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U.S. Troops at Southern Border for Immigration Crackdown; Trump's Immigration Crackdown; Texas to Surge 400 Troops to Border; Indigenous People Detained in Immigration Sweeps. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired January 27, 2025 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The statement went on to say, today's events make clear to the world that America is respected again.
So, as you can hear there, that was their signal to the rest of the world about how serious Donald Trump is with these deportation flights. They also noted that these tariffs and these actions that Donald Trump was taking are still put on hold, on reserve, as long as Colombia moves forward and begins accepting some of these plans. Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Alayna Treene, thank you. Coming up, more active-duty troops arrive at the southern border as immigration operations take place in Texas. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in El Paso for us. Ed?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are here on the ground. We've been monitoring the situation all weekend long. We'll have the latest details coming up after the break.
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[10:35:00]
ACOSTA: Right now, CNN is getting exclusive access to the tarmac in Guatemala City, where two U. S. deportation flights are expected to land today. CNN Senior National Correspondent David Culver joins me now from Guatemala City. David, you just spoke with the country's vice president. What did she say?
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, that's right. I'll first set the scene here where we are because 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 governor -- 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 you know, were 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, Centro de 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 in 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, take a listen.
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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 unease.
OK. So, there's two flights arriving today. One is a commercial flight that's got 80 or so deported migrants, and the other is a military flight that will come later today.
OK. I'll just give you a quick description of that. The vice president, I asked, as I say, 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.
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CULVER: I think that was a really important part that she was trying to establish with us that the relationship between the U.S. and Guatemala is solid, communication is continuing. Secretary Rubio, she told me, will be here in the coming days. They're in touch with his office. And so, there's really, I think, an attempt to make sure that they're not creating any sort of adversity, especially with what we saw between Colombia and the U.S. just in the past 24 hours.
But it is going to be increasingly, I think, tense for countries like Guatemala right now in trying to obviously deal with the domestic situation and then figure out how it's going to work from a foreign relations perspective. Jim, at any moment those migrants being returned are going to be here and we're going to be getting a sense of what life was like for them in the U.S. and in transport back here now to their native Guatemala.
ACOSTA: All right. David Culver, thank you very much. In the meantime, some more breaking news, the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, just posted that his state's tactical border force will surge 400 additional personnel as well as C-130s and Chinook helicopters to join thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers already at the border. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in the border city of El Paso. Ed, what are you seeing there?
LAVANDERA: Well, we have witnessed here over the weekend the number of soldiers and troops being brought in here to the El Paso area. This is almost serving as like one of the staging grounds where a lot of these troops will be deployed from.
[10:40:00]
We are told that they will undergo several days of training preparation and then will be deployed along the U.S. southern border depending on which areas that they'll be needed and they'll be doing -- some of the work that we've seen them do here in the past -- because we should also point out that having soldiers here is not new. Toward the end of the Biden administration, 2,500 soldiers were already brought down here.
President Trump last week announced that he'd be sending another 1,500 or so. That is in addition to the several thousand that Governor Greg Abbott here in Texas had already deployed along the U.S. southern border over the last few years as well.
And a lot of these soldiers, what they do is they help preparing infrastructure along the border. We've seen in the past a lot of these soldiers helping put-up chain-link fences and barbed wire along the Rio Grande here in this area, fortifying what they say is also kind of supporting the border wall that already exists in large portions of this area as well.
So, we are told that the soldiers will not be involved in carried out immigration arrests, but working as a support force for the soldiers here or for the immigration officers already on the ground here, Jim.
ACOSTA: All right. Ed Lavandera, thank you very much. Let's continue this discussion right now. Congressman Sylvester Turner is a Texas Democrat, served two terms as mayor of Houston. Congressman, good to see you as always. I spoke to you many times when you were the mayor of Houston now you're in a new role.
And obviously, one of the things you're going to be dealing with in Congress is, I guess, seeing how the Trump administration is carrying out these deportation operations. Your reaction though to the state tactical border force sending these additional troops down to the border. What's your reaction to all this so far?
REP. SYLVESTER TURNER (D-TX), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: And, Jim, that is really not something that's new. The state has expended billions of dollars on the border. So, this is just a continuation of what has taken place in the past.
ACOSTA: And what do you think, I mean, so far, how the administration is carrying out these operations, these raids?
TURNER: Well, you know, it's been a big splash in the last week. Look, there is bipartisan support to secure the border. I'm in agreement with that. There's bipartisan support to deport individuals, persons in the United States who have committed violent crimes. So, you're not going to get mass disagreement on that. And I think there's bipartisan support to make sure that we handle immigration, deportation in a very, let's say, a legal way for people who are trying to come into our country to follow the process.
So, there are many areas of agreement. I think the disagreement comes into play is that when we're talking about deporting people who are law abiding citizens, dreamers, individuals who have gone through our schools and who are now ready to contribute to the American economy.
Asylums or refugees, and the State of Texas, for example, Houston in particular, bring in about 2,500 refugees every single year. People from Afghanistan who have worked along with us. So, those are the issues due process. So -- but there's general agreement that we want to secure the border, there's general agreement that we don't want to house or have people here who have committed violent crimes.
And I think if we work together to engage in comprehensive immigration reform, I think you're going to find areas where people can agree. And then I think there will be areas where we will disagree.
ACOSTA: And I want to ask you this. Sources tell CNN that ICE field offices have been given a quota at least 75 arrests a day. We're hearing stories of people being arrested after living in this country for decades. Hard working people who have been paying their taxes, causing no problems.
Is the administration losing sight of the fact that many of these folks, they are human beings, they're not numbers?
