosions were caused by Israeli airstrikes which killed and wounded several people.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We should point out, Rafah is in southern Gaza. That's where many displaced Palestinians are seeking refuge after Israeli told them to move there, south in Gaza, for safety.
The attacks come as Israel returns to negotiations to halt fighting in exchange for Hamas to release hostages that are still being held in the enclave.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken says it is not actually clear if Hamas wants those talks to restart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: Israel has been very clear, including as recently as today, they welcome returning to a pause and a further release of hostages.
The problem was, has been and remains Hamas. They reneged on an agreement they made during the first pause for hostage releases. And the question is whether they are, in fact, going to resume this effort.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Let's go live to Tel Aviv with CNN's Will Ripley.
Will, what is the latest on these hostage talks?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Before the hostage talks, can we just point out again that we did just see another hospital, a church.
As you mentioned, southern Gaza, dangerous now. But northern Gaza, 80 percent of the buildings there are already flattened. Yet, Hamas still, apparently, reluctant to come to the negotiating table.
It certainly speaks volumes, from the Israeli perspective, as to why all of these people are suffering.
Don't forget, it was on October 7th that hundreds of people were slaughtered in Israel. That is what started this war.
And the Israelis say that often gets lost in the horrific news from the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry today that the death toll in Gaza has now surpassed a horrifying 20,000 people. It is a terrible situation all around.
Israel, at this point, is ready to talk about a pause in the fighting. They are not talking about what Hamas wants, which is an exchange for the remaining 100-plus hostages and an end to the war altogether.
Israel says that is not on the table because their job is not done yet. They say their job is to eliminate Hamas. They have not accomplished that objective yet.
So here's where we stand right now. What Israel is offering, according to CNN sources, is a weeklong pause in the fighting, for starters, in exchange for 40 Israeli hostages and some sort of a swap on the Palestinian side with people from Gaza who are being held currently in Israel.
Now that swap, Hamas is asking not for women, not for teenagers or young people. It's Israel is the one asking for women, for the elderly and for people who require urgent care.
But Hamas wants what they're calling heavy hitters, people who might even be facing criminal charges here in Israel in exchange for the innocent civilians that were kidnapped on October 7th and have been held hostage in these horrific conditions ever since.
The suffering in Gaza is such that it is absolutely dire. They need a pause in the fighting so they can get badly needed humanitarian supplies.
But the big question now, when could this possibly happen? Given the reluctance, according to Israelis, on the Hamas side, it might be quite some time before another hostage exchange. The last deal took more than a month to put together -- Boris?
KEILAR: Question there, Will. Even a weeklong pause, that does not buy Hamas much in light of the last similar length pause.
RIPLEY: A weeklong pause gives them an opportunity to regroup. And they are getting hit hard on the military side. But they still have a network of hundreds of tunnels that Israel has not yet been uncovered.
[13:35:00]
Even though, just a matter of days ago, they claimed that they found the biggest Hamas tunnel yet, two and a half miles long. But they're still operating there.
Obviously, the leader of Hamas was able to travel to Egypt for meetings in Cairo to talk about this hostage deal. So they are still very much in control in Gaza.
And Israel says, until that changes, this war will need to continue even after a humanitarian pause of one week, two weeks, however long it ends up being.
KEILAR: All right, Will Ripley, live for us from Tel Aviv, thank you.
Homeland Security officials call it the breaking point. We have new images of thousands of migrants lined up at the U.S. border trying to get in. Next, we're talking with a Texas congressman whose district sits on the border. What he thinks the administration should do.
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[13:40:05]
SANCHEZ: Days after the governor of Texas signed a controversial new law that makes it a crime to cross into Texas illegally, U.S. officials tell CNN that smugglers and pseudo-legitimate travel agencies are behind a recent record- breaking surge of migrants.
CBP officials say that these agencies work with organized transportation networks that advertise travel to America's southern border and then connect those migrants to smugglers.
Over the last 24 hours, border officials have been processing more than 10,000 migrants who unlawfully crossed into the United States. These images show some groups lined up along the Texas state line in Eagle Pass.
That's a cross the Biden administration was forced to shut down to reorient those resources elsewhere.
All of this while immigration becomes a key issue in the 2024 election. And Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump, doubles down on his rhetoric.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They are ruining our country. And it's true. They are destroying the blood of our country. That's what they're doing. They are destroying our country.
