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Unexpectedly Severe Outbreak of Respiratory Virus among Children Spreads Throughout U.S.; Georgia Experiencing High Early Voter Turnout for Midterm Elections; Federal Appeals Court Pauses Biden Administration's Student Debt Relief Plan. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired October 22, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:41]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It is Saturday, October 22nd. I'm Amara Walker.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Amara, I'm Boris Sanchez. You are live in the CNN Newsroom, and we are grateful that you are starting your weekend with us.

There is a growing health concern this morning for parents of young children as cases of a common respiratory virus known as RSV are surging across the country. Listen to this, 74 percent of U.S. pediatric hospital beds are currently in use with capacity filling up faster than at any other point in the last two years of the coronavirus pandemic.

WALKER: Yes, and cases are rising fast. During the first week of October, more than 4,400 RSV infections were detected by PCR tests. That's more than triple what the levels were just two months ago. And some states are already in crisis mode. Illinois only has six percent of pediatric ICU beds left, and space is running out so fast at the Connecticut Children's Hospital that they have had to treat patients in the hallway and in the playrooms. CNN's Brian Todd has more.

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REBECCA, MOTHER OF FIVE-YEAR-OLD WITH RSV: The drive to the emergency room was really scary and really intense.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This mother of a five-year-old who was hospitalized with difficulty breathing told us of an anxious drive to the emergency room.

REBECCA: Things have actually gotten worse since we were admitted. I have seen starting last night that he is progressively having a harder time breathing.

DR. RUTH KANTHULA, PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES SPECIALIST, MEDSTAR, GEORGETOWN: RSV is one of the scariest infections to see in a child, especially when it's in your baby. So you will see your baby breathing really, really fast, and you feel like there is nothing that you can do.

TODD: Around the country doctors are reporting a spike in cases of RSV, Respiratory Syncytial Virus, a common respiratory illness that is occasionally severe in babies and young children. Pediatric hospital beds are more full now than they have been in the last two years. Some children's hospitals are overwhelmed, scrambling to make space, using tents. And it's only October. Why is it spiking this year? Experts say one key reason is because kids are back in school after the pandemic. Many children haven't built up their immune systems, and masks and social distancing are a thing of the past.

KANTHULA: For these kids, this is the first time they are seeing a lot of three viruses.

TODD: RSV symptoms sometime seem similar to cold and flu -- runny nose, decrease in appetite, coughing, sneezing, wheezing, and fever.

KANTHULA: You should think about bringing your child to the emergency room when you notice that your child is having what we call respiratory distress or increased work of breathing. And so that's typically characterized by breathing really fast and a difficulty catching their breath.

DR. JIM VERSALOVIC, PATHOLOGIST-IN-CHIEF, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: That should be an alarm for any parent. We can see this disease rapidly progress, that children need attention quickly.

TODD: There is no vaccine and no specific remedy, but severe cases can be treated it in a hospital with fluids, oxygen, or even a ventilator, and icepacks to bring down the fever.

ZOEY GREEN, MOTHER OF FOUR-MONTH-OLD WITH RSV: I don't know how, but she slept with those icepacks on top of her.

TODD: Four-month-old Lindy Green was taken by ambulance and admitted at Cook Hospital in Houston.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Started running a pretty significant fever, not eating as much.

TODD: Doctors say to avoid RSV, surfaces in your home, have kids wash hands, cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing, don't share things like toys and cups, and avoid close contact like kissing or cuddling. For cases that don't require hospitalization, keep a child hydrated and give Tylenol or Motrin if they have a fever.

KANTHULA: Day five is the peak of symptoms. So parents will notice that their child might be more uncomfortable day five. And then their symptoms resolve and they get better.

