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Judge Blocks Trump's Order to End Birthright Citizenship Nationwide; Judge Holds Hearing on DOJ's Plans for Kilmar Abrego Garcia; Mahmoud Khalil Files $20M Lawsuit Against Trump Admin for ICE Detention; 31 Workers Rescued After Giant Tunnel Partially Collapses; At Least 120 Dead, 160 Missing After Catastrophic Texas Floods; Family of Nine Describes Escaping Floodwaters Through Attic. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 10, 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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[15:00:47]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: A federal judge is once again pausing President Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship, why the judge was able to make this move despite a Supreme Court ruling that limited the power of lower courts.

Plus, thousands of people are spread across Texas Hill Country right now as they continue this painstaking process of searching for their missing loved ones and neighbors. This as local and state officials continue to fend off questions about who did what in the hours before those deadly floods.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: And a miraculous rescue, dozens of workers literally climbed their way to help after a massive tunnel collapsed trapping them 400 feet underground. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

DEAN: All right. We have major developments in a pair of closely watched immigration cases. Today, a federal judge blocking President Trump's order seeking to end birthright citizenship. This comes despite a Supreme Court decision limiting lower court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions.

WHITFIELD: And we're also getting new updates on the case of the Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador for several months. Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia are back in court today pushing for his release. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez and Katelyn Polantz have been watching all of these cases closely.

Katelyn, let's start with you. The question on birthright citizenship, what does the judge's ruling mean for this case now?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, it means that babies born to immigrants in the United States after February 20th of this year, they're going to be getting citizenship. What's happening on this is Trump put this executive order out. And then as the courts are looking at this, the trial level courts, the district courts across the country, they keep saying it looks pretty unconstitutional. And if this executive policy goes into place, it will hurt people.

The judge in New Hampshire just today in court looking at this saying this preliminary injunction, that's what he issued, blocking the executive order. It's not just a close call to the court. The deprivation of U.S. citizenship and an abrupt change of policy that was longstanding, that's irreparable harm.

So, he puts in place this preliminary injunction temporarily or indefinitely blocking it, but he's pausing it. And there's going to be likely many more appeals up to the Supreme Court even again, because what the Supreme Court already did here, they just looked at a piece of this and they're going to be asked or what they were asked before was who can bring these sorts of cases. They may be asked where can people bring these sorts of cases.

Those are the things the Supreme Court works out before they get to the merits. The bigger question, is it legal, is it constitutional to have an end to birthright citizenship. But this judge, again, looking at it and saying, not a close call, babies born in the U.S. or babies about to be born. That's the class before me. They deserve citizenship born on American soil, even if their parents are unlawfully here or only temporarily in the country.

DEAN: All right. Another case, Priscilla, take us inside the courtroom for Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case in this hearing.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is unfolding in Maryland. Currently, there's a senior immigration and customs enforcement official who has been fielding questions from the Justice Department, as well as Abrego Garcia's attorneys. The main question being what happens to Abrego Garcia moving forward? Currently, he is detained in Tennessee, where he is facing criminal charges of human smuggling. This is a pretrial detention.

The question is, if he gets released from that, then what? He goes to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security. And then, what the judge has been trying to determine is, is he deported? And if he's deported, where is he deported to?

So, the exchanges that have been happening so far are very technical, essentially kind of going through the immigration process, but also digging deeper into how they're thinking about a potential third country removal. That means taking him to a country where he has no ties.

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And so far, what this official has said is that there doesn't appear to be a determination as to what country he could be sent to. They haven't worked.

He's saying that if and when he gets into Homeland Security custody again, that is when they would determine that. And it could take a few days or weeks, according to this official. An official, by the way, who has not had - has not done much work on this particular case of Abrego Garcia until only recently. That has also been part of these exchanges before the judge.

Now, so far in the course of all of these hearings, it has been tensed between this judge in Maryland and the Justice Department. We haven't gotten very frustrated exchanges just yet, so much as trying to get the nitty gritty from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. But again, this is still ongoing, and we'll see what further questions the judge has as they finish the questioning between Abrego Garcia's attorneys and the official. But certainly, still a lot of open-ended questions where the judge just simply doesn't want this to go back to where it was to begin with, which is him being mistakenly deported to somewhere else.

