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CA Gov. Newsom To Meet Trump On Tarmac For L.A. Visit; Trump Meets With NC Families Affected By Hurricane Helene; Newark Mayor: ICE Agents "Raided" Business, Detained Residents; White House: "Deportation Flights Have Begun"; Mississippi Lawmaker Processes "Bounty Hunter" Program; Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) Discusses About President Trump's Visit to Disaster Zones. Aired 3-3:30p ET
Aired January 24, 2025 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: President Donald Trump today visiting two disaster zones, the storm-ravaged state of North Carolina and then communities in Los Angeles that have been devastated by wildfires after criticizing how his predecessor handled both catastrophes. We're tracking the President's trip.
Plus, his immigration cracked down. The White House says deportation flights are underway, sharing photos of people lined up in handcuffs boarding military planes. As one state considers offering a $1,000 bounty for information that leads to deporting undocumented migrants.
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: An easy time for your dry January to last the full year. More people making a major lifestyle change saying no to alcohol for good. We're following these major developing stories and many more coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
SANCHEZ: Right now, President Donald Trump is in the air on his way to tour the wildfire damage in Los Angeles and CNN has learned that California governor, Gavin Newsom, will be on the tarmac to greet the President when he arrives.
As you might know, Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Newsom as the state deals with these historic fires. Earlier today, the President spent time in western North Carolina as residents there have struggled to rebuild after Hurricane Helene. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live from Asheville.
And Jeff, one of the main focuses for Trump on this trip has been FEMA and he has vowed to remake the federal agency.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Boris, it certainly is not what some of the people here in western North Carolina perhaps were expecting when they were certainly eager to have the President come here and members of Congress to see the devastation that is just so very real. You can just see just a small slice behind me here of this once art gallery now an abandoned building and it's waiting to repair as so much recovery efforts are underway here. But it was the President, and he was met by the Democratic governor here, Josh Stein, on the tarmac. But then he started going after FEMA and not talking about immediate relief efforts, but talking about the very existence of FEMA has had its time.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think frankly FEMA is not good. I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to go and - whether it's a Democrat or Republican governor you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA.
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ZELENY: So, so many questions here with that statement. First of all, state and local agencies actually are the first line of defense in terms of helping citizens. FEMA comes in after that fact and FEMA is still on the ground here. And there's no question there are critics on all sides of how FEMA has done its work in this broad devastation of Hurricane Helene largely with housing vouchers and the like.
But there are also true signs of need here. There was a woman who's holding up the sign as the President's motorcade went by that said, "FEMA helped me." So people clearly are in need of help and the President himself is, of course, busy at work trying to remake the entire federal government, and that's what this is all about.
This was actually discussed in a project 2025 which, of course, was the manifesto, if you will, from some conservative thinkers how to remake the federal government. And FEMA is viewed by some as extraneous. Of course, the worst disasters happen in red areas and blue areas alike. That's why FEMA has always been supported.
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So, this is something the President cannot do unilaterally. Congress would have to do away with FEMA. The bigger question in the short-term how will the relief come here and more importantly even and more urgently to California the President lands there in a couple hours. Boris?
SANCHEZ: Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much for the update from Asheville.
It does appear that President Trump is making good meantime on his vow of mass deportations with federal officials announcing that they've made hundreds of arrests this week. The White House says that military aircraft are now being used to send people back to their countries of origin sharing these images of dozens of migrants lined up and handcuffed after they're being led onto a military plane.
Meantime, the Trump administration is directing several agencies to arrest people who are in the country illegally including the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
HILL: All of this is happening as we are seeing authorities carry out deportation operations across the country.
In Newark, New Jersey the city's mayor says officials there arrested undocumented residents and U.S. citizens at a fish market on Thursday. CNN has not been able to independently verify his claims. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now with more.
So, we have both some of these raids that we're starting to see, but also these military flights. The pictures that the White House has now put out. Seeing a military plane, I think, has thrown some people for a loop a little bit.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, generally what we have seen over the course of the week when you take into totality is the foreshadowing of more to come from the Trump administration as they do this crackdown at greater numbers, because as you mentioned Boris there are hundreds of people who are arrested this week.