TODD: Dr. Ruth Kanthula says what worries her about this uptick in RSV cases is unlike previous years when the virus was seasonal and predictable, this time, she says, it has the potential to circulate beyond next spring when it might normally subside and extend into next summer or possibly even beyond.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WALKER: This morning we are just over two weeks from the midterm elections when control of the House and Senate is up for grabs. And millions of people have already turned out to vote in crucial races across the U.S. New numbers show nearly 6 million ballots have been cast in 39 states, potentially pointing another election cycle with high voter turnout.

[10:10:06]

SANCHEZ: With Americans facing high inflation and gas prices, the economy is the top issue heading into November 8th. Republicans and Democrats are now working overtime to drive their message home to voters to mobilize their respective bases. Yesterday, a key portion, though, of President Biden's economic message took a road -- hit a roadblock. An appeals court pausing his student debt relief plan. That decision coming the same day President Biden hit the campaign trail touting Democratic wins on the economy and slamming Republicans who oppose the loan forgiveness plan.

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JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want to hear it from MAGA Republicans, officials who had hundreds of thousands of dollars of debts, even millions of dollars in pandemic relief loans, forgiven who now are attacking me for helping working class and middle class Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: All right, CNN's Nadia Romero joining us now live from Atlanta where a Senate race could determine the balance of power in Washington. And Nadia, I voted early just the other day, and you really can feel the enthusiasm amongst the people. What are you seeing?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Amara, it is so many people who want to come out and vote early. We saw record turnout here in the state of Georgia because the national spotlight is back on Georgia, and that Senate race could flip the Senate back to Republican control. And so that's why it's so important for many people, I spoke with voters out today and the last couple of days, who want to vote early to make sure they don't have any interruptions and nothing comes up in their personal lives that would prevent them from voting.

So we are here at a polling location in Fulton County. This is where you have the majority of your population here in the state of Georgia, and you already have seen the most ballots cast so far in Fulton County as well. So you can see signs here everywhere letting people know that this is an early voting site. Now, your regular polling location for the election is not the same potentially as an early voting site. So people want to make sure they come to the right place. And then you'll just walk right inside these doors. On the other side you can drop off your absentee ballot or vote in person. This has been such an important election cycle. And I want you to take

a look at the numbers. We have about 7 million registered voters in the state of Georgia, already active voters. About 3.6 million of them are white, 2 million are black. And the first day of early voting was on Monday, and we saw record turnout. More than 131,000 people voted early in person on Monday. And if you compare that to 2018, our last midterm election, you are talking about 71,000. So that's an increase of 85 percent. That just speaks to how many people know that it's important to participate in our elections.

Now, there have been efforts over the past two years to really decrease early voting, to take away ballot boxes in certain locations. If you talk to Republicans, they say it's about voter security. If you talk to Democrats, they say it's about limiting that right to vote because early voting tends to favor Democrats. They are people who lean more left on the political spectrum.

We spoke with people who came out today who said they are concerned about the governor's race, Governor Kemp is the incumbent, going up against Stacey Abrams, the Democrat, who has made really national waves because of her advocacy for voting. And then you have the Senate race, of course, Reverend Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. That has gotten a lot of attention because of some of the scandals that have come out of that race as well. Amara, Boris?

SANCHEZ: All eyes will be on Georgia. Some big races there on election night. Nadia Romero, thank you so much.

So as we mentioned earlier, one component of the president's midterm message has been put on hold. A federal appeals court pausing the president's plan for student debt relief.

WALKER: CNN's Jasmine Wright joining us now. Jasmine, that forgiveness program was a key point the White House hoped would motivate voters. What's the White House saying now?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, it's a tough blow to the president's agenda and is leaving folks to question how long will it last, because the White House had identified Sunday as the first day where borrowers could start to see potentially some of that debt being canceled. But of course, now, that is going to be pushed back. The appeals court gave the White House until Monday to respond to their administrative hold, and then those who brought the challenge have until Tuesday to respond to the White House, pushing those some days along.