TURNER: Well, I think I heard a case where a person has been here for 30 years, law abiding, and that person knock on the person's home and that person was taken into custody. For people who, for example, that are working in the construction industry, law abiding, building homes for Americans to live in at affordable prices, that's important. For people who are working on our reforms, who are out there harvesting the crops, who are making sure that there are vegetables and fruit in American homes, I think we need to be sensitive to that.
[10:45:00]
I think when you look at it in this totality, if we are carrying out policies that are going to increase the cost of living for everyday Americans, drive up prices, then I think Americans will start to kind of take a look at this and see whether or not there are pluses or whether or not we have more minuses. But I think it is important, Jim, that we engage in this whole discussion in a very bipartisan fashion because there are areas where people will agree. But I think we have to be sensitive for students, for people like dreamers who have -- were born here, are people who were brought here by their parents and have gone through our schools, gotten educated and are now prepared to contribute back to society, I think we have to be very, very careful on how we handle --
ACOSTA: Well, Congressman, I was going to ask you a follow -- I mean, do you think that President Trump has any interest in being sensitive when it comes to this? Does your committee need to take a look at how this is being conducted?
TURNER: Well, I do happen to sit on Homeland Security, and I think there's going to be a lot of discussions on this subject matter.
ACOSTA: Yes.
TURNER: Look, if you want to do it in such a way that you get a splash and a lot of media coverage, you know, the president dropped a slew of executive orders on this last week, and is continuing to do that. So, if you want to get the splash and give people the indication that you are acting on what you promise, OK, I think many Americans will give him a plus for that. But if you want to do it in such a way that you are protecting the interests of Americans across the board, that you're helping to drive down the cost of living, that you're not doing it in such a way that over the long run it's going to be kind of productive to everyone, then we shall see.
ACOSTA: All right.
TURNER: Where we can work together, we want to work together. And I think you're going to meet -- he's got to meet with some resistance.
ACOSTA: All right. Congressman Turner, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.
TURNER: Thank you.
ACOSTA: Coming up -- all right. Thank you. Coming up, I'll speak to a Navajo legislative leader after reports surfaced that Native Americans are being detained during these immigration sweeps. That's next.
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[10:50:00]
ACOSTA: As the Trump administration ramps up its immigration rates, members of the Navajo Nation are voicing concerns this morning, saying at least 15 indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico have reported being questioned and detained by their homes, or at their homes and workplaces, I should say.
Crystalyne Curley joins us. She is the Navajo Nation Council Speaker. And. Crystalyne, thank you so much for joining us. What more can you tell us about these incidents? CRYSTALYNE CURLEY, NAVAJO NATION COUNCIL SPEAKER: Good morning, Jim and everyone. Thank you. We have been getting high alerts of notification from many of our urban Navajo people who have lived in metropolitan areas, in Phoenix area, and also Albuquerque, Los Angeles, Florida, Chicago, and many fear and -- fear for the -- you know, the threat of being deported, and many have been visited by ICE or any other law enforcement officials, either at their apartment homes, their homes, or even at their places of work. So, right now, there's a lot of frustration happening here on the Navajo Nation on how to address this.
ACOSTA: Right. And what are you hearing in terms of how all of this went down? Because obviously if you're indigenous people, if you're a part of the Navajo Nation, you are legally in this country. And so, what -- how did this happen?
CURLEY: So, it happens -- this is not our first time viewing the threat of being deported or immigration. You know, Navajo Nation and the rest of Indian country have a long history of relocation, being forced off of our lands for many decades in history. So, this is not something new that we have been encountering.
You know, most of all is being able to recognize us through our own special unique government to government relationship that we have with the United States and being able to talk about having the right to support our citizenship here on our aboriginal lands. Navajo people, native people have been here since time of memorial.
And, you know, there's just a lot of frustration being profiled or stereotype that we are not from this country.
ACOSTA: Well, yes, I mean, Crystalyne, the last thing that you said there raises the question is, are you concerned that there's just some racial profiling going on and if somebody is of Navajo descent that they may be seen by law enforcement as potentially being somebody who's just not from this country when that's obviously not the case?
CURLEY: Yes. With a lot of the families that we talked to, we feel that many of these cases that are coming through, the allegations are coming through they feel that they have been racially discriminated and also profiled, especially at their places of work where they were just moved into a different room and being able to ask for correct documentation.
And another issue that we're seeing is also with each of our tribes, with the Navajo Nation, for example, we do have certificate of Indian blood, meaning that we do have identification, knowing that we are members of the Navajo Nation. And right now, it's very uncertain if that is being verified as an a correct type of -- or, you know, eligible identification by ICE or any type law enforcement.
[10:55:00]
ACOSTA: Yes.
CURLEY: So, those are just some ongoing current issues that we are seeing right now. And a lot of these certificate of Indian blood can only be verified here in our capital or throughout all the Navajo Nation. As I mentioned, many of our Navajo people are spread throughout the country and the world. You know, now we're trying to provide assistance and resources on how to get a lot of their tribal identifications verified with a lot of these entities.
ACOSTA: But, Crystalyne. I mean -- just to I mean, just to simplify this, if you are Navajo, you are allowed to be here?
CURLEY: Yes, absolutely.
ACOSTA: Right. Full stop. Right?
CURLEY: And it goes for all of our --
ACOSTA: It goes without saying.
CURLEY: -- tribal people across Indian country. Yes.
ACOSTA: Yes. All right. Well, Crystalyne Curley, thank you very much, with the Navajo Nation and beautiful Window Rock, Arizona. Thank you so much for your time.
And thanks for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of newsroom starts after a short break. Be right back.
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