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CNN International: Little Progress Reported on Border Policy Talks; Underground Network Helping Migrants Flee China for the U.S.; Police Investigating Lauren Boebert Incident; Michigan Wolverines Defeat Washington Huskies. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 09, 2024 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster, if you're just joining us Let me bring you up to date with the top stories this hour.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel's war cabinet to discuss the next phase in its ongoing campaign in Gaza Earlier Blinken met with the Israeli president and foreign minister.
Donald Trump will attend a hearing in the coming hours on whether he has presidential immunity in the federal election subversion case. Trump wants the appeals court to overturn a lower court ruling rejecting his claims of immunity.
NOBILO: Despite weeks of talks U.S. congressional negotiators have apparently made little progress on a border security deal. The hope was that the text for a compromise bill would be released this week but we're hearing deep differences remain between the two parties and the impasse means no new funding yet for Ukraine and Israel since Republicans insisted that foreign aid be paired with major changes aimed at securing the southern U.S. border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The world is asking not when or how, but whether the world's greatest superpower will start acting like one. Beginning at the southern border, we must demonstrate that America is up for the challenges we face.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: A Republican senator says one of the sticking points is the Biden administration granting so-called parole to thousands of migrants arriving at the southern border each day. Many are released with the promise they will show up at a future court date to be processed.
FOSTER: More Chinese citizens than ever before are seeking political asylum in the U.S. Having spent a decade under the strongman rule of President Xi Jinping and they're using some unconventional means to do it as well.
NOBILO: Some now pay smugglers to help them navigate a dangerous path through South and Central America to reach the U.S. border. CNN's David Culver spoke with migrants fleeing the world's second largest economy who say not everything there is what it seems.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As soon as we pull up, they rush towards us. My mic not even on but that doesn't stop this crowd of Chinese migrants from venting to producer Yong Xiong. They're angry having to wait in the cold for border patrol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): Where are we? What's the place called?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): We're all sick! We have been here two, three days now.
CULVER (voice-over): This is just one of three makeshift border camps we stop at in eastern, San Diego County. Alongside migrants from Latin America at each camp we meet dozens from China. The numbers reflect the surge from 2013 to 2022. CBP recorded fewer than 16,000 Chinese migrants illegally crossing the U.S. Southern border.
[04:35:00]
This past year alone more than 31,000. That's roughly double the prior 10 years combined. But unlike those fleeing countries in turmoil like Venezuela, Cuba or Haiti, these migrants are leaving the world's second largest economy.
CULVER: What was the reason you left China?
CULVER (voice-over): Their answers vary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His family is poor.
CULVER (voice-over): Most cite deepening financial hardships, despite the Chinese government's narrative of a steadily rebounding economy.
CULVER: How did you get here? How did you get to Southern California?
CULVER (voice-over): Their trek north primarily starts in one Latin American country, where Chinese do not need visas to enter.
CULVER: To Ecuador. How many of you here came from Ecuador?
CULVER (voice-over): To really understand their journey and how it differs from other migrants, you need to see it in action.
We touched down in Ecuador's capital, Quito, and standing outside of international arrivals, we noticed this man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chinese? CULVER (voice-over): A hired driver, scrolling through photos and
messages in Chinese. A few minutes later, passengers begin stepping out.
They tell us they're from China and plan to go to the U.S., but most ask we not show their faces. The driver approaches this group, making sure he's got the right passengers.
CULVER: He's got a booking for them.
CULVER (voice-over): We uncovered an assortment of travel packages offered specifically to Chinese migrants. You can pay smugglers who promise to ease some of the planning stress. For $9,000 to $12,000, flight, hotels, transportation booked for you. For $20,000 or more, it's a premium service, getting you to the Mexico side of the U.S. border, skipping some of the more treacherous crossings.
We drive through Ecuador's capital city with Long Quanwei. He shows us private homes and Airbnbs where Chinese migrants stay when they arrive.
Long's lived here in Quito for five years and runs a travel agency. He has witnessed the recent surge in Chinese migrants. And with it, a spike in businesses catering to them, like this Chinese-run hotel.
The owner estimates there are as many as 100 hotels in Quito that, like hers, host Chinese migrants headed to the U.S.
CULVER: And then take a look at this. They've got essentially a how-to guide to go from here and to continue north. And they tell you here how many days you should be preparing, vaccinations you might need, other documents you should carry with you.
They even mentioned bringing $300 and hiding that amount of money because of presumably being robbed at some point and needing cash as a backup.
CULVER (voice-over): It's advice Zheng Shiqing could have used a few days earlier.
CULVER: Your parents still think you're in China? They have no idea you left?
ZHENG SHIQING, CHINESE MIGRANT: Yes.
CULVER (voice-over): We meet the 28-year-old back in Quito after he was robbed at gunpoint in Colombia.
