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Four Dead In Mass Shooting Tied To Birthday Party, 28 Injured; Biden Calls Gun Violence In America Outrageous And Unacceptable; Signs Inflation Is Easing, But Economy Facing More Hurdles; Pro-DeSantis PAC Goes After Trump In New Ad; "The Whole Story" With Anderson Cooper Premieres At 8 P.M. ET; Impact Of Migrant Surge On Border Cities; Interview With Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX). Aired 7-8p ET
Aired April 16, 2023 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:48]
JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.
Details are slowly trickling out of Dadeville, Alabama, site of last night's mass shooting. A news briefing last hour provided us with some new information. Four people are confirmed dead. Law enforcement caution, though, that's 28 people were injured, some critically. At least 15 teenagers were shot, we're told, and several, as I just said a few moments ago, they are in critical condition.
The attack took place at a 16th birthday party in this community of 3,000 people. The heartbreak of this small town on full display this evening at a vigil that just got underway within the last hour. You're looking at some pictures that have just recently come into us here at CNN, and we now know one of the people killed, the older brother of the girl celebrating her birthday, Philstavious Dowdell.
There he is right there, smiling. He was days away from graduating and going to Jacksonville State University on a football scholarship.
CNN's Isabel Rosales joins us now from Dadeville.
Isabel, let's start with the suspect. Is there one? I know that police just had that press conference about an hour ago. It sounds as though they're just not saying a whole lot about a suspect at this point.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim. Good evening to you. If I can first tell you that just here in the last five minutes, we saw police officers actually taking down the emergency tape. So now access is being allowed back onto this road. We're seeing people curious about the situation going up to that dance studio where this shooting happened at a Sweet 16th birthday party.
We did here in the last hour from Sergeant Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. And yes, we frankly did not hear any details about the shooter. They have been claiming, ALEA, these law enforcement officers, they've been claiming that there is no public safety concern, but they have not answered any questions regarding the status of the shooter. What we did find out in this press conference is that the death toll
remains at four people killed and for the first time they have put a number to the amount of people that have been injured, and that is 28 people, 15 of which we know from our reporting earlier in the day are teenagers, five of which at least are critical.
Right now we know from law enforcement that they are busy at work trying to piece this together. They're speaking with witnesses. They're trying to gather those details, calling this a fluid situation, but saying that they are not in a rush, that this is a methodical process to ensuring justice. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. JEREMY BURKETT, ALABAMA LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: We've got to have information from the community. So if you are at home right now or you know somebody that has any information about what occurred last night, I cannot stress this enough, every how mad you think it is, we absolutely need you to share it. So again, please reach out to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: And Jim, I just spoke with my producer, Kevin Conlan, who went up there and could see at the top of the glass, bullet holes. So that's probably what these folks are looking closer at, at that door right there, that glass door.
We did speak with a deejay who was there in the middle of it all, covering that Sweet 16th birthday party, Keenan Cooper, who says he did not hear a fight or any sort of disturbance before the shooting, and it appeared that someone just started firing from within the party. And then he just saw the bodies of teenagers dropping -- Jim.
ACOSTA: Just so shocking. All right. Isabel Rosales, thank you very much.
A couple of hours ago, I spoke with local pastor who helped comfort the students and parents at a local hospital last night. Senior pastor Ben Hayes also serves as the chaplain for the Dadeville Police Department as well as Dadeville High School's football team. Here's some of that conversation about how his community is holding up today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN HAYES, SENIOR PASTOR, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN DADEVILLE: We're a closeknit community, a small town. Everyone knows everyone else.
[19:05:04]
We're all connected. The roots in this community go deep and wide. And I think at this point everyone is still in shock. Disbelief that this happened because things like this do not happen in Dadeville. That's not who we are. But the community is coping and I think we'll see ourselves come out of this stronger and better than before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And do you have any idea what happened? How did we have a situation where kids are gathered for a Sweet 16 birthday party and all of a sudden, there's a mass shooting?
HAYES: Well, it was a large group. They were having a good time at their birthday party. It was a family gathering with friends and fellow students that had come out to celebrate this young lady's birthday. And then as things happen, people do stupid stuff, and we see someone pulled a gun and start shooting. There are rumors and innuendos about what started it, but I'm not sure if we have any true motives at this point.
