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Immigration Crisis Continues; Congress Signaling Rejection of Immigration Funding; Man Accused of Allowing Toddler Son to Die in Car; Israel May be Preparing for Ground Invasion of Gaza Strip; Technological Advances Increases Criminal Tracking Capacity of Law Enforcement; Pot Retailers Open in Washington State; LeBron James Returns to Cleveland Cavaliers; Germany and Argentina Set to Play for World Cup Championship; CNN Hero Mobilizes Soccer Fans for Charity

Aired July 12, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it is so good to see you on a Saturday morning, 10:00 here in the East. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Seven out on the West Coast. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PAUL: "We will send you back", that is the message a top Obama administration official just delivered at the Mexican border as tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants, many of them children, keep pouring into the U.S.

BLACKWELL: Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson stressed the president's goal of deporting people quickly, shortening cases to a matter of days. But this is not an easy tank.

PAUL: As children flee gang violence and other problems in Central America, politicians agree. This is a humanitarian crisis.

BLACKWELL: But a gridlocked congress is not budging on President Obama's request for almost $4 billion in emergency funding.

We'll get to Erin McPike in a moment. Actually, we got Erin McPike now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As U.S. officials struggle to contain the flood of illegal immigrants crossing the U.S./Mexico border, the Obama administration is begging Congress for help.

JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Not doing anything frankly is not an option, because it will require us to simply run out of money.

MCPIKE: Asking for nearly $4 billion to temporarily shelter tens of thousands of immigrants, many of them unaccompanied minors, send them home and step up border patrol. Complicating the issue -- SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI, (D) MARYLAND: These children are seeking

refuge. They're seeking refuge from organized crime, despicable gangs, vile human traffickers.

MCPIKE: Both sides agree there's a humanitarian crisis, but leading Republicans have this ultimatum.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: I have talked to a number of my colleagues who are Republican senators. We will not agree to the additional funds, the $3.7 billion, most of which is to care for these children and provide the facilities, until we can assure the American people that it's going to stop. And unfortunately, that is not in the president's request.

MCPIKE: McCain and his Arizona colleague Jeff Flake are calling for faster deportations of children caught at the border and asking for increased but conditional aid to their home countries, arguing that's the only way to drive the message the United States won't tolerate it anymore.

Now this crisis is becoming a jumping off point to restart the case for comprehensive immigration reform.

REP. XAVIER BECERRA, (D) CALIFORNIA: All we have to do is get the Republican leadership in the House to say, OK, we'll finally let a vote take place, because we know there are votes sufficient to pass a bill that would give us a common sense fix.

MCPIKE: Despite some momentum on Capitol Hill to take action at least on the current flare-up, Democratic Congressman Juan Vargas, who represents the California border, warns --

REP. JUAN VARGAS, (D) CALIFORNIA: So everyone wants a quick fix. At the end of the day I think the likely scenario is nothing happens.

MCPIKE: Erin McPike, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Of course, politicians are not the only people weighing in on the immigration crisis. For some people it's a reminder that their neighborhoods need help, too.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: One Houston mother is outraged over the administration's call for emergency funding, and she's not mincing words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got billions of dollars want to be borrowed from the White House to help feed and house them. Well, what about us in our country? Not just in this neighborhood but in our country! All of these kids, really? Why can't they go back? I'm sorry that the parents are in poor living conditions or whatever's going out there, I don't care. I care about what's going on right here in my own backyard. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Helping to fuel this debate this week a Houston suburb banned the detention and the processing of undocumented migrants caught crossing the border.

PAUL: City Councilmember Heidi Thiess spearheaded that measure and she's joining us this morning via Skype from League City, Texas. Councilwoman, thank you for being with us.

HEIDI THIESS, LEAGUE CITY, TEXAS, COUNCILWOMAN: Thank you.

PAUL: Sure. There were no plans, as we understand it, to bring illegal immigrants to your town. So why did you decide to push this measure?

THIESS: Well, I think the key is that we don't know, because up to this point, the federal agencies have been going around local governments, both county and municipalities. So though we haven't been contacted, that's not been their modus operandi. They haven't been contacting anyone. In fact cities and towns have been finding out after the fact.

So the reason I did this is to of course stall that situation and to interject the local representatives into the discussion so that the feds don't come right in, establish something, and then it's left in the laps of our people, our parents, our seniors to try and step up, ask the questions, try and find out what's going on, because up to this point everything has been very secretive.