Of course, it comes at a precarious time here for the White House as we're just under three weeks to the midterm election. And as you can see on the screen here, President Biden on Friday finally started to lean into this controversial executive order, really touting the benefits of who would benefit from this student debt cancellation. He said that 22 million people had signed up in the first week that that website was live.

[10:10:01] And really as the White House is trying to galvanize voters with their -- particularly young voters and young black voters. So President Biden also in that speech, he slammed Republicans for those who do not want him to continue with this plan. In response to this administrative hold, the White House press secretary Karine Jean- Pierre in a statement, she encouraged applicants to continue applying online, and she said that "We will continue to move full speed ahead in our preparations and compliance with the order. And the administration will continue it to fight Republican officials suing to block our efforts to provide relief to working families." So the White House, obviously, here is not backing down and wants to go full steam ahead with trying to cancel debt.

WALKER: All right, it's a short timeframe to rectify that. Jasmine Wright, appreciate it, thank you.

SANCHEZ: Let's expand the conversation now on the midterm elections with the director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, Larry Sabato. Larry, great to have you. Appreciate you joining us this weekend. How big of a factor do you think this legal challenge of the student debt plan might play in the midterms?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Well, it could play a big role because if you look at the Democratic electorate, young people are the most pro-Democratic of any age cohort, and they are also least likely to vote in the midterm election. Now, they have shown more interesting this year mainly because of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. But this issue relates very much to them and also to older people who are still paying off their debts.

So if Democrats' positioned this well, if they use the combination of the Republican opposition to the loan forgiveness program together with the Republican opposition to Roe v. Wade, they might be able to stimulate a larger turnout among the youth age cohort.

SANCHEZ: Speaking of turnout, new numbers show voters have really poured some enthusiasm ahead of Election Day into the ballot box, including in Georgia, a midterm record on the first day of early voting. Do you have any indication as to which party this kind of turnout is benefiting right now?

SABATO: Well, generally speaking, especially with early turnout, Democrats do better than Republicans, in part because Republicans prefer to vote on Election Day. So to the extent that you have a robust turnout in Georgia and elsewhere prior to the election, that's certainly a good sign for Democrats.

Of course, you never know what the turnout on Election Day is going to be. It probably will be strong. The indicators are that enthusiasm levels are up for both sides. So it might be a wash in the end, or this early indication could be a good sign for Democrats in certain states like Georgia.

SANCHEZ: Yes. I'm curious about what races specifically you are watching as we talk about those in Georgia, very competitive Senate races there. Where else in the map is your focus going to be on election night?

SABATO: Certainly Arizona. You rarely have a contrast in tickets the way you have in Arizona on a wide range of issues, but certainly on election denialism and democracy. So that is a key race, not just for Arizona, not just for the 2024 presidential election, but for American democracy.

But there are loads of states that have very competitive battles that will determine the composition of the Senate and the House. Nevada would be another choice. A whole bunch of them in the Midwest and, like Ohio and Wisconsin as well as North Carolina. Iowa now has come on the board. So there are a lot of races that we're watching. And any single race for the Senate could really determine the makeup of the Senate for the next two years.

SANCHEZ: It's a 50-50 split right now. So it could go either direction. There is a new poll from "The New York Times" that finds 49 percent of likely voters support Republican congressional nominees, 45 percent back Democrats. What are the chances, you think, that the Democrats can buck history and keep control of Congress in these midterms?

SABATO: Elections are crazy. Unpredictable things happen every two years. Having said that, it will be a real shock if the Democrats are able to hold the House. The Republicans only need to pick up net five seats. And I would be surprised if they didn't pick up multiples of the number that they need.

So even 49, 46 seems close, and the overall polling average essentially has Democrats and Republicans tied around 46 percent for the House. But that isn't good enough for Democrats.

