Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

New York Opens New Facility to Help With Influx of Migrants; Mississippi River Water Levels Plunge to Record Lows; Stunning Findings on Black Infant Immortality. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 19, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JOHN DEAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: But he also probably assumed these people would play by some rules. Well, he's frustrated by the fact that they are asking for privilege where there is no privilege. And they're putting up no information to explain what the privilege is. So, he has a log of what they consider privilege with no rationale for why it is privileged.

And he said, listen, I'm not going to do your work for you. You have got to tell me why this is privileged material, why it shouldn't be passed along, and you're not doing that. So, he's bringing them up short, they're going to have to do it or they're going to be out of his court, but that case could well be taken away from this judge because it's on appeal in the 11th Circuit to just take the entire process and stop it. Judge Cannon, who initiated it, exceeded her authority in doing so, the department is arguing, and they want to end it.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And the Supreme Court already ruled that they, on this specific issue, would not hear it as well.

John Dean, thank you, as always, we appreciate your time.

DEAN: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And still ahead, a first look New York's center for asylum seekers, as thousands of migrants pour into the city. We go there live, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:00]

GOLODRYGA: Today, a newly built facility meant to house asylum- seeking migrants has opened its doors has opened its doors on New York City's -- and will offer medical, food, recreation and logistical -- National Correspondent Athena Jones is on Randalls Island in New York.

So, Athena, given -- for these migrants.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bianna. Well, you can see the facility behind me in the background. These are large tents. It's about 85,000 square foot total, so a large facility that will be housing 500 single men.

City officials say it can be quickly expanded to house up to a thousand and it's going to have all kinds of services, wrap-around services, you can call them, medical services, food or recreation room. There are T.V.s, videogames, free Wi-Fi, phones to make international calls, there is also laundry services. 90 percent of the staff here are going to be bilingual, so able to communicate well with the folks arriving. And there is going to be an intake operation.

So, first, the asylum seekers arrive here, they'll be greeted with food and water and then they'll be tested for COVID-19. If they are positive, there are trailers apart from the main structure where they can be housed in isolation for as long as they need to be. If they are negative, they then have the option to meet with a resettlement officer who will work with them on figuring out their next destination and how to get them there.

Now, originally, as of last week, city officials were saying that they expected people to be housed here for no more than 96 hours, so about four days. Now, they're saying that while that is still the goal, there will now be no official limit for how long these asylum seekers can be housed here. And officials say that, look, it can take a while for people who many not have family anywhere in the country, to figure out where they're going to go and all the logistics on how to get there. But it also gives the city some wiggle room here if they need to -- if they don't have enough facilities to move people to and if they get backed up.

This is the first center to deal with this huge surge of migrants, some 20,000 since the spring. And this center costs $325,000 to make. That is part of the reason why you've seen New York City Mayor Eric Adams say that he's declared a state of emergency because this city has been overwhelmed. He wants to see federal and state emergency aid, city officials saying that they still have not received that requested aid. But the mayor says this migrant -- dealing with this influx of migrants could have cost the city at least a billion dollars this fiscal year.

So, this is a major center opening today. We haven't yet seen any buses arrive, but they are ready. We have seen staffers coming. They're ready to greet them and to begin this transition to their next location here in the U.S.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, a rather large facility, at that, giving you a sense of this scope of this problem. It could hold up to 1,000 people at a time.

Athena Jones, thank you.

Well, still ahead, you see it there, record low levels for the Mississippi River, and that's threatening drinking water supplies. What the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing in response, that's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

GOLODRYGA: Severe drought conditions have pushed the Mississippi River to record low levels. This new time lapse video from the National Weather Service captures the dramatic shift. Satellite images show the difference in river levels in the Missouri area from July until now. And now, near New Orleans, federal officials are working to build an underwater levee to prevent saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico from contaminating drinking water supplies. A drinking water advisory has been in place for parts of Louisian for weeks because of that threat.

Joining me is Ricky Boyett, the chief of public affairs for the Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District. Ricky, thank you so much for joining us.

So, this is an issue that we should note not only impacting the United States but much of the world is going through these issues with drought and facing drought. But you are working specifically on this levee. Talk about what that entails and what you're hoping to do with this new levee.

RICKY BOYETT, CHIEF OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS NEW ORLEANS DISTRICT: Sure. In South Louisiana, we have a very deep river. And while we don't face the challenges that maybe you see upriver with depth issues, our challenge is flow. And we don't have enough flow to push the saltwater back into the Gulf of Mexico.

And what is happening is it's crawling along the bottom of the river, and it can travel upwards of 100, 200 miles. So, we at the Corps of Engineers will be basically lifting the bottom of the river.