WHITFIELD: Both of these issues, just another chapter. There's more. Thank you so much, Priscilla and Katelyn, appreciate you both.

All right. We're also following another breaking story on the immigration front. Mahmoud Khalil is now suing the Trump administration over what he calls his wrongful detention in the $20 million lawsuit. Khalil claims that he was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted, and smeared as an anti-Semite, while the government sought to deport him over his prominent role in campus protests at Columbia University.

DEAN: In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security called Khalil's claims, quote, "absurd," accusing him of, quote, "hateful behavior and rhetoric that threatened Jewish students." The State Department says its actions toward Khalil were fully supported by the law.

Meantime, take a look at this. These images show how cranes gave 31 workers a life-saving lift, rescuing them after a major industrial accident several hundred feet below ground in Los Angeles. A giant tunnel partially collapsed, trapping those crew members. Fire Dispatch audio reveals what happened after it all collapsed in.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What limited communication they have - they've lost their phones, so they do not have any communication with them at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, registered. Copy that no communication. Additionally, do we have a number of patients or victims inside the tunnel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't have a head count or a patient count at this point.

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WHITFIELD: A sister of one of the survivors tells the Associated Press that her brother feared that he was going to die underground. CNN's Stephanie Elam is at the scene of the worksite accident. I mean, how in the world did they make it out?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They say that they were trained for this, Fred, but it also feels a little bit like a miracle. I want to paint a picture for you. It was about 7.45 P.M. local time yesterday when these workers were underground building this tunnel with this boring equipment. So, as it goes through the tunnel, it's forcing these parts of the tunnel up into the wall, creating this cylinder, basically, of 18 feet wide as it's going.

So, there were workers in front of it when part of this tunnel collapsed behind them. Those workers then had to scramble over 12 to 15 feet inside of an 18-foot cylinder to get to the other side to then get themselves out, which they were able to do.

Of course, when you talk to people who were here, they were terrified. I talked to a representative from the sanitation districts. I talked to one of the fire chiefs, L.A. Fire Department chief, who was one of the responders here. Everyone thought that this was going to be a much more sad outcome.

In fact, I want you to take a listen to Robert Ferrante. He's a chief engineer and general manager of the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts on what they were feeling at the time. Take a listen.

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ROBERT FERRANTE, CHIEF ENGINEER, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SANITATION DISTRICTS: But it was a tense situation. Anytime you have a collapse in a tunnel behind you, there was only one way out at that time. It's to come back here to the shaft. So, they had to come back and make their way through the damaged section of the tunnel. So, yes, it was very scary. I just want to reiterate, we're very fortunate no one was hurt.

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ELAM: Very fortunate. And the LAFD told me that 27 of the workers, they checked them out here on site and released them here, so that just shows you how minor it was. Also, keep in mind that this happened at about five miles in and about 400 feet below ground. So, they were very far in. And I was told under normal circumstances, that would take about 20 to 30 minutes with that tunnel transport that they have in there to get out of this tunnel.

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So, just think about doing that, but also having to scramble in the darkness over the soil. It was very scary times. I'm also told that some of the family members were standing out here waiting to see if their loved ones would be okay. And it is very great to actually have good news for once and to say that all 31 made it out of this location that's still here. It operates 24 hours a day. So, we still see workers there. But the tunnel itself is shut down indefinitely.

DEAN: And Stephanie, there is an inspection underway. I know you said the tunnel is shut down indefinitely. What are next steps here?

ELAM: Right. They, first of all, need to make sure it's safe for anyone to go in there. They don't want anyone to go in there without knowing what's going on. So, it's inspecting this area to make sure that it's fine.

I talked to L.A. - the sanitation districts, and they said that they've never had anything happen like this. And remind - and it's also important to remember that this tunnel is for wastewater to replace two older tunnels that are from 60 and 80 years old that's taking treated wastewater out to the ocean.

So, there are burrowing under active places that people live, work, go to school, all that. They're making their way to the ocean from here. So, they need to make sure it's infrastructurally sound and that's going to push back this deadline. It wasn't supposed to be online for a couple of years, but obviously the point of this getting back up online is going to be delayed while they investigate and make sure nothing like this happens again.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Incredible close calls there all the way around.

Stephanie Elam, thank you so much.

