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White House Officials Head To Mexico For Border Solutions; Michigan Court Allows Trump On Primary Ballot; Ukraine Continues To Resist Russian Forces; Denver Struggles With Influx Of Migrants; Concerns Over New Year's Eve Protests In Times Square. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 27, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:07]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: The White House looks south for help with U.S. border towns pleading for assistance and thousands more migrants making their way to the border, Biden administration officials head to Mexico in search of solutions. Michigan keeps Donald Trump on its ballot a week after Colorado said just the opposite. Michigan's highest court says the former president can't be kept off the state's primary. The decision making it even more clear the U.S. Supreme Court may need to settle that debate.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And no stalemate in Ukraine. A defense official says the attack on a Russian warship, which proves this war is far from over. But now Ukraine is coping with retaliation, a fresh new wave of attacks today. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

DEAN: Hi, everyone, and welcome to CNN News Central. I'm Jessica Dean alongside Boris Sanchez in Washington, in for our colleague Brianna Keiler. And happening today, President Biden's latest move to stop the surge of migrants at the U.S. southern border. Just a short time ago, his top officials landed in Mexico City. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are now en route to a meeting with the Mexican president.

The U.S. is about to make some major requests of Mexico to help reduce the number of people reaching the southern border. Yesterday, there was a drop of 6000 apprehensions. That follows a huge influx of arrivals this month, which had a seven day average of 9600 apprehensions a day.

SANCHEZ: Compare that to November's seven day average. That was 6800 a day. What's more, community leaders say that some 11000 people are waiting in northern Mexico for their chance to enter the United States. We want to take you now live to the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, with CNN's Rosa Flores. We're actually going to begin at the White House, though, with CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, because Priscilla, you can walk us through the details of this meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and AMLO. PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Boris. And these are some of the highest ranking officials who will be engaged in these meetings as the U.S. seeks more help from Mexico. And they want to see a series of measures taken by Mexico to drive down those numbers. Officials tell me that that includes, for example, moving migrants that are in the northern border of Mexico further south to decongest that area. It's also controlling railways where migrants often used to quickly cross the border and also providing incentives for migrants to remain in Mexico and not make their way up to the border.

Now, this all comes as an extension to the call that President Biden held with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador just last week, where the two agreed that additional enforcement was urgently needed. The U.S. has often leaned on Mexico in moments of crises to stem the flow. And that's what they're looking for here, to provide some relief to these border towns that are growing increasingly as they're overwhelmed by the surge that they're seeing at the border. Now, as you mentioned there, there has been a slight drop in numbers yesterday. That was 6,000 daily encounters. But that is not sustainable. And that still raises alarm bells. That is why this meeting has become so urgent here at the White House to have two cabinet officials, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, go down to Mexico to have these crucial meetings this afternoon.

And, Boris, and Jessica, the beginning of the year actually started with President Biden meeting his Mexican counterpart in Mexico to talk about tackling migration. It's nearly a year later, and they are still trying to wrap their arms around this record movement of people in the Western Hemisphere.

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DEAN: Yeah. All right. Priscilla Alvarez for us at the White House. Let's take you now to Eagle Pass, Texas, and Rosa Flores there. Rosa, I know you've been monitoring the situation there. What is it like today? And I know you've also been talking with some of the migrants. Are they aware of the fact the U.S. officials are in Mexico right now, that there is some conversation about this? Or are they more focused on kind of their day to day?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, residents here in Eagle Pass, Texas, are definitely very aware of the conversations and the talks that are happening in Mexico City today. And they're hoping that something positive comes out of that. As for what we're seeing today, I talked to a law enforcement source who tells me that so far there's been a thousand migrant apprehensions in the Del Rio sector, which includes Eagle Pass here where I am. Now, I want you to look behind me because last week there were thousands of migrants waiting. And today, if you take a look, you'll see that this is an empty, empty field. There are no migrants here right now.

And if you're wondering, OK, Rosa, you just told me that there's about a thousand apprehensions. Why are we not seeing anybody? The federal government has gotten very good at something called decompression. And that means that they move migrants from areas that are overwhelmed, that are over capacity, to areas that have capacity. And the federal government has gotten a lot of practice at this, too, because there's been surges for years now. So that's why when we talk about these large numbers, these large encounters on the U.S. southern border and then you see the images behind me, that's why they don't match, because this is the federal government actually doing something about it to try to process these migrants in a swift fashion.