Well, that was also true last week under the Biden administration but it isn't how it ticks up over time. Now, on the military aircraft that's a good example of how things are different now with the use of a military aircraft to repatriate migrants back to their origin country.
So yesterday afternoon is when one of the first flight took off from the El Paso area to Guatemala. About 80 migrants repatriated. Those are recent border crossers, so they were in Border Patrol custody and this was part of a plan that had been outlined by the Pentagon earlier in the week, which is to say that they were going to send military aircraft, and they did, to El Paso and to San Diego in addition to more troops.
There were already around 2,000 troops who were already on the ground there. Well, they are supplementing that now to help with operational readiness as well as other efforts like intelligence analysis of flows and threats.
Now, what is the situation on the U.S. southern border? Well, it is far more quiet than it has been in recent years. I was talking to a source only moments ago who told me it was about a thousand crossings a day. Well compare that to a few years ago when it was 4,000, 6,000 even up to 12,000 people. So, it is far less than what we have seen before, but they are trying to turn the dial to zero and they are also trying to do a show of force. So, that is what we are seeing along the U.S. southern border in addition to their focus on the interior.
You mentioned, for example, the - bringing in other federal agencies to help with that effort. Well, that is intentional, because if you talk to Trump officials. They talk about force multiplying. What does that mean? Adding more agents so that they can do these arrests and they can detain those are - who are in the United States who are undocumented.
So all of this is coming together very quickly and the reason is because they had time to prepare. This is something top of mind for many of the then incoming officials who are there now. Many of whom are also law enforcement veterans. Tom Homan, the White House border czar, has been doing this work for a very long time. So you take it all together and you really start to see how they're preparing this operation not only in the actions we saw today but also and how they ramp this up in the future.
I will add the one caveat to this is always money and resources, and that it's going to be the push with Congress.
SANCHEZ: Yes. We'll see how Capitol Hill responds to Trump's demands for more resources. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.
As deportations take place across the United States, one Mississippi lawmaker is proposing a bounty hunter program to find people who are living in the country unlawfully. His plan calls for paying a thousand dollars to those who provide information that helps lead to the successful deportation of undocumented immigrants.
With us now is DeSoto County Mississippi District Attorney, Matthew Barton, who introduced this legislation.
Sir, thanks so much for being with us. If you could walk us through how you envision this program working out. Who exactly is apprehending these alleged undocumented migrants and who gets the thousand dollars?
MATTHEW BARTON, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, DESOTO COUNTY, MS: : Yes. So, think of it basically like a crime stoppers program where people can send in tips or information and that information will need to come in through the Department of Public Safety in Mississippi or local law enforcement.
Once that information is vetted and corroborated and deemed useful then it can be you know passed along to ICE. And if ICE wants to proceed with a deportation process on that individual, then that process would begin.
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And it could really be sped along by the use of more people at the state and local level. As you were mentioning earlier in the show, there's an effort to multiply the forces here. There's a lack of resources. And so, this bill would allow for the state of Mississippi to provide additional resources to just kind of act as a task force if you will.
So, anyone who was certified through the program would be able to participate, likely peace officers or licensed bail agents.
SANCHEZ: So, help me understand that aspect of it. These are registered bounty hunters that sign up for the program?
BARTON: So, the basic concept is that someone who reached or maintained certain eligibility could, basically, apply through the Department of Public Safety. And then, become a certified bounty hunter as part of this program and they could work in conjunction with ICE and local law enforcement to carry out the mandates. SANCHEZ: And am I reading it correctly in understanding that they could detain people who they suspect are undocumented, these bounty hunters?
BARTON: So, yes, you are reading that, but it's important to note that they would not be detaining random people on a whim. I mean, everything would have to work through law enforcement and be given authority from law enforcement in each particular case.
SANCHEZ: In other words, you're not going to have - you can confirm that you're not going to have people going across your state pointing to folks that they suspect are undocumented and detaining them without having law enforcement go through the process of confirming whether the person that they suspect of being undocumented actually is undocumented. Is that the case?
