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CNN International: U.S., Colombia Reach Agreement On Deportation Flights; U.S.-Colombia Trade War Averted After Tariff Showdown; Palestinians Begin To Return To Devastated Northern Gaza. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired January 27, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JIM SCIUTTO, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, and welcome to our viewers from around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York.
Ahead on CNN Newsroom, President Trump claiming victory after Colombia backs down in a dispute with the U.S. over repatriation flights. We're going to be live in Bogota with the latest. Plus, raids ramping up across the U.S. The Immigration Services cracking down in full swing, with nearly 1,000 arrests in one day. And never again, world leaders and survivors pay tribute on a somber anniversary. It has been 80 years since the largest Nazi concentration camp was liberated.
At least for now, a U.S. trade war with a close ally has been averted, and President Trump declaring the outcome a major win for his new administration. Late Sunday, Mr. Trump imposed and then quickly suspended a 25 percent tariff on exports from 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. However, the Colombian Foreign Minister now says they have overcome the impasse with the U.S. government. Late on Sunday, the White House announced the two governments had come to an agreement. Colombia is confirming shortly after that U.S. deportation flights will resume.
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LUIS GILBERTO MURILLO, COLOMBIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (Interpreted): The Colombian government has overcome the impasse with the government of the United States. The government of Colombia, under the direction of President Gustavo Petro, has the presidential plane ready to facilitate the return of the compatriots who were to arrive in the country today in the morning on deportation flights.
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SCIUTTO: CNN Contributor Stefano Pozzebon joins us now from Colombia's capital, Bogota. Colombia and the U.S., they're friends. They're allies. Donald Trump was prepared to impose significant costs on his ally here, and Colombia relented. I wonder there, do Colombians see this as a capitulation to American pressure?
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think, Jim, that most of the Colombian people will think the -- think of these as unnecessary harmful from their own President, because let's be frank. Colombia has received deportation flights for years. Just last year, in 2024, Jim, there were 124 deportation flights from the United States back to Colombia. We're talking about more than 10 a month. And so, it's not really a new a new strategy or a new imposition from Washington. Gustavo Petro, the Colombian President, tried to draw a line on the conditions that these migrants were being brought in. In particular, we understand that an issue they took particular offense with was the use of handcuffs, which sometimes are used in this type of deportation flights. But, at the same time, it is standard practice between Colombia and the U.S.
And just like you said, yes, Colombia has been a staunch ally of the U.S. for decades. There is a vibrant Colombian American community up there in the United States, and hundreds of thousands of Colombians travel to the United States every year to visit their friends or relatives, to do business. So, the perspective of Trump and the White House stopped issuing visa for Colombians, which was very much on the table yesterday. Well, that was a scary prospect for millions of Colombians.
Here, we understand, Jim, that for once the diplomacy prevailed, the two presidents were almost like messaging at each other on social media. At some point, Petro was posting on X in direct response to whatever Trump was posting on Truth Social. And in the meantime, their diplomats and their entourage, their aides were busy on the phone trying to amend the lines, trying to figure out what a compromise could be. We understand that late on Sunday, that compromise was reached, and we understand, CNN understands that just as we are speaking now, two Colombian planes are on their way towards the United States to pick up those deported migrants that were left stranded yesterday, Sunday --
SCIUTTO: Yeah.
POZZEBON: -- and bring them back here in Bogota, where I am.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. The diplomacy via social media, that is the new reality.
Stefano Pozzebon in Bogota, thanks so much.
Well, any minute now, a U.S. deportation flight is expected to arrive in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The Central American country says it is ready to handle around 18 weekly flights of its citizens deported from the U.S. A top official says they are in, quote, "permanent communication" now with the White House. Before today's flight, they had already received more than 260 deported nationals on three separate flights.
CNN's David Culver is in Guatemala, where that flight is expected to land. He filed this report just a few minutes ago.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the tarmac. We're about 10 minutes or so from the first of two flights coming in that will have deportees from the U.S. This is pretty rare for us to be here. We're the only ones who have been able to get into this location, in particular, because it's very sensitive right now, not only from an inter-government relationship perspective, but also just for these migrants who are coming back to a country that many of them fled, some of them many years ago amidst a brutal civil war. And we're hoping, obviously, to not return in this manner, certainly.
But, for them, this is how it's going to play out. They're going to come here on a plane that will arrive shortly. They're going to come to this location where we are, which is part of, we can actually turn you around here, part of the receiving hall where it says "center of reception for those who have been returned." So, this is where the deportees will be brought into. They'll be greeted by the Vice President. She will be over here welcoming them.