Now, about the impact to Americans, to border communities like Eagle Pass, I can tell you from talking to people in this community, there is frustration because one of the things that the Biden administration has done to deal with this surge is they've closed one of two bridges that connect to Mexico. Now, if you're in a border town, you know that you cross the border to see family in Mexico, to go to restaurants, to run errands, and then you come back to the United States and you go home, you eat with your family, have dinner with your family. People here in Eagle Pass, Texas, can't do that.

These are American citizens who don't have access to this bridge. And here's why. The wait to cross from Mexico into the United States in Eagle Pass is 15 hours. Now, people here in Eagle Pass tell me that on a bad day, it might be two, three hours, but not 15. I talked to Texas State Representative Eddie Morales about this. He says that there's a lot of frustration. Take a listen.

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EDDIE MORALES, TEXAS STATE REPRESENTATIVE FOR EAGLE PASS: You know, these bridges are the life flood of a community like Eagle Pass. So it is imperative that we address those local needs as well and that the state and the federal government understand that when they take these actions from either from Austin or from D.C., the people, our regular people, our everyday Texans are the ones that end up suffering.

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FLORES: Now, Morales also said that he wishes that Texas Governor Greg Abbott would also have a seat at the table in Mexico City with U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken and also with Mexico's president. And Boris and Jessica, as you know, that's not happening. He does not have a seat at the table. But as you know as well, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has taken border security into his own hands, passing an immigration bill here in Texas recently. And so many in Texas wish that he did have a seat at the table.

DEAN: All right. Rosa Flores for us in Texas. Thank you so much for that reporting and update. And one of the cities asking for more federal help in responding to this surge of migrant arrivals is Denver, which released its latest figures on the issue yesterday. More than 34,000 migrants have arrived in Denver at a cost of $36 million to the city. Denver's Mayor Mike Johnson is joining us now. Mayor, thanks so much for coming on with us. We know your city has what you call a migrant, a migrant dashboard. It tracks Denver's support given to migrants. And it shows as of yesterday there are more than 4,100 people who are being sheltered at non-city facilities. That's just one way this appears to be impacting your city and the residents that live there. How else is this impacting Denver and its residents?

MAYOR MIKE JOHNSTON, DENVER: Yeah, I think that Denver is now ground zero for America's migrant crisis. We are at this moment now the single largest recipient of any city in America per capita. We actually have more than two times as many migrants as the next city behind us. Based on our population, we've received more than 100 buses in the last month alone, as you mentioned, more than 35,000 over the last year. And so we are working hard to try to help those folks integrate successfully, but we are hitting real challenges. And these are the ones we've been pushing the federal government on, which is we need more resources.

We mostly need more work authorization and we need a coordinated entry plan so that folks that do arrive in the country can be distributed to different cities around the country in the same way we did with asylees from Afghanistan or Ukraine. There is a way to manage coordinated entry of asylum seekers like this, but the current system does not work for cities on the border and cities on the inland.

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DEAN: Okay, I want to talk about worker authorization in just a minute. But first, I'm listening to you describe this. Why Denver? Why are you absorbing the most migrants right now?

JOHNSTON: Yeah, it's actually simple geography, which is we are the first big city north of El Paso. So you Governor Abbott or other folks from Texas to send people. And so because we're the closest major city, that's where they send folks, even though many of them aren't desiring to come to Denver in the first place or have no family or networks here.

DEAN: And so you mentioned work authorization. And I want to make sure I'm understanding this right. But that essentially are permits and authorization that allow these migrants to work, which you have said then allows them to try to figure out the rest of it moving forward. Other mayors in other major cities across America have also been pushing for more of these. Is that right? And do you really think that that's the best way to kind of ease some of this right now?

JOHNSTON: Yeah, the biggest challenge right now is folks will show up at the border with the claim of asylum. They're admitted into the country. They're given a court date. But I've talked to a migrant last week and looked at his court papers. His court date is set for April 23rd, 2027. That's four years away. And in the four years that he's here waiting for that asylum case, he can't get work authorization to be able to support himself, pay for rent, pay for food. And so that leaves cities carrying that cost. And so that's why we think that whatever the federal government decides in terms of what the border admission policy should be, there has to be a direct match between the folks that are admitted and then the number of people that get work authorization.

