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More Haitian Migrants Deported As Democrats Blast White House Over Policy; U.S. Haiti Envoy Quits Over "Inhumane" Deportations; Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) Discusses Climate Crisis And $15 Billion Plan, Reconciliation And Infrastructure Bills, Whether To Require Vaccines For Students 12 And Up. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 23, 2021 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, those CDC advisors are scheduled to vote in almost exactly half an hour from now on those booster doses.

We've been listening to them for the past few hours basically weighing up the risk versus reward ratio for various different demographics and age groups.

This decision will be yet another major step in the fight against COVID-19 -- Guys?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Nick Watt, thank you.

Now to this story. In a blistering rebuke of the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis, the U.S. special envoy to Haiti quits over what he calls inhumane deportations. So, we'll go live to the southern border for what's happening there, next.

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[14:35:18]

CAMEROTA: The U.S. continues to send Haitians back to their island via plane, deporting more than 1,000 of the migrants who were encamped under that bridge in Del Rio, Texas.

But today, the U.S. special envoy to Haiti quit, calling those deportations inhumane. The State Department fired back, claiming he never raised concerns when he had the chance.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Some Democrats want the Biden administration to do more and stop deporting these migrants until Haiti recovers from the long list of crises.

CNN's Josh Campbell is in Del Rio. Matt Rivers is across the border from him in Acuna.

Matt, I want to start with you.

The U.S. has suspended the patrol on horseback in Del Rio after we saw those offensive images of agents aggressively confronting migrants, swinging reins.

The U.N. is also calling the conditions there deplorable.

What are you seeing?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're hearing from the Haitians that are coming back and forth across the border is that the conditions on the U.S. side, in that encampment, which is just up the river from where we are here, are really bad.

To the point where Haitians, even if they're in that encampment trying to get in the U.S., have been using this guideline to come back across, back and forth across this river over the last couple of days.

Obviously, no one doing it right now. And it seems that things are changing here a little bit.

And I just want to show you, if you look up the riverbank here, if we turn around, you can see that line of immigration officials, Mexican immigration officials, standing there, they just got here five minutes ago. We've never seen this before.

And very clearly appears to be a show of force in the sense that, if Haitians come from the U.S. side, I'm not sure they're going to be allowed to get past those people.

Because they've also brought in a prisoner transport van that is used by immigration and police for people coming into the country illegally.

So, we're not exactly sure what this new deployment here means.

But it's clearly going to impact the ability of Haitians to come back and forth across the river as they have been allowed to do since we got here by both Border Patrol on the other side and by immigration officials here in Mexico.

While they were crossing, though, I want to show you a bit of video about how dangerous that crossing was. People were coming to Mexico for supplies, food, water, easier to get here in Mexico and bring it back to the U.S.

As they were going back to the U.S., we saw one man carrying his daughter on his shoulders. He almost got swept away by the current. Three or four other migrants actually dove in to save the child and also her dad.

And then, a little bit later on, we also saw a man get swept down the river by the fast-moving current. It was Border Patrol on the U.S. side that actually threw him a line that he was able to grab on to. They pulled him to shore.

Those are the situations, the -- you know, the situation here on the border that people are willing to cross over to go through this river, this fast-moving river to get supplies to bring back to the U.S. And on the U.S. side, that's where I want to go to my colleague, Josh Campbell -- he's been there for some time now -- to talk a little bit about what's happening on that side of the border in terms of what the Department of Homeland Security is doing.

Josh?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, thanks, Matt.

I'm only about a hundred yards from Matt on the U.S. side. And just to show you what we see here at the actual waterline, you have U.S. officials, Customs and Border Protection here.

There's some individuals who are in the water just a few minutes ago and ended up coming to this side. We're not far from that migrant camp.

I want to show you what is new, what wasn't here just over a week ago, that we're seeing. This is what these migrants are greeted with.

You can see, as we pan over, just a sea of police vehicles here from the state troopers, Department of Public Safety, Customs and Border Protection. We've seen the Texas Emergency Management.

This is part of the so-called Barrier of Steel that the Texas governor has set up here.

He's been very critical of the Biden administration, saying they're not doing enough to try to secure this border, and so he has brought in all these assets.

You can see, as we pan off to the right here, just additional resources. Uniform personnel, they are waiting.

And part of this concern here is because officials in Texas say they don't want a repeat of what happened here with these thousands of Haitian migrants recently coming here to the United States.

CNN is reporting that up to 30,000 Haitian migrants are possibly preparing to head from Colombia up here. And so officials very concerned, obviously, bringing out a full show of force.

