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Mass Deportation Plans; Biden Races to Cement Legacy; Trump Makes Key Staffing Picks. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 11, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: You are hired.

President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is taking shape. And as he crosses out some familiar names, replacing them with new ones, Trump's choices are giving us a preview of what he's planning for his return to the White House.

Plus, an ultimatum. Trump says that any Republican aspiring to lead the Senate must agree to his controversial plan for appointing administration officials during a recess.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And the Kremlin prepares for a huge counterattack on Ukrainian troops in Russia, tens of thousands of soldiers, including North Korean forces, amassing ahead of the assault.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: The Trump transition is now well under way, with the president-elect moving quickly to staff key positions in his new administration.

Just a short time ago, CNN learned that Trump plans to announce his top immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, as White House deputy chief of staff for policy. Trump had already picked his border czar, tapping his former acting ICE Director Tom Homan for the job. And he's nominated New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik as ambassador to the United Nations.

And as Trump is hunkered down at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, we're learning that it's become ground zero among loyalists vying for top spots.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live for us in West Palm Beach.

Alayna, I want to talk about those discussions happening where you are in West Palm Beach, but first let's talk about Stephen Miller and what role he's going to fulfill in this new administration.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's right.

Well, Boris, I -- we reported earlier today that Donald Trump in the coming days is expected to name Stephen Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy. And, look, I am told that Miller, who already had a lot of influence in Donald Trump's first term, is expected to have a much more expanded role this time around.

I think they're still working out the details over what exactly his portfolio will look like, but you can assume and expect that Stephen Miller is going to have a very big role in what comes next, particularly when it comes to immigration policy.

Now, there's no secret that Stephen Miller has long been a very hard- line immigration adviser to Donald Trump. He's encouraged a lot of his instincts, including on the campaign trail in recent (AUDIO GAP) the issue in election. And he's also been the lead architect behind the scenes of the incoming Trump administration's plans for this mass deportation of undocumented migrants.

Now, I think one thing to keep in mind is how loyal Stephen Miller has remained to Donald Trump, particularly when you remember that in the aftermath and Donald Trump's departure from the White House in 2021, after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, when a lot of people sought to distance themselves from the former president, Miller did not.

He stayed by his side. And then in the years after, he launched his own outside policy group, America First Legal, where he helped prosecute a lot of cases and issue a lot of lawsuits against Democrats. So I think all of that is good to keep in mind as you anticipate what he will be doing (AUDIO GAP) the White House.

Now, I know we have some video of some of the things that Stephen Miller has said over the years. I want you to take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: America is for Americans and Americans only. You have two policy objectives that you proceed with utter determination on, seal the border, no illegal in. Everyone here goes out. That's very straightforward. You would establish a large-scale staging grounds for removal flights.

So you grab illegal immigrants, and then you move them to the staging grounds. And that's what the planes are waiting for federal law enforcement to move those illegals home. You deputize the National Guard to carry out immigration enforcement.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Boris, clearly, as you can hear there, there's no secret again that Stephen Miller has very hard-line immigration views and will continue to lead a lot of the policy on that.

[13:05:04]

I'm told that as we see the rest of Donald Trump's Cabinet taking shape, a lot of the immigration policy is going to be coming from inside the White House. And you can imagine that Miller is going to be the lead on a lot of that -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene reporting not far from Mar-a-Lago, thank you so much.

We're joined now by CNN's Priscilla Alvarez.

Priscilla, Trump has repeatedly vowed to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. What more are you learning about this new border czar and what he is going to be doing for Trump?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tom Homan joining the incoming Trump administration was widely expected. He has been a supporter of Donald Trump over the years.

And, yes, he has taken a more hard-line approach. We often talk about him being the former acting ICE director under Donald Trump, but he was also at ICE during the Obama years. In fact, he was there when former President Barack Obama executed a record number of deportations.

So he has been at the center of deportations for some time now, which is also quite telling, because, in addition to the White House being the power center for immigration policy, Tom Homan is a pick who is quite operationally savvy. He understands how the government works.