And I did ask her a few questions. I was able to talk to her a little bit about what played out with Colombia and the U.S., and the refusal at one point yesterday of military flights. She said that's Colombia's deal with the U.S. She didn't really want to touch on that. She says Colombia has got their own sovereignty, and that's something that they're going to have to deal with. She says, as far as her perspective is concerned, and Guatemala-U.S. relations, that even under the Trump administration, they're going to continue to allow military aircraft to come in, including one today. And I went on to ask a little bit about what life is going to be like for those who are coming back into this country, some of them, as I mentioned, for the first time in many years.
KARIN HERRERA, GUATEMALAN VICE PRESIDENT: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: I asked the Vice President for those who are coming in today, what opportunities they're going to have. Obviously, they left Guatemala for a reason, and she says that's part of the efforts now is to find a way to give them those opportunities, create employment, and allow them to relieve their burdens, because she says a lot of them are coming here with a lot of discomfort and at ease.
CULVER: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
HERRERA: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: OK. So, there is two flights arriving today. One is a commercial flight that's got 80 or so deported migrants, and other is a military flight that will come later today.
CULVER: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
HERRERA: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: OK. I'll just give you a quick description of that. The Vice President I asked, is this a complicated relationship? Is it difficult? She said, of course, for the migrants that are returning, their situation is very complicated. She says the relation between Guatemala and the U.S. remains fluid. They remain in communication, and that it's something that day by day they're essentially trying to make sure that they can keep across.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Our David Culver there.
With me now to discuss further, Eric Farnsworth. He is a Vice President at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas. Thanks so much for joining. Appreciate you taking the time.
ERIC FARNSWORTH, VICE PRESIDENT, AMERICAS SOCIETY AND COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS: Thanks for having me, Jim. Good to join you again.
SCIUTTO: So, question, as our reporter in Bogota noted, regarding the Colombia flights, Colombia has been receiving dozens of deportation flights for months, for years now. Why this time did the Colombian President throw up a roadblock here? What was different about these flights?
FARNSWORTH: Well, it's a really good question, and you'd really have to talk to him directly, but there has been a lot of speculation that he was concerned about the way that some of the migrants were being returned in shackles, etc. But, that's been the routine aspect of how the United States has done these flights in the past, for the protection of the flight crew, as well as for the equipment itself. Thankfully, that issue has been resolved. And I have to say, it was just in time, because there is a huge amount of Colombian flowers that come to the United States for Valentine's Day, and it was threatening to be a not very friendly Valentine's Day for all of us, if they didn't get this result quickly.
SCIUTTO: Colombia is not alone in that concern about how the deportees are handled, because I understand Brazil was similarly concerned about folks coming back in handcuffs, etc. Is that a negotiable issue, or is this one that those countries are just going to have to swallow?
FARNSWORTH: Well, it's interesting, because this has been routine for years and through various administrations, and it seems to be an issue now, and I think we can speculate perhaps why. Maybe the politics have adjusted to the point where countries are being a little bit more resistant to that. But, the reality is, again, this has been an aspect that the United States has used routinely, because you have to protect the flight crew during the flights.
[11:10:00]
Sometimes you're dealing with deportees who, well, don't want to return, who will resist that sort of thing. And so, it's really for the safety of the crew and the equipment.
Having said that, there are ways to deliver them back to their home countries, and so that the visuals are different, and so that the dignity, as the receiving countries routinely discussed, really is preserved, and that faith-saving solution can be made.
SCIUTTO: Well, what about the larger issues here? And I want to ask you about two of them, the first one being this, that we clearly in this country have a different approach to asylum seekers today. And that said, the root causes of that mass northward migration have not changed. It's a question of economic opportunity, and frankly, we see the same in Europe, right, from Africa to Europe. What happens? Because it's immovable force, irresistible force, meeting an immovable object, to some degree. Can Trump, through this tougher policy, just stop that flow? Are folks going to seek different ways to come in?
FARNSWORTH: Well, there are two ways to look at this. Both are related. One is the push factors, which is to say conditions on the ground from the sending countries, countries like Colombia, and then obviously the pull factors as well, which is to say people want to come to the United States or Europe or other places for opportunity to seek their fortune, and the United States has been receiving migrants from around the world for years because, literally, we're a land of opportunity. So, that that pull factor, I don't think, is really ever going to go away, and that's to the credits of the United States.
