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Trump Suspends Tariffs on Colombia After Migrant Agreement; Immigration Officials Conducting Raids Across the U.S.; Israel Allowing Palestinians to Return to North Gaza; California Preps for Mudslides. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired January 27, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saying that Colombia has caved many times, migrants being deported back from the United States arrive here in Latin America in handcuffs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A race against the rain. Their aim, to divert water that could trigger dangerous mudslides.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be here however long we need to be in order to help this community recover.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just so hard to get to the Super Bowl, and I don't take it for granted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These guys are hungry. We got one more to go. They don't give me a vote for MVP, but I would vote for Saquon.

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ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It's Monday, January the 27th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington and Bogota, Colombia, where a trade war fueled by U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown now appears to have been averted.

Late on Sunday, President Trump imposed, then quickly suspended, a 25 percent tariff on Colombia after the country agreed to accept military flights carrying deported migrants. Earlier, Colombia's president had apparently blocked two of those flights from landing in his country, but the Colombian foreign minister now says they have overcome the impasse with the U.S.

The White House issued a statement saying, quote, The government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump's terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft without limitation or delay.

The statement went on to say: President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation's sovereignty.

This comes as immigration raids ordered by the Trump administration have been taking place all across the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials reported nearly 1,000 arrests on Sunday. They raided cities from Atlanta to Los Angeles, from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Austin, Texas.

In Chicago, ICE officials performed so-called enhanced targeted operations. The White House border czar telling CNN the department had, quote, a good day in the city.

Vice President J.D. Vance is defending the administration's sweeping actions.

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J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I support us doing law enforcement against violent criminals, whether they're illegal immigrants or anybody else, in a way that keeps us safe.

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FOSTER: But Illinois Governor J.P. Pritzker tells CNN that immigration officials are also rounding up productive community members.

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JB PRITZKER, (D) ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: When we're talking about violent criminals who've been convicted and who are undocumented, we don't want them in our state. We want them out of the country. We hope they do get deported. And if that's who they're picking up, we're all for it.

They show up with a warrant, and we're going to hand over people who are in our prisons or in our jails who fit that description.

Now, what they're also doing, though, and it's quite disturbing, is they're going after people who are law-abiding, who are holding down jobs, who have families here who may have been here for a decade or two decades, and they're often our neighbors and our friends.

And why are we going after them? These are not people who are causing problems in our country, and what we need is a path to citizenship for them.

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FOSTER: Well, this doorbell video shows ICE agents at a man's home in Georgia. They arrested a 53-year-old undocumented immigrant from Honduras. According to his family, he worked in construction and lived outside Atlanta with his wife and four children. They say he had no criminal record aside from a ticket for driving without a license for which he paid a fine. Back in Chicago, fear and uncertainty are spreading quickly over the

sweeping immigration raids. CNN's Rosa Flores has those details.

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ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Trump administration's border czar, Tom Homan, was here in Chicago last year, and he made a promise. He said that Chicago would be ground zero for mass deportations, that Chicago would be the epicenter of these mass deportations, and he has kept his promise.

We have learned from ICE officials that immigration agents are in Chicago. They are on the ground, and they are enforcing immigration law. They are doing targeted enforcement of individuals who pose a threat to public safety or a threat to national security. Here is how Tom Homan told ABC News about these enforcement actions.

But you can see the numbers steadily increase, the number of arrests nationwide as we open up the aperture. Right now it's concentrating on public safety threats, national security threats. That's a smaller population.

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TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: So we're going to do this on a priority basis, as President Trump promised, but we open up the aperture.

Right now it's concentrating on public safety threats, national security threats. That's a smaller population.

So we're going to do this on a priority basis, as President Trump promised, but as that aperture opens, there will be more arrests nationwide.

FLORES: Now, Homan described these individuals with criminal backgrounds as a small population. Well, we also learned from ICE that ICE officials will be getting quotas. In essence, according to ICE, that ICE offices across the United States will be required to arrest 75 people per day per ICE office. That's going to put a lot of pressure on ICE agents to go into communities and arrest people.

Again, Homan himself saying that there's a very small population of immigrants who actually have criminal backgrounds, so then how are these individuals going to meet their quotas? I can tell you from talking to sources and contacts here in Chicago that there is a lot of fear in immigrant communities.