BLACKWELL: OK. I understand that. That half of it, councilwoman, saying they don't give us forewarning, so we wanted to say proactively we don't want these facilities or this processing here. The next step --

THIESS: Right.

BLACKWELL: -- the next half of that is, why don't you want this happening in your community specifically?

THIESS: Because right here in Texas, report after report is coming out about the mismanagement of the facilities that are already established, the overcrowding, the lack of proper medical, health, and mental health screening, the fact that the people's identities are not exactly -- they're not -- they're not properly identified, and when they're left, when they leave and their bused into communities, they're not tracked after that. We've gotten reports of many of these detention centers that have 1,000 come in the front door, and 600 leave out the back. And where do they go? Well, they're going into our communities.

PAUL: So what do you propose is the answer? I mean, is this is just about money and just about resources? Because at the end of the day, there are a lot of people looking at this saying these are children who are alone, who are frightened, who have no idea what's going on, or where to go. THIESS: Well, I want to remind you that unaccompanied minors are

about 20 percent of the total numbers that we're seeing in detention on the border. So as in governments, we have to look at 100 percent of the problem. We can't just say, well, this is what we choose because we don't get to pick who the feds will ship to us. We have to take whatever they bus in.

So we're looking at the entire thing. Whether they ship in unaccompanied minors, then we have educational aspects of it that we have to look at. Well, what's going to go on in our schools? Do our schools have the resources for Spanish-speaking teachers and the, all of the -- I guess all of the entitlements that go along with unaccompanied minors that kind of take away from the resources of our own children?

Plus, when you're looking at adults coming in, you're looking at jobs. You're looking at public safety. You're looking at all of the resources that make up a community, and that's what we have to look at, the totality of that problem.

BLACKWELL: Again, we don't know, and part of the reason for passing it is that you didn't know, if the federal government had any intention to bring some of these people who were being captured and caught to -- I shouldn't be say the word "captured" -- who are being caught at the border to your community. But do you think that your ordinance, I guess, there in your community, would stand up against the federal government if they determined they wanted to bring a group of people in to process them in your community?

THIESS: Well, I want to clarify. It's a resolution, not and ordinance. And I would be interested -- that's an interesting question. I would like to have that legal discussion, because I believe that the federal agencies and federal government is so far outside of the law already that when we established as League city residents that we uphold the constitution, both the U.S. and the Texas state constitution, that we're the ones upholding the law and that we don't want to follow the federal agencies into what we believe is lawlessness.

BLACKWELL: How is this lawlessness?

THIESS: It's going to be a serious legal battle.

BLACKWELL: How is this lawlessness, councilwoman? How is what is happening, the processing of these individuals lawlessness?

THIESS: It is because the entirety of our immigration laws are not being enforced. I think we can all agree on that.

PAUL: Right, but on so many of the -- of the -- the lawmakers agree across the board, this is a humanitarian crisis. So it's not -- I mean, even in our country, we have different laws that apply and different ways to process children in our legal system. Should there be a different way to process the children coming across the border?

THIESS: It is a humanitarian crisis that is being funded and exacerbated by our own lack of enforcement. When people are drawn here under a false pretense or under widespread advertising in Central America that our borders are wide open, if they come on up they're going to get a free pass, they're not going to be deported, all of this combines together. And I believe it's irresponsible and tragic that we are exacerbating -- I shouldn't say we, as in our federal policies, or lack of enforcement is exacerbating this problem.

PAUL: All right, City Councilmember Heidi Thiess with us from leak city, Texas. We appreciate you taking the time today. Heidi, thank you.

THIESS: Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

They are increasing signs Israeli's ground troops may move into Gaza. Israel's defense minister says the military, and this is a quote, "is preparing for additional long days of fighting and working to push forward our next objectives." And he says Israel will keep striking Hamas until quiet and security is assured.

The death toll is rising in Gaza. Officials there say now 127 people have died in five days of Israeli airstrikes. The Israeli defense forces are looking into a claim that one strike hit a facility for the disabled, and killed two women.

Militants have been firing more rockets into Israel. More than 36 rockets were launched from Gaza overnight.

PAUL: Comedian Tracy Morgan is recovering from that horrific limo bus crash that killed one of his friends. He's firing back now by filing a lawsuit against the company that owned the truck that slammed into him.