But, having said that, what I think the Trump administration is showing is that this is a fundamental issue for them, and that they're willing to really unleash an arsenal of the potential sanctions against countries that don't receive migrants back or collaborate more effectively in terms of trying to forestall the desire of some of their citizens to try to travel to the United States. So, no. I mean, the desire to migrate to the U.S. will never end, in my view. But, what they're trying to do is manage it and change the incentives.
SCIUTTO: Well, to your point about unleashing this arsenal of sanctions, this is clearly going to be the Trump administration approach on a number of issues. We see the threats regarding another ally, treaty ally, in that case, Denmark. Regarding Greenland, you see this brewing dispute with America's perhaps greatest ally, Canada, a neighbor and biggest trading partner, sanctions if you don't do what I want. Is that, in your view, an effective strategy, the right strategy, an acceptable one for the U.S. to apply against its close allies, or should these be matters of negotiation?
FARNSWORTH: Well, I mean, we're in the new reality, that's for sure. And I think your point is very well made, which is to say the priority here is migration. It's not necessarily collaboration with long- standing allies or, frankly, enemies, for that matter. It's dealing with these issues and treating people along the same lines, no matter what the history has been.
I think you can make the case that in the short term, it will have an impact. Yes, it will reduce some of the desire to migrate. It will change the dynamics at the borders. I think the question is, at the long term, if we're going to try to achieve fundamental U.S. national security interests, is it better to have Canada as a friendly partner on a northern border, or is it better to have a Canada that's frankly suspicious of the United States and taking steps to somehow separate from the United States? These are issues that probably just by stating them that way. The answer is probably self-evident. And so, I think we have to balance this. Yeah, there are some short-term interests, but we have to keep the long term in mind as well.
SCIUTTO: So, in this case, Colombia relented and quite quickly, and there are domestic political reasons for that, as I understand it, his popularity, the President of Colombia, the President's popularity is has cratered recently. Do you see countries not being not willing to relent and say, no, I'm making a stand? Go ahead, impose your sanctions. I mean, there are -- I mean, clearly those costs would be enormous, but I imagine countries have limits.
FARNSWORTH: Yeah, you're absolutely right. And Colombia is actually a special case, and somehow, because the U.S. relationship with Colombia has been strategic. It's been the closest U.S. ally in South America for literally a generation, and the Colombian citizens themselves really don't want this breakup, and President Petro wasn't going to get the same sort of political support for finding an external enemy, were he to continue down this path. Colombia had a lot at stake, and frankly, the Colombian people were not supporting him.
I think other countries, you're going to have a different dynamic, particularly those who -- which have had a traditionally more distant relationship with the United States, where their citizens don't have as much at stake, or at least they don't see that they might have as much at stake. And so, each country is going to be a little bit different. Colombia, in this way, is somewhat unique, and I'm not actually surprised that it was resolved quickly.
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There is just way too much at stake.
SCIUTTO: Eric Farnsworth, I appreciate. I'm sure it's not the last time we talk about this issue. Thanks for joining.
FARNSWORTH: Thanks a lot for having me. Really appreciate it.
SCIUTTO: Well, after more than a year of just devastating, deadly war, this is the moment so many displaced Palestinians have been hoping for. Tens of thousands of them are now returning to northern Gaza, leaving their tents and makeshift shelters behind. Sadly, when they get home, they're discovering just apocalyptic scenes, the world they used to know wiped off the map. We're seeing some emotional reunions today in the midst of that.
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SCIUTTO: So, two of the men embracing there are actually twin brothers reunited after being separated for more than a year. Israel delayed the Palestinians' returned to the north by two days after it accused Hamas of breaching the terms of a ceasefire agreement. Amid these joyful scenes, comments by Donald Trump are raising fears of potentially a mass explosion of Palestinians from Gaza. The U.S. President suggested the territory could be cleaned out. Palestinians absorbed by two of Israel's Arab neighbors, Jordan and Egypt. It's really a remarkable and disturbing suggestion.
Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv with more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, a checkpoint in northern Gaza was finally opened early this morning, and tens of thousands of Palestinians who lived in northern Gaza and have been displaced for months now finally beginning to make their way back home. It is an emotional journey for many, as we have seen people carrying all of their belongings with them, in their hands, on donkey carts, or piling into busses to try and make their way to northern Gaza after so many months of displacement. What they are finding there, of course, is an enormous level of destruction, perhaps more than anywhere else in the Gaza Strip.
But, one after the other, the people who are returning home expressed their desire to go back, no matter what the conditions on the ground. They are expressing their connection to their homes in northern Gaza. They were only allowed to return to northern Gaza after a nearly 48- hour delay when they were initially supposed to be allowed to return north based on the ceasefire agreement.