So much so, some individuals say that some people are not going to work. They are not sending their children to school. They are cooping up in their homes because they are in so much fear.

Now, these are individuals that don't have criminal backgrounds. These are individuals who are going through asylum proceedings, but they're afraid that they might be caught in these mass deportations. As a matter of fact, there are organizations here in the Chicago area

that are dropping off groceries for some migrants because migrants are not going to the grocery store. They're not going to work, and now they're really worried that they might not have enough money for rent whenever rent is due.

So there's a lot of pressure. There's a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety here in the city of Chicago that we've learned from organizations, civil rights groups that are out helping migrants.

Now, we don't know exactly where the ICE enforcement actions have happened in Chicago so far, but we're expecting to learn more from ICE about those numbers and about where these enforcement actions actually happened.

Rosa Flores, CNN, Chicago.

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FOSTER: Joining us, Thomas Gift, director of the Center on U.S. Politics at University College London. Thank you so much for joining us. I mean, a real statement of intent here from Donald Trump.

Do you think he got everything he wanted? Because it seems as though he did.

THOMAS GIFT, DIRECTOR, CENTRE ON U.S. POLITICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Well, thanks so much for having me, Max. It's great to be with you. You know, it's easy to lose track of everything that Trump is promising on immigration.

The bedrock of his policy is carrying out this largest mass deportation in U.S. history. However, the Pentagon has also announced the deployment of 1,500 additional U.S. troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump has ordered the halting of the processing of asylum seekers. He's done away with the smartphone app that migrants could log into to schedule appointments with the U.S. border control. Trump is also increasing the authority of ICE to execute these raids.

So, you know, in this case, I think Donald Trump is getting a lot of what he wants, but at the same time, without bipartisan immigration reform, it's going to be very difficult for the president to achieve unilaterally everything that he's looking for.

FOSTER: Because he's obviously taking the, you know, he's going ahead with big decisions with legal ramifications without going through, you know, a process of considering, you know, what those legal ramifications are. What would be the appeal procedure for people who want to stop him from doing what he wants to do?

GIFT: I'm not intimately familiar with all the details of the U.S. immigration system, but I think that there's very little that he can do. I mean, most of what Donald Trump is doing are actions that he can take through executive action or through executive order. I mean, there's always a case that kind of local, municipal or state authorities refuse to enforce some of those laws. But much of this is federal. And so it's unclear whether those migrants who are being deported will have much legal recourse if, in fact, they are put back to their home countries.

FOSTER: An interesting precedent set with Colombia with this idea, if they didn't accept the immigrants that he wanted them to accept or the migrants he wanted them to accept, then he would slap on this massive tariff, which was going to escalate, wasn't it, within a week? And that proved effective and would show how he's going to, you know, respond to other countries that don't go along with what he wants.

GIFT: I think you've got that absolutely right, Max. The Colombia situation where the government is now agreeing to accept these repatriation flights, it's a case in point for how Trump wants to use tariffs as a negotiating ploy rather than a long-term strategy. But this has really been transactional nature of an America First foreign policy.

It's not values-based. It's all about America extracting concessions. So you're right that Trump is definitely going to view this success in Colombia as a reason to double down elsewhere.

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There's huge momentum right now inside the administration for 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada. So we could be seeing a continental trade war in North America. And for Trump, that may just be the opening salvo for hitting China with tariffs and also EU countries with tariffs. So it's really a tariff first, talk second approach to diplomacy.

He saw that at work this time. So there's no reason for him to think that he won't do it again.

FOSTER: I mean, he's a businessman. He'll realize that, you know, if he does go ahead with these tariffs, then other countries will tariff him back. I mean, the way the American economy works, it's truly globalized. It's going to have an impact on the American economy. He'll be aware of that. But do you think he, you know, he's minded to reduce the tariffs as quickly as he puts them on if he gets what he wants?

GIFT: Well, I think you're right that Donald Trump can push around countries like Colombia, but maybe less so the European Union, for example, especially if they're acting in unison, even Canada and Mexico, which are very, very important to the U.S. economy. And you can absolutely guarantee that Trump's tariffs are not going to go unnoticed. And there's going to be retaliation for sure.