BLACKWELL: Plus, LeBron. He's taking his talents back to Cleveland. The king, King James as he calls himself and other people call him, is returning to play in Cleveland for the Cavs, but will the fans who burned his jersey take him back?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Bring LeBron back!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hugged a man earlier. It just feels good that we're finally coming back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you, welcome home!

CROWD: Welcome home, LeBron!

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: He's coming home.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: It's a good day to be a Cavs fan, right. LeBron James says he is ready to leave Miami and head back to Cleveland.

PAUL: I just love the fans. I'm hugged this man, I don't know who he is.

BLACKWELL: I high-fived a stranger.

PAUL: Season tickets apparently for next year were snapped up within hours of are his announcement. People were buying any LeBron jersey they could get their hands on, as long as it hadn't been burned from last time.

BLACKWELL: Or singed, a few.

PAUL: Martin Savidge in Cleveland for us right now. You've got a real sense of this community, Martin, because I know you were a reporter there and an anchor for a long time in Cleveland. I'm from Cleveland as well. And we're talking how everybody is in such a forgiving mood, everybody is embracing this. Is it truly a universal sense of forgiveness in this city for him?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. There are a few, Christi saying, look, they have not forgiven. They have not forgotten. They believe this is really just setting the city up for heartbreak again. I've got to tell you, I only met like two or three, and most of them are only online. I haven't seen anybody brave enough on the street to say I don't want him back. Everybody else has been in that communal sense of euphoria.

It isn't so much of course just LeBron. I think what it is for many Clevelanders is, of course, they believe greatly their city is a wonderful place, as anybody does about their hometown, and they just felt the way LeBron, in his letter, his return, it just states what they all feel in their heart, that this really is a great city and they feel in many ways it hasn't got its due. With LeBron, they believe the city gets more national notoriety and they love that fact because they're proud of their city. So that's what had strangers hugging strangers. They feel good about the town. I was part of that crowd. We were just, yes, it feels really nice because it is a nice place.

BLACKWELL: This has been a big 180 for a lot of people, not only in Cleveland, but just around the country who watched the decision and just didn't like the tone that it set. Let's dig a little deeper here and talk to "Esquire" writer Scott Raab who literally wrote the book on hating LeBron after he left for Miami, called "The Whore of Akron."

PAUL: Ouch, the headline alone.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: If you want to let know people how you feel, that is it. OK, so you went from wishing LeBron a career-ending injury, getting banned by the Heat for your anti-LeBron tweets, but now -- I mean is everything cool?

SCOTT RAAB, AUTHOR, "THE WHORE OF AKRON": Totally cool.

(LAUGHTER)

RAAB: It's a wonderful day for Cleveland. It's a wonderful day for the fans, and, not incidentally, it's a great day for LeBron James. He said in this letter, "Who am I to hold a grudge?" If you read the book, it's a love letter. OK, not to LeBron --

(LAUGHTER)

RAAB: Not to LeBron, but to Cleveland, to Cleveland, to northeast Ohio, to the fans. I mean, it's not just the sports teams. We're talking about 50 years of general misery, and here's a man who can make a move and have a significant impact on thousands, if not tens and hundreds of thousands of lives.

PAUL: And they're right. I mean, Cleveland really, it is a lovely place. It is a lovely city. Now, I'm biased because I'm from that area.

RAAB: True.

PAUL: But a lot of people might look at this saying you said hateful things. Do you owe LeBron an apology?

RAAB: I'm happy to apologize. I don't take back a word of the book, by the way. And nor do I think -- and I think it's demonstrably true. It had no effect whatsoever on King James' career short or long term. But, again, I'm just the one Cleveland fan lucky enough to have a book deal come out of it and actually owe the guy a thanks for that. The apology is irrelevant. I don't think I'm a player in this. I don't want to be a player in this. Again, it's about a city, a region, and a fan base, and it's a beautiful thing.

BLACKWELL: So let's talk about the promises made. I mean, LeBron promised Miami, we heard, not two, not three, not four, he pulled off two champions. But he's more realistic about the changes in Cleveland. Do you think he owe the city, owes the team a championship?

RAAB: In the four years since his departure I've had plenty of time to dwell on this, because I am an obsessive Cleveland sports fan, and I'm not sure owing has anything to do with it. Ultimately he made the decision based on what he thought was right for this family and himself at the time.

The owing thing, I feel on a personal level as a Cleveland State University grad, as a guy in exile 30 years and hopes to return himself, but that owing thing, this is all he ever owed the Cavaliers, the fans, and the region, to come back, to do it the right way, to hit all the right notes, and, really, anyone who is still holding a grudge or parsing sentences in the letter that he wrote, kind of silly, kind of beside the point right now.

