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CIA Warned Civilians Were Present Seconds Before U.S. Strike Killed 10; France Recalls Its Ambassador To U.S. Over Nuclear Submarine Spat; Far-Right Voices Are Lying About The Pandemic And Democracy For Profit; Police Searching FL Nature Reserve For Gabby Petito's Fiance; FDA Advisors Recommend Pfizer Booster For Ages 65- Plus And Those At High Risk; Over 14,000 Migrants Living Under Bridge At U.S.-Mexico Border. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired September 18, 2021 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:59:26]
JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.
New details in to CNN today on the U.S. drone strike that killed ten innocent people in the chaotic final days of the Kabul evacuations. Sources telling CNN as the Pentagon launched the strike, the CIA sent out an urgent warning saying civilians were likely in the area and children were possibly inside the target vehicle.
[16:59:49]
ACOSTA: That CIA alert was too late. Seconds later the missile, which the Pentagon thought was targeting an ISIS-K terrorist hauling explosives, struck the court yard of a family home killing seven children, an Afghan aid worker and two other adults.
CNN senior national security correspondent Alex Marquardt joins me now. Alex, walk us through this warning and how it gives us a fuller picture of what went wrong. This is just not the way it's supposed to go. Just terrible.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes Jim, it just adds what looks like a real miscommunication to what was already an abject intelligence failure in the targeting of what turned out to be an aid worker and an attack that killed 10 civilians.
What we know now, according to three sources speaking with our colleagues -- Katie Bo Lillis, Zach Cohen and Natasha Bertrand -- is that the CIA in these final moments before the strike issued this warning. That warning came too late.
That warning said that there were possibly civilians around. That there were possibly children in that vehicle. It is not clear whether the CIA knew that the military intended to pull the trigger.
This was a military operation and raises all sorts of questions about how an order like this is carried out.
But what it really does highlight the fact that the U.S. was frantically trying to root out ISIS attackers who they believed were going to carry out an imminent attack.
The Pentagon has emphasized that all of this is against the backdrop of an extremely dynamic situation in which they were frantically trying to find ISIS members who wanted to carry out an attack.
Remember this was just a few days after that attack against the Kabul Airport that left 170 Afghans and some 13 American service members dead.
One of the 60 pieces of intelligence that General McKenzie said yesterday at the Pentagon they had was that a white Toyota Corolla would be involved in the next attack.
Mr. Zamari Ahmadi, a 43-year-old aid worker, that's the car that he drove, and he drove it -- he drove it from an area that they believed was associated with ISIS, passed his office where they loaded what intelligence officials believed were explosives into the car. Turned out to be water. And then he went home. And that's when the strike happened.
So even when pressed on how bad a failure this was, General McKenzie refused to call this a complete and utter failure telling reporters yesterday that he would not qualify the entire operation in those terms.
Remember, the most senior general, General Mark Milley, had called this a righteous strike and had allowed for the fact that some civilians may have been killed.
In the end it was not just civilians who were killed in a strike against ISIS, there were no ISIS attackers there. It was just civilians all from a single family.
ACOSTA: Unbelievable. Such a tragedy.
Alex Marquardt, thank you very much. Very sad news there.
Let's bring in former Defense Secretary William Cohen to ask about this. Mr. Secretary, just an awful situation and as the details come in it gets more awful.
What do you make of the CIA warning that came seconds too late? And what does it tell us about how this strike was carried out?
WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well Jim, thanks for having me on.
This is a situation of a really terrible mistake with terrible consequences. I must say that I have been in that chair in the Pentagon and had to make decisions on whether to strike a certain target. And I got it wrong on at least two occasions where the intelligence was in error. I acted upon that intelligence and ordered or recommended a strike and it happened to be the wrong target and there were lives that were lost. So I know what it feels like to have been part of that.
In this particular case it seems that there was a lack of communication between the CIA and the military, and as was just reported (INAUDIBLE) an agency operation but rather a military operation. So there wasn't exactly the (INAUDIBLE) intelligence that was necessary.
I mentioned in this network yesterday that part of the problem is we have to be very, very careful when we're fighting in somebody else's country and you end up killing innocent people.
