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Envoy to Haiti Resigns; Deportations at Southern Border; Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) is Interviewed about Afghanistan; Speakers Lash out at School Board. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 23, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:15]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the U.S. special envoy to Haiti has resigned, calling the U.S. decision to deport thousands of Haitians from the U.S. Southern border, quote, inhumane.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: CNN is also learning that officials have been sounding the alarm since June about the number of migrants coming to the border.

CNN correspondent Josh Campbell, he's in Del Rio, Texas. Melissa Bell is in Haiti.

Melissa, to you first.

This is a remarkable resignation from the Biden administration in the midst of this. What did the envoy say?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, it is an absolutely damning indictment of the policy that's been put in place with Dan Foote, who's only been in place for a couple of months now, saying that he simply didn't want his name associated with what he described as a counterproductive and inhumane deportation policy. And that's something really that we've seen reflected in the voices of those migrants that we've heard that have been deported.

What's happened at the airport itself is, after those shocking scenes we saw Tuesday and all that chaos in the tarmac, authorities have now sealed off the airport to prevent journalists from getting in because, of course, the images are as damaging to the Haitian government, which has accepted the deportations, as it is to the American authorities that are carrying them out.

So it is a steady trickle of migrants that you see coming through as single gate at Port-au-Prince Airport, all telling tales of horror, many months spent crossing Latin America. We spoke to one man who had been through 11 countries, he said, had to climb over the bodies of dead migrants, drunk, he said, the water from where they lay, only to find himself at the border of a country where things got even worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) EDDY TEVEME, HAITIAN DEPORTED FROM U.S. (through translator): When we arrived in the U.S.. the authorities put us on a bus and sent us to jail and said we would be released in two days. They put chains on our feet, around our stomachs and our hands. They put us in cars and took us to the airport. There were Haitians working on the plane who told us not to resist because there with many soldiers on the plane and they warned us that otherwise we would be mistreated.

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BELL: Like Eddy, those migrants come through that gate carrying $100 that they've been given, Jim, a Styrofoam container with a hot meal and a bag with their meager belongings, what's left of them.

And for this, for Haitians who simply haven't been in the country for many years, they fled a country many years ago that they now find themselves forcibly returned to without due process along the way, and a country where the situation has gotten even worse.

And in that letter from the U.S. special envoy, also a reminder of the situation here in Haiti, a country, he says, that is mired in poverty, hostage to gang violence, and that he -- and where American officials are confound to compound so violent has the situation become. A situation that has worsened still, of course, Jim, since the murder of the Haitian president back in July.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: Yes, so much happening there.

Melissa, appreciate it.

Josh, I want to bring you into this now.

U.S. Border Patrol, ICE, opening a new immigration processing facility in Laredo to try to deal with this crisis. What more do we know about that in terms of what it may actually help, how much it could relieve?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

You know, we've seen these buses coming and going here at this migrant camp, which is, of course, under the Del Rio International Bridge. The buses come in caravans to try to remove migrants from the location to other parts.

I'll take you live over that bridge right now on our drone feed. You can see the buses, they are parked. And what they do is they will load people up and then bring them out.

We're learning now about this new detention facility that's being set up for processing. This is going to be in Laredo. This is according to the mayor of Laredo. They're expecting to set up a tent processing facility, processing, I said detention, I should have said processing. And what that will entail is 1,000 to 1,500 people brought there per day. We're told the processing of each person should last about 12 hours. [09:35:05]

So, again, this effort by Border Patrol to remove these migrants out of this area, gets them to other locations where they can determine whether people are claiming asylum or whether they need to be returned to their nation of origin, that continues.

This happens as we are also learning new information about efforts by Customs and Border Patrol officers here at the border to seek assistance from their bosses. We're learning back in June agents here were requesting additional resources during the summer. They were seeing an uptick in the number of migrants who were coming across the Rio Grande here. They were requesting assistance. We're told that they didn't receive a response to many of those requests.

And one item that they were asking for is something as simple as an iPad that would help agents here on the ground quickly process people as they come to them. Now, according to emails that CNN obtained, the Border Patrol union here emailed Border Patrol management saying, and I'll read part of this, this way, with these iPads, we can at least get part of the process finished before they even get to the station instead of wasting that time.

Now, we're told that a number of days went by, they didn't receive a response from management. Finally receiving a one word -- a one sentence response saying, this is being explored. Several other platforms are being considered which are more efficient.

So a lot of the agents here expressing their frustration that even though they requested resources, they weren't receiving them. Obviously a very tough situation here, not only for the migrants who are facing these tough conditions, but also the agents themselves who we're learning were requesting assistance from their bosses and didn't receive much of what they requested.

