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Kerr County Officials Face Questions on Flood Response Timeline; Interview with Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA): Immigration Enforcement Swarms L.A.'s MacArthur Park; TSA Will No Longer Require Passengers to Remove Their Shoes. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 08, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

CRAIG MCLEAN, FORMER NOAA ACTING CHIEF SCIENTIST: ... Weather service forecast and being able to get to the community, the emergency managers, the citizens, the mayors, et cetera, the people who need to know how to organize preparation for for the citizens, that's very important to know. There has to be an objective and independent evaluation of what did occur everywhere -- at the county level, at the local level and also at the NOAA and National Weather Service level to determine whether those roles were filled. Maybe that position was by title vacant, but maybe one of the heroic weather service forecasters was able to jump in and serve in that role.

We don't know that, and I think we need to know that in order to determine whether the cuts that have taken place under the DOJ leadership and under the current administration, whether they're too deep. We do not have an accounting of that.

But the National Weather Service forecasters are a heroic bunch. They will work tirelessly all day, all night in order to protect the public, and they take deep emotional impact when there is loss of life such as we had here.

So these heroic folks will do what's necessary. I think we as the public need to understand whether the agency is being equipped with sufficient resources to sustain a level of effort, because with climate change, we're going to see more and more and we have seen more and more of these types of calamities.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes, that is certainly a concern. I just want to let our viewers know this is a video coming in from moments ago of Governor Greg Abbott getting an aerial tour of some of the damage along the Guadalupe River. This is a very widespread area of devastation.

And to that point, in 2017, we understand that officials with Kerr County and the upper Guadalupe River Authority, which manages the river, they had applied for nearly a million dollars in FEMA funds to build a flood warning system.

This is, of course, Flash Flood Alley in Central Texas. That request was denied without state or federal funding. I heard from former Kerr County Commissioner -- a former Kerr County Commissioner, saying that a flood warning system just didn't get to the top of the list of funding priorities for the county.

Help us understand the importance of that funding for local officials, the reliance on that federal funding for these alert systems as we're watching this priority of the current administration to slash as much funding as possible, specifically from federal emergency management.

MCLEAN: Well, the role that NOAA has in working with emergency managers is to provide the warnings, but then also to educate the emergency managers as to what steps can be taken, should be taken in the event of what type of emergency. And years ago, the Weather Service merely provided the forecast and then left it up to the community to decide what and how to deal with it, including the skill of broadcast meteorologists who have helped to alert people to concerns.

But over the past decade plus, the Weather Service has really worked hard and other parts of NOAA assisting the research community as well, which very much concerns me because that is proposed for complete elimination by the Trump administration.

And all of the advances that the Weather Service has enjoyed in forecasting has come from these research efforts. So the idea of communicating with local folks as to how to prepare for these emergencies is part of the job. And it involves also social science and understanding how people choose to accept these warnings.

Is there enough time for me to go and pick the youngster up at softball practice or should I just immediately seek cover myself? That's more of a tornado scenario. Here, the idea of just having a NOAA weather radio available throughout these communities that are in flood prone areas would unfortunately, I think, be an overlooked but wise decision to have made.

Getting local spending, getting local money to work on this probability risk problem. The probability is low, but the risk is immeasurable given the loss of life that we are experiencing here. And I think far too often the human nature of our communities is spend the money on something that we're pretty sure is going to be happening because we don't have enough money.

And with the cuts in the federal budget where the federal entity has been providing assistance to the local, we're missing that now with these budget cuts that are coming away from the Trump budget as we see it for fiscal year 2026, as is proposed before the Congress.

So the issue here, Boris, is for the Congress to decide, do we stay loyal to President Trump's wishes or do we stay loyal to the people who elected us and that we look out for them?

[15:35:00]

Because the cuts that are in this budget are going to leave the people's health and welfare behind. And that should not be acceptable.

SANCHEZ: Craig McLean, so great to get your analysis on this. Thank you so much for joining us. MCLEAN: Thank you very much, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

When we come back, we're going to have more on this fifth day of search and rescue operations underway here in Central Texas. Don't go anywhere. CNN returns in just a moment.

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[15:40:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Outrage in Los Angeles after dozens of federal immigration agents in tactical gear and accompanied by National Guard troops, swarmed a city park. They appeared to arrive in armored vehicles, by horseback and also on foot yesterday. MacArthur Park is in a largely immigrant neighborhood. L.A.'s Mayor Karen Bass says she rushed to the area demanding they leave.