You know, Trump has said that tariffs are the most beautiful word in the English language, but he's going to figure out very soon what the impact of this is on the U.S. economy. Maybe he doesn't care, but the main key issue that he kind of ran on in 2024 was getting prices down. If there's anything that's more inflationary than tariffs, I would like to know it, because essentially what companies are going to do is just pass on higher prices to consumers. So this could be, you know, a really tough learning curve for Donald Trump, for sure.

FOSTER: You talk there about how, you know, it's tougher with Europe because, you know, amongst the EU countries, at least, they are unified. Do you think the risk here for Donald Trump is that he's creating common ground between other countries which are facing the prospect of tariffs and they could work together in unison to respond back, which would have a big effect on the U.S. economy?

GIFT: Yes, absolutely. And I think even worse than that is that this might be driving the European Union and some of these other countries into the hands of China and Russia. So they can't look across the Atlantic for, you know, what they need in terms of supply chains, in terms of markets, and so on. Then they're going to look elsewhere. That also includes for energy.

So, you know, I think that there's a big risk here for Donald Trump. There's certainly some division within the administration about how far tariffs should be used.

And again, I really do think that Trump is just using this as a negotiating tactic. But if everybody knows that it's just a negotiating tactic, you have to wonder sort of how effective it will be. But Donald Trump has been very ideologically consistent on tariffs dating back to his first administration and even before.

And so I wouldn't be surprised if we do see 10 to 20 percent tariffs on all imports to the United States, upwards of 60 percent tariffs on imports from China. That could have a huge ripple effect across the global economy.

FOSTER: Thomas Gift, as ever, thank you so much for your insights today.

GIFT: Thanks, Max.

FOSTER: Now, a database detailing the criminal charges and successful convictions of January 6th rioters has been removed from the U.S. Justice Department's websites. This coincides with President Trump's decision to pardon all convicted January 6th defendants. Records of the cases still exist, but it's now much harder to track them down. Whilst January 6th rioters are celebrating the move, U.S. justices are accusing, or judges rather, are accusing the Trump administration of, quote, whitewashing the mob's attack on the Capitol. And some U.S. lawmakers are voicing a growing concern over how pardons are being issued.

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SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): He was wrong to give these pardons. And among other things, what it says now to the Trump family and to President Trump's kids, they can engage in any kind of malfeasance, criminality, graft, whatever, and they can expect a pardon on the way out the door.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): But he said it during the campaign. He's not tricking people. You know, Biden promised not to pardon his family. He did. Trump said, I'm going to pardon these people. So the fact that he did it is no surprise, but I'll be consistent here.

I don't like the idea of bailing people out of jail or pardoning people who burn down cities and beat up cops, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat.

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FOSTER: World leaders are gathering in Poland to mark 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. In the coming hours, some of the remaining survivors of the Holocaust will speak in a ceremony at the camp. Nazis murdered more than a million people at Auschwitz alone during World War II, part of the six million Jews killed throughout the Holocaust.

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The Nazis also targeted Poles, the Roma, gays and Soviet prisoners of war of the direction of Adolf Hitler. When Soviet troops arrived at the gates of Auschwitz in 1945, they were greeted by scenes like this. Some 7,000 weakened, emaciated prisoners.

This year's commemoration of their liberation comes as the number of Holocaust survivors is rapidly dwindling and anti-Semitism is on the rise across Europe and the Middle East.

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AGNES DARVAS, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR (through translator): People think if they remember these, then such will not happen again. But it does not happen day by day. Perhaps it happens not to Jews, but some other ethnicity. The world had not seen so much cruelty as in the 20th century.

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FOSTER: Well, as the world remembers the horrors of the Holocaust, the remaining survivors want to make sure that the next generation never forget.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to think that they have opened their eyes a bit to what can happen.

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FOSTER: Well, that's coming up in about 30 minutes here on CNN.

Also ahead, displaced Palestinians are finally being allowed to return home to northern Gaza. We'll bring you the details of the latest agreement between Israel and Hamas.

In the U.S., Southern California still battling wildfires and now the region's facing a new threat. Plus, the matchup for Super Bowl 59 now set and one team in the NFL's

title game is looking to make history.

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FOSTER: Israel is allowing thousands of Palestinians to finally return home to the north. Look at those scenes there. Tens of thousands of Palestinians waited for two days at roadblocks after Israel accused Hamas of breaching a ceasefire agreement and refused to open crossing points.