SCIUTTO: Josh Campbell on the border, Melissa Bell there in Haiti, thanks very much.

Well, multiple lawmakers on both sides of the aisle furious over the Biden administration's plan to evacuate Americans still in Afghanistan. Some of them stormed out of a classified briefing on the matter. I'm going to speak to a Republican congressman who's also a veteran of the Afghan War.

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SCIUTTO: Frustrations, bipartisan frustrations boiled over in a classified Afghanistan briefing. Sources tell CNN that multiple lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, stormed out of a meeting on Wednesday accusing the Biden administration officials of failing to adequately answer basic questions about the number of Americans still in Afghanistan.

Joining me now is Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. He serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee and is, of course, himself a veteran of the Afghan War.

Congressman, thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): Hey, nice to be with you.

SCIUTTO: I wonder, given the back and forth on the number -- or estimates of the number of Americans still in Afghanistan, are you confident that the Biden administration knows how many Americans are still there?

KINZINGER: I don't know. I -- you know, I don't know if they know the number, if they're, you know, kind of intentionally skewing that. I'll tell you this, it's been very strange that we keep hearing, and this is bipartisan, this is not some, you know, attack on the administration, bipartisan level, we're hearing that constantly on the one hand you hear something from DOD, something different from Department of State.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

KINZINGER: And some of these groups, you know, that are these veterans groups that are working these issues, you know, will come to us and say, look, State just pulled permission for a flight to take off, in one case because somebody was on TV critical of State.

So I -- you know, that's why we're frustrated here is not just wanting to throw gratuitous attacks, but we don't have answers. And, frankly, State should be -- the Department of State should be responsive, particularly to members of Congress, on these answers.

SCIUTTO: Who do you blame for that? Who -- I mean is it the State Department? Is it the --is it the White House?

KINZINGER: Well, I mean, all -- you know, the buck stops at the top, of course, with President Biden. But, you know, looking more deeply into it, you know, Secretary Blinken didn't give us appropriate answers. I've sent official letters to ask how many people were even pulled out of Afghanistan. The details. How many did we do versus our ally and partners, et cetera? We have no answers on that.

And, you know, on the one hand, I can be sympathetic too. There's a lot going on. But on the other hand, I mean, it's October, almost, and we still don't have answers. There are Americans that are at risk. And in the meantime, we still don't have a commitment from the Department of State that they're not planning to recognize the Taliban, which, you know, committed an armed coup against the legitimately elected government of Afghanistan.

SCIUTTO: And many thousands more Afghans, of course, work for the U.S. military and government there who are under threat as well.

I do want to ask you this, though, do you believe that the U.S. should send forces back in to the country to help manage the evacuation here, given that, as you mention, I mean they basically outsourced this, right, to unofficial groups, veterans, et cetera, who are really bearing the brunt of the workload right now? KINZINGER: You know, I think at this moment, no. I think we do need a

counterterrorism capability that we simply don't have in Afghanistan. But in terms of the reintroduction of forces, look, that -- you know, obviously, that comes with a whole different set of kind of shock and awe with that. But I think there are -- there are a lot of options to use besides that. We have allies in the region. I think we have leverage with the Taliban. And that leverage isn't that we're going to give them a ton of money and recognize them as an awesome government. That leverage is, you know, you need to work with us to protect the people that we've made a promise to or there will be a cost to you. Trust me, the Taliban know that they've never defeated the United States on the battlefield. They can only hope to outlast our will.

[09:45:01]

So, there's a lot we can do, including, by the way, there is still disparate Afghan air force forces, you know, outside of Afghanistan that we can be supplying and also the northern resistance force the -- the group of (INAUDIBLE) resistors who are resisting the Taliban.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

KINZINGER: That's an important point to keep in mind.

SCIUTTO: OK, let's move on to infrastructure.

"Axios" is reporting this morning that House Republican Whip Steve Scalise told Republicans, GOP -- the GOP's officially whipping against it, encouraging their members to vote against it.

It's got bipartisan support, as you know. It passed the Senate with, what, I think 19 Republican votes. Why? Why is the GOP in the House working against this? Is that a mistake?

KINZINGER: I -- well, I do think it's a mistake. I think we need to allow members to vote on a bipartisan bill as they wish. My intention is to vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

There is concern, of course, with what you're seeing on the Democratic side, where the progressives are saying we have to pass the $3.5 trillion before we can even talk about this $1.5 trillion.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

KINZINGER: I mean, really, the infighting right now, the focus is on the Democratic side between the moderates and the progressives. I think, on our side, though, yes, look, members of the Republicans want to vote for the bipartisan bill. You shouldn't whip against it. I intend to vote for it and I think there will be a number of people joining me as well.