[10:15:00]

They need a lead, a substantial lead of at least several points, maybe more than that, in the generic ballot, and they don't have it. Now, there are two weeks remaining. President Biden was right the other day when he said there is still enough time for another shift. We've had a rollercoaster election, Democrats ahead, Republicans ahead, the Democrats ahead, now Republicans ahead. So the final two weeks are absolutely critical for early voting and for the Election Day vote. Too early to call things definitively, but I think the Republicans are clear favorites for the House.

SANCHEZ: And which House races are you watching most closely? We talked about the Senate. Are there any House races that you think could be a bellwether on that Tuesday night that will give you an indication of where Congress is going to lean?

SABATO: You have to look at the east coast, obviously. You will have the results at least in races that are separated by a few points between the candidates. I'm in Virginia. I would pick Virginia's second district in the Virginia Beach area. The incumbent, Elaine Luria, as a member of the January 6th committee, has received a lot of national attention because of that. She is opposed by a Republican, Jen Kiggans, with a military background, a nurse, in the state Senate. It's a very evenly matched contest. And if that flips from Democratic to Republican, to me it's an early indication, again, not definitive, but early indication that the House will probably go Republican.

SANCHEZ: Larry Sabato, always appreciate the expertise. Thanks.

SABATO: Thank you.

WALKER: Still ahead, relentless attacks and rolling blackouts, Russia unleashes a new round of strikes on Ukraine, pushing the country's power grid to the brink. We're going to have the latest from Ukraine next.

And a demand for documents and an order to testify. The January 6th committee hits former President Trump with a formal subpoena. Will he comply? And what does it mean for his looming legal troubles?

Plus, a significant move in the effort to relocate and process migrants. The city of El Paso stopped sending them to New York City. We're live at one of the encampments set up near the city to handle the surge.

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[10:21:24]

WALKER: New developments this morning out of Ukraine. Officials say power is out after a barrage of Russian strikes across the country. Energy infrastructure was the main target once again. The strikes come as Ukraine sounds the alarm over an alleged Russian plot to blow up a major river dam. If it's destroyed -- excuse me -- that would cause not only major flooding downstream, but also possible safety risks at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

SANCHEZ: Let's go to CNN international diplomacy editor Nic Robertson who is live for us in Kyiv. Nic, how is Ukraine responding to these latest attacks?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Ukraine has responded to these attacks by focusing its air defenses on the major, major cities, Kyiv, Odessa in you south, Lviv, and the far west of the country. So when the strikes came in today, the intercepts were here in Kyiv, the intercepts were in Lviv, and there were intercepts in Odessa. A couple of missiles in Odessa did get through.

But what the Russians have been doing is sort of probing to see where the air defenses are weakest. So they hit a whole cluster of towns, five different towns in the west of the country, a number of towns south of here and in the center of the country. So Russia is finding out where the weaknesses are in the air defenses, and it's taking a toll. These are accumulative effects, 1.5 million Internet subscribers weren't able to use their Internet here today, 11 different regions, 11 regions of the country have had rolling blackouts imposed. Some hospitals are without water now. That has been taken in, in some cases by bus. Some places the air defense warning system, that's also been taken down by these electricity outages. So now the police have to drive around and warn the citizens by loudspeaker when airstrikes are coming in.

All of this is attritional, and the Russians strategically now trying to take out power supply network across the smaller towns and cities in the country.

SANCHEZ: And Nic, the Russian-backed authority in Kherson is telling residents there to leave immediately because shelling is intensifying. Where are they expected to go?

ROBERTSON: Well, Russia is trying to force them to go east towards Russia across the river. It's telling them to get out, cross the river, cross the big strategic Dnipro River, and get out of town. CNN has been talking indirectly with a resident in the town, and this person says, look, there is barely anyone here. There are very few lights on in the town because most people have gone. She said the residents who are there don't want to leave. Those that did leave, she said, did it under duress.