And that is telling in how they are thinking about fulfilling one of Donald Trump's campaign promises. Now, he himself has described how he thinks this operation should be done. And he did so with "60 Minutes." Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: We have seen one estimate that says it would cost $88 billion to deport a million people a year.

THOMAS HOMAN, FORMER ACTING U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT DIRECTOR: I don't know if that's accurate or not. Is that what American taxpayers should expect?

HOMAN: What price do you put on national security? Is that worth it?

QUESTION: Is there a way to carry out mass deportation without separating families?

HOMAN: Of course there is. Families can be deported together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, on that, Tom Homan was also an architect of family separation. He often thinks in a deterrence-minded type of way, which is essentially by having harder immigration enforcement, it will keep people from coming to the United States.

The United States has tried that for years and it hasn't quite worked, but certainly that's an attempt that they're trying to make here. He also says that they will be doing work site enforcement. That is something that President Biden discontinued in 2021.

So in a lot of ways, Boris, we may see the type of immigration enforcement we have seen in multiple administrations. The question, though, is at what scale, and that is what hasn't been answered yet.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the other question that's Cecilia Vega of CBS was trying to ask is at what cost as well.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much -- Priscilla -- or, rather, Brianna.

KEILAR: So, right now, pro-immigration advocates are bracing for president-elect Trump's plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants when he retakes power. And while we're told the Trump administration's early focus will be removing undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes, advocates are concerned that it may go further than that.

CNN's Rosa Flores is with us now on this.

Rosa, how are those advocates preparing?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, I have been talking to advocates and contacts on both sides of the border from the Pacific Ocean all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and here in Houston, where I'm based.

I can tell you that there's a lot of fear in the community. And with the help of my colleague reporters here at CNN who are based in other cities, we're also getting a sense of the -- a sense in the interior of the country.

But let me start south of the border, where thousands of migrants are still waiting. Advocates there tell me that their fear is in two different buckets. First, that CBP One app, that app that they use to enter the reports of entry might go away, and mass deportations.

And advocates there fear that some migrants are going to try to cross the border illegally before January 2025. Now, across the border on the U.S. southern border, I have talked to advocates who are very fearful, not just for the migrants, but for themselves, because they too look like migrants, but they are U.S. citizens.

So they are in fear and they are calling for dignity if the U.S. government indeed delivers on the promise by Donald Trump to execute these mass deportations. Now, in Arizona, where a lot of militias have been patrolling the border, I hear from advocates there a lot of concerns that this might embolden militias.

And they fear not just for the migrants, but for the advocates themselves who are volunteers who are U.S. citizens. Here in Houston, one advocate organization telling me that they have gotten calls from people crying because they fear the separation of their families if they get caught in some sort of round up. And again, there's a call for there to be dignity if there are indeed mass deportations. In New York, organizations there, some of them are readjusting their missions to focus more on the challenge of mass deportation. In California, a state that relies on migrant organizations, Brianna, they're calling for immigration reform.

And then there's the national civil rights organizations like the ACLU and LULAC. They're preparing too, but for the legal fight to go into court to defend the civil rights for Hispanics all over this country -- Brianna.

[13:10:12]

KEILAR: All right, Rosa Flores, thank you for that report.

And joining us now to discuss is Giancarlo Sopo, a Republican strategist who was the director of Spanish-language media for Donald Trump's 2020 campaign, and Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator.

Maria, a preelection poll found 53 percent of registered Latino voters favor Trump's mass deportation plan. Why do you think that is? And what should Democrats take from that?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think, first of all, I don't really believe those numbers.

But, secondly, I think that in as much as Latinos focused on this election, they did not focus on mass deportation. They focused on the economy. They focused on high prices. They focused on housing prices. They focused on trying to have the ability to make ends meet for their families.

And, in fact, in a lot of the exit polls that a lot of Latino organizations have done, they asked Latinos whether they believed that Donald Trump was going to move forward with this. And they said no. So this is going to mean massive cruelty, massive pain in our communities.

I really don't think, not just Latinos, I don't think the American electorate understands what this will mean and if it actually happens. Let's remember in 2017, when family separation happened, there was a huge outcry, Brianna and Boris. You guys remember those horrific images of kids being literally ripped from the arms of their parents.