ACOSTA: Somebody pulled a gun inside the party, is that what you're hearing? Or was it somebody outside shooting into the party?
HAYES: Yes, it was someone inside the party that had come. He was from outside of our community, but he was at the party and he began shooting and kept shooting as he was backing away.
ACOSTA: And any sense as to what the motive might be?
HAYES: No, there have been things stated. It was some teenage drama where boys and girls just got tied up and things that were above their heads and angers, tempers flared and the gun was drawn. But nobody knows really for sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And Pastor Hayes also said that tonight his community is celebrating those who lost their lives and honoring last night's first responders. Of course, we're just showing you a little while ago they held a vigil there in the community of Dadeville, trying to remember those kids who were lost in that shooting last night.
We'll stay on top of it. Any new developments we'll bring that to you.
In the meantime, the White House is weighing in again on gun violence in America in the wake of the Alabama shooting in recent mass shootings in Louisville and Nashville. President Biden says gun violence rates in the U.S. are outrageous and unacceptable.
CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz joins us now with the latest.
Arlette, what's the president saying?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, President Biden said the nation is once again grieving following that shooting in Alabama, as well as the shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, overnight, and the president, in a statement this evening, voiced his frustration over the fact there has been inaction on gun reform in the wake of the recent mass shootings.
The president in the statement said, quote, "What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear, when parents have to worry every time their kids walk out the door to school, to the movie theater or to the park. Guns are the leading killer of children in America, and the numbers are rising, not declining." He added, "This is outrageous and unacceptable. Americans agree and want lawmakers to act on commonsense gun safety reforms."
The president urged lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to come together to pass things like an assault weapons ban and universal background checks. But the political reality up on Capitol Hill is that the votes just simply are not there to get that passed and there hasn't been much talk about gun reform measures to be enacted in the wake of those wave of mass shootings that we've seen over the past few weeks.
ACOSTA: And Arlette, President Biden also addressed Republican candidates at the recent NRA convention that took place in Indianapolis. What did he have to say about that?
SAENZ: Yes, Jim, President Biden called out the Republican elected officials who spoke at that NRA convention, saying that those Republicans were siding with NRA efforts to at what he described a road for gun safety in this country. Now one of those Republicans who was at that event was former President Donald Trump, who said that there's not a gun problem in this country. Instead it's an issue that pertains to mental health.
But the president did go on to praise in this statement at least one Republican and that is the governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee, who recently signed an executive order strengthening background checks in the state in the wake of that devastating shooting at the Covenant School just a few weeks ago, but the president and many Republicans still appear to be on completely different ends of the spectrum when it comes to gun reform.
Of course, they passed some modest reforms last summer, but there has just not been any movement towards other actions in the wake of these shootings.
ACOSTA: All right. Arlette Saenz, thank you very much.
Arlette mentioned that shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, overnight shots were fired into a large crowd at a park on the city's west side. Two people were killed and four injured. That happened at around 9:00 p.m. last night when hundreds of people were there. Police say they're working to identify a suspect or suspects and have no motive at this point.
[19:10:09]
Tonight, a remarkable and dangerous journey CNN brings you along as migrants make a treacherous journey in hope of a better life. It's the premiere of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," next hour on CNN. A special preview is just ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: The economy is not out of the woods yet by any means. That message from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to CNN. Our Christine Romans has more in tonight's "Before the Bell."
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jim. New evidence inflation is cooling. Banking woes raising the risk, though, of a recession and the American consumer pulled back a bit in March.
Let's look at inflation first. The Fed's tough medicine may finally be working. Consumer inflation, the slowest in almost two years. Prices rose 5 percent on an annual basis. In February, it was 6 percent marking the largest swing in more than eight years.
[19:15:04]
Meanwhile, on the producer level, wholesale inflation slid dramatically as well. An annual rate of 2.7 percent is the lowest level for producer prices since January, 2021.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK HAMRICK, SENIOR ECONOMIC ANALYST, BANKRATE: Well, I think people are weary and wary of inflation. And you know, this has been this has been something that stuck around longer and at higher levels and just about anyone foresaw.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Despite improving news on inflation, banking strains are still a concern. According to notes from the Fed's March meeting, officials believe the fallout from the banking crisis is likely to tilt the economy into a recession, a mild recession later this year. However, the White House is confident the U.S. banking system remains sound and stable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAEL BRAINARD, WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISER: Banks are showing some signs of pulling back a little bit on credit that actually could do some of the Federal Reserve's work for them, but in terms of what I see in the economy overall, you know, it's a remarkably resilient economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Jim, housing starts, initial jobless claims, and existing home sales data are all on tap for this week -- Jim.