PAUL: All righty, we are so grateful, Scott, for you joining us today.

RAAB: Pleasure.

PAUL: Can't wait to hear about your next book, I'm sure.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I love it, "The Whore of Akron."

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Your love letter. Let's see what it is.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Thank you, Scott Raab, and Martin Savidge, too. Thank you, still out there in Cleveland.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Martin.

A serious turn here, police are revealing some disturbing details about how the Georgia man accused of killing his son in a hot car, his interactions online. But his neighbors are painting a very different picture of this man. We'll have two neighbors join us live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: As more disturbing details are revealed about the father of the Georgia toddler who died in a hot car, PayPal says it will give refunds to everyone who donated to a fundraiser for their family whether they asked for one or not. And the site that hosted the campaign has now taken it down.

Justin Ross Harris is charged with murder in death of his 22-month-old son Cooper. Now authorities are slowly revealing why they charged him with felony murder. He also searched for information online, hot car deaths, a child-free life, how to survive in prison, all according to investigators, and with exchanging sexually explicit text messages with several women while his son was locked inside this sweltering SUV.

Let's bring in Keith and Ray Spencer. They were Harris' neighbors in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It's good to have you both with us to give us insight into this man we know very little about. Ray, I want to start with you. When you hear the allegation, when you hear the claims, do you think that Ross Harris is capable of this?

RAY SPENCER, HARRIS' FORMER NEIGHBOR: No. I don't think that.

BLACKWELL: Tell me why you say that?

RAY SPENCER: Well, I've been knowing Ross ever since he was about 11 -- 10, 11 years old, and he's just been a good kid. And I don't have nothing but good things to say about him. And I just don't believe he did that intentionally. PAUL: OK. Keith --

RAY SPENCER: I just don't believe it.

PAUL: Keith, what about you, the man that you knew? Do you think that he was capable of this?

KEITH SPENCER, HARRIS' FORMER NEIGHBOR: No. Ross, he isn't -- he isn't a bad person. I don't think he meant to do it at all. Everything about him is good, high-spirited person, nothing bad about him.

BLACKWELL: Ray, let me ask you, when you heard the allegations in court about the text messages and the, the 16 and then became 17-year- old girl, what was going through your mind, saying, this is a good kid, from what you know? What were you thinking?

RAY SPENCER: Yes. I was thinking -- I still was thinking that, this just is not the Ross that I know. And if he did that, I don't know, but I still don't believe that Ross is capable of doing that, in my mind, in my heart, no. Not Ross.

PAUL: Keith, do you know Leanna at all? And if you do, can you help us, you know, get to another her a little bit?

KEITH SPENCER: Excuse me?

PAUL: Keith, do you know Leanna at all?

KEITH SPENCER: I don't know her. I've seen her, like, one time, like, a long time ago, when Cooper was just a little baby. But I never knew her like I know Ross.

BLACKWELL: How about you, Ray?

RAY SPENCER: No. I didn't know her like I know Ross.

PAUL: When you hear some of these allegations, is your mind about him changing at all, or are you staunchly behind him, and the man that you knew him to be, Ray?

RAY SPENCER: I didn't -- I didn't hear that question too good.

PAUL: When you hear these allegations and you said you don't believe the allegations, is there any part of you, though, that questions who he is now, as to, as opposed to who he was when you knew him very well?

RAY SPENCER: No. I just don't -- I don't know. I just don't believe Ross is capable of -- did that intentionally. I still don't believe it. You know, after all what I heard and stuff, I still just don't believe it.

BLACKWELL: Keith, quickly, Keith, you said you saw cooper when he was just a much younger baby, still just a kid, 22 months olds, just a baby. How was he with his son? KEITH SPENCER: He was great. He was like a great father with his

son. He was holding his baby, playing with the baby. It was like typical father-son thing. You know, he was playing with his baby, having a good time. Cooper, a happy baby, smiling, playing.

BLACKWELL: Seemed to be happy to be a father?

KEITH SPENCER: Looked real nice. Oh, yes. He was real happy to be a father.

BLACKWELL: All right, Keith and Ray Spencer, thank you so much for helping us understand. And I understand neither of you believe he was capable of this. We still hear these are just charges. He's innocent until proven guilty. We're just trying to get a better understand are of people who say they know Justin Ross Harris. Thank you both.