They don't like it when I say that. And I never read Mein Kampf. They said, oh, Hitler said that, in a much different way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Joining us is the Texas Democratic Congressman Vicente Gonzalez. He represents district 34 on the southern border. He also co-signed a letter urging the DOJ to challenge that new Texas law.
Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.
REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ (D-TX): Thanks for having me.
SANCHEZ: First, I want to get your response to those comments from former President Donald Trump, the current Republican frontrunner saying that immigrants taint the blood of the United States.
GONZALEZ: Well, clearly, those are racist, hateful, reprehensible comments coming from a former president of the United States, someone who is trying to regain it now. And -- (INAUDIBLE).
But that is something that we can expect from Donald. It's his method of operating with -- (INAUDIBLE) -- these hateful ideas that he has.
No one has been more critical on the border in Congress than I have. Certainly, we have a lot of work to do. We need to come up with a plan. I think the Senate and the White House are proposing some ideas that I am in favor of.
And I think that more needs to be done to control the southern border.
SANCHEZ: Congressman, before we get to that deal that's being worked out in the Senate, I do want to dig into S.B.-4, because some of it is very controversial.
Specifically, giving law enforcement jurisdiction to arrest folks who they suspect might be undocumented, something that you have expressed concern with.
What do you say to folks who argue that anyone who is here legally, who is in Texas legally has nothing to worry about.
GONZALEZ: Well, it will be a very controversial policy if implemented. Because it will create racism. It's going to create -- (INAUDIBLE). They are going to stop Hispanics randomly and asking for their documents or other immigrants in this state.
So it is a horrific blow. It's unconstitutional. Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 4 dictates the United States Congress and only the United States Congress has the power to create immigration policy.
What the governor is doing is grandstanding to the rest of the country and continuing some of the rhetoric you hear from Donald Trump, as he repeated. And feeding red meat to his base.
And it's unfortunate that these awful bills passed the Texas legislature. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will overturn that. I'm confident they will. They usually have.
Buit it's awful that this is the times that we are living in places like Texas and places across the country.
I'm very critical about what's happening on the border. And I think that more should be done.
But it's not the governor's responsibility. He should participate -- (INAUDIBLE) -- and assist in ways that he can. But that's not what he's been doing.
SANCHEZ: To that point, I'm sure you have heard from constituents that are frustrated that the federal government has not moved on immigration in something like 30 years.
You might call this law disgusting but those voters might say that at least Governor Abbott is trying to do something where the federal government is not.
What is your response to those constituents?
GONZALEZ: Well, nothing that the governor has ever done has been effective in curbing migration on the border. His Lone Star Project on the border, we had a man die, we had a three-year-old little girl die in the border.
So what he has done has not curbed the thousands and tens of thousands of people that are coming. We need immigration policy in Washington that will do that.
And we need ideas of processing migrants further away from the border. We need to raise the critical fear standard on the border. We need to have expedited hearings and expedited removals.
I'm in agreement with a lot of these policies that need to be implemented to curb -- real policies that can make a real difference on our southern border.
[13:45:00]
But grandstanding with laws, hateful and divisive laws like the governor of the state of Texas is doing is not solving any problems along --
(CROSSTALK)
GONZALEZ: -- our southern border. And you'll see it. You have seen it. He has done a lot. Have they been affective? No. SANCHEZ: So quickly, Congressman, you mentioned that you were in
support of expediting certain deportations and limiting asylum claims, raising the credible fear standard.
There are some folks in your party that believe that that will backfire on President Biden, especially if he does not get concessions from Republicans on things like protection for DREAMers and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented folks who have been in the United States for a long time.
In your mind, would it be a failure? Could it be a liability for President Biden going into a tough reelection battle?
GONZALEZ: Let me tell you, I do not agree with a lot of policies and a lot of the ideas on my side of the aisle always. And this is one of them. I think that we need to crackdown on the southern border. And Democrats need to do it.
And I think there are a lot of places where we can create good policy that is effective and humane. We will not rip children out of their mother's arms and separate families the way President Trump did.
But we need to have law and order on the border. And we need to have an orderly process for people to migrate into this country.
And I've been proposing an idea called the Safe Zone Act, which develops zones in Guatemala and Panama and maybe Columbia for migrants to go and process at that juncture.