Russia is really telling residents there that they absolutely have to get out. Ukrainian officials say that they are turning the elevators off in some of the apartment blocks to force people out of there. And Ukraine is worried because they believe Russia is going to blow up this dam, which would flood the area nearby and upstream, deny the nuclear power plant of the cooling water from the river that's needed to keep it safe.

SANCHEZ: Nic Robertson reporting live from Kyiv in Ukraine. Thank you so much, Nic.

New this morning, CNN has learned that the White House is engaged in talks with Elon Musk about the possibility of setting up SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service inside Iran. That's according to multiple officials familiar with those discussions.

WALKER: The previously unreported conversations come as the Biden administration searches for ways to support the ongoing protests in Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who died while being detained by Tehran's so-called morality police. CNN's Natasha Bertrand has the latest.

[10:25:09]

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Biden administration officials tell me and my colleague Alex Marquardt that the White House has been in talks with Elon Musk about the possibility the of setting up SpaceX's satellite internet service Starlink inside Iran as a way to potentially support the protests that erupted across the country just over a month ago. Now, the Iranian regime has been severely restricting the protesters' access to the internet and ability to communicate, and the White House sees Starlink as a compact, easy to use technology that could provide the activists with a relatively simple work around. And some U.S. officials even hope the Starlink's on the ground terminals will one day become as prevalent in Iran as satellite TV dishes.

But there are still some major hurdles that the government and Musk have to overcome before they can get this technology up and running, the biggest being that Starlink satellites require those physical terminals on the ground to connect to and smuggling the units across the border into Iran undetected would be extremely difficult. Additionally, the signals that the terminals emit could be detected by Iran security services who have been waging a brutal and violent crackdown on the protesters.

Now, a senior administration official did acknowledge those concerns and told us that when it comes to more active U.S. government involvement, quote, "without getting into specific technologies, we are considering whether a technology would put those who use it at risk of being identified and harmed by their government in some way."

But we should note here that some critics of this idea have also raised questions about whether the U.S. government should even partner at all with Elon Musk on such a sensitive operation given his recent volatility in his dealings with the U.S. government. As CNN reported last week, Musk's company, SpaceX, had actually been asking the Pentagon to foot the bill for Starlink services in Ukraine. But after that report, Musk abruptly withdrew that request via Twitter, saying that he would continue funding the technology himself and creating even more uncertainty. As one source put it us to, quote, Ukraine needs Musk's technology, but they don't know if he will continue to support them. Boris, Amara?

SANCHEZ: Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much.

The Supreme Court is responding this morning to Lindsey Graham's request to stop his testimony in that special grand jury investigation in Fulton County, Georgia. Now it's up to investigators in Atlanta to respond. We have details when Newsroom returns.

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[10:31:52]

WALKER: A deadline is approaching for investigators looking into the interference in the 2020 election in Georgia. The Fulton County special grand jury now has until Thursday evening to respond to Senator Lindsey Graham's request that the Supreme Court halt a subpoena for his testimony.

SANCHEZ: Graham filed the emergency request with the Supreme Court on Friday. This came after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court ruling that the grand jury could seek his testimony. The latest version of the subpoena issued to Graham by the grand jury demanded his testimony by November 17th.

The House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection made good on its promise to subpoena former President Trump, formally serving him on Friday. It comes as part of an effort to try and get him to testify and hand over a litany of documents and communications by early November. Trump's testimony, though rare for a former president, they say is necessary to close the investigation.

WALKER: Annie Grayer joining us now live with the latest. Hi, there, Annie. So walk us through what's in the subpoena.

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN REPORTER: So Amara and Boris, the January 6th committee subpoena to Donald Trump outlines the committee's belief that Trump was at the center of a multifaceted plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election. And this subpoena relies on evidence that the committee has presented throughout its hearings to make that point.