RAY SPENCER:

KEITH SPENCER: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, gentlemen. Tough certainly for that community, too, who knew him and believe in him so much.

Let's talk about another, this crisis at the Mexican border that's morphing into a crisis in Washington now. Gridlock over how to handle the influx of immigrants. Should President Obama wait for Congress, or should he go it alone?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Doesn't Saturday feel good? I hope you have a clean slate to work with today. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Here are five things we're watching this morning.

Up first, there are growing fears this morning that the conflict between Israel and Hamas militants will soon move from the air to the ground. Israel's defense minister says Israeli forces are gearing up for a long fight and working on, and this is a quote, "next objectives." More Israeli airstrikes have slammed into Gaza as dozens of rockets struck Israel. Palestinian officials say the death toll in Gaza is now at 127.

PAUL: Number two, the CDC says federal government laboratories in Atlanta improperly sent potentially deadly pathogens to other laboratories. It happened five times over the past decade and including anthrax, botulism, and the bird flu virus. Officials say no one became infected, no one fell ill, and all of the organisms were disposed of safely.

BLACKWELL: Number three now, actor, comedian Tracy Morgan is suing Wal-Mart over a late night crash in June that left him and three others seriously injured, killed one of his friends. According to the lawsuit, Wal-Mart should have known its driver had been awake more than 24 hour. Morgan is now recovering in a rehabilitation facility. PAUL: A month of World Cup drama, action, heartbreak. It's all

coming down to one game, my friends. Tomorrow, Germany is facing Argentina in a battle for supremacy in the biggest single event sporting competition in the world. Let's just say, a lot of people are expected to watch. According to FIFA nearly a third of the planet watched at least some World Cup matches back in 2010 and more than a billion saw the final match.

BLACKWELL: Number five -- look at this guy. He is -- in some state of euphoria here. Everybody's proud to put a jersey on again. Cleveland's prodigal son is coming home. LeBron James announced yesterday he will once again play for the Cavaliers. James told "Sports Illustrated" he is returning to the team an older, wiser player, and that he's ready to win a championship for Cleveland, but he says that will take time.

PAUL: Facing a gridlocked Congress, President Obama vowed last month to, quote, "fix as much of our immigration system as I can." And here's the kicker "on my own."

BLACKWELL: Yes, on his own. Now, as tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants continue to stream into the U.S., the president headed to Texas to talk solutions, but he did not go all the way to the border, which really made a lot of people angry.

PAUL: Obama wants $3.7 billion to curb this crisis, but Congressional Republicans, they are not convinced.

BLACKWELL: Joining us now, our CNN political commentator and democratic strategist Maria Cardona and Amy Holmes, anchor of "The Hot List" on the conservative website, TheBlaze.

PAUL: Good to see you, ladies. Good morning. Maria, I want to start with you. President Obama, he could ask unilaterally here, say instruct the department of homeland security not to pursue pending deportation cases for some low-risk immigrants. But just this week House Speaker John Boehner laid out the meat of what he says is the forthcoming lawsuit against the president over his use of executive authority relative to Obamacare. So should the president act alone on immigration anyway in your opinion?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think at the end of the day, Christi, if Republicans refuse to work with this president to finally solve this immigration issue, which we have been facing for more than a decade, and there has been a bill languishing in Congress called the Senate immigration bill that could have mitigated this crisis, and the president has given Republicans all the room they need to try to work with him on this. If at the end of the day they refuse, then yes I do think he should act alone because this is a desperate situation that we're facing now.

The immigration issue has now become an immigration crisis, and we're now seeing that everything that he's asking for to fix the current crisis at hand with these children crossing at the border, that Republicans are now balking at even giving him help in fixing that. So Republicans can't have it both ways. They can't scream that this

president is not doing anything, and when this president finally offers solutions, which frankly he's been talking about for many years, Republicans refuse to help.

So I do think he should act. I think Republicans should join him. That would be what they are -- what they have been elected to do. And instead what we're seeing is that they're focused on frivolous lawsuits, and Americans deserve better.

BLACKWELL: Amy, let me ask you about the $3.7 billion the president is asking for to deal with this specifically. John McCain says that he's spoken with several other Republican senators and they say they're not going to give him the money, which he acknowledges is to feed and care for these children and the facilities, unless the president can promise that this problem will stop. So they're just not supposed to feed the kids? Explain that point.