BARTON: Absolutely. We do not - we don't want to create a system where someone has blanket authority to just become the law all of a sudden. And so, everything would have to go through law enforcement like it always does. This just creates additional people that can aid in the process. It would be very similar to a local deputy at the Sheriff's Department being part of an ATF task force. It just brings in more people who are qualified to work in conjunction with ICE and just make an initial detainment.
SANCHEZ: Are you concerned that people who have legal status might inadvertently wind up getting apprehended, that you might see situations where folks who have legal status wind up getting targeted?
BARTON: I don't think so. And that's because I believe that law enforcement does a great job and they would have - once they receive information they would vet that information and see if, you know, that individual actually is here with status or not.
And so, if someone's here and they have all their documentation, they're doing everything the right way, we encourage that. We love that. That's what makes America - America is the bedrock of who we are. So, we want legal immigration. We need to encourage that as much as we discourage illegal immigration. And - but I think that everyone that's coming here legally.
SANCHEZ: I just do wonder about the process, though, because getting that verification takes time. And so, if you have a bounty hunter who's detained someone, and they're waiting to find out whether that person is here legally or not, that person that's being detained has rights. So, how do you protect those rights? How do you make sure that the rights aren't being violated?
BARTON: Yes. I think your question presupposes that we're doing this out of order. So, the detainment would not occur until after law enforcement had already done an investigation and identify or corroborate that the information they received was correct, that probable cause was there and that an arrest or detainment would be proper.
At that point someone, in the program could receive marching orders from ICE or law enforcement to go ahead and get the ball rolling. But there is - there has to be an order to things, because the Constitution matters. This doesn't usurp the Fourth Amendment.
So, certainly no one's going to get detained just because someone pointed at them. There would have to be a process prior to detainment that would authorize such an action.
SANCHEZ: I'm also curious about the tip line you're setting up. Immigration status obviously isn't something that is apparent. On what basis do you think people should be submitting these tips? What would you tell people to look out for?
BARTON: You know, whenever we have a tip line we're going to have a mixed bag where some tips are very useful and some just are not.
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We have the same thing when we receive tips for, you know, wanted murderers.
So, we're going to get a lot of tips that really are baseless or don't have much value. But if someone does know, hey, this person's here illegally because they have some sort of personal interaction or way of knowing, then they can share that information. But, you know, either you know or you don't.
But this isn't going to create a full-time job for someone where they can just wake up one morning and say, well, I'm going to join the program and I'm going to start independently searching. If you have information and you share it, and it's acted upon, then you would potentially be eligible for a reward but that's really about it.
SANCHEZ: Do you have any concern that someone may act inappropriately in trying to obtain that kind of verification, perhaps stalking someone because they suspect that they're here illegally?
BARTON: I think there's bad actors and in any sort of government program where everything gets taken advantage up to some point. But I think that's where we lean on law enforcement to do the great job they always do. And speaking of bad actors, I think it's important to know that this is a crime prevention mechanism where we are trying to limit the amount of crime, and hard and violent criminals that are coming through our system.
I represent a small town in Mississippi and we have over a thousand illegal immigrants that came through our county jail in the last four years, which is more than twice the four years prior to that and these bad actors have to be dealt with. I'm more concerned about that than the - maybe you know a handful of people that may try to take advantage of a new government program.
We have millions of people in this country that already taking advantage of every program we have so I'm not too worried about a handful of people that may get the wrong ideas about this program because I think that the Department of Public Safety will do a good job of creating mechanisms to vet the information that they receive. SANCHEZ: Matthew Barton, we have to leave the conversation there. Appreciate you sharing your point of view. We hope you'll come back on to discuss further if this idea moves forward.
BARTON: Yes, thanks for having me.
SANCHEZ: Still to come, President Trump is en route to California to survey areas devastated by wildfires. We're there with the latest.
HILL: Plus, the Senate set to vote tonight on President Trump's controversial pick for Defense Secretary. Does Pete Hegseth have the votes?
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HILL: President Trump is on his way to California right now, where he'll survey wildfire damage and also get a briefing on where that firefight stands right now. As we mentioned, this will be his second stop today to a disaster-hit area.
Mr. Trump started the day with a visit to North Carolina, where he spent time with people impacted by Helene last year. Joining me now is Republican congressman, Chuck Edwards of North Carolina, who represents some of those areas devastated by Helene.