[10:45:02]

We pick a place that's about 90 feet deep and we're going to create a wall of mud to bring that depth up to where it's only about 50 feet there. And what that will do is it will allow the freshwater to keep moving downward but it will impede the progress of the saltwater upriver.

GOLODRYGA: And we're showing images of how that will work to viewers at home.

This isn't an unprecedented project though. You worked on something similar in 2012. Talk to us about the comparisons between the two.

BOYETT: We do. It's a natural phenomenon. This will be the fourth time we've had do it, and it works out to be about every ten years. And we've had very much success. What we are focused on right now is getting this wall of mud built. And we use dredges and they essentially pipe down mud into a very specific place and build this wall. Once it's in place, it will hold that saltwater back. And then once we get enough rain and we start to get to flow again, the freshwater itself, the river will do the work and push the saltwater all the way back to the gulf, as well as take down the temporary wall.

GOLODRYGA: So, this is, as you noted, the fourth time you've had to do this. This is a temporary fix, a much needed fix. But in terms of a permanent solution, what does that even look like?

BOYETT: Well, this, we think, is the best solution because it doesn't change the environment of the river, the topography. It kind of the river corrects itself. Since we only have to do it about once every ten years, this is probably the better way without having any long- term impacts or changing the dynamics of the river. So, for now, this is what we would do. In the future, if we saw something change, we had a greater frequency, we may reevaluate.

GOLODRYGA: And we know that the Mississippi is facing a flood of different issues -- pardon the pun there -- related to climate change, and that is drought, that is flooding, that is rising temperatures. Which of these threats is the most dangerous, in your view?

BOYETT: All of them. When we look at anything Mother Nature can do, we take them all equally universally and across the corps right now. What we're doing is we're evaluating all our different projects, all our different structures not only that exist but also what we may do in the future so that we can be better prepared to handle any environmental changes, any climate change factors.

Interestingly enough, this one seems to be right on schedule. So, we don't know if this has a relationship to it or if it's just the normal cycle for the river.

GOLODRYGA: Of course, all of this work requires massive infrastructure and supplies, including financial. Are you getting all the resources you need?

BOYETT: We are. We have everything we need. We consider it part of our project. So, for our end, we are in good shape and we're going to see the benefits of it very soon. We're also working with the state of Louisiana and the local municipal governments, and everybody is kind of working as a team to make sure that not only we get the sill in place but we can really limit the impacts to drinking water down here.

GOLODRYGA: So, New Orleans residents can be rest assured thanks to your work and your colleagues that they will have safe drinking water.

BOYETT: We are. We are confident that this will do the job. After the 2012 time we built the sill, we went back in. We really evaluated how we did it. This time, we kind of increased our triggers, moved them up into the calendar so that we have even more time than we did last time to get everything in place.

GOLODRYGA: Well, Ricky Boyett, thank you for all the work that you and the Army Corps of Engineers is doing to help provide fresh drinking water for those residents there. We appreciate all your hard work.

BOYETT: Absolutely. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And still ahead, staggering findings in a new study about infant deaths. Why black infants are more likely to die when conceived through IVF. We'll tell you why after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

GOLODRYGA: Stunning results from a new study on infant mortality. Black babies conceived through IVF or other infertility treatments have a much higher risk of death than white babies.

CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard joins me now with the details. Jacqueline, tell us more about this disturbing study.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Bianna, the researchers themselves told me that they were surprised by what they found. They thought that the disparity in infant deaths would be smaller when they looked just at babies conceived through IVF and other forms of infertility treatment, but instead, the disparity was larger.

Here is what the researchers found. They looked at more than 7 million babies born here in the U.S. between 2016 and 2017. Among those who were born to women that conceived on their own without needing infertility treatments, the neonatal deaths were twofold higher among black babies. But then when the researchers looked just at the babies born to women who did undergo IVF and other forms of infertility treatment, that disparity was fourfold higher. There's a fourfold higher risk of infant death among babies born to black women.

Now, the researchers say that they assumed the disparity would be smaller because women who undergo IVF tend to be of a higher socioeconomic status, they tend to have the means to afford infertility treatment.

[10:55:05]

But now that we're seeing this increased disparity, the idea here is that maybe it's connected to whether the women are being listened to, how they're being treated. And we also know that assisted production does already have an increased risk of adverse outcomes associated with it.

Now, the message for doctors and women out there, the researchers said, to still undergo infertility treatment if you need it, but remember to keep in touch with your doctor, physicians, monitor the babies after they're born and keep those communications open. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: A really important message there. Jacqueline Howard, thank you.

And thank you for joining us today. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]