All right. Happening right now, exhausted search and rescue crews working through challenging conditions in Central Texas in the wake of the deadly floods. We'll take you there live next.

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DEAN: Right now, in Central Texas, search and rescue crews are battling very tough conditions as they continue to look for victims of the deadly flooding last week. We know at least 150 people are still missing in hardest-hit Kerr County. At least a dozen others are missing in other parts of the state. The catastrophic floods have claimed the lives of at least 120 people, and there is some growing scrutiny for FEMA and its response to this tragedy.

Four officials inside that agency telling CNN a new cost-cutting rule from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem delayed some FEMA search and rescue teams. Now, this new rule requires Secretary Noem's personal sign-off on every contract and grant that exceeds $100,000.

For example, sources say that FEMA couldn't pre-position urban search and rescue teams for more than 72 hours after that flooding started. In the past, FEMA would have quickly positioned those special teams near the disaster zone so they were ready for urgent requests.

Multiple FEMA officials tell CNN they were taken aback by the agency's relatively limited response after the disaster. Earlier today, though, Secretary Noem defended the federal response under her leadership. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KRISTI NOEM, DHS SECRETARY: Our Coast Guard, our Border Patrol, BORTAC teams were there immediately. Every single thing I was - they asked for, we were there. Nobody there has said anything about that they didn't get everything that they wanted immediately or that they needed.

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DEAN: We go now to CNN's Marybel Gonzalez, who is on the scene in Kerrville. Marybel, as we almost get to one week since this deadly flooding, how do things stand this afternoon?

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, we know those exhaustive recovery efforts continue and they're now entering their seventh day. I can tell you that here along the banks of the Guadalupe River, right to my side, we've seen multiple crews showing up to the scene from different agencies, volunteers with equipment in hand. They are still searching the debris along this river that we know stretches for over 200 miles. They're looking between all of that wreckage, hoping to find anybody that has been stuck.

Now, while there is certainly a lot of feeling of helplessness in this community, we know that there's still so many people missing. There are other people in the community right now that are stepping up, trying to help in any way they can. We've seen people dropping off food, water for the search and rescue teams that are helping bring these victims home.

And now, we also know that there's an artist in town. He has set up this memorial that you see behind us. He's setting up a cross for every single person we now know has been confirmed dead. Those crosses are made with wood taken from the Guadalupe River.

That artist is here with us now. His name is Roberto Marquez, and I understand you're here from Dallas, Roberto, and this is not the only time that you've responded to crisis. You've done this whenever there's a big event here in Texas. What drove you to come out to this area?

ROBERTO MARQUEZ, ARTIST: What compelled me to come to the Guadalupe River flood zone is out of solidarity. And out of that, there's - I see many things to do. And one of those important things to do is what I call it, a healing process. And that healing process, what I'm talking about is a memorial. In a memorial, we have crosses. We have many things. But eventually, we're going to claim a place to unite, you know, where many people have the opportunity as well to come and share with, you know, maybe the family members of those loved ones that were lost or others that still disappeared.

So, this is a team effort. I'm here and doing what I can. Right behind me, I have already 10 crosses and also three representing the spiritual.

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The spiritual is very important because no healing process can be done as far as I can see if there's no - that ingredient. So, yes, solidarity and also, you know, this is my neighborhood and it'll be at disgrace for me not to be here because, you know, this is what I've been doing and I like doing it, you know, without expecting nothing in return.

GONZALEZ: I know we've had several people already, including first responders, stop here and take photos. Have you heard from any one of them about what this means to them seeing this memorial up?

MARQUEZ: This is a memorial. Eventually, like I said, it'll become like a prayer - praying place. And just down the road, maybe not even a quarter of a mile, six bodies were found. And this is Rick Ray (ph), the owner of the property, and he's calling also the community. He sent me a message that if I need anything, and, you know, once again, you know, we unite in - but we need a place where we can, you know, spend more time because when those difficult times come, when someone is crying because they just about managed to go take their loved one to a funeral or not even there, you know, it is difficult times like for me to deal with. I had to leave it to these vespers. I'm talking about like church people, you know, pastors, all of the people that deal with the spiritual. So, a memorial is a good place to unite.

GONZALEZ: Thank you so much for that, Roberto.

