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Immigration Crisis at the Border; Interview with Rep. Henry Cuellar; Tight Security at the Rio Grande River; Jobs Grow in States with Higher Minimum Wage; Hot Car Death: Dad's Social Media Life
Aired July 09, 2014 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, that video is so great. He's just so adorable.
Guys, have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.
Good morning. I'm Brianna Keilar in for Carol Costello. Thank you for joining me.
Today the president will try to immerse himself in the immigration crisis while staying hundreds of miles away from the Mexican border. He is heading to Texas later this afternoon. This year a live look from the border as we speak. The Rio Grande River, where thousands of immigrants cross illegally from Central America into Mexico, and into the U.S., but he won't, the president, be heading anywhere near there.
Instead what he'll do is meet with one of his most vocal critics, Governor Perry, as well as faith leaders to talk about how to convert schools to temporary housing facilities for immigrants.
The White House is defending the plan but even some Democrats are pushing for him to make the trip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. FILEMON VELA (D), TEXAS: I think that anybody who is working on the situation, at some point in time, whether it'd be tomorrow or some point in the future, really needs to go to visit and see these children and these families.
CECILIA MUNOZ, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE DOMESTIC POLICY COUNCIL: He sent the vice president to Central America to deal with the heads of state in the countries from which people are coming. Secretary Kerry was in the region, Secretary Johnson is in the region today, is in Central America today. Secretary Johnson has traveled to the border five times in the last month.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now this hour, CNN will cover the border crisis like no other network, from the White House to Texas. We have congressmen from both sides of the aisle, Representative Henry Cuellar from Texas, as well as Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin.
But we begin with senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta.
Jim, the latest from where you are?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. The president won't be going to the Texas border today. He has a fundraiser in Denver and then a speech on the economy in Colorado before he heads to Texas for a fundraiser but he does have what should be a tense meeting with Texas Governor Rick Perry in Dallas after a roundtable with local immigration reform advocates in that city.
And even though that meeting will be tense, there's another tense showdown brewing here in Washington over the president's border plan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): With the ink barely dry on the president's nearly $4 billion plan to halt the flood of undocumented immigrants flowing across the U.S. border, prominent Republicans in Congress are already saying no deal.
REP. BOB GOODLATTE (R), HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: They've asked the Congress for a blank check, an awful lot of money that comes to tens of thousands of dollars for each one of these children.
ACOSTA: Nearly half of the $3.7 billion White House proposal is to go to the caring for the unaccompanied minors from Central America. The rest goes to detention and removal costs, more Border Patrols and surveillance and immigration legal teams to speed up deportation proceedings. Administration officials say GOP critics want to have it both ways.
MUNOZ: They don't get to acknowledge that this is a serious humanitarian problem and then say offhand that they won't provide the support to make sure that we can deal with this problem.
ACOSTA: Part of the problem existing U.S. laws that require border crossers to be returned quickly if they come from Mexico, yet the undocumented from Central America receives special legal protections. A distinction former President Bush signed into law to fight human trafficking.
DORIS MEISSNER, MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE: It is the protection that is required under U.S. law but it has now escalated to the point of creating a migration emergency.
ACOSTA: Making the border crisis tougher to solve is the political brawl between the president and Texas Governor Rick Perry, after an exchange of insults --
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: I have to believe that when you do not respond in any way that you are either inept or you have some ulterior motive.
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The truth is, it's hard to take seriously Governor Perry's concerns. ACOSTA: The two leaders will meet in Dallas, hundreds of miles from
the border, aides say, the president won't be visiting.