I know that when I was at the Pentagon we went over in great detail exactly what type of munition was going to be used, what target, what was the likely blast effect, how many potential casualties would there be.
I hate the phrase "collateral damage". It sounds so antiseptic. In fact, it means we're killing innocent people, and that's what happened here. And when that message came from the CIA, it was too late.
The fact was we were going to hit innocent civilians. And you can't just write them off as well, just say the fog of war, casualty of war, and sorry for the pain.
So I think that obviously when we engage in this type of action, we have to be even more careful because we don't have -- as good as we are, as great as our intelligence collection is, we still make mistakes.
And I was pleased that General McKenzie came forward and said we made a bad mistake and came out and was very clear on that.
[17:04:57]
ACOSTA: Seven children were present, some of them even went inside the car. The CIA apparently realized this. Is there a risk this ends up serving as a recruiting tool for extremists? That this becomes, to some extent, like an Abu Ghraib type of moment, rallying extremists in the region against the United States?
COHEN: Well, it does. I tried to point out again yesterday that when we were hit on 9/11, what was your reaction, my reaction, President Bush's reaction, the nation's reaction? We will find you and we will get you.
I remember when our two embassies were struck in East Africa. I made a speech as the coffins were coming in -- at Dover Air Force Base, I made a speech saying we're going to reach out and touch you with the long arm of justice.
So whether you call it justice or revenge, the effect is the same. And I think Taliban or even ISIS-R or K or Z will try to recruit people and say that we are terrible and that this is what the United States does as a matter of routine.
We don't. We take extra precaution to make sure we don't kill innocent civilians.
But it happens. We even kill Americans. We have friendly fire incidents from time to time. And so we make mistakes. We're human.
And again as good as we are, we're capable of making mistakes. And we made a big mistake here. And I think the reaction is pretty strong.
ACOSTA: And what does a mistake of this magnitude say about the United States' over-the-horizon capabilities in Afghanistan going forward?
COHEN: Well, hopefully we will not be firing missiles into civilian areas or largely populated civilian areas and our intelligence collection won't be collected under circumstances where we're trying to get out of Afghanistan as soon as we can, load everybody up. And where we've lost control of the city and we're depending upon the Taliban to make sure that terrorists don't get as close as they did when they killed 13 of our soldiers and wounded 170 Afghans.
So we're hoping in the future that we can spot those individuals and training grounds that are not next to civilian areas. I remember, for example, in the Kosovo campaign we had a 78-day air war campaign and what Milosevich would do, he would move his tanks in front of private homes.
So he knew if we hit the tanks, we would kill a lot of people. We had to make sure we didn't do that so we found a way to go after the storage of his facilities to make sure he couldn't rearm. And that was the way we had to conduct the war.
So I'm hoping in the future as we look over the horizon we're able to collect information and know where people are that we can identify with great certainty, if at all possible, before we strike.
ACOSTA: I wanted to ask you about France taking this drastic step of recalling an ambassador in response to the submarine deal that the U.S. struck with the U.K. and Australia, the security partnership. The French are adamant they did not get a heads-up from the U.S.
We found out today that the French ambassador made a trip over to the White House to meet with the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan on his way out of the country. Is this how the U.S. should be treating an ally like France? And do you think the French are overreacting?
COHEN: Well, they certainly are emotionally involved right now, because they had lost a big contract. And that means many, many jobs for the French economy. So I can see why they're upset.
I would have thought that the United States would have been talking in some fashion with the French, but apparently let's look at the Australians. The Australians had a decision to make, did they want to be aligned with the United States in terms of they're being a Pacific nation as well as an Atlantic nation as such, they're in between. Or did they think their future was more safe with the American connection or with the French connection.
And they decided let's go with the Americans because the Americans have a -- we have our troops that train there on a fairly regular basis. They've been with us every war that we have fought. And so the Australians are very tightly connected to the American military.
So they made a decision that they were going to have submarines built by the United States with nuclear -- not weapons but nuclear power capabilities in order to be able to go from Australia up the coast to help defend their interests.
So it was an Australian decision as well obviously as an American decision. But I would have thought that some communication would have been made to take into account the obvious French reaction.
So we'll have to see if that relationship heals. I'm sure that it will. It may take some time.