That was after there was a dispute between Israel and Hamas over the release of one of the Israeli hostages, who Israel expected to be released this past Saturday. Instead, she -- a female civilian hostage named Arbel Yehud was not released. Four female soldiers were released instead, and Israel demanded that she be released in order to move forward with this part of the agreement regarding the return of Gazans to the northern part of the strip. Arbel Yehud is indeed now expected to be released on Thursday, and with that agreement in place, Israel opened that checkpoint to allow Gazans to return to that part of the strip.
But, as we are watching these images of people returning to this devastated section of the Gaza Strip, we are also now hearing comments from President Trump calling for the mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, for them to be moved to Egypt and Jordan, and saying that Gaza needs to be cleaned out.
VOICE OF DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And we just clean out that whole thing. You know it's -- over the centuries it's had many, many conflicts, that site. And I don't know -- it's something has to happen. But it's literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything is demolished.
DIAMOND: And President Trump says that he wants Egypt and Jordan to be a safe harbor for these Palestinians. But, this has rings of notions of mass displacement that, of course, are triggering for many Palestinians who have suffered displacements over decades and decades in Israel and the Palestinian territories. And it's also a notion that's already been rejected by both Egypt and Jordan, as the Jordanian Foreign Minister says that Palestine is for Palestinians and Jordan is for Jordanians, rejecting any notions of mass displacement.
We should also note that these ideas being spawned by Trump already have drawn a lot of favor here in Israel from right-wing ministers in the Israeli government who have talked about, quote, "voluntary emigration" for many, many months now. Those ideas, though, being soundly rejected in the region. Not clear what the path forward is for President Trump and his administration towards making that a reality.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: OK. Speaking about the forced repay -- well, not repatriation, moving of people from their homes, the Trump administration has agreed to Israel's request to extend a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, saying that ceasefire will remain in effect for three more weeks. The announcement came after Israeli troops failed to withdraw from southern Lebanon by Sunday, the deadline set by the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah.
[11:20:00]
Lebanese authorities say Israeli forces killed 22 people in the area yesterday as that deadline was passing. Israel blames Lebanon for not upholding its part of the deal. Lebanon accuses Israel of, quote, "procrastination."
Still ahead, today is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. World leaders and survivors are gathering at the site today to make sure they hope the world never forgets.
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SCIUTTO: World leaders gathering at Auschwitz to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the notorious Nazi concentration camp there. One survivor said it was a very difficult journey, understandably, back to the camp, that said, a necessary one so that the world remembers what happened there. Approximately 1.1 million people were murdered there between 1940 and 1945 by Germany. World leaders are not speaking at today's event, instead letting those who survived speak about it themselves.
CNN Senior International Correspondent Melissa Bell joins us now from Auschwitz-Birkenau. We know the history there, moments like this to mark a date such as this, it's liberation, but also to remind people, I imagine, particularly poignant today, given -- well, given the killing we see around the world today.
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Given also, Jim, frankly, the age of the survivors that are left. Only about 50 of them were able to make the journey this year to what many of the organizers say could be the last big commemorative event, and that really gives a poignancy to everything that we've seen.
As you say, it's a pretty impressive gathering of world leaders that we're seeing there, President Zelenskyy, President Macron, the British monarch, the Spanish king as well. But, apart from Ronald Lauder, that you're watching speak there, who is, of course, such a huge donor here to Auschwitz-Birkenau, it is thanks to him that the museum was largely rebuilt and so much of what we have today was able to be restored, that that memory be kept.
Apart from him, the only voices that we're hearing here at these commemorations are those of survivors, and several of them have been speaking very poignantly about what they remembered. In fact, one of them pointing out that because of the selection process, even as they came off those cattle trains arriving here at the camp, so few survived even the initial selection. You mentioned the numbers who were -- that were killed here. 900,000 of those, Jim, were killed on the very day that they arrived.
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And so, those who were selected, those who survived the camps, those who are still alive today, of course, a very small number of those who were brought to the camps, and that's what they've been speaking to in the memory of the many millions who died and who couldn't speak for themselves immediately after the war, even yesterday, at the heart of so much of what's been said, the fear that as time passes and these last remaining witnesses pass that the world will forget, and in the context, of course, of the rising antisemitism that we're seeing here on the European continent. That's something we spoke to Ambassador Ronald Lauder about yesterday. He said that his great fear was that the young are forgetting with all the dangers that can then follow about what that can lead to, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. I mean, it's such a good point about the history here, right, so many of these World War Two moments as they pass, D-Day, for instance, the anniversary of D-Day, the thought is that the next one, you won't have survivors there who witnessed it with their own eyes.