AMY HOLMES, ANCHOR, THEBLAZE: In point in fact, Speaker John Boehner said this week that he intends to bring a bill to the House floor, a Republican-conceived bill, and you have Senator Marco Rubio from Florida saying actually the president's request of $3.7 billion included things for wildfires, that only half was to be used for trying to help these children with medical care and all the treatment that they need to get them out of those dreadful circumstances that we've seen all the pictures of and news of on the television.

As for the president acting unilaterally, that's part of the problem, when right before the 2012 election that he acted unilaterally to allow children who were here illegally to be able to stay in the country, which is acted as a magnet. What we've seen a spike, a surge, in these border crossings by unaccompanied minors, 52,000 since October. And now we have what the president himself calls a humanitarian crisis.

And the criticism of the president is not just coming from Republicans. It's coming from Democrats as well. You saw Representative Henry Cuellar saying that he was absolutely floored when he saw the president do a photo-op in Colorado with the Governor Hickenlooper, shooting pool and drinking beer, but refusing to go to the border while in Texas. It's the responsibility of the commander in chief, the president of the United States, to secure our borders. And you would think given that the president himself has said it's a humanitarian crisis that he would have gone to a border on a humanitarian, fact-finding mission, meet these children, look at these facilities, understand what it is that's going on down there so that he can work with Republicans for a viable solution.

PAUL: Maria, go ahead and address that, because I think that's a question a lot of people have. Why would the president, if this is often an imperative issue for him, not himself go to the boarder?

CARDONA: I will tell you why. Because last week, and we're still in this moment right now, the president is focused on dedicating everything single resource that we have right now at the border to taking care of these children and to making sure that they are treated in a humanitarian way. We all know how many resources and what a diversion when there is a presidential trip.

PAUL: But wouldn't it also send a message?

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: Wouldn't it also send a message about how important it is if he goes?

CARDONA: Yes, but I don't think he needs to go to the border to send that message. The focus is on solutions here. Not just photo-ops and not diverting resources to what the problem is.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: It is laughable when Republicans say that this president hasn't secured the border when this border has been more secure under this president than under any other Republican president. The growth of the undocumented population under George W. Bush was up to 4 million. The growth under this president has been net negative. So we need to really look at the facts here, and focus --

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: As a mother, this is heartbreaking. And we need to focus on really treating these kids from a humanitarian standpoint, which most of the money the president asked for goes to that, and then fixing this. The president had a solution on the table for years. You know, the one bill that Republicans in Congress passed this past year, on immigration, was to deport all of the dreamers. And Amy is just wrong when she says that was a message sent to Central America.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: I don't have much time. I don't have much time left, but when you say that the president going to the border would have diverted resources, the president went to New Jersey after Sandy -- after super-storm Sandy. He goes in after mass shootings, he goes in natural disasters because it sends a message, that I hear you, I understand the problem, and this president famously says -- famously said, I can chew gum and walk at the same time, which means you can go in and send a message but also get the work done in Washington. And that could have sent a strong message.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: Sure, his key message is focus on solutions. Look, I do think that he should go and I hope that he will go.

HOLMES: There we have it. He should go, bottom line.

CARDONA: -- to focus on solutions. Where are Republicans? Republicans are nowhere on this. They don't want to work with this president no matter what the problem at hand is. And that is what Americans are frustrated about it.

PAUL: Amy, you have the last word here. HOLMES: That's simply not true. We did get the bottom line from

Maria that he should go to the border. And it's not just about photo- ops or sending messages. It's also gathering information, talking to those local leaders, local citizens to understand what it is they're facing, ranchers who have people trashing their property as they come into the states illegally. What does this mean for local resources when it comes to health care, education, legal representation for all of these folks? That's what a president does, that's what a leader does. And we finally heard Maria say he should do it himself.

BLACKWELL: We've got to wrap it there. Maria Cardona, Amy Holmes, thank you so much.

PAUL: Thank you, ladies.

BLACKWELL: We always enjoy these conversations.

PAUL: Yes, we do.

So, listen, criminals can run, but they cannot hide.

BLACKWELL: From fingerprints to DNA they're leaving behind a digital trail that may lead right to a jail cell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: There's a reason "CSI" and all these shows are so popular, because police have to turn to scientists, these experts in crime scene investigations to help them catch a criminal, and it's fascinating.