ACOSTA: Thanks, Christine.
A new campaign ad is out from a super PAC that wants Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to run for president. Maria Cardona, Alice Stewart, they will weigh in on it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:45]
ACOSTA: A new campaign ad out today from a super PAC that wants Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to run for president made its national debut this morning. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump is being attacked by a Democrat prosecutor in New York. So why is he spending millions attacking the Republican governor of Florida? Trump is stealing pages from the Biden-Pelosi playbook, repeating lies about Social Security. Trump should fight Democrats, not lie about Governor DeSantis. What happened to Donald Trump?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Joining us for the discussion, CNN political strategists Alice Stewart and Maria Cardona. They're the co-host of the podcast "Hot Mics from Left to Right."
Alice, let me go to you first. I mean, that almost looks like an ad that the Democrats might run against Donald Trump.
ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Exactly. Here's the thing. We're in the primary process and, you know, it's every man for himself. People are duking it out. But the reality is the Republicans need to work on getting a candidate that can take on Joe Biden and take on his policies that are not working for the American people. We don't need to be ripping a page out of the Pelosi playbook, and Donald Trump is doing the same thing.
He is running ads. One of his ads is basically something that was hinted at and basically tweeted about a month ago, saying go after DeSantis on Social Security and go after DeSantis on Medicare. And Donald Trump did that. I've been at campaigns a long time. That is about the dumbest thing I've ever heard of, is taking advertising advice from Democrats. And look understandably, Donald Trump feels as always against the wall, and he would much rather make up lies about someone else's Social Security payments than his payments to a porn star. So it's no surprise.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Donald Trump is the frontrunner in the Republican primary right now. I really don't think he feels he's against the wall. This was an attack ad. It was completely lame. It was just kind of saying, oh, please don't attack me. Don't do the same thing that the many Democrats are doing right? I mean, it was just absolutely devoid of substance, devoid of a real delineating of what's wrong with Trump's character, which is a lot, devoid of delineating what is wrong with Trump's policies, which is a lot.
And the reason why it couldn't do that is because there really is no difference between the two and that's their problem.
ACOSTA: And it's a sign that maybe some of Trump's attacks on DeSantis are having some effect. They might be working a little bit.
And Alice, let's talk about this. Another mass shooting in America. New statement from President Biden, calling it -- these gun violence rates outrageous and unacceptable. "What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear, when parents have to worry every time their kids walk out of the door to school, to the movie theater, to the park." The NRA just wrapped up a convention and conference in Indianapolis. You had all these major Republican hopefuls appearing there.
Was that a good idea? I mean, we just had this mass shooting in Nashville, another one in Louisville. And then this convention. Would you advise candidates to go to this kind of stuff?
STEWART: Look, it's important to recognize that the NRA is about the grassroots of people in the Republican base for the most part that are supportive of Second Amendment rights, and they want to protect law- biding citizens' right to own firearms. And that is a constitutional right that we have. But it's also important to realize a big part of the NRA is about gun safety. It's about training.
It is about teaching young kids how they -- or kids that want to go hunting with their fathers. How to safely use firearms. And it's important for Republicans who support the Second Amendment to go to this venue and have these conversations. And look, they're not only talking about Second Amendment rights. They're talking about ways that they can prevent gun violence as well. They're talking about -- many of them, many of these candidates would support red flag laws, which would go a long way to preventing violence.
Many of them also are in supportive of a comprehensive plan to address gun violence, which is mental health, which is hardening soft targets, which is school resource officers. So it's not all about guns. It is about all of the components that are part of that.
CARDONA: What this demonstrates, Jim, is that the NRA has taken completely and continues to take the Republican Party hostage, and they are completely powerless to do anything about it. The NRA and the Republican Party as a result are completely out of the mainstream of where the majority of Americans are, and, frankly, a lot of Republicans also want to support common sense gun safety laws that have a lot more to do than just mental health.
[19:25:10]
There are mental health issues in every single country on earth. The United States is the only country that has had more than more than one mass shooting every single day. This one really hit home for me because it was at a Sweet 16. My daughter just had her quinceanera.