This comes after Hamas agreed to release Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud, soldier Agam Berger and one other hostage on Thursday and free another three more hostages on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. says the separate ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon would remain in effect until February 16th. Lebanese officials said at least 22 people were killed and more than 120 injured by the Israeli forces as thousands of people tried to return home to the south after a Sunday Israel withdrawal deadline passed. The IDF had released an order prohibiting residents from returning to their villages.

In Southern California, many of the wildfires that have caused so much damage are close to containment, but the scorched land left behind is facing a new threat and that's flash flooding and mudslides. Flood watches are now in effect until Monday afternoon local time.

Rain moving through right now may be good for battling fires, but too much of it on dry, hardened soil can trigger mudslides and debris flow. Several road closures have already been reported. Places like Los Angeles County could see between half an inch and one inch of rainfall, while higher elevations could get as much as three inches.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more on what the National Guard is doing to prevent these mudslides.

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CAPT. SAWTELLE, CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD: We're in Altadena, California, and we're entering the Sierra Madre Villa debris basin.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The National Guard deployed to assist first responders just hours after the deadly fires in Pacific Palisades in Altadena began in the first week of January. This unit, part of the Guard's Task Force 49, is charged with digging trenches at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. A race against the rain to protect neighborhoods in and around the burn zone.

SAWTELLE: The fire basically causes it to be a lot more susceptible to erosion.

VARGAS JONES: Oh, wow. Oh, I see this now. So this is where the water's going to flow.

SAWTELLE: Yes, so the water will come through there.

VARGAS JONES: Wow, that is deep.

VARGAS JONES (voice-over): Their aim, to divert water that could trigger dangerous mudslides once rain begins to fall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have two means of loading. We have our excavators, and then behind us we have our loader, our front-wheel loader.

VARGAS JONES (voice-over): Crews digging pits into hillsides to create dams.

SAWTELLE: So this portion will capture the sediment, rocks, vegetation, and then where it opens up, the water would flow out.

VARGAS JONES (voice-over): The whir and buzz of bulldozers, excavators, and other heavy machinery. A welcome cacophony to a community still reeling from fatal wildfires.

SAWTELLE: So this was a part of the burn scar, so the fire did come through here.

VARGAS JONES (voice-over): Burn scars are among the most vulnerable areas for potential mudslides and even flash flooding. This has been the driest start to the rainfall season in Southern California in over four decades. The ground is so dry that if the rain falls too fast, soil won't be able to absorb it.

Lieutenant Colonel James Smith is the commander of this operation.

LT. COL. JAMES SMITH, CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD: If we do get significant rainfall, you're going to see a lot of that material behind us here. It's going to move down into this basin.

VARGAS JONES (voice-over): His mission, he says, is to do whatever's necessary to avoid even further devastation.

SMITH: You can't imagine the tragedy they've all suffered through. We'll be here however long we need to be in order to help this community recover.

VARGAS JONES (voice-over): Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Altadena.

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FOSTER: Parts of Western France coping with major flooding as Storm Herminia rips through the country. These scenes from the city of Rennes give you a sense of how high the water reaches some places. France's meteorological agency has placed ten regions under an orange alert, its second highest as the storm travels northwards.

Now, when we come back, more details on how President Trump's immigration cracked down almost led to a major trade war with Colombia.

Plus, the United Nations is sounding the alarm over a growing humanitarian crisis as rebel forces make gains in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Here are today's top stories.

The immigration crackdown promised by President Trump now in full swing with nearly 1,000 arrests reported on Sunday alone. Immigration officials conducted raids in cities across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Now to Gaza, where Israel is allowing thousands of Palestinians to finally return home in the northern part of the enclave. Tens of thousands of Palestinians waiting for two days at roadblocks after Israel accused Hamas of breaching their ceasefire agreement and refused to open crossing points.

Prosecutors in South Korea have indicted President Yoon Suk Yeol on insurrection charges. It comes after his short-lived attempt to impose martial law in December. Yoon remains in custody and denies any wrongdoing, but he is now the first sitting president in South Korea's history to be indicted.

At this hour, U.S. deportation flights to Colombia have resumed after a dizzying turn of events. Late on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on Colombia for refusing to accept two such flights. Colombia's president then threatened his own tariff on U.S. goods. But both sides soon backed down, seeming to have settled the issue pretty quickly.

CNN contributor Stefano Pozzebon explains why the Colombian president initially blocked those U.S. military planes from carrying deportees from entering the country.