And I know Roberto has told me that he has found that in times of crisis, art is often healing, and that is what he hopes will happen here. There is a vigil scheduled for tomorrow night right along near the area where we're standing, and he's calling everybody to show up and be in unison in prayer for these victims.

We're reporting in Kerrville, Texas. Back to you.

DEAN: All right. Marybel Gonzalez, thank you so much for that. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jessica. Survivors of the catastrophic floods in central Texas are sharing their frightening stories. CNN's Pamela Brown met up with a family of nine. They were gathering at their family home in Kerrville for the 4th of July weekend when tragedy suddenly hit.

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PENNY DEUPREE, SURVIVED TEXAS FLOODS: It's hell, it's whatever - but we're alive. God was with us every second, provided what we needed.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An incredible story of survival for this Hunt, Texas matriarch and her family.

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DEUPREE: All right. There's the escape hatch.

BROWN (on camera): Right there?

DEUPREE: Yes.

BROWN: The escape hatch.

DEUPREE: Yes.

BROWN: So, you all squeezed through that?

DEUPREE: Well, I was the hardest one to squeeze. That was the problem. I couldn't diet fast enough to get out of there, but anyway.

BROWN: But you got out.

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BROWN (voice over): Eighty-three-year-old Penny Deupree was the first to wake up, and sense something was wrong in the early morning hours of July 4th.

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DEUPREE: I got up to go to the bathroom, and when I went to the bathroom, I flushed it, and it goes. And I went, again, you know, we're having plumbing problems. So, I laid down for a few minutes, and I went, you know, it's rained a lot. I think maybe I better check the front of the house. And that's when I - it was just flooding already.

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BROWN (voice over): Her daughter, Keri Wilt, who lives two miles down the road, explains how all nine people staying at the house managed to escape.

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KERI WILT, SURVIVED TEXAS FLODS: So, they gathered everybody up into the sleeping loft. This is where the grandkids slept, right? And they all got up to there, and you can see as you pan around that where the water level was.

Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, each one of them had a buoy, and were just hitting it and trying to get out.

BROWN (on camera): Who was holding the babies?

WILT: Their parents. So, they had a whole system in getting them to safety.

BROWN: Oh, my God. Wow, this is insane. I can't believe they survived.

WILT: It's a miracle. It's not insane. It's a miracle.

BROWN: So, just imagine they're up here, seven adults, two babies, two dogs and the water is rising so quickly, they're trapped. And the only way to get out was somehow to burst through. And so, they just grabbed something, and the three men were trying to create this. And all they had in the pitch black was a baby monitor light.

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BROWN (voiceover): Most of their possessions are gone, but they're left with the most important thing.

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WILT: We have nine lives. We have everybody's safe, everybody's healthy, not a - barely a scratch on anybody.

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BROWN (voice over): And a connection to their family history, while a little battered and bruised, is another story to tell.

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WILT: My great-great-grandmother is Frances Hodgson Burnett. She's the author of "The Secret Garden," "Little Lord Fauntleroy," "A Little Princess" and 50 other books.

BROWN (on camera): Of course.

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WILT: And my mother was the keeper of, you know, kind of her stuff. So, we - she remained actually hanging here throughout. She got waterlogged, of course, but she's okay.

A lot of laughter was had in this house, right?

DEUPREE: You are exactly right.

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BROWN (voice over): And plenty of laughter still to come.

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WILT: That's my dad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we found his ash.

WILT: He's in there. We found his ashes.

BROWN (on camera): Oh, my gosh. Should we move the Dr. Peppers off of him? Give him some dignity here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He would somehow find that amusing, I think.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes.

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BROWN (voice over): Even if it's sitting around in a circle by the rubble, because they're still on this side of the earth and together.

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BROWN (on camera): You must have thought at one point that you were going to die or --

DEUPREE: No, I didn't. No, because that's not an option.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

DEUPREE: Right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

DEUPREE: Is it?

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BROWN (voice over): Pamela Brown, CNN, Hunt, Texas.

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DEAN: All right. Pamela, thank you so much for that report.

All right. Still ahead, President Trump appears to be launching a sudden trade war with Brazil, whose president says he's ready to respond in kind. But after multiple delays, are Trump's terrorist threats losing their bite?

Plus, why Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, believes the President's foreign policy approach appears to be shifting.

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