Melissa Bell, thanks so much for sharing from there. We appreciate it.
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RONALD LAUDER, CHAIR, AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: When it comes to antisemitism, or for that matter, any other hatred, these lessons for Auschwitz are not just for Jews, they're for the entire world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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SCIUTTO: Welcome back. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York.
Let's get back to one of our top stories this hour. We have new video of immigration raids taking place across the U.S. CNN has learned, agents are being told to dress for the cameras when they make those arrests, so that people can see which agencies they work for. Sunday alone, immigration officials say nearly 1,000 arrests were made, including in Chicago, where the crackdown is intensifying, in particular.
CNN's Rosa Flores has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're starting to hear the stories about the individuals who were arrested and also how it's impacting their families. This story comes to us from CNN affiliate WLS. An individual was arrested in a northern Chicago suburb, and a reporter from WLS spoke to this man's daughter. He says that her father is 44- years-old, that he came to the United States 30 years ago, and that somebody knocked on his door, he opened the door, and that he was arrested. Of course, this was devastating for this woman. She is very emotional, as she is telling this reporter about it. Take a listen.
YELITZA MARQUINA, DAUGHTER OF MAN ARRESTED BY ICE: They will open the door because they thought maybe one of us were in trouble or something, or something happened to us. They have been nice. I'm already heartbroken myself, and I can't really imagine the little kids whose families are breaking apart because of this.
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FLORES: ICE says that they are focusing on individuals with criminal backgrounds. We don't know anything about this man, but we've asked ICE for more information.
ICE is conducting operations all over the country. We are, of course, focused on Chicago, because that's where I am, but they're happening in multiple states. Now, let me state the obvious here. ICE has not been taking on that for the past four years. There have been operations that ICE has conducted all across the country. I track this thing because I cover immigration for CNN, and I go to the ICE website regularly. But, you can check yourself. Go to the press release tab on the on ICE's website, and you'll be able to see that there is a lot of arrests before Trump took office this second time.
What makes these operations different is that these are surge operations that don't include just ICE, but also other agencies, including the DEA, the FBI, the ATF. Now, we're hearing about possible racial profiling that has been happening in other states. We're leaning about 15 indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico that have reported being stopped, whether at work or at home, detained, questioned. This, of course, is raising a lot of concern in these states because of the racial profiling of indigenous people.
Now, Pamela, what we're hearing is that some individuals are now carrying their passports. We've heard this happen before on the border. From covering the border and from covering border communities, I can tell you that some people in border communities are doing the same thing because of their heightened awareness of these enforcement actions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Rosa Flores speaking with my colleague Pamela Brown earlier today.
We're going to go back to Chicago in just a moment.
First, though, for CNN, moments ago, the plane carrying migrants from the U.S. to Guatemala City has arrived there in Guatemala. You can see new pictures we have of those immigrants, those migrants disembarking. We also have, there they are, there our David Culver. He is in Guatemala City. Can you tell us about the scene there and how they were received, how these migrants were received in Guatemala City when they landed?
CULVER: By the Vice President here in Guatemala, Jim, and you're seeing the images that happened just a few minutes ago, as they were stepping onto the tarmac here after being returned by a commercial aircraft that was chartered. Now, there is two flights today that have been planned for, and one is the commercial one that just arrived. Another later today will be a military aircraft from the U.S. that is being allowed here to land, according to the Vice President, without any issues.
And I spoke with her a short time ago, just before she welcomed these migrants. Now, I can't show you their faces right now, but you can see behind me some of these folks in vests. They're at computers, and they're going to start registering some of them. And then in a little bit, I'm going to be able to speak to some of them, and you'll get to know some of their stories throughout the day, as we make sure that they're comfortable talking to us.
But, let me show you what they walk into as they come in here. Jerry, watch your step here as we come around. You're going to see some of these chargers that are set up. This is where they come in and charge their phones to try to be in touch then with family and folks on the ground who can help them with transportation to figure out next steps. This is an interesting area too. This is where their belongings are. So, you can see, there is a guitar case. You've got just what basically are potato sacks, if you will. I mean, that's basically what I'm looking at here that are stapled with their names and their information.
