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Pain and Desperation at the Border; White House Quiet Ahead of Title 42 Ruling; China Easing Covid Restrictions; Heavy Fighting in Eastern Ukraine; GasBuddy Projects $4 Gas; President Heads to St. Croix. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired December 27, 2022 - 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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[09:30:52]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Supreme Court could decide as soon as today if the Trump era immigration policy known as Title 42 will remain in place. That policy enacted as a public health measure during the Covid-19 pandemic allows the federal government to send migrants back to Mexico to await their asylum proceedings. Right now officials say there are 22,000 people sleeping at various border towns in Mexico waiting for a decision. The Texas National Guard announced last night its built two miles of fencing at its border with Mexico and the El Paso area and plans to continue to build more.

Rosa Flores is joining me now from El Paso.

Rosa, what are you seeing this morning?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, good morning.

Well, there's a lot of pain and desperation here. Let me show you around while I tell you what's going on.

We're just outside a church that serves as a shelter overnight. But capacity is about 120, 130. So, a lot of people end up having to sleep on the street because once capacity -- once the church fills up, then there is no more capacity for more.

Now, a lot of these migrants say that they have either desperately waited in Mexico and got tired because Title 42 was never lifted, and/or they decided to just simply cross over illegally because they felt that they couldn't do anything else. They were so desperate.

Now, as you look around, you'll see that there are also a lot of children here. Those are some of the more desperate and heartbreaking stories that we've been hearing out here, just from mothers who say that their child will ask them for food, their child will ask them for something warm and these mothers don't have anything to provide. They will ask them for a bathroom. There are no facilities around here.

Now, these scenes are also duplicated on the Mexican side. Jessica, like you mentioned, you said that there was -- we've learned that about 22,000 migrants are waiting in at least three northern Mexican cities. That's Matamoros, Reynosa, which is across the river from the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, and in Tijuana, near San Diego. Facilities there are also at capacity.

There are individuals who are living either on the streets and in camps. And, again, Jessica, those are the ones who have decided to wait for Title 42 to lift. There's many who are not waiting. Those are - those are the ones you see around me. Those decided to either turn themselves into authorities or to enter the U.S. illegally.

Jessica.

DEAN: Rosa Flores for us in El Paso, Texas. Thank you so much for that reporting, Rosa.

And so far the Biden administration has not laid out any kind of formal plan for this surge of migrants.

Joining me now is Seung Min Kim, White House reporter for the "Associated Press."

Seung Min, it's great to see you.

President Biden is headed out for an end of the year vacation. He'll be gone until the new year. What happens if the Supreme Court makes this decision today or in the next few days?

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So, we have been asking -- and the White House has been asked repeatedly, what is your plan if -- once Title 42 lifts? We thought this was going to happen last week. Obviously, there has been a delay put in place by the Supreme Court. But, as you said, a ruling could come as early as today, any day now.

And what the White House has laid out is that for now they are surging resources to the border to the limited capacity they can have. They have more processing coordinators. Right now, earlier this month, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, gave us a figure, that 23,000 Border Patrol agents were down at the southern border working to deal with this impending crisis, but they haven't really laid out a comprehensive strategy for what they will do once Title 42 lifts.

And, you know, I've talked to Democratic senators who are not pleased with how the administration has been handling this. I talked with Mark Kelly, the Democratic senator from Arizona, who is clearly seeing the impact of this -- of this situation in his home state.

[09:35:02]

And he said the administration hasn't laid out a clear enough plan for me. And that is the pressure that they're - that the Biden administration is seeing right now from members of its own party.

DEAN: And immigration is an issue that's vexed Congress for decades.

KIM: Right. DEAN: They just have not been able to get this done, despite many -- several attempts. At the end of the year there was another attempt from independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Senator Thom Tillis. We know that the Democratic whip, Dick Durbin, had wanted to do something on immigration.

Where does this go from here because just a reminder to everyone, the Democrats will lose the House in January when Republicans take over. How do you see this playing out in Congress, if at all?

KIM: It doesn't go too far from where things were left off. And we know that Republicans are coming in and taking the House majority in just a matter of days and that is a party that has not seen or not shown a lot of interest in doing a comprehensive immigration fix like the - like the types that Senator Sinema and Tillis were talking about, like the types of changes that had been discussed in Washington for decades now but when -- but Congress has really struggled to get there.