But the French still I think in their interest is going to remain a member of NATO. We're still going to rely upon the French to be an important member of NATO. But it may take some time for the wound to heal.
[17:09:56]
ACOSTA: Certainly some damage was done in all of this. We'll see what happens next.
All right. Former Secretary of Defense, William Cohen. Thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
COHEN: Thank you.
ACOSTA: Coming up, the mysterious case of a couple that went out on a trip and only one returned. First he wasn't talking and now police and his family can't even find him.
That's next.
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ACOSTA: No doubt about it. Over on Fox this week, it got a little nuts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: The two points she's making are worth reiterating.
You can't allow people to force you to take drugs that you don't want or that you don't need. It's up to you what drugs you take, period.
[17:14:55]
CARLSON: And if you allow people to force you to take drugs you don't want, you're done. They own you. You're no longer free, period. And the second point that she's made quite a bit today is that you have a constitutional right, a moral right, a God-given right to ask questions and expect answers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: All weeklong Tucker Carlson was obsessed with this Nicki Minaj tweet, claiming that cousin's friend developed some swelling after receiving a COVID vaccine. Carlson latched on the tweet and proceeded to spread more paranoia about getting the shot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: This isn't even about vaccines or COVID.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
CARLSON: It's about your dignity. If they can force you to violate your own conscience, to put something in your body you don't want, you are done. You have no more dignity. They control you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Such a sad sack -- dignity, dignity. Like suggesting to people that they can take ivermectin, a medicine sometimes used on people but mostly on horses, yet not recommended for COVID by the FDA and CDC. Tucker has done that segment, too.
The problem is not Nicki Minaj's cousin's friend's medical issues. It's that some of the most prominent voices on the far right whether on Fox or on their podcast don't have the balls to tell you the truth.
If you just get the vaccine, you're protected. That's it. If everybody gets onboard, the pandemic can finally end.
Don't forget they have tough vaccine rules over at Fox News. Over 90 percent of its employees are vaccinated. 90 percent.
As a company Fox appears to be siding with Dr. Fauci over Mr. Ed. Have you noticed how sensitive some of these hosts get when you call them out? Welcome to the NFL, or in their case, the Kentucky Derby.
It did get a little awkward for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy when he was pressed on his own tweets slamming vaccine mandates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I assume you also appreciate the point there are people who read your tweets who don't want to get vaccinated and say, right on. That's the right decision.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Yes. And right on. Don't mandate it but go get vaccinated. I've been vaccinated and I believe in it. I encourage it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you appreciate the mixed message that could reflect to certain people who are going to take away from what they want from a tweet like that, right?
MCCARTHY: No. The mixed message is right now how you're delivering it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: What's the end result of all of this mixed messaging these days, especially on COVID? Unvaccinated people are dying. You've seen the stories this week and for weeks and weeks. Some people are leaving behind messages warning people to get vaccinated just before they die.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I shouldn't have waited. I think if you are even 70 percent sure that you want the vaccine, go get it. Don't wait.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: If only reliable, trustworthy information about this pandemic could reach everybody. Instead, some big-name voices on the far right are peddling lies for profit.
The same thing is happening to our democracy. The big lie is still with us. Here in D.C. Trump supporters held a rally, pathetic as it was, in support of what they call the political prisoners of January 6th. So much for the conspiracy theory that Antifa or the FBI was behind the insurrection.
But these are not political prisoners we're talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
Come on take your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: They're insurrectionists. They're in jail for rioting, beating cops and attempting to overturn an election. There used to be an expression. If you do the crime, you do the time. It's not if you do a coup, good for you.
The insurrectionist-in-chief released a statement in support of the MAGA militia saying, quote, "They're being persecuted so unfairly and our hearts and minds are with them."
No, they're not. My heart and mind is not with them. Is yours? Maybe Marjorie Taylor Greene, I bet she's with them. Listen to what she told me over the summer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): They're being held, some of them, in solitary confinement almost 24 hours a day in the jails here.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: But it turns out her office says, no, she did not plan to attend the so-called Justice for J6 rally.