And again, we're not far from that actual migrant bridge where we continue to see, as of this point, just under 5,000 of those migrants, primarily Haitian, living in these squalid conditions, sleeping on the dirt as they await processing by the U.S. government -- Victor, Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: It's fascinating to see it on the ground and to have you both there from different perspectives. I mean, the problem is things are not getting better in Haiti --

BLACKWELL: Yes. It is not.

[14:40:00]

CAMEROTA -- while all this is going on.

BLACKWELL: And we've got CNN drone up now showing you just how far apart, and really not so far apart they are, as we have Matt on the Mexican side of the river and Josh on the U.S. side there in Del Rio.

CAMEROTA: It looks calm but that's deceiving. Obviously, people are risking their life to make that crossing right there.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Guys, thank you very much. We really appreciate all of the reporting.

BLACKWELL: All right, fresh off defeating a recall, California's governor, Gavin Newsom, is taking on the state's climate crisis with an historic $15 billion plan. He joins us live, next.

CAMEROTA: But, first, what would you do, if at 10 years old, you were told you were kidnapped from the hospital as a baby? The new CNN film "THE LOST SONS," premieres Sunday night at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN. We have a preview.

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[14:45:20]

BLACKWELL: California is taking aggressive new action to fight climate change and its devastating effects, the drought, the wildfires that plague the state. The move is historic, a $15 billion investment, the largest in state history.

California Governor Gavin Newsom joins me now from Sequoia National Park.

Governor, thank you for being with me.

We can see the smoke behind you there. This is a, as I said, $15 billion plan. A lot of money. What's the plan?

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Well, at the end of the day, we have to deal with the smash-mouth realities of climate change that are here right now. We can't afford to sit back passively and watch the debate unfold in Washington, D.C.

And so, we're trying to meet this moment. Simultaneously to deal with the crisis at hand, 2.3 million acres that have burned so far this year, experiencing and enduring the hottest summer in recorded history.

At the same time, we invest in the future, and we future-proof California. And we try to continue to export good values, good policies, climate policies to not just the rest of the country but the rest of the world as well.

And that's a $15 billion commitment, which is simply without precedent in any state in U.S. history. And that's just a down payment on the work we have in front of us.

BLACKWELL: The K&P Fire is burning there where you are, has been for two weekends. They're trying to save these historic trees, wrapping them as well.

You've got the air quality warnings. We could see evidence of that behind you. The drought.

When is this money going to be put to use to give the people there, the environment, some relief?

NEWSOM: Well, we're putting close to $4 billion in electric vehicle infrastructure. We have 45 percent of the nation's electric vehicles.

We want to dominate this next big global opportunity. And 34 headquartered manufacturing E.V. companies in California. So we see this as an economic imperative.

And $3.7 billion for climate resiliency, broadly defined. And $5 billion-plus to deal with drought.

Those dollars are going out in real time, including $1.5 billion to deal with wildfire suppression, forest management, better vegetation management, prevention strategies so we can mitigate these fires.

The fire you see behind me, this one's personal. This is a vestige of my youth.

Many people watching, this is the sentinels. Have been around close to 3,000 years. These giant Sequoias, quite literally the largest living things on planet earth that are vulnerable now because of extremes, extreme heat, extreme drought.

We're doing everything in our power to save them. We will save this growth. The question is, will we save them for generations?

BLACKWELL: Governor, you called this investment an environmental imperative. But California also has a housing crisis.

So for those Californians who are trying to find or try to hold on to affordable housing, we know so many people have not been able to. And they hear this number, they hear this investment, and wonder if it's too much and going to the wrong area.

What do you tell them?

NEWSOM: Well, I tell them we're doing $22 billion investment in housing and homelessness, which, again, is without precedent.

By the way, I can express all this and talk in historic terms for one reason, California had over 40 percent of America's jobs last month.

We're the tent pole of the American job recovery. We had an $80 billion-plus operating surplus, $80 billion.

So $22 billion investing in housing and homelessness, address the affordability crisis, which is our biggest preexisting condition prior to COVID.

At the same time, deal situationally with the hots getting hotter, the dries getting drier, and this extreme weather that we're all experiencing across this country.

So, we could do this and -- and we have a responsibility to be more resilient as a consequence.

BLACKWELL: Governor, let's broaden this conversation. There are likely billions of dollars in the reconciliation bill, $3.5 trillion, and $1.2 trillion in this bipartisan infrastructure bill that members of your party are fighting over in Washington.

First question here, is it time to abandon both or neither strategy? I mean, do you support some of the progressives who are saying, we won't support this infrastructure bill if you don't pass the $3.5 trillion?

NEWSOM: Look, I'm for progress. However it can manifest. At the end of the day, though, I guess the spirit of this opportunity to connect with you is we're not waiting around.

There's an old saw that says, if you don't like how the world looks when you're standing up, stand on your head and go local. Because remarkable things are still happening all across America at the local level, not just states, but cities and counties. And California, an example of that.