BLACKWELL: It is. Alexandra Field looks how investigators track everything from fingerprints to everything else you leave behind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The hunt is on for the most wanted among us. In our global era, the challenge seems broader than ever.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's a lot different than it was in the 1920s and '30s, when you had John Dillinger or Bonnie and Clyde commit a crime in one state and it was a big deal for them to just cross state lines. That's what's changed over the years, the ability to travel all over the world fairly easily and economically.

FIELD: But along with the emergence of the worldwide manhunt, the science behind chasing criminals has evolved, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can run, but you can no longer hide.

FIELD: From your image captured virtually everywhere down to your fingerprint, scientific and technological advancements have given investigators more sophisticated tools to work with. Our cameras take you inside the NYPD's closely guarded forensic crime lab, a front line for catching criminals. Better developing techniques in the fingerprinting field show detectives a clearer picture, so do evolving computer programs adding greater detail to tracing ballistic evidence. Advances in DNA analysis are widely considered the most meaningful step forward towards solving more crimes. But the forensics are just pieces of the increasingly elaborate puzzle.

You really can't escape the cameras. They are virtually everywhere. Windows that can capture potential crimes, and with facial recognition technology, they could be used to capture more suspects. But even without all those cameras, we are leaving our very own own well-marked digital trail.

From electronic data embedded in many of our digital images to our cellphone records, electronic banking transactions, and all that social media activity, it's the indelible diary.

FUENTES: They had not planned in advance about being a fugitive and don't have literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, false identities, possibly false passports that can enable them to travel around the world, having the means and the ability to cross borders, they're going to have a huge problem staying a fugitive for a real long time.

FIELD: The search net is wider, sometimes global. But our communications are making suspects easier in some ways to find. Law enforcement officials say advances in the way they can now communicate with each other makes it even tougher to hide.

FUENTES: It's not the sudden burst of technology but just incrementally the evolution of technology over the last 10 or 20 years that's changed the way fugitive hunts are occurring.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: And Christi and Victor, anyone in law enforcement will tell you that all of these forms of communication they're able to follow have certainly changed substantially the way that they look for criminals. But I think part of that is also how they communicate with the public. And we know this, today you don't see a single law enforcement agency that's looking for someone that isn't going to social media first that's given them just a much wider net to communicate with people, get those pictures out there, get people to connect, see those pictures, and find the people they're looking for. And really with all the technology in the world, that's what they're trying to do.

BLACKWELL: Thank you so much, Alexandra Field in New York for us.

PAUL: We appreciate that, Alexandra.

And listen, you do not want to miss "The Hunt" with John Walsh. It airs tomorrow night 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN. He's going to introduce you to a criminal on the run hoping you can help find him.

BLACKWELL: The "for sale" sign is up in Washington state. But it's not for a house. They're selling marijuana. PAUL: Yes. It's now legal to buy and smoke. So just how high were

sales? We're going to talk to the first guy who got a license, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: This week, Washington state opened recreational marijuana stores for the first time.

PAUL: Now almost half of all states allow medical marijuana in some form today, but just two, Colorado and Seattle, let you legally smoke pot, well, just because you want to.

BLACKWELL: Just because you enjoy it. Only a couple dozen stores across Washington state have pot licenses, but hundreds of shops could be up and running pretty soon. Let's talk about more about the sales and how things are going with a person who's at the center of it all. We've got James Lathrop. He's the owner of Cannabis City, the first and only pot shop in Seattle. He's on the phone with us. Good to have you here with us, James.

JAMES LATHROP, OWNER, CANNABIS CITY: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: Apparently it doesn't take a lot, I guess, to sell pot? You guys have already sold out?

LATHROP: We have sold out. We were open for just under three days and are now closed temporarily.

PAUL: Oh, my goodness. How many people do you think you sold to?

LATHROP: We had just under 2,000 people run through the shop in those three days.

BLACKWELL: So, I mean, are other shops having the same issues, from what you understand?

LATHROP: They are. And I don't know each of them personally, but they're all in this situation. It's not so much we sold occupant because we had a huge, gigantic volume of customers, which of course we did just with the novelty of it all. But we really sold out because we didn't have enough supply in the first place, and we knew that was coming.

PAUL: What you're seeing here is a picture of the city attorney, who went. And I talked to them yesterday. He had said, I went and bought pot, you know -- yes, for, one, more my own use. The other for posterity, and to send a message that, look, this is what it's about now, that you can legally do this. Are you seeing a lot of other people, I mean, are they coming in on political issues, or are they coming in, you know, to make a statement, or are they just coming in because they want to take this stuff home?