What about Matt Gaetz? Surely he showed up today, right?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): I have plans with my wife on September 18th. I guess I can break that news here, my good friend, Joe (INAUDIBLE) that I won't be attending that particular function.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Madison Cawthorn, he didn't go either. Josh Hawley, nope. No fist pump this time.
If their hearts and minds were really with protesters on the mall today, surely they would have been there.
[17:19:58]
ACOSTA: Trump didn't go either. He was too busy trying to get revenge against the Republicans who voted to impeach him like Congressman Anthony Gonzalez who announced he's not running for re-election but did describe Trump as a cancer.
Trump is also attacking the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley for trying to prevent a coup after the election. Trump called Milley a nut job.
But at least he's not offering, Trump that is, he's not offering his own home remedies for COVID anymore.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I see the disinfectant, it knocks it out in a minute -- one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that like injection inside or almost a cleaning because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. It would be interesting to check that. You're going to have use medical doctors, but it sounds interesting to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Here's something interesting. Here's the truth. Trump lost. The vaccine works.
You've heard me talk about how we live in two realities. Talked about it time and again. But check out these two scenes on the National Mall on this day.
In front of the Capitol dump trucks lined up in addition to the fencing to protect the Capitol from yet another riot. Thankfully it didn't happen.
By the Washington monument more than 670,000 white flags -- you can go see them now -- in memory of the people who died from COVID. If only the people could get the truth and not have to fight through so much disinformation.
But there it is plain as day right there on our National Mall. Our National Mall that is supposed to fill us with pride, not shame. You could say on this day we live in one reality -- the one where disinformation kills and keeps killing.
We'll be back in a moment.
[17:21:55]
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ACOSTA: A strange update in the search for Gabby Petito, the young woman who went missing during a cross-country road trip with her fiance. Her fiance Brian Laundrie is now missing and police say he may be in danger.
Right now police are searching for him in a Florida wilderness reserve. Laundrie is considered a person of interest in his fiancee's case and has refused to talk to investigators ever since he returned home alone from the couple's trip earlier this month.
CNN's Polo Sandoval joins me now. Polo, why do police think that Laundrie may be in danger? And what has led them to this reserve that they're looking at right now?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's hiked there before, according to the family, Jim. And a police spokesperson said that there's obviously a lot of pressure on him to answer certain questions that investigators have right now for them.
But as you point out, he's really not considered a suspect, simply someone who investigators want to speak to. And all day we've watched for developments out of Sarasota County, Florida and seen dozens of officers spending all day today, searching well over 225,000 acres of a wildlife reserve near the 23-year-old's home.
You can see really where everything is and how close -- how close the family home is to that area. It's an area that is wet, it's muddy. It is -- they've used about 50 law enforcement professionals to actually go into this area, go through all of these hiking trails that connects to a nearby state park to try to see if there's any sign of Brian Laundrie here.
Both -- initially it was his family that called police late yesterday to report they had not seen him since Tuesday. That he had a backpack with him saying that he was planning on taking a hike there at that reserve. Both police and Gabby's family they have grown increasingly frustrated with Laundrie, with Brian Laundrie and his parents, that they have been reluctant to speak to investigators up until yesterday.
And even then according to a police spokesperson there in North Port, Florida that conversation was really about him and not about gabby. It's one of the reasons why the family of this missing woman actually released a statement recently saying that, according to them, Laundrie is not missing. He is, quote, "hiding".
We also know a police spokesperson saying -- again, Laundrie is not a suspect. He's simply someone that investigators want to speak to. So at this point they have now two missing persons cases to follow up on at this point.
Gabby's stepfather telling CNN just yesterday that his family certainly is trying to stay strong now as the search prepares to enter week two. The FBI assisting with ground surveys right now at Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, which is where they believe was one of the last places that Gabby was actually spotted.
And then, of course, this body camera video from police in Utah showing one encounter with officials about a month or so ago -- a month or so before she was reported missing.
All of this is now evidence. All of this is something that investigators are certainly taking into consideration as they now search for not just one but two people that is, of course, Gabby Petito and now Brian Laundrie as well. Her 23-year-old fiance last seen on Tuesday reportedly in Florida.
ACOSTA: Such a strange case. All right. Polo Sandoval, thanks very much for that update.