Alice, you went to my daughter's quinceanera. I thought about this. And I get welled up because I can't even imagine having been at that party and then having it been disrupted by something like that. And so we have to have change, Jim, and the reality is that the American people are starting to demand it, and the Republican Party is painting themselves in a corner because they have no political will to stand up to what I believe is a terrorist organization like the NRA.
ACOSTA: Well, you know, I have teenagers, too. And you know, I immediately thought the same thing, Maria, when this when this happened today, and it breaks your heart. And it just -- more than that it makes you angry.
CARDONA: Yes.
ACOSTA: We just cannot solve this problem.
CARDONA: Absolutely.
ACOSTA: Kids are -- my kids, my kids' friends are all afraid to go to places where there are going to be a lot of people because of this kind of stuff.
CARDONA: Our kids used to do fire drills at school. They're now doing lockdown drills more than anything else.
ACOSTA: And a lockdown drill does not help you at a Sweet 16 party.
CARDONA: No. No. Exactly. Exactly,
ACOSTA: Alice, Maria, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
CARDONA: Thanks, Jim.
ACOSTA: We're working on a developing story tonight. A mass shooting tied to a teenager's birthday party. We were just talking about that a few moments ago. The latest is coming up next.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:30:41]
ACOSTA: In Dadeville, Alabama, the sheer scale of the bloodshed is horrifying, four people are confirmed dead law enforcement officials telling CNN that 28 other people were injured, at least 15 teenagers were shot and several people we are told at this hour are in critical condition. The attack took place at a 16th birthday party in the community of 3,000 people there in Dadeville, Alabama. This heartbreak that they're all feeling in the small town, all of that was on full display this evening at a prayer vigil that got underway in the last hour.
And we know one of the four people slain in this mass shooting, the older brother of the girl celebrating her birthday, there he is, Philstavious Dowdell. He was just days away from graduating from high school and going to Jacksonville State University on a football scholarship.
You see him in this video right here playing football. Friends described him as just a sports freak. He was excellent at just about every sport he tried.
In an unusual move, at this point, police are not releasing any details of a possible suspect. We're going to stay on top of that, bring you the latest as it comes in here at CNN. Coming up next, CNN brings you along on a dangerous journey through
treacherous jungle. See the risks they're willing to take in hopes of finding a better life as a special preview of tonight's "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:36:29]
ACOSTA: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh and his team recently hiked the entire Darien Gap, a migrant trail connecting South and Central America where thousands of people seek a path to the US. They make the treacherous journey on foot carrying all their possessions as they navigate dense jungles, rushing waters, and steep mountain sides.
But despite the dangers, the number of migrants on this trail only continues to grow. Nick and his crew walked alongside them, and the personal stories they encountered are extraordinary. Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Literally meters from Colombia, the ground turns.
People, as they walk, just discarding their shoes. A real sense of the atmosphere changing now we've crossed the border in to Panama. People clumping together perhaps fearing for their own safety and this mud is just impossibly going to get your feet out of it.
WALSH: This man who didn't want to be named now with nothing on his feet, but his resolve, pause and imagine where you've come from if you're willing to do this barefoot with a woolen sweater and plastic bags, pierce your feet or break an ankle and this mud may be your grave.
(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: God help me. Give me patience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins me now.
Nick, incredible reporting. These conditions, they look just absolutely impossible. What more did you encounter?
WALSH: I mean, certainly you not only have to deal with the natural hazards there, which can involve running out of food, poor water from the rivers, exhaustion, dehydration, snakes that are potentially deadly and at the same time, too the rocks, the terrain, you're clambering over a lot of the time potentially risking damaging yourself and leaving yourself essentially stranded in the middle of the jungle. On top of that, too, there are criminals that prey upon these migrant
groups and that can lead to murder, allegations even of sexual assault, robbery, extortion, as well as a lot of hazards there that we heard from migrants that they encountered very regularly indeed, and witnessed at times, ourselves as well coming across a site where certainly three bodies appear to be the victims of violent death in the past months or so, and other bodies being left along one of the older routes as well, possibly dying from the sheer exertion of being on the trek itself.
