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Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) Discusses TX Judge Pausing Biden Program For Immigrant Spouse of U.S. Citizens; SpaceX Delays Polaris Dawn Launch Due To Helium Leak; Apple To Debut Its First Generative AI Phone Next Month. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired August 27, 2024 - 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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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A Texas judge has paused President Biden's new immigration program meant to help some spouses of American citizens who are in the country illegally. The move puts hundreds of thousands of families in limbo.
Biden announced his executive action in June to offer spouses of us citizens without legal status a path to citizenship if they have lived in the U.S. continuously for a decade, do not have a criminal history, and we're married before the program was announced.
The program just started taking applications last week. And the judge's pause, which is not the final decision, is in response to a lawsuit by Republican attorneys general in 16 states.
It says Biden's action, quote, "incentivizes illegal immigration and will irreparably harm the plaintiff's states."
They claim that they're forced to pay for services for immigrants in the country illegally.
Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat of New York, who is the first formerly undocumented immigrant member of Congress.
Congressman, thank you for being with us.
What is your reaction to the judge's ruling that pauses this program?
REP. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D-NY): Thank you, Brianna. Again, this is another attempt by the MAGA-world to block any and all answers to the immigration issue.
We saw how they objected to improving security at the border at the Senate level when a piece of legislation that was put together by probably one of the most conservative Senators in the U.S. Congress, yet the MAGA Republicans, the extreme MAGA Republicans, blocked that.
Now we see them block a commonsense approach to immigration, allowing 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens to be able to regularize their status without having to go back home and allowing them to have a work permit and 50,000 children of U.S. citizens.
This is, yes, another extreme effort to block any and all answers to the immigration issue because of political reasons.
KEILAR: Are you surprised this happened though? I mean, whether you agree with protecting this group or not, significant immigration policy is usually the purview of Congress, not executive action.
ESPAILLAT: Well, this executive action, this type of executive action has been done over 120 times since 1932 by both Republican and Democratic presidents. So this is not new. This is something that has happened many times in the past.
[13:35:07]
But again, 16 governors, Republican -- A.G.s across Republican-led states want to block all answers to immigration so that they can use this as a political tool during an election cycle.
KEILAR: You've seen in recent years how executive actions on immigration sort of weather this process though. Do you expect the courts to overlook what is norm -- the normal process for immigration legislation and take matters into their own hands?
ESPAILLAT: Well, this actually was just a pause. They'll take it up again. We're optimistic and hopeful that they would understand that helping the spouses of U.S. citizens and the children of U.S. citizens is -- is not a radical view on what we should do about immigration.
We should go back to work in Congress and try to resolve some of the major issues within the broad immigration debates, such as DREAMERs, also farm workers, as well as family reunification.
At the end of the day, a family that's divided is a weak family. And if you have weak families, you have a weak nation.
KEILAR: Congressman, this executive action was issued just after the Biden administration ticked off a lot of progressives with a different executive action that largely shut off asylum at the southern border.
How much of this is the Biden administration, you know, adopting this particular E.A. just trying to placate some progressive Democrats that it upset without actually expecting that this could ever go into effect?
ESPAILLAT: No I don't think that's the case. In fact, more crossings have diminished dramatically since Biden has implemented several actions.
I think both President Biden and Kamala Harris are folks that want to have a balanced approach to immigration, where you have border security and you have sensible and commonsense immigration reform measures.
Both Kamala Harris and Biden support this kind of effort. But time and time again, the MAGA Republican wing of the Democratic party wants to block any and all measures that will bring some solution to this problem.
KEILAR: The vice president committed during the convention to passing the bipartisan immigration bill that House Republicans scuttled. But that bill, as you're well aware, included conservative concessions that would have really been on this think able to Democrats even four years ago.
Are you comfortable with where President Biden has put the party on immigration and where Harris is promising continuity?
ESPAILLAT: I am comfortable with the notion that immigration reform, whether it is a stronger border security or sensible commonsense legislation or executive orders, will have to include a bipartisan approach.
You know, I've been around long enough now, eight years, just to know that unless you have buy-in from both sides you can resolve this issue. That this is not an issue that a winner takes.
