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Biden And Trump Head To Texas Border: Dueling Messages On Immigration Crisis; Medical Marvel: Brain Implant Translates Thoughts To Computer Commands; Supreme Court To Weigh Trump's Presidential Immunity Claim; Government Shutdown Averted, For Now: Short-Term Spending Bill Passed; Chaos In Gaza: Over 100 Killed, Nearly 800 Injured In Aid Incident. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 29, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: A political showdown at the southern border. President Biden and former President Donald Trump both on their way to Texas right now. We're following both visits and the fact about what is actually going on at the U.S. border with Mexico. Plus, a horrific and chaotic incident on the ground in Gaza. More than 100 people were killed, nearly 800 injured, while they were desperately trying to get aid. We're breaking down what happened and how this could either propel or derail talks that are ongoing right now to release hostages and implement a temporary ceasefire.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And a medical marvel. An ALS patient has a brain implant that translates his thoughts to computer commands. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on the technology that's giving hope to people with neurodegenerative diseases. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Today, one of the most hot-button issues in American politics could become even more highly charged. We're talking about immigration. This afternoon, President Biden and former President Trump are both visiting the border, delivering their contrasting messages in the face of a migrant surge. We may see Donald Trump arriving at any moment.

And later this hour, we could hear directly from the president looking to salvage his sinking approval numbers when it comes to handling immigration. Our Kristen Holmes and Priscilla Alvarez are both on the ground there. First, let's go to Priscilla. She's in Brownsville, Texas, ahead of President Biden's arrival. So, Priscilla, why is the president going to Brownsville specifically? And why is he going now?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Boris, we just heard from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who told reporters that the reason that he's going down is to highlight congressional inaction on the issue of border security, especially focusing on that Senate border bill that was worked on with Senate negotiators and White House officials and included some of the toughest border security measures and recent memories.

But Republicans ended up backing away from that deal at the encouragement of former President Donald Trump. So, that is what the focus is today. Still, a dramatic shift for a White House that for years has distanced itself on this issue. It was one that dogged the administration as it handled multiple surges along the U.S.-Mexico border. And the sources told me whenever this issue came up within the White House, it was a tense discussion, especially as it became a political vulnerability for President Biden.

But what we are seeing today is a president who is trying to flip the script on Republicans when it comes to this issue. Because now, the White House says, he can point to this Senate border bill. And the fact that Republicans didn't want to move forward on it and point and make the connection that that deal would have provided some solutions to what is happening on the U.S.-Mexico border. So, that is what the remarks the president will provide today are going to be focused on. All of this, of course, at a critical time. We're in a presidential election year.

And this is an issue that former President Donald Trump is going after President Biden on. So, this is an opportunity for the president to essentially provide a different perspective here and put the onus on Republicans. But also, as he, too, considers executive action on the U.S.-Mexico border. On that front, Boris, I will say that we heard again from the Homeland Security Secretary who said there's no executive action that will be announced during this trip. The remarks very much focused on Republicans and what they should be doing.

SANCHEZ: And, Priscilla, do we know if President Biden is actually going to be meeting with any migrants?

[14:05:09]

ALVAREZ: We don't have a clear answer to that. As of now, the plan is for the president to meet with Border Patrol agents, frontline personnel, and local leaders. I will tell you, Boris, this is not one of the busiest sectors. It ranks fifth among all of them. They have been able to absorb the migrants that they have apprehended here, and they do have robust infrastructure from previous years when there were crises along this portion of the border. So, it's unclear whether there would be migrants in the Border Patrol facility behind me when the president is to visit. But so far, not clear if the president will meet migrants, but he will certainly be spending time with the frontline personnel here.

SANCHEZ: Priscilla Alvarez, live for us from Brownsville. Priscilla, thank you so much. Let's take you a few hundred miles northwest of the border there in Eagle Pass, where Trump is headed. CNN's Kristen Holmes is there. Kristen, what are we expecting to hear from the former president today?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, there's a reason that Trump is in Eagle Pass. It is not one of the most heavily trafficked areas by migrants, but it is the political epicenter of the standoff between Texas Governor Greg Abbott and President Joe Biden over who enforces border security. And as you know, Texas Governor has endorsed Donald Trump. He's expected to be with Donald Trump while he gets a tour of this area, sees how Abbott has implemented state resources to put razor wire on buoys in the Rio Grande River. Put razor wire on train cars around here essentially implement the National Guard. That's who's going to be leading Donald Trump around as he gets lay of the land here in Eagle Pass.