Congressman, it's good to have you here this afternoon.
You also met with the President during his visit earlier today. What was your message to the President in terms of what your state and what your district need right now?
REP. CHUCK EDWARDS (R-NC): Well, my message is, first of all, I wanted him to know the resiliency of the people of the mountains of Western North Carolina and how we've pulled together, but also how our federal government has failed up to this point, particularly with FEMA. It's a horrible bureaucratic organization that's just simply not serving the needs of the people here in the mountains at this time.
HILL: So you say it's a horrible organization. Earlier today, for people who may not have seen it, the President, when he was there in North Carolina, he said he'd like to get rid of FEMA. He wants to leave disaster recovery efforts essentially to the states, to state and local officials.
I asked the mayor of Asheville, which I believe is in your district, earlier this afternoon, whether she thinks if what happened with Helene was left to state and local, if they would have enough without FEMA. And she told me no. And she went on to say that it would be devastating for individuals, businesses, cities, counties and the state of North Carolina, saying she would urge the President not to make any rash decisions about reconstructing FEMA.
Would you agree with her that the recovery effort - I know you said you've had a lot of frustration with FEMA, which you also said earlier this month. But could the recovery effort be handled without FEMA at all?
EDWARDS: I think that we need some agency. We need some level of a federal employee to help coordinate the efforts to the states. I believe that the better solution would be to support our Tenth Amendment and recognize that states are much, much closer to the people and can react in a better way.
It's obvious not every state, not every local government will have the expertise that they need to be able to work their way through a disaster as has this district had to do. But I believe that block grant funding to the states and leaving it - the decision making to people closer to those folks they represent is a far better idea than leaving it to a bureaucracy in D.C. that just doesn't know the people that they're serving.
HILL: And is that what you would say then to the President is he wants to get rid of FEMA altogether, would you instead encourage him to not scrap it full-scale, but instead think about maybe doing things a little bit differently?
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EDWARDS: I think it needs to be done differently, but I wouldn't use the term a little bit differently. It needs to be done much differently. I believe states and local governments would need some advisory resources, but the money should go to the states and the people that elect the leaders in those states should have more of a say in the decision-making process. I believe a major overhaul is necessary.
HILL: And there has been some talk about an overhaul. And just one more comment on that. We are just hearing from the former FEMA minister, Deanne Criswell, who said she would - she takes the President at his word, but she has grave concerns about what this could do because of the role - the critical role that FEMA plays, especially in terms of coordination.
I'm curious also, as we look at where things stand, the President talked today about conditioning aid for California. He was asked specifically whether there should be conditions for North Carolina. He did not say that there should be.
Should aid in the face of a disaster be conditional for any state?
EDWARDS: Well, I believe that any state should be expected to follow the rule of law of the federal government. That's probably the single biggest thing that California has been missing in embracing sanctuary cities, for example, and ignoring their own responsibilities to protect their property from fire.
I believe the federal government certainly should look at those types of practices when we're going to dole out 10s of billions of dollars.
HILL: So, one of the things that the President floated today was he wants to see a voter ID law potentially as part of the conditioning on aid. Is that appropriate? EDWARDS: I think that that is extremely appropriate, given the confidence ...
HILL: (INAUDIBLE) ...
EDWARDS: ... the lack of confidence that we've seen (INAUDIBLE) ...
HILL: So, you believe that that is - that should be and make sense as a condition for aid for disaster relief for these wildfires - voter identification.
EDWARDS: Oh, I (INAUDIBLE) - yes, I certainly believe the federal government should insist that the states put a path forward to protect the integrity of our elections.
HILL: Again, but you believe that should be a condition of disaster relief.
EDWARDS: I believe that since the time men are in place of elections is the sole responsibility of the states, the federal government could insist and in many cases should insist that systems and processes be improved.
HILL: Congressman Chuck Edwards, we appreciate you taking the time to join us today. Thank you.
EDWARDS: All right. Thank you.
HILL: Just ahead here, President Trump's new DOGE department or DOGE agency says it has a plan to save 10s of millions of dollars, and all it's going to cost to get this, pennies, we'll explain.
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