That will happen again, and it will be on steroids. And so if this is what this administration, this new incoming administration wants to focus on, that is not the mandate that they got. It is not a mandate for cruelty. It is not a mandate for pain. And if that's what they're going to go for, then I think they're going to have a huge backlash, not just among the Latino community, but among the American electorate in general.

SANCHEZ: So, Giancarlo, Maria, there expressed doubt for that support among registered Latino voters from mass deportation and also doubt among Latino voters as to whether Trump would actually carry out this policy. I'm wondering where you land on this.

GIANCARLO SOPO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think if you look at the polls, it's very clear that immigration was actually one of the top issues.

If you look at this new exit study that just came out a couple of days ago, immigration was cited as one of the top five issues for Hispanics for voting against Kamala Harris. So I think it's very clear that Hispanics, no matter which polls you look at, favor a very strong border policy because it's just common sense.

We cannot have simply -- we simply cannot have millions of people rolling around this country who have been unvetted. Many of them have criminal backgrounds. I agree, most of them do just come here because they want to work and they want to have a better life.

But we don't know that because we don't know who these people are. So I actually do not anticipate any kind of major backlash to these -- to any kind of border enforcement.

CARDONA: Giancarlo, come on. You know better. So much better than what you are spouting right now. Our community is going to go through pain.

Our community is going to go through cruelty. That is not what anyone voted for. And, in fact, I will tell the American electorate, if the administration, if the incoming Trump administration goes through this, here's the people that they're going to go after. They're going to go after your kids' classmates.

They're going to go after your delivery guy. They're going to go after the people who take care of your kids. They're going to go after the people who work in restaurants. They're going to go after the business owners in your community. They're going to go after the people who work and who own the farmer's markets that you love going to on weekends.

This is going to be a snapshot of incredible pain and cruelty, and this is -- again, they tried to do a semblance of this in 2017. And we saw the backlash. So I'm saying, if this is what you all think you have the mandate for, go for it. You're going to see very quick and very horrifically the kind of backlash you're going to get.

I don't think people voted for a cost of almost $100 billion that you all are going to spend, if in fact you are going to deport the 12 to 15 million, some people in your party think it's 20 million, undocumented immigrants that are here. Go after the criminals, absolutely.

And, in fact, that's what every administration has done. But can you actually tell me that Trump's CEO friends are not going to go crazy when he goes after the undocumented immigrants who actually pick fruits and vegetables? They're going to say, what the hell are you doing with my work force? This is an administration that has no clue what is about to happen.

They are clueless in terms of the real-world effects of something like this. They are clueless in terms of real immigration policy and how it affects communities and what the actual solutions are.

[13:15:11]

Giancarlo, you know very well that mass deportation is not a solve for immigration. And we need a solve. The real solve for immigration is absolutely making sure that there's strong border security, but you also have to have expanded legal pathways. That's not what this is.

KEILAR: Giancarlo, your chance to respond.

SOPO: Yes, what I would say is that the Hispanic community is sick and tired.

This is not specific to Maria, but the Hispanic community is sick and tired of D.C. elites pulling on our heartstrings. I think those heartstrings have been pulled, have been tugged at so hard that they have snapped. We're sick and tired of people in so they could feel better at cocktail parties saying that the murders of people like Laken Riley, though tragic, are just part of being a generous society.

We're telling people loud and clear, you do not speak on our behalf. And these Hispanic groups, we have to keep in mind, these are the same people who in just a couple of years ago encouraged their party to call us Latinx. These are the same people who lobbied Joe Biden to apologize for calling Laken Riley's murder an illegal immigrant.

(CROSSTALK)

SOPO: Yes, Joe Biden apologized for calling Laken Riley's murder an illegal immigrant. Not a single Hispanic, not one was offended by that.

These groups do not speak for our community. They are way to the left of your average Latino. We're not worried about pronouns. We are worried about prosperity.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: Yes, go ahead.

SANCHEZ: Sorry to interrupt.