And I even see some things like packets of sugar from Wawa, a store in the U.S., things that must have just been in their pockets that they emptied out, which is pretty standard. They also aren't wearing shoelaces. It's pretty typical from what we've seen when they've been picked up by Border Patrol, for example, on the U.S. side. That tends to be part of the protocol to remove shoelaces, anything that could be deemed a hazard. And so, these are what they're going to pick up after they finally are done with their registration and their reintegration process.
Speaking to the Vice President here, though, one of the things I wanted to get a sense of is what has changed now under President Trump that is different from deportation flights, say, a week and a half ago under President Biden. The Vice President is telling me, the numbers and the capacity have not changed, but that is staying the same as of now. The one difference, though, is that they are allowing military flights to move forward with some of these deportations. Obviously, that was an issue, as we saw in the past 24 hours in Colombia, but here the Vice President telling me, it's not going to be an issue. They're going to allow that to continue forward. She was very careful in how she was describing this, saying that she wants relations between Guatemala and the U.S. to remain stable, to be at ease, as they're going through this challenging moment.
[11:35:00]
But, all in all, she said, this is an opportunity for them to really focus, as she put it, on the migrants who are coming here. Once they come in here, this is kind of the final step before they then go back into life here in Guatemala, which for many of them is decades ago that they left amidst a brutal civil war from the 60s into the mid- 90s, and then found themselves in the U.S., trying to build their lives. It's a challenge, no question, for many of them.
But, the other point that was brought to my attention, Jim, is there is not a security hearing us to go through this area, not only because the Vice President is here, but just because this is an area where you have coyotes (ph), which are essentially the cartel-backed smugglers that are preying on the exteriors of this place. And so, you have armed forces who are carrying rifles. You've got police who are armed as well, and they will escort these migrants onto the busses and make sure that they can get from this location to a central bus terminal without being exploited, because that seems to be a huge issue, Jim.
SCIUTTO: David, a question for you. So, these migrants are being treated as criminals, right? They're being deported as criminals, and the definition of a criminal from the U.S. view, the Trump administration view is, if they illegally entered, they're criminals, regardless of whether they were convicted of other crimes. Are they being received in Guatemala as criminals, or no?
CULVER: It's a good distinction. No. This is almost a welcome home from what we're seeing. I mean, they have cookies set out. They have water for them to take, making sure that they're as comfortable as possible to be able to reunite with family. The Vice President really trying to hit that tone with me, is saying that this is a moment in three different steps, essentially. This is step one, to figure out how to reintegrate them into society. But, what you have to think about is, what are they going to step back into here? Because a lot of them left because of violence, and perhaps, yes, the security situation has improved, but then you've got the economic factor. What jobs are they going to walk into?
I asked one of the communications spokespersons. I said, how many folks here do you think speak English? And she said, at least 60 percent. They lived many years in the U.S. And she said, you're going to bet that that's going to be something they're going to try to emphasize as they've now come back into life here to see if that could perhaps set them apart in getting employment and getting them some sort of opportunity to re-establish themselves.
The one question I have for them that I'm going to ask as soon as we're able to meet with some of them is, are you going to stay? Are you going to try to re-enter the U.S.? And Jim, as you know, we've been covering this extensively, a lot of folks. It's a revolving door. They come through and then they head back up north.
SCIUTTO: Yeah, and the economic pressures that might have led them to leave, those haven't changed.
David Culver, good to have you there. Look forward to hearing more. Well, of course, one phenomenon now that is increasing of those
immigration raids in Chicago. My next guest is an Illinois State Senator representing the first district in Chicago. Javier Cervantes joins us now. Thanks so much for taking the time. We appreciate it.
JAVIER CERVANTES, ILLINOIS STATE SENATOR, 1ST DISTRICT IN CHICAGO: Thank you, Jim. Thank you for having me this morning.
SCIUTTO: So, you hear our reporter there in Guatemala City saying that Guatemalan authorities say that actually the volume of deportation flights have not changed, the kind of flight, they're now military flights, have changed, but not the volume. I wonder, from your perspective, what's different, in your view, about how these raids are playing out?
CERVANTES: Well, Jim, our communities are -- they're living in fear right now. I think that most people are being affected are soft targets, working class people, children. You just saw earlier today, they just knocked on this man's door, and they just took and his family now is suffering and don't know what to do. So, that's what's really happening here. It's a lot of fear going on in our communities. We just recently had a scare in one of our schools, in our Chicago Public Schools, where we thought that ICE has shown up. Tonight, it was secret -- it was a secret agent agency. But, people are just very scared right now.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. What should, in your view, be the response of city officials to this? Should they resist? Should they just stand back, or should they be taking part?