Coming up, chaos at the southern border. More than 14,000 migrants now living under a bridge in Texas. Where do they go from here? We've got a live report from the scene next.
[17:29:40]
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[17:34:26]
ACOSTA: Americans could soon be allowed to get a COVID booster shot. Advisers to the FDA recommended emergency use authorization of Pfizer's booster shot six months after full vaccination for those 65 and over or at high risk.
They stopped short of recommending a third shot for all Americans currently eligible for the vaccine.
Let's talk about this with Dr. Jonthan Reiner, who is a CNN medical analyst and professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University.
Dr. Reiner, help us understand the FDA's reasoning here on these booster shots for people 65 and up but not for other vaccinated people who may be tempted to go rogue and go do it on their own.
[17:34:59]
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: So this is what the data shows. The data shows the efficacy of the vaccines, the mRNA vaccines, that
have been given to about 85 percent of Americans, has waned, maybe Pfizer to a greater than Moderna, though that data is not necessarily secure. But the efficacy to prevent illness has waned.
There's strong data from Israel that suggests the efficacy to prevent hospitalizations, severe illness, and maybe even death has waned the most in the elderly and boosters can restore that and prevent hospitalizations.
Because they had secure data for people over the age of 60, it's unclear why they voted for 65 because the data is really 60.
ACOSTA: Right.
REINER: That's where they landed.
Now they were concerned that they didn't have enough safety data for young people.
Originally, the administration wanted to open up boosters for all Americans several months out, 16 years of age.
And older and there was a lot of discussion in the committee about what we know about the safety for giving a third dose to particularly younger people and there just isn't a lot of data.
Most of the young people in this country have been vaccinated more recently than six months. So they're neutralizing antibody are quite high.
And the urgent need is to boost the elderly, and that's who apparently is going to get it.
I wouldn't be surprised if when the FDA and CDC issue the final rule that they lower the age to 60 instead of 65.
ACOSTA: And Dr. Fauci was backing up some of the data during an interview with me earlier this month.
Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASE: When you look at the Israeli data -- and they are about a month or so ahead of us in every aspect of this vaccinations, boosters, et cetera -- the data from the Israeli studies are there's a rather substantial diminution and unquestionable in the protection against hospitalization.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: What do you say to people who are fully vaccinated but fear their own shot's efficacy is waning at this point?
REINER: I think we have to be less dogmatic.
I know people who have gone to pharmacies, and pharmacies have turned them away. I know other people have gone to pharmacies and it's been no questions asked.
Look, is there really a difference between a 63-year-old and a 65- year-old? There are subtle health issues that may make people more vulnerable to infection or to severe illness.
Ultimately, I would leave this up to the individual person's physician. Let the physician decide who can or who requires a booster. Certainly, within a broad age range.
I think it's reasonable to acquire data for a younger American. But through a broad older age range, I think let's let America's physicians decide who should get a booster.
ACOSTA: In a new CDC study weighting all three authorized vaccines in the U.S., and the Moderna vaccine was found slightly more effective at keeping people out of the hospital.
Moderna came in at 93 percent effective. Pfizer, 88 percent. A single dose of J&J, 71 percent effective.
Put that in perspective. That is still higher compared to other vaccines that have been out there.
REINER: It's higher than the flu vaccines, which we should get every yar. Some years, the efficacy is barely 50 percent. Those numbers are still great.
And, again, different studies give different numbers. But we know the vaccines are still really good at preventing you from getting really sick or dying.
But the goal of these vaccines is not just to protect you from dying. No one wants to get sick.
There's an economic impact to getting COVID, even if you don't get hospitalized. There's a great economic impact to the country. A personal impact for being out of work for 10 days.
There are long COVID issues we still don't understand how prevalent they are in breakthrough infections.
There are a lot of reasons not to want to get infected and there are a lot of reasons for people to want a booster rather than simply preventing hospitalization and dying.
I think for those reasons, eventually, we'll see boosters extended to younger, healthier people in the general population.
ACOSTA: And Florida hospitals are reeling right now because -- and really all over the country -- but in Florida in particular because of the unvaccinated patients who are taxing the system.