The subpoena shows that Trump was at the center of a wide-ranging pressure campaign across our government from the Justice Department to state officials to even former vice president Mike Pence to try and get help in this scheme. It paints Trump as orchestrating the fake elector plot where states submitted fake electors to Congress on Trump's behalf. And it says that Donald Trump summoned the violent mob to the capitol on January 6th because Trump knew that some of the protesters that day were armed, and Trump yet did nothing to stop the violence as it unfolded for hours as he watched it on TV.

So in addition to laying all of this out, the committee also is requesting a wide range of documents from Trump, including everyone who he spoke to on January 6th. And the committee is also targeting a specific group of individuals for Trump communications, all of whom have previously not cooperated with the committee, as you can see from this list here. The documents that the committee is requesting Trump to provide by November 4th, and the committee is asking Trump to sit for an under oath deposition either in person or virtually on November 14th.

WALKER: It seems like a long shot that will actually happen. We'll wait for it and watch it closely. Annie Grayer, thank you.

Just days after New York City opened a facility to accept migrants from El Paso, the mayor there now saying they plan to stop sending buses.

[10:35:02]

We have a live report where things stand next.

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WALKER: New developments in the push to get migrants processed. New York Mayor Eric Adams says he has been informed that the city of El Paso will no longer send migrants to New York.

SANCHEZ: This comes days after Adams established two relief centers, including a tent city on New York's Randall's Island. CNN's Gloria Pazmino is now there this morning. Gloria, what are you learning?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Boris, Amara. Now part of the question is whether this tent city behind me is actually going to be ever fully filled to capacity. There is space here for at least 500 single men. But over the last couple of days, the city has seen a marked decrease in the number of migrant arrivals here to the city. And as you said, El Paso has told the city that they plan on no longer sending buses here to New York. [10:40:02]

Now, Mayor Eric Adams has credited a change in the Biden policy, the Biden administration announced a change in policy several days ago. And now Venezuelan migrants are being turned back at the border, and Mayor Adams is crediting that change in policy for the decrease in migrants. Now, El Paso alone has sent more than 10,000 migrants to the city of New York, but now, as the policy changes and the numbers decrease, the mayor says the city still has its work cut out for it. There will still be a need for resources here on the ground.

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MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: We must sit down at the table and have a clear pathway for those seeking to experience the American dream. And I think we have failed to do that for generations. And I'm hoping with the decompressing strategy and a real strategy that the White House put in place, we are finally going to deal with, number one, allowing those who are here to work, to give the financial resources to those who are really carrying the responsibility of those who are coming here to our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: So that was Mayor Eric Adams speaking to CNN's Chris Wallace, and noting that even as migrants may decrease in numbers in their arrivals, there are still thousands of people that are here in the city of New York who will need resources, everything from legal help to housing, connecting families to public school and health care. So the mayor trying to emphasize there that even while the Biden policy may help decrease the numbers, the city is still going to need a lot of help this order to help those who are already here. Boris, Amara?

SANCHEZ: Gloria Pazmino live from Randall's Island, thank you so much, Gloria.

As another busload of migrants from the southern border arrives in New York City this weekend, roughly 21,000 in total since the spring, the issue of immigration is likely going to play a major role in the upcoming midterm elections, and so could Latino voters. The fastest growing voting bloc in the country, Latinos make up about a fifth of registered voters in some key battleground states. And in recent elections, there has been a shift in communities all over the country with more Latinos voting Republican. As I heard directly from some voters, immigration policy is part of the reason why.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ABRAHAM ENRIQUEZ, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, BIENVENIDO: If America is so bad, if America is so -- is such a terrible country to live in, why did 50 migrants die, suffocate in a trailer, to come seek a better life in this country?

SANCHEZ: The grandson of Mexican migrants, Abraham Enriquez, says Democrats are losing support among Latino voters because their rhetoric is out of touch and that their policies allow for what he calls unrestricted immigration. He says hardline policies like those pursued by former President Trump resonate with many voters like him.

ENRIQUEZ: I think Latinos, we don't care really much of what you say. It's what are you going to do, right? So many people are tired of politicians that just speak but don't act. And for the first time we had this political outsider that came in and spoke a lot, but acted even more.