I do want to ask you about something Giancarlo brought up in part because we talked a lot about the Puerto Rican vote in places like Allentown in Pennsylvania and in places near Orlando, communities that predominantly voted for Donald Trump.

I mean, he built -- around Allentown, he boosted his margin from last time. He won in Reading. He flipped Osceola County.

CARDONA: He did. He flipped Osceola. And he...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: You hear where I'm going, though.

CARDONA: Yes.

SANCHEZ: The rhetoric not exactly offending folks to the point that they would actually change their vote at the ballot box.

CARDONA: So -- but we have to be very clear here. There were absolutely growth -- there was growth in the percentages of support among the Latino community for Donald Trump. And we have to contend with that. And I have said this. We have to do a deep dive.

We have to do better messaging, messengers, platforms. The massive misinformation and disinformation that went into our community was incredibly effective. I do give the Trump campaign kudos for that. Their lies worked for our community. And that's on us. So we have to fix that.

But let's not actually tell an untruth, which is that the majority of Latinos voted for Donald Trump, because they did not. Neither the majority of Latinos, nor the majority of Latinas voted for Donald Trump. That is absolutely not true. And, frankly, the majority of Puertorriquenos in Pennsylvania also did not vote for Donald Trump.

Yes, again, I concede he flipped Osceola and he flipped places in Texas and he got way too much of slivers of percentages across the country for our comfort level. And we're going to do a deep dive on that and make sure to fix it. And part of fixing that is to make sure that misinformation and lies and conspiracy theories do not go unanswered in a lot of the platforms, Spanish-language platforms and a lot of the other platforms where Latinos receive their information.

Again, that's on us and we have to do better. But let's absolutely not tell the lie that the majority of Latinos voted for Donald Trump, because they absolutely did not. And I can assure you they did not vote for the cruelty that's coming, for the pain that is coming.

SANCHEZ: I didn't say a majority did. I just said he ran up his numbers, irrespective of the rhetoric that was coming from folks next to him.

CARDONA: He did. He did. Exactly. I agree with you. But what Giancarlo is trying to put out there is that majority of Latinos voted for the Donald Trump agenda, and they absolutely did not.

SANCHEZ: Giancarlo, quickly, because our producers are telling us that we're out of time. I do want to give you a chance to respond to the idea that misinformation and disinformation persuaded enough Latinos to move the numbers the way they did for Trump.

SOPO: I don't think that makes any sense, especially if you're trying to single it down to Spanish-language misinformation.

You know why? Because most of the Hispanics who are moving towards the GOP are English-dominant. So I think Democrats make up that excuse every couple of cycles to make themselves feel better and say face with donors. But it's just not the case.

SANCHEZ: Let's pick this up, this conversation up another time in the future.

Maria Cardona, Giancarlo Sopo, appreciate you both.

CARDONA: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Boris.

SANCHEZ: Please. Yes, welcome back any time.

CARDONA: Gracias.

SANCHEZ: Now to Donald Trump's new demand that any senators vying to be majority leader must support recess appointments for his nominees.

KEILAR: Yes, this is a way to essentially bypass Congress and quickly get appointees in place. And right now the three leadership contenders are Senators John Thune, John Cornyn and Rick Scott.

[13:20:05]

And with us now, we have CNN's Manu Raju, who is a chief congressional correspondent and anchor of CNN's "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY."

What are you learning here, Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, these three senators are falling in line.

Remember, using recess appointments typically is a very controversial thing because it bypasses the entire Senate's confirmation process, short-circuits everything and kind of takes the power away from senators.

But now that Donald Trump has called for actually using recess appointments and bypassing the Senate, these Republican senators are saying they are in favor of that. They are open to that idea as well, because Donald Trump does hold a lot of -- some sway within the Senate GOP Conference.

And it's unclear whether or not Trump will actually endorse ahead of Wednesday's critical secret ballot leadership election that will occur then. Now, the question is, which of these senators will be most effective in carrying out the Trump agenda? Each of them have been positioned themselves to that extent, especially Senator Rick Scott, someone who has said that he has been in line with Donald Trump all the way from the beginning, more so than his two rivals for that post.