SCIUTTO: All right, debt limit, another game of chick here, right, within America's credit worthiness.

Will you vote to raise the debt limit? KINZINGER: Yes, I mean, look, right now we're in this kind of game --

this weird game. So, certainly I'm against the United States defaulting on the debt. When it comes back to us, I would intend to vote for it.

And what happened two days ago, I had every intention, as well as a number of Republicans, to vote for this, what's called a clean continuing resolution and debt limit.

What happened, though, is the progressives were upset because there was a billion dollars to replenish the Iron Dome, a defensive weapon to Israel that we use too.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

KINZINGER: And Nancy Pelosi acquiesced to that, pulled the Iron Dome funding from that, and made it basically a partisan moment.

So, it's going to end up coming back to us. I do not believe America can even play around with the debt limit. But, my goodness, to my Democratic friends, quit, you know, having to constantly go to the, gee, we can't support Israel in this, and actually work to get some Republican votes. There's a number of us that would work with you.

SCIUTTO: But given -- if your back is against the wall here, if you're not happy with everything that's contained in the bill, if you're given the choice to raise or not to raise, will you raise the debt limit rather than pushing the U.S. to the brink there?

KINZINGER: Oh, yes, absolutely.

SCIUTTO: OK.

KINZINGER: Look, the date we're hearing is still kind of early October for that kind of no kidding moment. And, look, the more debt we have as a country, the more imperative it is we actually raise the debt limit early because, you know, debt matters, but debt will super matter when people lose faith in that debt.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Absolutely. Markets are watching.

Congressman Adam Kinzinger, thanks so much for joining us again this morning.

KINZINGER: You bet. Thanks.

HILL: Still ahead, a fiery school board meeting turns parents against educators over mask mandates in Florida.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You need to step up and shine your own (EXPLETIVE DELETED) light! This is ridiculous!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn off the microphone. Watch the language, ma'am.

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HILL: We are live in Palm Beach, next.

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SCIUTTO: Well, there is yet more new tension over how to keep kids safe from COVID in schools in Florida. The Palm Beach County School Board says it will follow a new state rule that lets parents decide whether to quarantine their child if they're exposed to a COVID positive person.

HILL: The school board, though, is keeping its mask mandate in place. At last night's meeting, a crowd wearing masks were allowed to be in a room. Those who were maskless were put in a room across the parking lot. All those who spoke on the issue, though, were there to rail against mask mandates.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Masks are affecting some children mentally, and are causing them social anxieties, mental health issues affecting personal relationships and even romances in older students.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You need to step up and shine your own (EXPLETIVE DELETED) light! This is ridiculous!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your power hungry dictatorship has gotten out of control. This is no longer about our safety, it is about control.

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HILL: Wow.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: CNN's Nick Valencia in Palm Beach County.

A lot of anger. That's perhaps putting it mildly. Remember when school board meetings were boring.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: They certainly aren't anymore, Nick. This is really getting aggressive.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and this one lasted over five hours. It was certainly lively and some pointed comments. But, for the most part, civil.

Last night, though, Jim and Erica, the meeting was packed with anti- maskers who were voicing their -- or intent on voicing their frustration on this no opt-out mask mandate here in Palm Beach County School District. In fact, the school year started by allowing parents the option to send their kids without a mask to school. But by the third week they had just as many cases as they had all of last year, so they chose to put that mask mandate in place.

Some people showed up here wearing masks with the words "this is a control device" written across the front. Again, everyone who showed up was intent on voicing their frustration to the scientifically proven mitigation protocols for COVID in the school district.

Those that did show up were also chanting the phrase or repeating the phrase, "rules for thee and not for me," which appeared to be a reference to seeing some school board members unmasked at a recent gala.

[09:55:04]

There was also multiple calls for these school members to resign.

And this meeting took place just a few hours after the newly appointed surgeon general here in the state announced a new system-based approach to quarantining students, saying if student's don't show symptoms, they don't have to quarantine at home.

The governor here, Ron DeSantis, addressed this new policy saying he agrees with parents who feel as though it's detrimental to keep students home who are not showing symptoms. Not just detrimental to them, but also to the parents.

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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): The parent always has the right to make -- to have their kids stay home if they think that's in the best interest of the student and the family, 100 percent, we would not want to intrude on that. But, if a parent has a healthy child, that child, you know, has a right -- has a right to be in school.

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VALENCIA: The school board here voted to adopt that new policy. But one school board member who's a medical doctor said that she disagreed with this decision from the surgeon general, calling it simply bad public health.

Jim. Erica.

HILL: Yes. Nick Valencia, appreciate it, my friend. Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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