SANCHEZ: Do you feel like either party is addressing that issue well?

CARLOS GOMEZ, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: No. No. Neither party is addressing the issue.

SANCHEZ: Immigration attorney Carlos Gomez stays a sensible, balanced approach so sorely needed but missing.

GOMEZ: And either they talk to their base, they talk to the right or they talk to the left, but they don't come and talk us to. They don't see what we are doing on a daily basis.

SANCHEZ: Justin Stubbs, an independent who supports Bernie Sanders in 2016, says it's the GOP that seems to be paying most attention to the border crisis.

JUSTIN STUBBS, INDEPENDENT VOTER: It just seems like the Republicans care and talk about more, they talk about the border issue a lot more.

SANCHEZ: While the immediate impact of immigration might be felt most strongly by voters here in Texas at the southern border, it's an issue that resonates all over the map.

Including here in Florida where there is also a large Hispanic population and a Republican governor that has taken a hardline stance.

MARIA CORINA VEGAS, DEPUTY STATE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN BUSINESS IMMIGRATION COALITION: This is not a policy. That's a stunt. I'm sorry. That is a stunt.

SANCHEZ: Local pro-immigration advocate Maria Corina Vegas says leaders like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott try to win votes by demonizing outsiders.

VEGAS: And that's what populists do effectively.

SANCHEZ: But the Venezuelan American warns the long-term costs could be devastating.

VEGAS: I never thought I would see that in this country. I saw that in my country. It tore my country apart. And it doesn't matter if it comes from the right or from the left. It's anti-democratic.

SANCHEZ: For Cuban-born entrepreneur Julio Cabrera, the issue of immigration is tied to the economy.

JULIO CABRERA, BUSINESS OWNER: This country moves because of the immigrants and Latinos.

[10:45:00]

SANCHEZ: Sixteen years ago, Cabrera says he was robbed at gunpoint by criminals in Mexico while trying to seek asylum at the southern border with his daughter. Today he is a successful restaurateur in Miami. The American dream, Cabrera says, would be impossible without immigrants. So he has turned off what he called incendiary rhetoric.

CABRERA: Everybody is an immigrant here, and we have done something remarkable for the community.

SANCHEZ: Younger voters like Marvin Tapia, a Colombian American who lives in Miami's little Havana, argued that demographic change is a blessing that more politicians should embrace.

MARVIN TAPIA, COMMUNITY LEADER: We're sharing a country built on immigrants, and we should kind of be proud of that, that we evolve and we grow and we change. Things can't stay the same forever. I believe that growth is pivotal to the growth of a country, especially like the U.S. We should learn from it instead of run from it.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SANCHEZ (on camera): With early voting underway in many states, turnout in the Hispanic community could prove pivotal. In Florida, nearly a million ballots have already been cast. Of course, the question remains whether that recent uptick in support for Republicans among Latinos will continue.

WALKER: Very interesting piece. Thank you, Boris.

Protecting your personal information online, we have a look at just how easy it is for hackers to get your password and how to protect yourself. That is next.

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[10:50:52]

SANCHEZ: If you're worried about having your personal information online stolen, and why would you not be, you are going to want to pay attention to this next report.

WALKER: CNN's Donie O'Sullivan shows us just how easy it is for hackers to get their hands on your personal data, and what you can do to protect yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: So it's been three years since you last hacked me here in Vegas, Rachel.

RACHEL TOBAC, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, SOCIALPROOF SECURITY: Yes.

O'SULLIVAN: You have stolen about $2,500 worth of hotel points.

A lot has changed. There has been a pandemic. There is a new president. I am still wearing the same shirt, though.

R. TOBAC: Oh, yes.

O'SULLIVAN: You have put me in a middle seat.