If folks arrive to our city and are able to work, we can put them to work. We have open jobs. We have people who want to hire them. But right now we have people that are new migrants to the city who want to work. We have employers who want to hire them. We have a federal government who stands in the way and says that they can't be hired by those employers. And that's the biggest challenge for us. We need them to decide on whatever the admission policy is, make sure every person that enters has the chance to work when they arrive and then they can support themselves, which is what they've been asking to do.

DEAN: And I know you campaigned on ending homelessness in your city for people who already lived there. And you've now described that you have what you're calling a parallel crisis, both trying to deal with homelessness that already existed and this huge influx of migrants, many of whom have nowhere to go or are living, have to live outside, that sort of thing. How do you tackle both of those issues? And how do -- you know, the people of Denver are who elected you, how do you make sure they're also okay while caring for migrants who have just arrived in your city?

JOHNSTON: Yeah, we're in the midst of a historically successful effort to try to get a thousand people that were living unsheltered on the street into housing by the end of the year. We've housed almost 900 of them with just a week to go. And so that's going to transform the opportunities for those people in Denver and transform how Denver looks and feels. We won't have any outdoor camping in all of our downtown city centers. It'll be a historic success for us. But at the same time, we now have more than 4,000 migrants who are in shelter in our hotel system any given night in Denver.

That's more than 10 times the number that we had just six months ago when I took the oath of office. And so we are seeing more and more of those folks now that arrive and can't find work and can't find a place to live can also end up homeless. And that's going to be a huge impact on the city's budget. It could be up to about $160 million we're projecting across next year. That's a massive amount for a city to be the size of ours. And so we both want this to be a welcoming city and a welcoming country. We also want to set people up for success. And to do that, we have to make sure that they have a path to work and a path to be able to accelerate these asylum claims and to be able to get the resources we need to help them find homes and jobs.

DEAN: Yeah, $160 million for the city of Denver projected for next year to deal with migrants. It is something that is affecting so many American cities and towns there on the border as well. Mayor Mike Johnson, thank you very much for joining us. We appreciate it.

JOHNSTON: Thanks so much for having me.

DEAN: And an update for you just a few moments ago, Secretary of State Lincoln did arrive for those meetings with Mexico's presidents. And we're of course going to bring you more on that as we get more information. And new word from the state Supreme Court in Michigan. Donald Trump's name will remain on the state's 2024 primary ballot. The Supreme Court, they're rejecting an effort to get him taken off the ballot.

SANCHEZ: Plus power, revenge, dictatorship. Three words that were front and center on a word cloud that voters used to describe Donald Trump's political goals and a potential second term. So why did Donald Trump himself just repost it? We're going to discuss when we come back.

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SANCHEZ: So, after a legal battle, Donald Trump's name will be on Michigan's primary ballot next year. That's what the state Supreme Court ruled today. Effectively refusing to hear a case decided in a lower court that rejected efforts to ban the former president from the upcoming primary election.

DEAN: But unlike last week's Colorado ruling that removed Trump from that state's primary ballot, Michigan's high court sidestepped the argument surrounding the 14th Amendment's insurrectionist ban. CNN's Katelyn Polantz is here to explain. Katelyn, I think people look at this and say, wait, this is kind of all the same question and everyone's, well, there are just different rulings depending on what state you're in.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: There's different rulings because all of the states are different. Everybody handles their elections differently and they handle their primaries differently state to state. In this situation in Michigan, there never was any traction that these people were getting who were trying to take Trump off of the ballot. They lost basically at every level. And then the Michigan Supreme Court today, the highest court in Michigan says, yeah, we're not getting involved in this question of whether Trump can be removed from the primary ballot. The courts just aren't going to take part in this and he's going to stay on the ballot there.

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The reason that it's different, and one of the justices actually wrote about this in the opinion we got from the Michigan Supreme Court, it was Justice Elizabeth Welch, and she said that in Colorado, the Colorado primaries and the law around that allow, they basically say that a candidate has to qualify for the ballot, and so the courts could look at that, whereas in Michigan, that law just isn't one that's on the books there, so they have a different process.