CERVANTES: Well, what we're trying to do our best is get the word out about the laws that we have in Illinois, the protection that we do, educate our communities, and try to be as helpful as we can to help these families out. So, it's a lot of what we're doing. So, right now, we're trying to help people, and we're trying to make people understand what their rights are. I think that's where we really come in. It's really educating our communities.
[11:40:00]
SCIUTTO: There is concern that migrants who came in, let's talk about one, say, who came in or attempted to come in through legal asylum points of entry, asylum process, as that becomes harder that they might then seek to come illegally, is that a concern that you have that, in other words, the flows won't stop, but they'll just be redirected, in effect, to a legal (ph) entry?
CERVANTES: Well, yes. I mean, the American -- people want to want that American dream. My mother came into this country undocumented once upon a time, and she could have come back to Mexico, but she decided that she wanted to stay here in this country even after my dad passed away, and try to give me that American dream, and now I'm here now. So, a lot of people want to come to this country, and unfortunately, with what's happening now, they're going to do what they can to try to live that American dream that we have here. SCIUTTO: How do you believe the Democratic Party should be responding
to this? There has been -- there have been stories about a disagreement among lawmakers here, both in the Senate and the House side. We saw some Democratic senators, particularly from border states, vote yes on the Laken Riley Act, and the response from the more progressive wing of the party was that this is -- you're going too far here. We need to have some sort of opposition strategy. What is your -- what do you think Democratic lawmakers should be doing, short of saying we support illegal immigration, which I'm sure you don't support? What should the response be?
CERVANTES: Well, what we need to do is we need to figure out a way to, like I stated, to protect our communities, but also figure out a way to make immigration a legal status in our country, because that's what we need to do. We need to get legal status here. We need to help people get their documentation so we don't have this -- these issues as we have right now, and we've been missing the mark a lot. So, I think that's something that we really need to focus on moving forward, is, how do we fix our immigration policies here in the United States?
SCIUTTO: Who do you believe authorities will be targeting next? Is there -- are they -- do you look at this as kind of going in waves, going after what they describe as criminal migrants at this point? Who else do you expect them to be targeting?
CERVANTES: Well, President Trump has a quota to give back to the folks that voted for him. So, I think you're going to see a lot of soft targets, unfortunately, like I said earlier. I unfortunately see them looking at I9 verification forms going into a lot of places of business where there is a lot of folks that may have documents issues, but again, they're soft targets, because you have to reach that quota, and you're not going to just get on, quote, unquote, "focusing on convicted criminals". You're going to start looking at other folks and that -- again, that's where the fear is, is law-abiding people that live in our country that unfortunately are going to have to deal with this.
So, that's my biggest fear, and that's a lot of my colleagues in the Senate and the House here in Illinois and local officials are trying to figure out, is like that -- what's going to be our next target? And I think that's what's going to happen, is that, unfortunately, self- targets are going to deal with this issue.
SCIUTTO: Well, Javier Cervantes, you're welcome to come back and discuss as we see this play out further. We do appreciate you taking the time today.
CERVANTES: Thank you so much, Jim. Appreciate you. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back after a short break.
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[11:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SCIUTTO: All right. Let's take a look at Wall Street right now. When
the markets opened, it was not pretty at all. Stocks got hammered at the opening, but you can see now, at least on the Dow, we've seen it come back. The tech heavy NASDAQ still well down more than three percent. Why? The fall triggered by a surprise Chinese AI advancement. That app called DeepSeek. It has apparently demonstrated stunning capabilities operating at a fraction of the investment spent by some of the other companies, such as OpenAI.
I want to bring in CNN Business Writer Clare Duffy for details. I mean, this is remarkable here, right, because the U.S. policy from a national security standpoint, and also to some degree of business standpoint, right, has been, if you restrict advanced chips into China, they can't compete in this space. And yet, using cheaper and less capable chips, DeepSeek has made enormous progress here.
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yeah. This is a real wake-up call for the U.S. tech industry. This is a model that is essentially a competitor directly to Llama, some of the advanced models from these Silicon Valley tech giants. It has rocketed to the top of the Apple app store this week. And these builders of DeepSeek say they created it with just an investment of $5.6 million. That is a fraction of the billions of dollars that the Big Tech companies have spent on their advanced AI models. Just as a point of comparison, Meta said last week that it plans to invest $65 billion in its AI technology just this year. So, this is huge. I mean, this is a significant fraction of the investment that the Big Tech companies have made to create a competitive product.