One example of that is Donald Trump's false claims of saying that he -- the 2020 election was stolen. In fact, just before the election -- actually, right after the debate with Kamala Harris, when Donald Trump said that -- falsely that the 2020 election was stolen, I asked Rick Scott about that claim and if he had any concerns with what Trump was saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: He also continued to say the election was stolen in 2020. He doubled down on that. Should he have said that?

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): Well, if you're the candidate, you get to do whatever you want.

(CROSSTALK)

SCOTT: I have been clear that Biden was the constitutional elected president of the United States. So..

RAJU: But you don't have any concerns with him saying in front of the entire country and the world that the 2020 election was stolen?

SCOTT: Well, a candidate has the opportunity to talk about whatever they think is important to themselves and what they think is important to their voters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, some influential types in MAGA world have said that Scott should be the next Senate majority leader, including people like Elon Musk.

But at the moment, he has five public Republican senators who are saying that he should be the Senate majority leader. There are many more who are quiet. Remember, this is a 53-senator -- potentially 53 senators here who will have a vote on Wednesday. And many of them have not said how they will ultimately come down.

That's why the betting right now is with Senator John Cornyn or Senator Thune as being the leading contenders for that position. Scott very much viewed as the underdog, but we will see. It's still a secret ballot, so these members can vote however they want. And if Trump tells them to vote a certain way, maybe they won't listen to him or maybe they will. No way for us to ever know.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a good point, this secret ballot.

Manu Raju, thank you.

Still to come this hour: While Trump is in a race to fill positions, the Biden administration is in a race to implement some key policies before the packing begins. We will have details ahead.

SANCHEZ: Meantime, Vice President Harris making her first public appearance since her concession speech, as the campaign continues to dissect exactly what went wrong.

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:27:22]

SANCHEZ: President Biden commemorated Veterans Day today with a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, where he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and gave a speech saluting those who serve.

It's just the start of a consequential week for Biden because on Wednesday he welcomes president-elect Donald Trump to the White House, a meeting that comes as Biden is scrambling to protect his legacy and legislative achievements in the final 10 weeks of his presidency.

CNN's Kayla Tausche joins us now live.

Kayla, what do we know about the president's plans?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Boris, we know that the president had hoped for his legacy to be those legislative achievements that pumped trillions of dollars into the country's infrastructure, manufacturing, and clean energy initiatives.

And we know that the administration is trying to get every single dollar out the door before January 20 that is legally allocated to be spent at this time. The president's expressed some frustrations that these infrastructure projects have taken so long to get off the ground, but they are going to do everything they can to achieve as much as they can between now and the end of January.

The president's also focused on filling dozens of open judicial positions, with many of those appointments already having a nominee in place, but there's going to be a challenge with the calendar because Congress has a limited amount of time to finish this term, and they also have to figure out how to fund the government by this time next month.

So that calendar is going to be very crowded, notwithstanding the widespread frustration among the Democratic Party about how things went during the election. A senior administration official telling me that the best way to protect your legacy is to get your people elected. That, of course, did not happen.

And then there is, of course, the world stage. We know that President Biden wanted to have this meeting with president-elect Trump before heading to South America to meet with world leaders, allies and adversaries alike. He's aware of the historic nature of this meeting on Wednesday, but I'm told his mind-set going into it is still fluid -- Boris.

Yes, we will certainly be watching that meeting very closely.

Kayla Tausche live for us at the White House, thanks so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Vice President Kamala Harris joined President Biden for that solemn ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery today. It's her first official appearance since her election concession speech last Wednesday, and it comes amid new reporting that paints a critical picture of the Harris campaign leadership team behind her failed run for president.

A new article in NOTUS examines quote what went wrong inside the Harris campaign, with one Democratic official telling the outlet the campaign was -- quote -- broken since the beginning."

Jasmine Wright is the political reporter for NOTUS who wrote that article.

And it is really one that pulls back the curtain, Jasmine. I will say that, this -- broken from the beginning. There's also a surprise sort of broke that I think we weren't expecting us -- let's start with the fund-raising problems.