I left China because I was not able to save any money. It was really difficult to support myself, he tells me. He says some employers in China refused to pay him even after working. Even if they say the Chinese economy is strong, it is all about the upper class, he says. I wish I was never born. Living feels so exhausting.
After saving up enough to restart his trek, Zheng heads to this Quito bus station, where ticket sellers hold up signs like this one in Chinese. It reads, "zou xian," Colombian border.
More than a dozen Chinese migrants board the bus north. We go with them for the four-hour-plus ride. On board, Zheng and the others plan their next moves.
CULVER: California, California, that's the ultimate goal.
CULVER (voice-over): Zheng plans to stay here in Tulcan for two nights and then hire a cab to take him over the border.
CULVER: As a lot of the Chinese migrants are able to pay their way in taxi to get to the international bridge crossing from Ecuador to Colombia, we've noticed a lot of folks, migrants from Latin American countries like these over here, not having the money to do that. So, they walk.
CULVER (voice-over): In the cold rain, we meet Angel and Isabel from Venezuela.
CULVER: They say it's really expensive to try to cross, so they have to walk.
CULVER (voice-over): Tulcan residents tell me they see hundreds, if not thousands, of Chinese migrants passing through each week. And because they're often carrying more cash, they are now prime targets for corrupt police and cartels. But like Zheng, they remain determined.
As we return home, he updates us on his trek.
[04:40:00]
Over two weeks, Zheng travels through five Central American countries, at times messaging Chinese-speaking smugglers who remotely coordinate with local cartels to get him and others on vans, buses, boats and on flights. It cuts his travel time down to about half that of most Latino migrants, but it's costly. By the time he reaches northern Mexico, he has spent more than $10,000, with one more border to go.
A camera we set up facing the U.S. southern border captures weeks of crossings, thousands entering the U.S. through this gap in the wall. Group after group, day and night, you can hear these migrants shouting in Chinese.
They end up where we started, San Diego County, burning fires through the night to keep warm, and during the day, expecting Border Patrol to pick them up.
Just before New Year's, Zheng messages us that he too has crossed into the U.S. and is waiting to be processed for asylum. Joining the thousands who have crossed before him and the many more to come.
David Culver, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: This just in to us. Taiwan's defense ministry has sent out a nationwide alert after it says a Chinese satellite flew over the island's airspace. The alert popped up on mobile phones in Taiwan. The English version initially claimed a missile had flown overhead, but the ministry quickly clarified that it was a satellite and apologized for any confusion.
NOBILO: Chinese state media did report on the launch of a satellite called the Einstein probe, saying it's intended for scientific research. There have been similar launches in the past where Chinese satellites traveled over Taiwan, but those incidents didn't cause emergency alerts.
FOSTER: Pope Francis is urging a universal ban on surrogacy, calling the practice deplorable. The pontiff says the surrogate motherhood is a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and child.
NOBILO: The Catholic Church has long opposed surrogacy and in vitro fertilization, saying it disposes of some embryos which it claims is equivalent to abortion. But the practice has helped many couples who struggle to conceive on their own.
Brazil's president is marking the anniversary of a violent insurrection by denouncing attacks on democracy. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hosted ceremonies with other government leaders in Brasilia on Monday.
He says all of those who executed the coup attempt on January 8th, 2023 must be punished and that forgiving them would give a pass to, quote, more terrorist acts against democracy.
FOSTER: Last year, supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings after Mr. Lula da Silva was inaugurated. They insisted the election was stolen and were egged on by Bolsonaro himself.
NOBILO: What was supposed to be a historic mission to the moon took a dramatic turn on Monday. The company behind Peregrine, the first U.S. lunar lander to launch in five decades, says it suffered critical fuel loss just hours after liftoff.
FOSTER: The spacecraft then had trouble turning towards the sun, which it needs to do to recharge its batteries. This means Peregrine may not land on the moon after all. It would be a major loss for NASA, which was hoping to collect data for future moon missions.
NOBILO: Still ahead, another report of Lauren Boebert behaving badly. Details on the latest investigation of the Republican member of Congress.
[04:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Well, trouble is brewing once again for Lauren Boebert. "The Denver Post" reports police are investigating a weekend incident between the congresswoman and her ex-husband.
NOBILO: It's just the latest in a string of incidents involving the Colorado Republican as CNN's Lucy Kafanov reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-CO): I'm Lauren Bober and I approve this message.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cut, that's a rap.
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is no stranger to controversy. The Colorado Republican is the subject of an active police investigation into an alleged altercation with her ex-husband Jason Bobert at the Miners Claim restaurant in her district Saturday night.
In a statement to CNN Boebert said: I didn't punch Jason in the face and no one was arrested. I will be consulting with my lawyer about the false claims he made against me and evaluate all of my legal options.
Boebert's ex-husband telling "The Denver Post" that he does not want to press charges. Saying: I don't want nothing to happen. Her and I were working through a difficult conversation.