[14:50:00]

So, look, we'll continue to promote progress. This whole debate and this nonsense of McConnell and this debt ceiling, it's offensive to me.

And the realities out here. We're losing cities. We're losing traditions. We're losing people. And we're losing time in our battle on this existential threat of climate change.

So I hope they disabuse themselves of their situational politics and do the right damned thing for America, do the right damned thing to lead the world again.

Which is what I'm trying to do here, to best of my ability, in the fifth-largest economy, California. Take responsibility. Take accountability. Put aside your differences and make progress.

I'm for progress. That's the answer to that question, progress.

BLACKWELL: So I hear the answer you're for progress. Are you against the ultimatum, though, specifically?

GAVIN: I'm not getting into situational politics in Washington, D.C. I have my hands full in Sacramento.

We have progressives in California, conservatives, moderates. We were able to get the homeless package. I'm confident with one thing, and that's Nancy Pelosi's leadership and

Joe Biden's heart and his character and integrity. What they're promoting and promising gives me confidence they'll work this out.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about COVID. I understand reporting coming into California health officials that they're considering requiring COVID vaccines for students 12 and up.

How close are you to potentially making that decision? And you know there's going to be a lot of pushback on that if you make that call, Governor.

NEWSOM: We're the first state to do a state order to order state employees to be vaccinated and tested, as well as school employees to do the same.

We have the lowest case rates in America. So we want to continue to be vigilant. We want to continue to lean in. We still have a lot of work to do. I'm worried about a winter surge.

So, yes, it's back on the table to get kids vaccinated, 12-17. The decision will be made over the course of the next few days.

We have a lot of partners, with 1,050 school districts in the state of California, the largest school district in the United States.

But it is true, our health director said today this is on the table. It's being debated. And over the next few days, we'll come out with some recommendations.

BLACKWELL: OK, so a few days out there.

Let me ask you and I want to get back to what's happening in Washington and then switch it. But you said you don't want to get into the intra-party fight there. I get that.

But Democrats hold all the levers. You've got the White House, you have a slim majority, so the grip isn't too tight on the House and the Senate.

But if you can't deliver on policies that are popular, and you've got all the power here, you've got the majorities, what's the case to Democrats to say give us another chance next November?

NEWSOM: Look, I have confidence they're going to get it done.

I'm used to this conversation because it's part of the process. We get confused in the moment, who is up, who is down. At the end of the day I care about one thing and that's results.

And I'll say it again. I really believe this and I just think there's too much evidence to back this up, so to me it's not a particularly novel statement.

Nancy Pelosi is just at a different level in terms of figuring out ways to get things done. We all recognize, Chuck Schumer recognizes, the president of the

United States recognizes what's at stake, the Democratic Party has to recognize what's at stake if we don't make progress.

I have all the confidence in the world they'll make real and demonstrable progress.

BLACKWELL: I believe California has more federal and state employees than any state in the country. We know that if there's a government shutdown, those workers will not be paid.

Was it a mistake to pair funding the government with the debt ceiling waiver or increase, which Republicans have said they will not support?

NEWSOM: Well, if we don't make progress, it will have been a mistake.

Right now, it's right to hold up to the bright light of scrutiny the absolute absurdity, the hypocrisy, the rank politics that is all things Mitch McConnell.

Where Nancy Pelosi and Democrats did the right things in the Senate, when Trump was in office, and didn't play right with politics and the country.

It's not about federal workers, it's about our economy and the capacity to lead the rest of the world.

The world is watching. Our kids are watching.

(CROSSTALK)

NEWSOM: And we can't even address the debt ceiling.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Senator McConnell --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Senate Democrats made the call -- Democrats made the call to pair it, knowing that Republicans have said they're not going to vote for the debt ceiling.

Was it the mistake to put the salaries of those 1,070-plus federal workers in California on the line, knowing they could have gotten the debt ceiling funded and separate it from that race?

[14:55:12]

NEWSOM: Well, the debt ceiling conversation is one we should be having but it's important to highlight. And it was reinforced today. And I'm glad it's been reinforced. And I'm glad that rank hypocrisy has been reinforced.

But you're assuming a scenario that I'm not assuming. Meaning, it will be a mistake if we don't make progress. I'm more confident we'll get progress. I think we get too situationally focused.

I have real confidence in the leadership of the Democratic Party and their capacity to get something real done here as we highlight that rank hypocrisy, which I think is important for this nation to understand.

BLACKWELL: All right. We'll see if your confidence is well founded in just a few days.

Governor Gavin Newsom, of California, thank you so much.

NEWSOM: Good to be with you. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right, you know, we're facing this looming government shutdown and President Biden's domestic agenda in jeopardy. Why President Biden's biggest challenge is within his own party, next.

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