Congressman Jimmy Gomez of California is joining us now. MacArthur Park is in his district. Congressman, thank you so much for your time today, I really appreciate it.

I first just want to get some information about what happened. Do you know if anyone was actually detained or how many people were arrested or detained in what happened yesterday?

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): Yes, I've heard that no one was actually detained, which makes us believe that this was more of a political or media stunt where they wanted to, I don't know, capture footage of show of force by having more than 100 federal agents in full gear. People couldn't see it. And military equipment, horseback, trucks, a show of force for what, 20 plus kids that were playing at a playground during summer camp, some young as eight years old.

So it just shows that this wasn't about any group of individuals. They said it was about MS-13 gang members. I don't think MS-13 gang members hang out at a summer camp in downtown or near downtown L.A. So I think it was just appalling and we need this kind of activity to stop.

DEAN: And I'm curious, too, just by your assessment, you -- clearly you see this as just a PR stunt. Were they doing anything illegal or beyond what the law allows? Is this simply them taking the law all the way up to the line? Do you think this is, I guess, legal and OK?

GOMEZ: Well, I want people to understand that this is not what immigration enforcement used to look like before Donald Trump -- before this term. You never saw full military gear. You didn't see people on horseback. You saw them dressed very differently. So this is intimidation. They're trying to scare people.

Is it within the bounds of the law? Well, I don't know what law that they actually broke, but they did scare people in the park and they tried to intimidate folks. So that's what we're concerned about, that this is not serving any real purpose. They haven't gone after MS-13 gang members like they said they were or criminal cartels. They're actually taking people off of those cases and having them go after hardworking immigrants, people that work at car washes, at restaurants, at day labor sites. Have you heard of any major MS-13 gang member takedowns?

I haven't.

DEAN: And you mentioned how scared people were, how intimidated they felt. I think for a lot of the country, help them understand what it feels like specifically in your district. But I know Mayor Karen Bass has spoken about this as well.

The general feeling there in Los Angeles for a lot of people who are quite on edge right now.

GOMEZ: I think, one, a lot of Americans have traveled abroad like I have. I've been to Mexico when I was a kid a number of times. And when I saw troops everywhere in foreign countries, I was intimidated. I was scared. People with big guns. I never thought that that would happen in the United States, where you have active military on our streets.

And that's what you have is this deep fear that's building and building and building. Because here's the thing. They are not going after criminals. They're going after anybody that is brown, that looks like me, that can't pass as what they say is a typical American. That's why you're getting people who are not undocumented actually arrested. That's the fear that exists, that anybody, doesn't matter if you're a citizen or not, could be arrested and held in detainment for a number of days.

If not, it also makes people scared that they're going to get ripped away from their families and their friends and their businesses. So this fear is real because it can happen anywhere at any time. But it happens to mainly people.

Here, we're guilty until proven innocent. And even then, people question us if we don't have a right passport on our hands.

DEAN: Do you think California and Los Angeles are being targeted here?

GOMEZ: Of course. And that's because Donald Trump knows that he wants to try to set an example with California, the kind of place we are. Remember, we're the state who has embraced immigrants, that understands the power of being inclusive, the entrepreneurial aspect of immigrants.

We're the state that beat back 187 and Pete Wilson, that turned the state from red to blue. He doesn't want that to happen in other states, so he's trying to take it out on us.

[15:45:00]

You know what? No matter what he does, we're not going away. We're not going to give up on our values. We're not going to bend the knee to him or to anybody else that wants to act like a want-to-be dictator. DEAN: What kind of power -- I mean, obviously, you're in Congress. There are other local California officials, all the way from the governor to the mayor and others. What kind of power, though, do you all have to push back on this?

GOMEZ: Well, we know that one of the things that we want to do is make sure that people see and understand what's happening. The fact that he's -- who he's going after, that they're not criminals. These are people that oftentimes have no criminal record. He's going after children. And we know that this is starting to eat away at his base. It's highly unpopular.

Even Joe Rogan, somebody that's on the podcast side, who has a lot of support regarding from the MAGA constituency, he even says that this is not what they signed up for. This is not what they wanted. And one of the things, the way we do it is we have to win public opinion more and more to our side.