Now, we talk about this election in 2020, this general election, the issue being immigration. That is exactly where Donald Trump wants it to be. It's where his team wants it to be. They believe they have a home court advantage. That is why you're seeing President Joe Biden lashing out at Republicans and Donald Trump, because this has been one of Donald Trump's core issues since 2015 using fear-mongering rhetoric to try and get Americans to pay attention to immigration, but also to get Americans to vote for him on the issue of immigration. We're expecting him to do that today as well. He's landing any moment.

We are told that he's going to focus on a series of crimes that were allegedly committed by migrants, including the killing of a UGA student who's the suspect is an alleged, -- the alleged suspect is an undocumented Venezuelan migrant. He is going to talk about what a Trump administration would look like in terms of immigration. This is something he has said before. Some of those talking points would be rounding up undocumented immigrants, placing them in detention camps, holding them there until they can be deported, tapping into law enforcement to essentially assist with large scale arrests. And he has said time and time again that he would have the largest deportation in history if he is re-elected to the White House. This, again, is the issue he wants to be running on, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, live from Eagle Pass, Texas. Thank you so much. We actually do have remarks that the former president made just moments ago upon his arrival to the Lone Star State. Let's listen to former President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIADATE: Another beautiful day, but a very dangerous border. We're going to take care of it. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That was the extent of Trump's remarks. We are expecting him to make more extensive remarks later today. We'll, of course, keep an eye on the activity. We'll be back with more of the news as it happens from Texas. Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Boris, let's go now to Rosa Flores, who has been covering the border nonstop. And, Rosa, what will the president and former president actually be seeing today?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me show you, Brianna, because if you look over my shoulder, this is the area where former President Donald Trump will be arriving here pretty soon. You can see that there's an open field, some military helicopters beyond that. There are some shipping containers that create a border wall of sorts. And there's a lot of razor wire and fencing that has fortified this area. This is Shelby Park. This is the public park that has been taken over by the state of Texas. And we have a high wide shot of this. And we can take it control room because it will really give our viewers an idea of what this area looks like.

There's a lot of equipment here staged by the state of Texas, a lot of Texas National Guard military equipment. All of this area has been taken over by the state of Texas. Border Patrol is actually not allowed in here. They're not allowed to patrol. If you see a truck here and there in any of these shots, it's because Border Patrol is allowed to bring in boats because there is one ramp in this area to access the Rio Grande. And so those boats access the Rio Grande, but other than that, you won't see them.

[14:10:19]

But this is the biggest stage when it comes to the border battle between the state of Texas and the federal government over who should enforce border security. And there's a lot of feelings in this community about the takeover of this park and also about the visit of former President Donald Trump. In fact, there was a press conference where some local leaders said that they didn't want the former president to come to their community. Take a listen to this.

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JESSIE FUENTES, EAGLE PASS RESIDENT: I remember him coming down the escalator and reaching the bottom of that escalator and saying that all Mexicans are rapists, killers and some of them are good. You know, that has always stayed in my mind. We've got that particular gentleman in an area in the community that's 95 percent Mexican-American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And Brianna, it is 95 percent Mexican-American here in Eagle Pass. So former President Donald Trump is going to be surrounded by Mexican-Americans here. And, again, we're expecting him to arrive here at some point. And we'll, of course, bring you that when we have it. Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be looking for that. Rosa Flores on the border there. Thank you. And we're joined now by the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, during the Obama administration, John Sandweg. John, I just wonder, these kinds of visits, as we see these dueling ones, taking place on the border, so high profile, are they helpful or are they a distraction? How do border officials generally see this?

JOHN SANDWEG, FORMER ICE ACTING DIRECTOR UNDER OBAMA: You know, Brianna, honestly, it's a mixed bag. It's a distraction. It pulls a lot of operational resources away. But, look, the rank and file appreciate the president coming and even the former president coming. It gives them an opportunity to share their insights. I found when I was, you know, in Washington, it was incredibly helpful to get to the field. You get a different appreciation and perspective for what's going on and the challenges they face. I think, look, a single - this is kind of crazy, right? You have both President Trump, former President Trump, and President Biden at the board at the same time. But, ultimately, I think that the officers do appreciate the fact that, you know, it shows that the leadership in Washington does care.

KEILAR: Yeah, it is good, no doubt, for them to get on the ground. And if they're operating, you know, with sort of like open ears and eyes, to really see what's happening there, no doubt. So, after scuttling that bipartisan agreement that was brokered in the Senate between Democrats, Republicans and the White House, former President Trump and a lot of his allies in the House, they've adhered to a talking point saying that, listen, you don't even really need new legislation to solve the border crisis. The Border Patrol Union, I should mention, that supports Trump actually disagrees with that talking point. Do you think that new laws are needed to fix what we're seeing?