LATHROP: Well, that was certainly significant on that first day, and I applaud Pete Holmes him for taking those measures. I think that was very important. For the remainder of the customers coming through, they were a variety. We had tourists, we had locals, we had people interested, a lot of people who just said they were going to save their package forever. So it was a whole gamut.

BLACKWELL: So you're open for three days, closed now temporarily. How do you keep up with the demand? I mean, do you have to rethink the whole business model now?

LATHROP: No. Again, this is something we actually expected and knew going forward. And there were some retailers who decided to not make the push and get open in this first wave specifically because of that, whereas we really wanted to just get the store open, just get this started. But we knew we would have a supply problem. We have other growers that are coming online next week and the week after. I know some more growers coming online even in addition in August. My hope for my shop personally is not to open and close, open and close. And so what I really want to do is to time our next opening such that we'll be able to continue the sales, and that is certainly the goal.

PAUL: All right, we know Colorado is making a lot of money with this pot tourism boom. Real quickly, do you have a figure in your head? How much do you think you're going to make?

LATHROP: I really don't. I think this is going to do very well. Certainly, you know, certainly from what we've sold in those first few days, that is a great indicator. I've haven't even gotten close to paying for my cost yet, so I'm still in the red. But again, it's only been three days. I expect this will do very well for not only me personally and for the city of Seattle but also for the state of Washington.

PAUL: All right, James Lathrop, we appreciate you taking time for us this morning. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, James.

LATHROP: You bet.

BLACKWELL: Hey, it's World Cup weekend, with the match to decide the championship. Who will take home the cup, Germany or Argentina?

But can soccer fans change the world? This week's CNN hero thinks so. The story is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Tomorrow people around the world will be watching the finals of the World Cup.

PAUL: You may be one of them. It's been such a month of these thrilling wins and these heartbreaking losses. But more than any single game, the passion of soccer fans have taken center stamp.

BLACKWELL: This weekend's CNN hero has made it his mission to turn that fervor into philanthropy for poor kids in host countries like Brazil.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JON BURNS, CNN HERO: The atmosphere at the World Cup is like nothing else. It's electric. You get that rainbow of kaleidoscope of all the differ nations coming together. Football is the only worldwide sport, really. In 2004, we saw all the fans around like a little army, an untapped army.

Some of the children that love football the most are from very poor area, and I started asking myself, what can could I do if I could mobilize some of these people to do some good? So at Line Drop we bring people to the World Cup. They get to watch games, send a huge chunk of our help to local charities that work with children, and ask how can we help you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be three classrooms. To come and do this for us, for the children, this is a World Cup spirit.

BURNS: in Brazil we've got about 300 volunteers from about 12 countries. Within a couple of days they're part of the team, full of fun and working really hard.

When we invest in the players, it's for long term, we love the players, it gets in their blood. That's what we're about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My second go. This time my son has come with me. I've been bonding and building things together.

BURNS: I know you've not good every morning, but look how far we've come in a week.

(APPLAUSE)

BURNS: Football has always had the ability to break down barriers. We've taken it further, trying to harness to passion of football fans to make a difference.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, if you know someone who should be a CNN hero, an everyday person making a difference, tell us about that person. Go to CNNheroes.com and nominate that person right now.

PAUL: So he won't be walking the red carpet next month, but President Obama already made his mark on this year's Emmy Awards.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The commander in chief's highly popular "Between Two Ferns" interview with comedian Zach Galifianakis has earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding short form live action entertainment program. They fit all that onto the little award, actually.

PAUL: Of course they do.

BLACKWELL: At time it got a little testy, though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZACH GALIFIANAKIS, COMEDIAN: You said if you had a son you would not let him play football. What makes you think he would want to play football? What if he was a nerd, like you?

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Do you think a woman like Michelle would marry a nerd? Why don't you ask her whether she thinks I'm a nerd.

GALIFIANAKIS: Could I?

OBAMA: No. I'm not going to let her near you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: The interview was part of an Obamacare outreach effort. And according to the White House traffic at healthcare.gov increased by 40 percent the day after it was released.

BLACKWELL: I guess it worked. It was very funny, though.

PAUL: It was funny for sure.

Make some great memories today. We're so glad you spent part of your day with us.

BLACKWELL: That will do it for us. But stay right here. We're handing things over to Fredricka Whitfield to continue things in the Newsroom.