R. TOBAC: On a five-hour flight.

O'SULLIVAN: Oh, my God. This time, as far as I know, you haven't broken into any of my accounts so far or anything like that?

R. TOBAC: No. I'm about to do that right now.

Most people, when they log into their accounts, they reuse their passwords, or they change it just ever so slightly. And when you do that, if you have been in a breach, which all of us have, that means I can take that password and I can shove that into all the other sites that you log into.

O'SULLIVAN: I have been using quite a few of the same passwords over the years. I have gotten a bit better with some accounts.

R. TOBAC: I guess we'll find out. I am going to go to a data breach repository site and I'm going to put in your email address. You can see here you are involved in 13 breaches just with this email address alone.

O'SULLIVAN: Wow.

Online there are sites that collect all that breached information like email addresses and passwords, and it's likely some of your data is in there, too.

R. TOBAC: We have our first password that I found. Does that look familiar to you, Donie?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes, that's a password I still used today occasionally.

R. TOBAC: OK. So you are using that on LinkedIn?

O'SULLIVAN: Many times.

Tip number one -- don't use the same password for different services. Your password for Gmail should be different to the password for your Instagram. If one of these services gets attacked and your password is leaked, hackers can use it to get into a different site if you are using the same password.

R. TOBAC: The hackers got a lot of information, some of which included a hash. We also were able to crack one of your passwords. The other half is Evan, he's the other half of SocialProof Security. I want to bring him in here and show you what it looked like when he cracked your password.

O'SULLIVAN: Evan emerges from the darkness.

R. TOBAC: Come on in here, Evan. EVAN TOBAC, HEAD OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, SOCIALPROOF SECURITY: I can take all the passwords that we know about you, put it in a word list, and then try 10,000 different little tweaks that you will probably try. I can add a number at the end, I can add a special character. And we did that for your password list, and we cracked one of your new passwords. Is this a password that you use now?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes.

R. TOBAC: How do you feel about that?

O'SULLIVAN: Tip number two -- don't use very similar passwords across different websites if you don't want people like Evan being able to figure out your password.

I should probably go change my passwords. That's not great.

R. TOBAC: It's not.

O'SULLIVAN: So what are the tips for people not to be like me?

R. TOBAC: First and foremost, it is on the companies to avoid getting hacked and prevent breaches like this. Many companies do not use MFA internally, that second step when they are logging in. We need them to use that.

O'SULLIVAN: MFA is Multifactor Authentication, which is when they text you a code or whatever after you put in the password?

R. TOBAC: Text you a code, you look at an app, you have a prompt on your phone. That's your second step. So if I get your password I still can't log into your count because I don't have that code. Do reuse your passwords. If you reuse your passwords across multiple sites, even for sites that you deem silly or kind of throwaway site, I can take that password and I can use it against you. So you have to use long, random, and unique passwords for every single site. I recommend storing it in a password manager, which keeps all of your passwords safe and encrypted and can generate good passwords for you.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WALKER: OK, I have a password manager. But who in the world is imaginative enough to come up with like 70 different passwords that are like 20 characters long?

[10:55:04]

SANCHEZ: And remembering them all. That's the hard part.

WALKER: Password manager, you've got to get the app. Come on, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I don't know.

WALKER: They are encrypted. I'm hacking into your accounts. Just watch.

SANCHEZ: Who knows what you are going to find? Pictures of my dog.

Hey, I'm still trying to figure out why they did that in Vegas. I am going to pitch all my interviews to be from a balcony in Las Vegas. Our producers are yelling that we have to go.

WALKER: We've got to go. We've got to go.

SANCHEZ: Thanks to Donie O'Sullivan for that report.

Yes, and a quick programming note. Make sure to catch an all new episode of "Stanley Tucci, Searching for Italy" tomorrow night at 9:00 right here on CNN. Come on, get the app, Boris. Thanks for watching, everyone.

SANCHEZ: Still much more ahead in the next hour of the CNN Newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield is up next.

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