In that sense, I think it's a practical approach by both President Biden and Vice President Harris to both try to secure the border and bring families together. Having -- again, having families divided doesn't help anybody in America.
KEILAR: Congressman Espaillat, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.
ESPAILLAT: Thank you, Brianna. Thank you for having me once again. And still ahead, we do have some new details on a delayed but daring space mission. SpaceX set to debut new suits in the first-ever civilian spacewalk. We're going to show them to you next.
[13:39:07]
Plus, record high temperatures and humidity smothering the Midwest, headed for the mid-Atlantic. The heat is already so dangerous that some schools are being forced to close on the first week of classes. We have details next.
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KEILAR: All right, we're going to have to wait until tomorrow morning to see if SpaceX can launch this potentially groundbreaking mission into space.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes. It's delayed this morning's Polaris Dawn launch after detecting a helium leak. The next attempt could happen just hours from now. And once the crew reaches orbit, we could see the first ever spacewalk by civilian astronauts.
CNN space correspondent, Kristin Fisher, joins us now.
Kristin, how serious is this helium leak setback and is 24 hours enough to fix it?
KRISTIN FISCHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Not too serious.
SANCHEZ: OK.
FISHER: That's the good news. So we think, right now -- I mean, how many times have I been sitting here with you guys and I've been talking about scrubs. I mean, by now, you all know that scrubs are pretty common in this space industry.
And this isn't a big one. It's not even an issue with the rocket or the spacecraft itself. It's a helium leak on the ground side of things. So hopefully SpaceX and its engineers can get this fixed and we can try again at about 3:30 this morning, tomorrow morning. That's when the launch window opens.
And if it does launch, this is going to be such an exciting mission. Because there's a few big things that the players on this mission are trying to do to push the envelope forward, specifically, world's first civilian spacewalk.
Up until this point, only professional NASA astronauts, government astronauts, have ventured out into this vacuum of space away from the safety of their spacecrafts or space station.
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And then the other big thing that they're going to be doing is they're going to be flying farther into space than any humans since the Apollo mission, flying straight through what's known as the Radiation Belts, the patch of space where highly charged particles congregate.
And if you want to go to Mars, you've got to get through there. So that's why they're testing out their bodies, and also the spacecraft to see if it can withstand that.
And to give you an idea of how serious this radiation is, the way they tested the avionics on the spacecraft to see if it would survive the Radiation Belt, they strap it to a gurney, put it in an oncology lab, like where cancer patients go, and they just pelted it with radiation until the avionics broke.
That's how they learned just how much radiation the spacecraft could take. So they think they're ready now.
SANCHEZ: Wow.
KEILAR: Well, that's good.
All right. How cool are they going to look? I mean, are the spacesuits awesome? Let's talk about what matters here. Let's talk about the fashion.
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FISHER: -- this space fashion. I mean, this is my own personal opinion, but I mean, look at these suits. They look a little bit cooler than what we're used to seeing, I think, from NASA up at the International Space Station.
Largely because the NASA spacesuits are about 40-years-old. These were designed to be the first mission that they've ever flown in space.
And in addition, they're just, as you we're saying, Brianna, perhaps looking a bit cooler. They also have some really cool features, like a built-in display in the -- in the visor.
And you know, this is going to be something, the first time that any civilians have worn this spacesuit out into the vacuum of space.
And even though only two of the astronauts are actually going to venture outside of the spacecraft, all four of them are going to be exposed to the vacuum of space because the spacecraft is literally just going to open up a while.
And so they're all just going to be there in space. So super risky. This is admission I'm really excited to watch.
KEILAR: See the joint, that shoulder joint --
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KEILAR: -- that was awesome.
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KEILAR: I know.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
KEILAR: I'm going to try to get some cardboard and tape and --
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: -- and duct tape.
(LAUGHTER)
FISHER: Halloween costume, right? Certainly for kids.
SANCHEZ: Good opportunity.
KEILAR: All right, Kristen, I mean, for adults, just asking for a friend.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
KEILAR: Right here.
Kristen, thank you.
And now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour.