BOEBERT: We are coming together to take out country back.
KAFANOV (voice-over): It is the latest in a series of controversies plaguing the far-right firebrand.
BOEBERT: I am announcing my candidacy for the 2024 Republican nomination to represent Colorado's 4th congressional district.
KAFANOV (voice-over): Last month Boebert announced she will be switching to run for a seat in Colorado's more conservative 4th district rather than facing a tough re-election bid in Colorado's 3rd district
BOEBERT: This announcement is a fresh start following a pretty difficult year for me and my family. I have never been in politics before and I've never been through a divorce.
BOEBERT: I'm Lauren Bobert and I approve this message.
KAFANOV (voice-over): After spending nearly two decades with her husband.
BOEBERT: I got married. I have four wonderful boys.
KAFANOV (voice-over): The 37-year-old who is already a grandmother, filed for divorce last year citing irreconcilable differences. In her book "My American Life," Bobert describes meeting Jason when she was 16 years old.
BOEBERT: I fell in love with Jason immediately and I knew without a doubt he was the man I was meant to be with for better or worse. Forever.
KAFANOV (voice-over): As her divorce was still being finalized Boebert made headlines last September when she was booted from a musical production of "Beetlejuice" in Denver. Surveillance footage shows Bobert vaping inside the theater, taking flash photos with her phone, and raising her arms to dance. Her theater companion seen here fondling her breast.
She was eventually escorted out of the show. Video shows her flipping off security.
BOEBERT: I was a little too eccentric --
KAFANOV (voice-over): Bobert defending her behavior in an interview on OAN.
BOEBERT: I'm very known for having a animated personality, maybe overtly animated personality. I was laughing. I was singing having a fantastic time.
KAFANOV: Police in Silt County where the restaurant altercation allegedly occurred, tell CNN, they can't disclose who made the call nor whether the department had received surveillance footage from the restaurant to review.
Boebert, meanwhile, citing this incident as yet another reason why she's moving districts.
Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Still ahead, hail to the victors. College football has only one undefeated team and they're the new champions.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: The Michigan Wolverines are celebrating their first college football championship since 1997. They beat the Washington Huskies 34 to 13 Monday night to claim the title.
Donovan Edwards scored two touchdowns for the Wolverines in the first quarter, and Washington struggled to come back. CNN's Coy Wire has a reaction from Houston.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Michigan defeats Washington to become 2024 college football national champions.
What's the win mean to you, JJ?
JJ MCCARTHY, MICHIGAN QUARTERBACK: Everything. Everything for our teammates, but most importantly, Michigan Nation. It's been too long. Finally brought it back home.
WIRE: A national champion. How's that sound?
BLAKE CORUM, MICHIGAN RUNNING BACK: That's something that's going to last with me forever. No one can ever take that away from me.
DONOVAN EDWARDS, MICHIGAN RUNNING BACK: The University of Michigan is built around overcoming adversity, and I feel like that's what we showed this year. You know, a lot of things didn't go our way, or we didn't have our head coach for six games, but you know, we just stayed -- we just stayed tight.
[04:55:00]
BLAKE CORUM, MICHIGAN RUNNING BACK: We had a lot of adversity this year, and people saying we shouldn't have been here, because football getting suspended. We're still strong as brothers. And we knew we had a mission, a task at hand. And we were able to do that today.
JIM HARBAUGH, MICHIGAN HEAD COACH: Tremendous performance by our team. They took on all cover. And we're the last ones standing. That's a tremendous feeling.
JOHN HARBAUGH, JIM HARBAUGH'S BROTHER: Couldn't be more proud or excited or happy. Just a very pretty football team and a very pretty coach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The best way I can do it is, right now, no one has it better than the Heartland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Now to the NBA where the Memphis Grizzlies star, Ja Morant, will undergo season-ending surgery. The team says the 24-year-old suffered an injury in his right shoulder during a training session on Saturday. He is expected to make a full recovery, though, for the start of next season. Morant recently returned to the league after a 25-game suspension for his conduct off the court.
NOBILO: Tiger Woods has announced that his 27-year partnership with Nike has ended. Nike's been a sponsor of the golf legend since he went pro back in 1996. And they made sports history in 2000 with an estimated $85 million five-year endorsement contract. Considered at the time the wealthiest endorsement contract in sports history.
Nike bid goodbye to Woods on Instagram, saying, in a poignant remark, it was a hell of a round, Tiger.
FOSTER: What would that be over 27 years?
NOBILO: That money --
FOSTER: It was $85 million a year.
NOBILO: Well, there's a puzzle for all of our viewers this morning.
FOSTER: We'll leave it at that.
NOBILO: You can keep your Sudoku --
FOSTER: We'll give you the answer tomorrow. You can save it up.
NOBILO: I love Sudoku.
FOSTER: Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" is up next, right here on CNN.
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