And you do see how, you know, the White House's hands are so tied by Congress, even when they're talking about the Title 42 situation. You know, when you ask the White House about Title 42 and the Republican criticisms that -- or the criticisms from Republicans that -- about the Biden administration's border policy, they said, well, Congress hasn't fixed this problem. Congress, for decades, could have done something to really reform the system, both on the security side and on the legal immigration side, on the illegal immigration side, and they've done nothing.

And also remember the White House was also very -- pushing heavily for Congress to send them more funding to deal directly with this crisis, and they didn't get all that money that they wanted in this latest round of spending talks. So that's making it even tougher for them.

DEAN: Even harder. Yes. And not - not a lot of possibility there in the new year for Congress to tackle that.

Seung Min Kim, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Well, travel to and from China will become a lot easier in the new year as the Chinese government relaxes Covid rules, but it could trigger other countries to put restrictions back in place. We're going to have the latest from Beijing. That's next.

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[09:42:18]

DEAN: New this morning, Chinese health officials say they will scale back how often they report Covid-19 data. Just one more step the country is taking as it moves rapidly away from its zero Covid policy.

CNN international correspondent Selina Wang is in Beijing with details on major changes in travel restrictions as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: China is making a major move towards ending the country's nearly three years of isolation. China is dropping quarantine for all international arrivals from January 8th and promising to gradually restart outbound tourism for Chinese citizens. Inbound travelers still need to get a 48 hour negative Covid test before boarding, but they dropped all of the other cumbersome requirements.

To understand why these changes are such a big deal, we have to look at what the reality has been in China during the pandemic. The country has been severely limiting who can go in and out of the country with strict border controls. Flights have been very limited and expensive. All arrives had to go through quarantine in government facilities.

I went through multiple quarantines myself, including 21 days earlier this year. And we're talking about harsh quarantines. No choice in where you get sent, no opening your door except for food pickups and Covid tests. All of that is now going away. This new change would effectively also end the ban on Chinese citizens for going overseas for non-essential reasons.

But the timing is still unclear. Authorities have not said when they'll restart issuing tourist visas or allowing foreigners to apply for business, study or family reunion visas. But, finally, people are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Online searches for popular international travel destinations on China's travel booking site Seatrip (ph) jumped ten times within an hour of when this announcement was made.

I've also spoken to a few Chinese citizens who have been stuck overseas for years. They are overjoyed and relieved that finally there's a way for them to see family. But there's also some bitterness over how long this has taken. They've already missed so many important moments, family deaths, births, reunions.

But in response to this change, other countries are starting to issue restrictions on travelers from China. Japan announced travelers from the country will be tested for Covid upon arrival. Japan's prime minister also said the country will restrict plans to increase flights in and out of China. India announced similar Covid testing guidelines. Authorities in India said the guidelines are aimed at ensuring Covid does not spread as quickly as it has been in China.

Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.

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DEAN: Selina, thank you.

New this morning, Taiwan is extending its mandatory military service for all eligible men to counter the rising threat from China. The time requirement will jump from four months to a year starting in 2024. And that's a major u-turn for Taiwan, which had previously shortened conscription as recently as 2018.

[09:45:02] Taiwan's president now says four months can, quote, no longer suit the needs of Taiwan's defense.

Turning now to Russia's war on Ukraine. This morning heavy fighting reported in parts of the country including Bakhmut, Kreminna, and other areas in the Donbas. All this as Russia demands Ukraine abide by its proposed peace talks, which includes the demilitarization and so- called denazification of the regime controlled territories.

CNN's senior international correspondent Will Ripley is joining me now live.

Will, what's the latest from where you are right now?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, the air raid sirens have just lifted here in Lviv, which is certainly welcome news, although what the Ukrainians think that Russia is doing is sending strategic bombers up into the air potentially to see how Ukraine responds and then plan accordingly because the Ukrainians are bracing for a potential attack either on New Year's Eve or before to try to devastate once again civilian infrastructure targets primarily, but also military targets, across this battle scarred country. Nine million people have been affected by these blackouts as a result of Russian attacks. That's according to Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who warned of dark, difficult days ahead and also saying the situation on the front lines in the Donbas and also to the south continue to be very dark and very painful, which is an unspoken way of referring to likely heavy casualties on both sides as both sides take a relentless pounding from each other. The artillery war on the front lines has been absolutely horrific.

Also, in the cyber realm, Ukraine says that some 4,500 cyberattacks have been waged against this country just in the last year. That's a threefold increase over just two years ago.

The rhetorical escalation, of course, continues. You heard the Russian foreign minister using that word denazification. They love to say that the current government, the democratically elected government here in Regin (ph) is somehow allied with Nazis. That's one of their propaganda messages that they, you know, tell the Russian public to try to justify this war.