In fact, one father said his 12-year-old son's appendix burst while waiting more than six hours waiting to be seen.
[17:40:02]
Did you ever think we would hear stories like that here in the United States?
REINER: And it's happening in other parts of the United States. Idaho just invoked crisis standards of care because they are out of ICU beds. They're almost out of all beds.
Hospitals are re-tasking different venues within the hospital to try and treat sick people. They're using pediatric ventilators for adults.
As a reminder, crisis standards of care allow hospitals to start to triage people based on who they think are most likely to benefit from care.
Essentially, not guaranteeing everyone access to the most intensive care. And that's what happens when the system breaks.
And it's breaking in places like Idaho, in parts of the country where mask mandates haven't been uniform, where vaccine rates are lower than in other parts of the country.
And that's the horrible collateral damage to letting this virus burn through this country unimpeded.
It's just not people who acquire COVID who will die. It can be kids. It can be people having heart attacks or strokes.
ACOSTA: Right.
Yes, I was thinking about -- and we just showed this -- all of those white flags down on the national mall, 670,000 white flags for each individual American who has died from COVID.
And I wonder how many of those people could have been saved if we weren't living with so much disinformation, so much bad information about what's happening right now.
Would a father have a son in a hospital whose appendix burst because of this situation that we're dealing with?
REINER: Almost every person who is dying now and almost every person who has died since January 1st has died needlessly, unnecessarily.
We've administered this vaccine -- there are about 180 million people in this country who have received this vaccine or fully vaccinated in this country. Which sounds like a lot but it only 54 percent.
But we've given this vaccine to millions and millions of people. We know the safety of this drug. We know its efficacy.
I can say to every patient I see that the vaccine is safe. And if they take it they will not die from this virus. I literally just about beg people to take this vaccine because the
virus is merciless. It doesn't care that you don't believe in it. It doesn't care that you don't think this virus necessarily will infect you, that you think you are healthy. It will kill you.
It's very reasonable to expect now that, if you are unvaccinated, you will get this virus. It is a matter of time. It is impossible to live in this country now unvaccinated and escape getting infected.
And if this virus infects you with a large enough viral load in the wrong kind of circumstance, you will die, and in an inglorious way.
ACOSTA: Dr. Reiner, thank you very much.
A quick programming note. Join us as Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks with scientists about the origin of COVID-19. That airs tomorrow night at 8:00.
In the meantime, more than 14,000 migrants are living under a bridge along the U.S./Mexico border in Del Rio, Texas, many from Haiti.
Several sources are reporting that as early as tomorrow the U.S. government may start flying many of them back to Haiti in an effort to discourage further border crossings.
CNN's Rosa Flores has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sky condition clear.
Helicopter 116 taking off from the north ramp.
ROSE FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All of these people just crossed?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
FLORES: This is hundreds of people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not hundreds. It's thousands.
FLORES: This stretch of the U.S. southern border is raising eyebrows.
(on camera): Have you ever seen anything like this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing. It far exceeds anything we've ever seen down here.
FLORES (voice-over): Migrants, mostly Haitians, say officials, crossing the Rio Grande into Del Rio, Texas, from Mexico.
(on camera): We can see at least three different spots where migrants are crossing over into the United States.
(voice-over): Men, women, children flocking to the area under the international bridge that connects Texas to Mexico where more than 12,000 migrants are waiting to get processed by federal authorities, according to the Del Rio mayor.
(on camera): (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(voice-over): This couple from Venezuela says they spent two days under the bridge with their four-year-old son sleeping in the dirt.
(on camera): On the dirt, you were sleeping on the dirt?
(voice-over): They say they're fleeing political persecution. And break down crying, describing the toughest part of being under the bridge.
(on camera): She is explaining that she would tell her son that the family was camping so that he didn't worry.
[17:45:00]
MAYOR BRUNO LOZANO (D-DEL RIO, TX): This is setting the nuclear bomb alarm that this is no longer sustainable, acceptable.
FLORES (voice-over): The local mayor, a Democrat, pleading for the Biden administration to boost resources, saying that at the current rate it will take two weeks to process these migrants.
And signs they are having to settle in are visible from the air. A makeshift camp is going up.
And the mayor says at least one woman has given birth.