SANDWEG: Brianna, you absolutely need congressional action to fix this crisis. That is a fundamental truth. And anybody who says that it can be done with, you know, a snap of the finger or a wave of a magic wand is lying to their constituents. At a minimum, there needs to be massive surge of resources into our asylum system to handle the flows. Or you need to look at something like the Senate bill that fundamentally changed the laws. But it is a completely false narrative to suggest that President Biden could fix this, you know, with just a blink of an eye. You need congressional action.

And I will tell you, there's lots of things you could criticize about that Senate bill. There's things you can criticize about the Biden administration's approach to the border. Maybe they took too long to endorse legislation like this. Maybe they tried tactics that were not going to be effective. But the bottom line is this. You cannot say that the passage of that legislation would not have promoted border security. And it's very hard to understand that, you know, how or why you could justify, if you say you're pro-border security, rejecting the legislation in the absence of any other alternative.

KEILAR: John, what do you want to see the Biden administration do that they're not doing right now?

SANDWEG: Brianna, well, look, if I- I think the Biden administration continues to do what they're doing, we need to surge resources, however you do that, into the asylum system, unless we change the laws like the Senate bill would have, which would have eliminated a lot of the process and the need to see immigration judges. Then we need to find a way to surge resources into that element of the system. Like I said a moment ago, you can't do it alone. So, the administration is going to need to get resources from Congress.

Just two weeks ago, it came out that the administration was looking to pull resources from, you know, even ICE detention beds in order to address, you know, the shortfalls that are over at CBP. But the bottom line is, look, if we're not going to change the rules through something like the Senate bill, then we need to have a surge and, you know, reestablish the rule of law at the border. And we can't do that without, you know, immigration judges and asylum officers. And, Brianna, very quickly, I know it's boring. I know it doesn't-it's not going to-it's not what you want to give a speech on at the border, but is the truth. In the absence of legal changes, we have to have judges and asylum officers to fix the problem.

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KEILAR: Yeah, so that people, -- the process speeds up, whether people are being deported or whether they are being granted asylum. Obviously, it goes both ways here. So, I asked you about Biden. What about Trump? He's detailed this mass deportation proposal, should he be elected in November. And this would require a huge amount of resources, huge law enforcement sweeps, detentions on an enormous scale. And there are some moral questions that critics are raising about it. Is this idea practical? And what would his plan look like?

SANDWEG: You know, Brianna, look, it continues to ignore the fundamental reality, the legal framework that we have. Now, President Trump tried a few tactics like this to streamline the process. As you know, a lot of those tactics were enjoined by federal courts and found to be unlawful. But what he's talking about, a mass deportation, just cannot happen on a daily basis. It's not going to happen on a daily basis. It's going to happen on a daily basis. Unless you have immigration judges or you adopt a change in law similar to that Senate bill.

Additionally, this idea, you know, that we can just detain everybody at the border fails for two reasons. The first reason is it is not a deterrent. Time has shown this again and again. When I was at the department, looked very closely at deterrence. Detention doesn't deter these people. They're fleeing horrific circumstances. Being locked up in a U.S. immigration detention center does not deter them from coming.

But the second thing is it ignores the massive resource shortfalls that we have. And that's why I'm saying, you know, it's not a deterrent. It's not a deterrent. It's not a deterrent. It's not a deterrent. We have. We dedicate billions of dollars to immigration detention today. He's talking about detaining, you know, millions of people or hundreds of thousands of people at a time. That would take more than $20 billion just on detention alone. And even if we had the funding, we don't have the officers. We don't have the infrastructure to do it. So, look, I'm worried that this is the same stuff he said in 2016. And if you look at the deportation record of, you know, former President Trump, it was actually quite anaemic.

I'm not saying that's good or bad, but compared to the Obama administration, it's much lower. I think we're getting more of the same. We're getting a lot of, you know, easy promises and quick fixes. Mexico's going to pay for the wall, that kind of thing. But the truth is the situation is much more complex, and the answers are much harder to find than that.

KEILAR: Yeah, we should remember President Obama drew the ire of a lot of immigration activists because of his record on deportations, as you well know, John, and mentioned there. John Sandweg, great to have you. Thank you. SANDWEG: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still ahead, the Supreme Court deciding to weigh in on former President Trump's claims that presidents are immune from their actions while they're in office, as a third state is banning him now from the primary ballot for November's election, even after some voters in that state have already cast ballots. Plus, dozens dead in the chaos after Israeli forces opened fire near a food aid truck in Gaza, while the White House has some new concerns that Israel may launch military action north into Lebanon.

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[14:20:09]

SANCHEZ: It was just into CNN, a government shutdown may be averted for now. Let's get right to Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill. Lauren, how much time did lawmakers buy themselves with this continuing resolution to keep the government open?