It's exceptionally hard, Jim, to undertake this over the five days in which thousands of people appear to every day begin this particular route. If we did the basic math of this sort of 800 or so who left with our group, the hundreds of others who joined from other routes along the way, there can be as many as 6,000 people in the jungle at a time on every given day.
And last year, we saw 250,000 people make the trek, that's a record, and certainly in the first quarter of this year, we are looking at seven times as many people making the walk as did in the first quarter of last year. They're on track at that same rate if it continues, increasing possibly over a million making the walk this year, so far. Startling numbers and so many of them children -- Jim.
ACOSTA: Right, and I was just about to ask you about that, Nick. It's not just the adults making this journey. There are lots of kids that you encountered along the way. Can you tell us about that?
WALSH: Yes. A record number already so far this year, and it is absolutely staggering when you're observing adults, basically bracing themselves for a challenge that they know some in their number may not indeed survive.
There are so many children, some of them incredibly young, that form part of these walking groups, some one, two, three, some being carried by their parents on their parents' backs. Others startlingly with remarkable resilience you often see in children, just clambering up the slopes around them.
Some of them though, do in fact get separated from their parents. Here is one story we saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH (voice over): The football shirts are porters, each numbered charging to carry bags, even children uphill.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: Hey, my Kings. My Queens.
Whoever feels tired, I am here.
WALSH (voice over): But it doesn't always work out. Wilson is separated from his parents. Their porter raced off ahead.
(NICK PATON WALSH speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: My name is Nick. Nice to meet you.
You are here all by yourself?
(WILSON speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: Yes.
(NICK PATON WALSH speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: You're waiting for your parents?
Where are they?
(WILSON speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: They are behind.
(NICK PATON WALSH speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: Are you going to America.
Where are you going?
(WILSON speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: To Miami.
(NICK PATON WALSH speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: Miami. What do you like about Miami?
(WILSON speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: Daddy is going to build a swimming pool.
(NICK PATON WALSH speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: He will build a pool for you?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
(WILSON speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: To work.
(NICK PATON WALSH speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: What work?
(WILSON speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: School work.
Any my sister has chosen nurse. WALSH (voice over): Nearly a thousand unaccompanied children were
found on the route last year, the UN have said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH (on camera): Now, we can tell you obviously that Wilson there, the little boy you saw was reunited, fortunately, with his parents a couple of days down the line. That isn't always the case, the UN saying that over a thousand you heard last year were potentially not indeed reunited with their parents and found unaccompanied on the route -- Jim.
ACOSTA: And Nick, I'm sure that's just one of countless amazing stories that you've chronicled along the way, that little boy is just precious, but it's just so sad what he is going through and so many of those other migrants.
Nick Paton Walsh, incredible reporting. We're looking forward to seeing more of it. Thanks so much. We appreciate it.
And you'll see Nick's entire incredible story at the top of the hour, so stay tuned for that. It's the first installment of the highly anticipated program, "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper. That's tonight at eight.
So what happens when those migrants reach the US border? We will examine that part of the story and the impact to border cities. They're feeling it, too. That's next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:47:37]
ACOSTA: Even more migrants could make that dangerous trek to the United States once Title 42 ends next month. Title 42 is part of the Federal COVID Emergency that overrode asylum laws and let the US deport migrants to avoid a public health risk.
A larger surge of migrants could overwhelm border towns and facilities and CNN's Rosa Flores is live in El Paso for us to explain what is happening there now and what is being done to prepare for what might be a new surge -- a big surge of migrants. What can you tell us Rosa?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, El Paso could be seeing a surge right now. Let me show you where I'm at.
I'm near downtown El Paso. This is Sacred Heart Church, which is a migrant shelter and all of the migrants that you see out here right now, they are waiting to be allowed into the shelter, but I just talked to the priest who runs this shelter and he says that the shelter is already packed and that most likely all the people who are outside we'll likely have to sleep there for the night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FLORES: Where are we? (FATHER JAVIER CALVILLO speaking in foreign language.)
FLORES (voice over): Father Javier Calvillo runs the Casa Del Migrante shelter in Ciudad Juarez Mexico across the border from El Paso, Texas, and says this is one of about 40 shelters in the city.
(FATHER JAVIER CALVILLO speaking in foreign language.)
FLORES (voice over): And that most of the migrants here are from Venezuela.
FLORES (on camera): The top nationality is Venezuela.