I'm not sure if he's going to stop, but we want to make sure that people understand the consequences when it comes to our economy, when it comes to who we are as a country and what it means in the long term. I think that this is a dangerous path we're on because when people get comfortable seeing this kind of militarization of not only ICE, but the use of military on our public streets, it becomes easier and easier to do it not only in L.A., but across the country.

DEAN: All right, Congressman Jimmy Gomez, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

GOMEZ: Thank you.

DEAN: Coming up, going through airport security about to get a little easier. The TSA will no longer require passengers to take off their shoes. Details on that next.

[15:50:00]

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DEAN: For the last few decades, we've heard TSA agents shout shoes, hats, belts off, nothing in your pockets. The laptop always goes in its own bin. But now a source telling CNN, TSA will make a major change. Soon passengers going through airport security will no longer have to take their shoes off.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is joining us now. And Pete, this is a game changer for a lot of people that fly.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It's so huge, Jessica. And we know that the previous administration was already doing operational assessments to try and figure out if they could do this. But no doubt the Trump administration will try and take this as a win.

And we'll learn more a bit about the why here at about 5 p.m. Eastern time. We're anticipating a press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. A government source familiar with these plans tells me that the TSA will end its requirement in phases.

A 20 year old rule where it required folks to take off their shoes and put them on the conveyor belt for their own separate screening. Here at Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City, we know that some tennis shoes are getting through, although this is the land of boots. That may not be saying much.

We've also heard from Syracuse, New York, the airport there where folks are not being asked to remove their shoes. Although we know at Chicago O'Hare folks are being asked to remove their shoes. This was all spawned by the shoe bomber scare of December 2001, one of the first big scares of the post 9-11 era.

That's when Richard Reid, British terrorist, tried to light a fuse in his shoes that led to 10 ounces of explosive. He simply was not able to light that fuse. That incident was in 2001.

It took the TSA five years to enact its shoe rules. That was a sweeping change. The TSA not officially confirming this right now.

And I want to read you the statement from TSA in which they say: TSA and DHS are always exploring new and innovative ways to enhance the passenger experience and our strong security posture. Any potential updates to our security process will be issued through official channels.

No way to tell how much money and how much effort was spent enforcing these rules really begs the question whether or not this was security theater in the first place.

Also, some travel experts are pointing out this cheapens the value of pre-check that allows you to essentially bypass the shoe rules if you pay about $80. So some big questions now as this rule seems to be going into effect or actually phasing out rather a new era for TSA.

DEAN: It is a new era. That's for sure. Pete Muntean, thank you so much for that.

And we have some breaking news to share with you. The Supreme Court backing President Trump's effort to carry out mass firings and reorganizations at federal agencies. That decision puts on hold a lower court order that had temporarily blocked the president from taking those steps without approval from Congress.

In an unsigned order, the high court saying lower courts had stopped the plan based on the administration's general goals rather than the plans themselves. We'll be right back.

[15:55:00]

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SANCHEZ: Coming back out to you live from Kerrville, Texas. In just a few minutes, we are anticipating an update from Texas Governor Greg Abbott. He is set to hold a news conference. This is video from a short time ago as the governor was receiving an aerial tour of the damage along the Guadalupe River. The death toll here in Central Texas rising now at 108 people. It is expected that that number will climb.

There is still an untold number of people missing. Officials have struggled to give us a precise number of those who are unaccounted for. We know, for example, that at Camp Mystic, that all-girls camp, five campers and one counselor are still missing.

The work of finding folks that have been claimed as a result of these floods is insanely difficult. It is an arduous process, and we do want to honor the victims.

Among them, Mary Grace Baker. She was a camper at Camp Mystic. She had just finished the second grade at St. Anne Catholic School. In a statement, her school says that they are heartbroken and that her giggle was contagious, as was her spirit.

She loved art, dance, her school, and playing at West End Little League. She was a girl's girl who loved pink, sparkles, and bows in her signature angelic ringlet curls.

Thank you so much for joining us on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. The news continues in THE ARENA with Kasie Hunt. Thanks for joining us.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right, we have breaking news this afternoon. In just moments, Texas Governor Greg Abbott will hold a news conference to provide an update on his state's response to the floods that have devastated Central Texas. We're going to bring that to you live as it happens right here in THE ARENA.

At this hour, authorities are still searching for survivors. At least 108 people were ...

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