And on the Ukrainian side, its foreign minister is calling for Russia to be removed from the United Nations Security Council. It's one of five, you knew, permanent members, which gives them veto power to any resolutions to punish them for their brutality against civilians here in Ukraine.

Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Will Ripley for us in Lviv. Thanks so much for that reporting.

Still ahead this morning, a CNN exclusive. A new forecast on how much you could be spending at the gas pump next year.

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[09:51:28]

DEAN: A first on CNN, an exclusive this morning. GasBuddy is now predicting the U.S. will see a $4 a gallon gas as early as May. But don't expect the same chaos at the pump we saw earlier this year.

CNN's Matt Egan is joining us now.

Matt, what does this mean for Americans' bottom line?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Jessica, you know, after a year of painfully high gas prices, there is some encourages news here. GasBuddy is projecting that next year the national average will be $3.49 a gallon. Now, that is down roughly 50 cents from this year. And so that means that Americans may be spending a little less at the gas station and have a little bit more money for everything else in life. It would transfers to about $55 billion less spending by U.S. consumers on gasoline. That translates to almost $300 on average per family for the whole year.

So, all of that is the good news.

There is some bad news, though, here, and that is that GasBuddy does expect gas prices to go up this spring and summer as Americans hit the road again. They see the national average going from about $3.10 a gallon today to as high as $4.05 a gallon as soon as May and topping out at $4.25 a gallon next year.

Now, GasBuddy does not expect a repeat of the $5 a gallon that we saw this past June, but they do see prices going higher.

Listen to what GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan told me about what to expect next year.

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PATRICK DE HAAN, HEAD OF PETROLEUM ANALYSIS, GASBUDDY: 2023 is not going to be a cakewalk for motorists. It could be expensive. And it could be made either better or worse depending on the luck of the draw, that is refineries have been a tremendous story of importance this year. And if anything should disrupt refineries, we could again be seeing prices that are unseasonably high.

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EGAN: And it's not just refineries here that is a major wild card. There's also the risk of hurricanes. There's the war in Ukraine. There's China's rapid reopening from Covid potentially. All of that could drive prices even higher. And then, on the other hand, there's risk to the downside. I mean if the economy really stumbles this year, there are some economists warning of a recession. We could see prices go lower.

Jessica, at the end of the day, hopefully after a brutal year of inflation, Americans get some relief in 2023. DEAN: Yes, just a little break at least.

Matt Egan for us. Thanks so much for breaking that down.

In a few hours, President Biden will leaves for the U.S. Virgin Islands to celebrate the new year there with his family. But, as you can imagine, he's not leaving his work behind. It will follow him.

CNN's chief White House correspondent Phil Mattingly is at the White House this morning.

Phil, it's always good to see you.

He's still got to sign that $1.7 trillion spending plan.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right. And let's hope he does it for both your day job and mine.

DEAN: Yes.

MATTINGLY: In effect this is a deadline at the end of the week. Now, the expectation is that bill will be signed. And it will serve kind of as a coda for just a remarkable turnaround over the course of the last 12 months. As you know well, Jess, I mean think back to January and where the president's legislative agenda actually stood, if you could say it was standing at all. And then flash forward to now. It is the end of a two-year period where the largest components of President Biden's economic agenda, domestic agenda, have not only gotten through Congress, many in a bipartisan manner, but are now being implemented in a very significant way.

And I think when you talk to White House officials as they kind of take stock of these first two years and look ahead at what's next, they believe that will be critical going forward. The implementation of the infrastructure law, of the manufacturing bills that they put in place, the economic and climate proposal that was really a cornerstone of that agenda, that will be a focus going forward.

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There's no question about it.

But so will a reshaped Washington. When President Biden returns from his vacation to St. Croix, one day later Republicans will vote on the next speaker of the House. They don't know who exactly that's going to be at this point in time. But whether it's Kevin McCarthy or somebody else, it will be a very different environment than it has been for the first two years. The White House has been preparing for that legislatively on investigations, kind of how things move forward, but that will tell a big story over the next two years. So, too, of course, Jess, what the president decides about re-election. That is something he's expected to discuss on this vacation.

DEAN: And that is looming.

Phil Mattingly for us at the White House. Thanks so much.

Just ahead, thousands of people stranded at airports all across the country as Southwest Airlines experiences a meltdown. We're live in Chicago and Atlanta as people try to find a way to get to where they're going.

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