SANCHEZ: Which is why in their decision, they essentially said that you could potentially file a lawsuit like this when it comes to the general election, right?

POLANTZ: Right, so appeals is this huge question now of what happens next. With the Colorado decision, there is this anticipation that Donald Trump and his legal team may try and get back on the ballot in Colorado. For the primaries, because he wants to go to the Supreme Court to overturn the decision there. That decision went really deep and looked at the question of whether he could be qualified as an insurrectionist. There was a trial about it. In Michigan, they didn't even get to that question, and they said, you know, come back to us in the general election.

That might be a time where we could potentially look at this issue, and so there's a lot of different ways that this can go in the coming months. Now we're in primary season. We're talking about the primary ballots, at least for now, but then there's still going to be a lot of legal questions around the general election if he's the nominee.

DEAN: Yeah, and Michigan, obviously, such a pivotal state in 2024. Okay, I want to, before we let you go, let's talk about this new filing from Jack Smith. So, we're turning now to the criminal, the federal criminal case against the former president in trying to overturn and subvert the 2020 election results.

POLANTZ: Yes, that case is paused because he has this big appeal ongoing of whether he's immune because he was president. And yet, the Justice Department is not going to be able to do that. The Justice Department, they are still meeting the deadlines that were set previously. They're making filings, and they made a filing today basically to try and cut out all kinds of defenses that they think Donald Trump might try to make in court before the jury whenever that case goes to trial. It's set for March, and they're listening very closely to what Donald Trump says on the campaign trail and saying to the judge, when this gets to trial, he shouldn't be allowed to call himself a political victim of the Biden administration.

That shouldn't be part of the case. He shouldn't be able. To spread disinformation about the election, say that he still believes or believed at the time that he won the election. It wasn't true. There wasn't the fraud. That shouldn't be part of the case. And then the other thing is that he should not be able to blame law enforcement for what happened on January 6th for failures to protect the Capitol. One of the specific things in this filing that the prosecutors wrote, the court should not permit the defendant to turn the courtroom into a forum in which he propagates irrelevant disinformation and should reject his attempt to inject politics into this proceedings.

DEAN: So pointed, so specific. Alright Katelyn Polantz, always a pleasure. Thanks so much for breaking that down for us. Well if you're wondering what a potential second Trump term could look like the former president might be giving a bit of a hint in his latest social media posts.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, Donald Trump shared a word cloud from the Daily Mail that prominently features the words, power, revenge and dictatorship. Those were some of the most common words expressed by people when they were asked to describe what a second Trump administration would be about. CNN's Kristen Holmes joins us now. Kristen, this obviously comes several days after Trump had a very angry holiday rant, but it seems like he believes this message about revenge appeals to his base.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Boris and Jesse absolutely does. I mean, he has been running on this message of revenge, power, even the economy is a big word in bold there, which is probably something that he was trying to point out as well. Just remember, one of his first campaign speeches, he said, I am your retribution. The other part of this to keep in mind is that when you see that word dictator up there, one of the conversations around Donald Trump, he has used it in tongue and cheek form, using it kind of to troll liberals and critics. However, one of the conversations around Donald Trump's second term

would be he and his allies essentially working already to try and consolidate and figure out how to do that under the executive branch, an enormous amount of power that would really be radical and unprecedented. But these are things, again, that he is just out there communicating. The third part of that, again, Boris, as you said, this is about appealing to his base. He believes that this is a message that they like to hear, particularly when it comes to revenge, economy, power. But the other thing to point out and to keep in mind is that he wants to express that he is the stronger candidate than Joe Biden, and this is clearly some way that he believes he is doing that.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, thanks so much for the reporting from Trump World, as always. Still ahead, how New York City is preparing for New Year's Eve amid added protests related to the war between Israel and Hamas. And the FAA warning of possible flight delays as a massive winter storm blankets the East Coast, not the only area to watch for severe weather. An update on your forecast in just moments.

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SANCHEZ: So, cities around the world are preparing to ring in 2024 this weekend. And here in the United States, New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he's concerned that protests over the Israel-Hamas war might disrupt New Year's Eve celebrations in Times Square. Though he says he has a solid security plan in place.