LAUREN HILL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the House of Representatives has just passed a short-term spending bill that will get them over that spending deadline coming tomorrow at midnight. But there's still a little bit more work ahead before you can say definitively that a government shutdown has been averted. That is because the Senate still has to pass their legislation. A couple of good pieces of news for Speaker Mike Johnson.

One, they bought themselves more time to avert the shutdown in the House; two, he was able to get a majority of his Republican conference to vote for this short-term measure. That obviously a positive sign for a speaker who's always having to look over his shoulder when it comes to his own job. Now, there's also a question about how long this is going to take in the Senate, because any one senator can slow down this process. I talked to Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas. He told me just a few minutes ago he wants an amendment vote on a House passed immigration bill known as H.R. 2 as part of this process.

Senator Rand Paul has an amendment that he wants to see. So, the Republican whip John Thune was telling our colleague Ted Barrett just a couple of minutes ago that he's confident they're going to be able to get an agreement to move this across the finish line in short order, but that agreement hasn't quite come together yet. So, we're still keeping an eye on the Senate and how fast they can move, but looking more and more likely that this deadline is going, -- this shutdown deadline is going to be protected, and they're going to be able to pass this bill.

SANCHEZ: Lauren Fox, an important update from Capital Hill, thank you so much. So, former President Donald Trump's January 6th federal case is now on hold at least for a few more months. The Supreme Court has announced that it is going to hear arguments on Trump's presidential immunity bid in late April.

KEILAR: This is a big win for the former president, of course, given his election subversion trial was supposed to begin next month. With us now we have CNN senior Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic and CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider. Joan, starting with you here. Why would the Supreme Court decide? yes, we're taking up this case?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: It's an important question. The highest court in our land has never decided whether a president, in this case, a former president, should be immune, shielded from criminal prosecution. It's dealt with this in a civil trial context, but never in a criminal context. And now Donald Trump is certainly a distinctive challenge for the legal system. But they have to think in terms of future presidents. You know, what would be their protection from any kind of prosecution in the future? So, it's an important question to be resolved by the Supreme Court.

[14:25:19]

The other thing is it only takes five votes to agree to accept a case like this in this posture, to put on hold the DC Circuit ruling. The full court might not have all been on the same page and in sync, but we know that at least a majority wanted to pursue this at this time. And I wanna just mention one final thing. Several members of this bench actually have extensive executive branch experience. So, separation of powers, the authority of a president, that's an important question for some of them.

SANCHEZ: So this doesn't necessarily mean that they disagreed with the lower court ruling?

BISKUPIC: No, it doesn't. And I have to say that I think if this is said and done, they will likely affirm the DC Circuit and find what seems very practical and kind of valid based on related precedent that a president, former president, cannot be absolutely immune from prosecution, which is what Donald Trump is arguing here.

KEILAR: So what does this do, Jessica, to the timeline here for the federal election subversion trial that the president is facing, former president's facing?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, if this prediction is correct and they decide that Donald Trump is not immune from this prosecution, then it's possible that after they release their decision, which would likely be sometime in June, maybe even the last week of June, that it would get immediately kicked back to the federal trial court and things could start up again.

The only thing about that is that Judge Tanya Chutkan has indicated that there will need to be some time before they actually start this trial. It looks like about three months. So, if they decide, the Supreme Court, at the end of June, can move forward, it's still possible that we won't actually see a trial until sometime in September, maybe even late September, and then you're getting pretty close to the election. Now, that doesn't mean that the trial can't start. There's nothing that would preclude it from starting. But still, you're really working against a very tight timeline there where maybe it won't even be concluded before the election.

SANCHEZ: I guess the question then becomes how helpful this is to Trump's team if, for a while, their strategy has been delay, delay, delay.

SCHNEIDER: And their strategy is working. They're dealing every issue possible here. And if not winning those appeals, they've at least been able to continue delaying all of these cases for a substantial amount of time. Remember, it was back in December when the special counsel went to the Supreme Court and said, can you step in here early before we even go up the appeals process? The Supreme Court didn't step in early. And instead, they're sort of stepping in now. And then they'll step in even again in April. So, Trump's team's strategy here of delay has really been working in their favor, even if they haven't had outright wins.

SANCHEZ: Those arguments set to start on April 22.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHNEIDER: The week of.

BISKUPIC: The week of April 22.

SANCHEZ: The week of April 22. Appreciate that correction. That's why we have their expertise here. Jessica Schneider, Joan Biskupic, thank you both so much. Still ahead, we have to tell you about this horrific and chaotic incident in Gaza. More than 100 people killed, nearly 800 injured. We're hearing conflicting versions of events from Palestinians and Israelis. We're going to go live to the region for a report as soon as we come back.

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