A Colorado man has been charged with making multiple threats to kill election officials and judges. Federal prosecutors claim the 45-year- old repeatedly posted detailed violent messages targeting public officials in Colorado and Arizona.
His post allegedly accused officials of treason and election fraud and included outbursts against judges who ruled against former President Trump in an election-related case.
He's charged with transmitting interstate threats, and that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
SANCHEZ: Also, the extreme record-breaking heat that's currently smothering the Midwest is forcing several Detroit public schools without A.C. to close early on the first week of classes.
Nearly 75 million Americans are under heat alerts with the heat index temperatures hitting his high as 115 degrees in some areas. This heatwave is expected to spread to the mid-Atlantic by tomorrow.
KEILAR: And the infamous "Pharma Bro" felon, Martin Shkreli, has been slapped with a restraining order, told to turn over all copies of what was supposed to be he the one-of-a-kind secret Wu-Tang Clan album called "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin."
The federal ruling is part of an ongoing lawsuit between Shkreli and a group of NFT collectors who bought the hip-hop masterpiece for nearly $5 million. The suit claims that Shkreli illegally secured copies of the double problem to eventually sell to the public.
SANCHEZ: So a magnet for controversy, I guess.
KEILAR: Yes.
[13:48:51]
SANCHEZ: Still to come on NEWS CENTRAL, Apple's new iPhone is expected to be the first one fully designed with artificial intelligence in mind. We'll tell you what it'll be able to do and, more importantly, how much it's going to cost, next.
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SANCHEZ: Apple is just weeks away from unveiling its newest iPhone. And this debut is expected to make a big and potentially controversial splash because the phone will be Apple's first generative A.I. device with writing and communications tools the company says will be built into the phones with the help of ChatGPT.
CNN Business writer, Clare Duffy, is here with a preview.
Clare, help me understand what that means.
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Right, Boris. We get a new iPhone every September, but this year is expected to be a real step-up in functionality because of these new Apple intelligence A.I. features that the company announced earlier this year. We'll be waiting to hear at the September event exactly what that's
going to look like in the iPhone. But this is expected to be the first iPhone, as you said, built purposefully with generative A.I. in mind.
We have some idea of what we're expecting to see in terms of these Apple intelligence features, things like a smarter Siri that can access your personal data.
So for example, I could ask it to tell me about my day, help me get ready for the day, and it could pull information from my calendar and my email to give me a really concise answer about that.
It'll help people search through their photos. It could create personalized emojis. You'll also potentially get help writing emails, drafting other pieces of texts.
So really it changes across the board in terms of how people are going to be interacting with their iPhones.
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We're also expecting, at this September event, to hear some upgrades that consumers might not necessarily see, but that will also be really important.
In particular, a new processing chip that will be able to be faster and more efficient in processing all the data that's going to be needed to run these ai features -- Boris?
SANCHEZ: I imagine there's probably going to be some effort, Clare, to update privacy because, you know, Siri being able to go through all your emails and your photos and tell you about them, that implies that they have access to a lot of things.
DUFFY: It's a really important question when you're dealing with any artificial intelligence tool. But especially when it's accessing your personal data like this.
Apple says that all of these artificial intelligence -- Apple intelligence features that will be happening in accessing that personal data will happen mostly on the phone or in a private cloud computer.
So no third party will be able to access or use that data for A.I. training.
SANCHEZ: And, Clare, how much is it going to cost?
DUFFY: What we know is that, over the last few years, Apple hasn't raised prices on iPhones very much. The last few models have been starting at $799. Some analysts expect to see a price drop this year because of these new A.I. Features.
But there's also a lot of pressure on Apple to gain new momentum. IPhone sales have been pretty sluggish the last few years because we haven't seen very exciting upgrades. So it's possible, I think, that Apple decides to keep the prices the
same to try to get people to upgrade to this new iPhone 16.
SANCHEZ: Yes, that squirrel D.J. emoji is probably going to revamp sales for Apple.
Clare Duffy, thank you so much for the update.
So Mark Zuckerberg says his team at Meta were, quote, "pressured to censor content about Covid by the Biden administration back in 2021." We'll tell you how the White House is now responding in just moments.
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