(FATHER JAVIER CALVILLO speaking in foreign language.)
FLORES (voice over): And the majority, if not all, are part of the skyrocketing number of migrants trekking through the dangerous jungle passage between Colombia and Panama known as the Darien Gap. Migrant crossings there have jumped from under 600 in 2010 to nearly a quarter million last year.
This year, nearly 90,000 migrants have made the trek so far, all of them on their way to the US Southern border.
The Biden administration took notice and alongside Colombia and Panama, it launched a two-month campaign to curb the flow of migration.
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We must do more to discourage the dangerous journey.
FLORES (voice over): At the US Southern border, the humanitarian crisis that left hundreds of migrants sleeping on the streets of El Paso in December and January has effectively jumped the border to Mexico, immigration advocates say.
Emotions there, boiled over last month when a large group of migrants rushed the International Bridge to El Paso over frustrations with a cumbersome US asylum process forcing them to wait in Mexico.
(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: Please, we want answers.
FLORES (voice over): That dissatisfaction stemmed from the Trump era pandemic public health rule known as Title 42, which allows immigration agents to swiftly expel migrants back to Mexico.
The Biden administration's expansion of that rule to Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Haitians, and Cubans and the recent launch of an app that allows migrants to set up appointments to enter the US legally pending immigration proceedings under an exception to Title 42.
(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)
TRANSLATION: The App doesn't work. FLORES (voice over): More than 23,000 migrants are in Northern Mexican
cities waiting as Title 42 is set to expire next month according to officials and community leaders. In Tijuana, about 10,000 are waiting. In Reynosa and Matamoros, about 9,800, and in Ciudad Juarez, up to 3,500.
The top 21 countries where they're coming from include places outside the Western Hemisphere. As for who is responsible for the migrant crisis, which appears to ping pong across borders, Father Calvillo says --
(FATHER JAVIER CALVILLO speaking in foreign language.)
FLORES (on camera): The game. The game of politics.
FLORES (voice over): Both the US and Mexico for what he calls the game of politics and policies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FLORES (on camera): Now, this is the alley that's just behind the church and you can see that there are more migrants who are waiting to get into that shelter.
Now the Department of Homeland Security has said that the Biden administration has launched a comprehensive immigration policy that allows for efficiency and fairness and also has legal pathways for migrants to get into the United States like that CBP One App that you saw in that piece.
Now, US Customs and Border Protection says that that CBP One App is working as intended, and despite the complaints from migrants, that it has been used by tens of thousands of migrants to get appointments to come into the United States.
Now, Jim, I have to point out, from reporting from both sides of the border, what is very clear is that the net effect of these policies, what they look like on the ground is a valve. In essence, it's a valve that allows the Federal government to regulate the flow of migration. And in this case, that means as you saw in this piece, there's thousands of migrants waiting in Mexico -- Jim.
ACOSTA: Right. So the question is, what happens when you release the valve? Rosa, what are cities including El Paso doing to prepare for the end of Title 42?
FLORES: You know, Jim, it is cities and also nonprofits all along the US Southern border who are bracing for this, they're also shoring up resources. And I've got to say, arguably, El Paso here where I am has been the epicenter of this current immigration crisis.
We've seen it back in January, there were hundreds of migrants that were sleeping on both sides of the street and also in the alley that you see behind me.
Now, we could be seeing a current spike, take a look at these photos that were tweeted out by the Border Patrol Chief here from El Paso. You'll see from the air and from the ground that those are very large groups of migrants that have turned themselves in. The Chief also tweeting that the average -- the daily average of migrants right now that are turning themselves into authorities is at about 1,400. That's fairly high.
So from talking to city officials here in El Paso, they say that they are preparing, they are shoring up resources. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIO D' AGOSTINO, EL PASO DEPUTY CITY MANAGER: We just don't have enough shelter space in our community.
We know that sheltering is going to be critical, because there's just so many people. If you're receiving a thousand people a day, you can struggle. You start getting above that, it strains our transportation system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: And, Jim, I think one thing is very clear, is that with the new immigration policies, immigration is not stopping, the flow of immigration is not stopping. What the immigration policies are doing right now is simply managing that flow -- Jim.
ACOSTA: All right, Rosa Flores, thank you very much with that excellent report.
Congresswoman Veronica Escobar represents El Paso. She joins us now to take a closer look at the situation.