(CROSSTALK)
FLORES: Most of the migrants will be expelled or placed in removal proceedings, say federal authorities, who also say more resources are coming, and that it's already providing water, towels, and portable toilets.
Buses like this one with dozens of people are dropped off at this migrant shelter every day.
(CROSSTALK)
FLORES: This group is asked if they're vaccinated against COVID. About half the adults raise their hands. Some holding proof they got the shots.
All this as the Department of Homeland Security faces a series of challenges, including more than 200,000 migrant encounters last month, the abrupt resignation of two top DHS officials, the Afghan resettlement effort, and now this sudden spike of migrants in Del Rio.
JOE FRANK MARTINEZ, SHERIFF, VAL VERDE COUNTY, TEXAS, SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: These people are desperate, they're determined, and they're determined to get here.
FLORES: As a humanitarian crisis is unfolding at the southern border of the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FLORES: Now local officials here very concerned about the possible health concerns involving about 14,000 people now living practically under this bridge.
Now I can't get closer to show you. I can't get beyond the border wall.
But let me show you what we've been seeing from here. Take a look at this video. There's a woman on the back of a pickup truck, a Customs and Border Protection truck, and there are Border Patrol agents on there trying to help her.
Now we don't know the details or the circumstances around this, but I can tell you I could hear the Border Patrol agents telling that woman, (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE). What that means is, stay with me, stay with me.
This, as they were rushing her, I can only imagine, to a hospital somewhere, Jim.
These are the images beyond the gates because we didn't get any closer.
But a lot of concern and push for these resources that now we're start to go see both federal and state arriving here in Del Rio to try to process these migrants as fast as possible -- Jim?
ACOSTA: Rosa, that was the question I had, which is, how are they going to take care of -- how are all of these people going to be taken care of in these kinds of conditions? It must be a desperate situation for so many of them down there.
Rosa Flores, thank you for that startling report. Obviously, officials need to get on the case down there and quickly.
Appreciate that very much.
Coming up, television's big night. Will "The Crown" reign supreme or will Ted Lasso score big? A preview of what to watch at this week's Emmy awards?
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[17:53:01]
ACOSTA: If you thought last year's Emmys looked a little too much like a giant Zoom call, get ready. TV's biggest night is about to return with a live audience and a big opening.
The ceremony, hosted by Cedric The Entertainer, will take place in a tent outside the L.A. theater. Attendees must be fully vaccinated and provide proof they're COVID negative.
Ted Lasso has all of the momentum in the comedy category. Jason Sudeikis is also nominated in the best actor category.
On the drama side, "The Crown" could take the Emmy. In all, it has 24 nominations. We'll be watching that.
Real-life drama could factor into the ceremony with the death of Michael K. Williams, star of "The Wire."
This year, he's nominated for another nuanced performance, though those votes were cast before his death.
And we'll all be watching that. And hope for the best for Michael there. Hope he wins that one.
In the meantime, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. And when offenders are released, they face challenges trying to earn a livable wage.
"CNN Hero," Hector Guadalupe, he beat those odds.
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HECTOR GUADALUPE, CNN HERO: After surviving prison, you come home thinking you are able to start over. You want to be a part of the society. But there's so many layers of discrimination.
Boxes. You have to get through, to just get an opportunity. Society thinks, oh, you should just go get a job, and it's not that easy.
Once you have a record, nothing is set up for them to win.
Good. Right back under.
At the Second You Foundation, we give formerly incarcerated men and women national certifications in job placements. And we help at health clubs and gyms throughout New York City.
You have to be thinking outside the box. You can't give someone a mop and say this is your future, take minimum wage and deal with it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. You've got it.
GUADALUPE: When you provide people with livable wages, they are able to be productive members of society.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. That's it.
(CROSSTALK)
GUADALUPE: And that's why we are at Second You. We want to give you your second chance at life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[17:55:03]
ACOSTA: Get the whole story about Hector's program and get involved at CNNheroes.com.
That's the news. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.
Pamela Brown takes over the CNN NEWSROOM, live, after a quick break.
Have a good night.
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[18:00:08]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're really proud to share this experience with everyone. We know how fortunate we are to be up here.
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