And you mentioned the U.S. export restrictions. This is a Chinese startup that, in theory, should be subject to U.S. export controls on the most advanced AI chips. So, the question really is, how did they do this? Were they able to get around those restrictions, or did they really manage to create a competitive product for a fraction of the cost, with less powerful chips, in which case we absolutely are going to see investors asking the American tech companies, what have you been spending so much money on these past few years? How were they able to create this product?
Now, I don't think this is (inaudible) like end all, be all moment for the U.S. tech industry. I do think that this is a consumer product, the companies that use OpenAI's model or Google's model are not going to, all of a sudden, go to a startup that is from China that is relatively unknown. So, I don't think this is a breaking moment for the U.S. tech industry, but it does raise huge questions about how this Chinese startup was able to do this.
SCIUTTO: Yeah, no question. And you're saying -- so, you're saying it's not clear if it's based on advanced chips who managed to get around the trade sanctions and block roadblocks effectively, or whether they just managed to pull it off with less advanced chips.
DUFFY: That's exactly right. We're not sure how exactly they were able to do this, whether they were able to get around those restrictions, or whether there is a Chinese company that is now creating competitive chips to be able to do this. But, I think what's clear is that these U.S. export restrictions didn't work. The U.S. thought that if it restricted Chinese companies from buying advanced AI technology that they wouldn't be able to compete with the American tech giants, and DeepSeek has proven that they are.
SCIUTTO: Yeah.
Clare Duffy, thanks for following. I know it's not the last time we're going to be talking about DeepSeek. Thanks for joining.
Still ahead, we do continue to remember the 80th anniversary today of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Now, you can see some of the events there now as it's marked, including many survivors joining. We'll be right back.
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SCIUTTO: Ceremonies there marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Survivors, their loved ones, world leaders, religious leaders as well, on hand for what, of course, is a somber commemoration. It's estimated 1.1 million people were murdered at the Nazi concentration camp between 1940 and 1945. One of the few remaining survivors, meanwhile, is working to share the terrible story of the Holocaust with the next generation.
Our Isa Soares has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACKIE YOUNG, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: What I'm about to tell you now I had absolutely no knowledge of myself.
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the last 13 years, Jackie Young has been taking teenagers beyond the history books --
YOUNG: The war had been on already 202 years.
SOARES (voice-over): -- educating them about the Holocaust by retelling his harrowing story as a baby sent to a Nazi concentration camp.
YOUNG: How and why I survived two years, eight months as a nine-month- baby, I so do not know.
SOARES (voice-over): It was 1945 when Jackie arrived in the UK on a British Royal Air Force plane. His adoptive parents never told Jackie was a Holocaust survivor, keeping his early life secret for years.
YOUNG: Any little piece of the puzzle of my past would be more than welcome.
SOARES (voice-over): It's a puzzle that he is yet to complete, but with each piece, a moment of clarity for 83-year-old Jackie --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is something you haven't found out yet, but you would like to see?
SOARES (voice-over): -- and an awakening of the minds for this younger generation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did the whole process change your identity and the way you see the world today?
YOUNG: It's what I call cathartic.
SOARES (voice-over): With each passing year, some fear this generation could be the last to hear from Holocaust survivors, their testimonies consigned to footnotes in history books.
SOARES (on camera): Given what we heard from Jackie and the lessons from history and what is playing out in the world right now, how does this story shape all of you who are the future?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel that it really highlights the importance and the need to stand up to prejudice and stand up for those who are vulnerable, and I feel that it's -- it reminds us of the importance of teaching and educating younger generations to really combat prejudice and promote peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I agree, and that kind of story kind of leaves you wondering, what about the other children that have their same story? What happened with them? Do they know what happened? Do they not know?
SOARES (voice-over): Jackie says he has found peace that the puzzle of his life may never be complete.
YOUNG: I resign myself to the fact that the pieces are smaller by the day.
[11:55:00]
SOARES (on camera): The reception you get from the teenagers, many of them have studied it, but as I heard today, it's quite another story hearing it directly from someone who lived it and briefed it. What do you think they take away from it?
YOUNG: I'd like to think that they have opened their eyes a bit to what can happen with humanity. I mean, we've got no other gaming on this world.
SOARES (voice-over): Life lessons from a Holocaust survivor whose story of trauma and resilience will hopefully reverberate beyond these school walls.
Isa Soares, CNN, North London, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Well, let's hope he helps people who never forget. Thanks so much for spending part of your day with me. I'm Jim Sciutto
in New York. Please do stick with CNN. One World is up next.
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