Congresswoman, I mean, what do you expect to happen? You just heard Rosa Flores' report on what's happening in El Paso and with the end of Title 42. What do you expect to see happen when Title 42 comes to an end?
REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-TX): Well, Jim, thanks so much for talking about this. I'm grateful for CNN's examination of this.
We are seeing a historic refugee crisis across the western hemisphere, and communities like mine are on the frontlines when it comes to receiving migrants and offering shelter space, in trying to keep people moving.
In many respects, we are supporting the Federal government and I think what we are all anticipating is an unprecedented number. I think the numbers that were provided in the story just now, the number of migrants waiting in our Mexican sister cities, I think that's actually very, very low.
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ESCOBAR: I think the numbers are probably 10 times that size, based on what I am hearing. And there are more groups of people who are coming in waves. And we first saw this Jim, in 2014. We've seen a steady increase year
after year after year after year, and Congress has continued to treat immigration as a border only issue. Congress has not legislated on this issue.
House Democrats, we passed a number of bills when we were in charge, and we had the majority. It's going to take both parties working on this together to reform outdated processes, but also to reform outdated laws.
ACOSTA: What are you hoping the Biden administration does ultimately at the border? Because, you know, CNN has spoken with some administration officials down at the border who will say that they don't really see much of a difference between Biden administration policies and Trump administration policies.
ESCOBAR: I think that's unfair. You know, I think that while there are definitely some similarities, for example, the continued use of Title 42, the Biden administration has actually done what the Trump administration would never have done, which is open up legal pathways and help communities like ours with FEMA funding.
The administration can only do so much, the executive branch is, I think, doing as much as it possibly can in the absence of true congressional action.
Last year, Jim, the Biden administration asked for historic sums of money for more personnel and for more support for communities like mine. Republicans in the Senate negotiated those numbers down. And in the House, many of our Republican colleagues voted against that funding.
So the Biden administration is using the tools that we've given them and it is on Congress to open up more legal pathways. Part of why we're seeing so many people use asylum, is that it is the only pathway that Congress has given too many of these folks. It is our job --
ACOSTA: Because everybody wants to use it. Everybody wants to use that pathway.
ESCOBAR: That's right.
ACOSTA: Let me ask you about, our colleague, Nick Paton Walsh, who did this incredible story in the Darien Gap, that area -- that stretch of jungle that separates South America from Central America, we can show some of the video we have it handy, but he just shows just harrowing accounts of elderly people, children going through the mud in these harsh conditions.
What does that say to you about this desperation to come to the US? And if they're all going to the border, and not having a way inside, unless they use an app that sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't work? I mean, it just goes without saying that there's probably going to be a crisis when they finally open up the border.
ESCOBAR: Right, right. Well, it tells me a number of things. I mean, first and foremost, people are desperate to have hope and to be in a country where they can work, and where they think they can have a future and a life, but it also should tell us about the extreme lawlessness in those areas because there are horrific stories of sexual assault, kidnapping, murder, you name it. I have heard it, really harrowing stories that I would never repeat, because they're so awful. And so the lawlessness is terrible.
But also one of the things we need to realize is the human traffickers and the cartels, combined with the use of social media really are moving more and more of these individuals. So many of the human traffickers use apps and social media sites in order to lure folks, make promises, take their money and get them through these very difficult areas on this journey, and all of that together has created this unprecedented wave of humanity.
And they are leaving countries, frankly, those countries are losing their youngest, most talented, hardworking people. They share the blame and the responsibility as well.
ACOSTA: Is your community of El Paso ready for the end of Title 42? What's your message to the people of El Paso who are counting on you?
ESCOBAR: Yes. We have worked very hard to ensure that we are getting the financial resources to the community, but my community alone cannot do it. Border communities alone cannot do it. This is why I have brought members of Congress to El Paso to inspire work that needs to be done, to open up legal pathways and alleviate the burden that communities like mine face.
ACOSTA: Well, we certainly need both parties working together on this. It is something that they haven't done in a long time on this issue. It will certainly help issues like this and communities like El Paso.
Congresswoman, thanks very much for your time.
ESCOBAR: Thank you, Jim.
ACOSTA: All right, that's the news. Reporting from Washington, I am Jim Acosta. See you here next week.
And the new CNN program, "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper premieres next.
Have a goodnight, everybody.
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