And we are going to turn them down, if we can allow them in and they can go to an airport in their country or near their country and fly to their final destination.
That would take the pressure off our southern border. It would eliminate the cartels out of the equation. And it would create a human, a legal pathway much more than we have now for people to come to this country.
At the end of the day, we need to realize that about 70 percent of asylum-seekers that come to the southern border never, ever qualify for asylum.
We also need to recognize the fact that we have a huge labor shortage in this country. They need jobs and we need people.
We need to find a legal pathway that's orderly to do and it is not on our southern border.
SANCHEZ: Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, we have to leave the conversation there. Thank you so much for the time. And happy holidays and merry Christmas.
GONZALEZ: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We will be right back.
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[13:52:06]
KEILAR: The mother of a 10-year-old boy who was arrested for urinating in public is refusing to sign her son's probation agreement. This is an incident that happened back in August in Mississippi.
Here, you see little Quantavius. He is sitting in the back of a patrol car after he was arrested. An officer involved in his arrest has since been dismissed for not following department policy and training.
But this case still proceeded. And last week, a judge ordered the child to three months' probation and a punishment of writing a book report.
His mother, LaTonya Eason, planned to sign the agreement, which would prevent her son from having a record of the offense but changed her mind and is now requesting that the charges be dismissed.
She is with us now. Along with her attorney, Carlos Moore.
Carlos, I certainly have some legal questions for you.
But I do first want to ask LaTonya about what she and Quantavius have been through here.
LaTonya, tell us what it was like as your son was arrested, a 10-year- old?
LATONYA EASON, MOTHER OF 10-YEAR-OLD BOY ARRESTED FOR URINATING IN PUBLIC: It was like, it was so heartbreaking. I really couldn't believe that they were arresting my child for something that all kids do.
I mean, I really don't have the words to say. It's just been so heartbreaking for me. Things have been so difficult for us within the last few months. And it's just hard. It's hard.
KEILAR: Let's talk about this. You were inside of a building, and he was outside, right? And he had seen a sign that there were no public restrooms and he needed to go.
EASON: Yes.
KEILAR: Can you tell us then what happened --
EASON: Yes, he did.
KEILAR: -- and how this arrest proceeded? And then you came out and saw what was happening.
EASON: OK, I went to -- (INAUDIBLE) -- Darby's (ph) office at the school. And I was in there talking to Ms. Darby (ph), an officer came in with plain clothes.
And he stated that your child was urinating behind your car. So I walked outside with him, me and Ms. Darby (ph) walk outside with him. And we walked outside. He asked my son to get out of the car.
So I was like, why did you do it, Quantavius? And he said I had to use the bathroom and the sign said there's no public restrooms and I had to use it really bad.
And I said, you should have came in and told me. So I was like, don't do it again. Make sure it don't happen again.
And the officer was like you handled it like a mom. Just make sure he doesn't do it again and get back in the car. So my baby got back into the car.
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[13:55:00]
KEILAR: Yes. And shortly -- and I just want to tell people --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: -- after that, it seemed like it was wrapping up. And yet then, he was taken away in the police car.
And, Carlos, tell us now about this decision, and how you are advising your client against signing this agreement and why you think that is so important?
CARLOS MOORE, ATTORNEY FOR LATONYA EASON: Yesterday, my client and her son went to meet with a probation officer, and when they got there, she had the probation officer call and tell me the terms of the probation agreement.
And they were treating him like a regular adult criminal. Periodic drug tests, a curfew at 8:00 p.m. Just very difficult things that should not be applicable to a 10-year-old.
So we decided we did not want this young man to get involved with the criminal justice system. He is not a criminal and he should not be treated as one. So we decided we would not sign the agreement.
She agreed and they left. And we don't want to do the book report. And we are going to try to have a trial to get a full dismissal.
Because this is asinine what they are putting this boy through.
KEILAR: LaTonya, do you think this would have happened if your son were white?
EASON: No, I don't think it would have happened at all. If my son was white, I don't think the officer would have even stopped. I think he would have just kept on going. This would have never in any time happened to a white child.
KEILAR: I know a lot of people are interested in this, LaTonya and Carlos. And we will keep watching Quantavius's case. And we appreciate you being with us to talk about it. Thank you.
MOORE: Thank you.
EASON: Thank you.
KEILAR: And we will be right back.
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