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CNN This Morning
Report: 250 Plus Detainees With no Criminal Past At Alligator Alcatraz; More jobs Require In-Person Work, Long Hours As Bosses Gain; One Man Dies During ICE Raid In Southern California; Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired July 14, 2025 - 6:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[6:00:00]
MJ LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This year's remarkable humpback migration. Experts are investigating why the whales have appeared so early in the season. There's already been an increased amount of sightings compared to previous months and reports of larger whales as well.
While researchers are praising successful conservation efforts, some are also suggesting that environmental factors are responsible for the changing whale population.
Thank you so much for joining us here on Early Start. I'm MJ Lee in Washington. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Another layer of the Trump administration immigration crackdown now unfolding. Is this a show of strength or could it backfire? CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
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REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): They should not put humans in cages in the middle of swampland in the Everglades.
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CORNISH: We're hearing more about the conditions hundreds of detainees face at Alligator Alcatraz. More on that in just a moment.
Plus, he's fed up with Putin. President Trump set to make a major announcement on Russia and a possible arms shipment to Ukraine.
And a summer fridge staple could cost more on your next grocery run. We're talking tomato tariffs.
And President Trump, standing by his Attorney General. MAGA world is not happy about it.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pam, if you can't do your job, we'll find someone who will.
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CORNISH: OK. There's a lot to unpack on this one. And we're going to discuss more in our "Group Chat."
And there's a new job market power shift in the workplace. Is it in your favor or your bosses?
6:00 A.M. here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at Capitol Hill. Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me.
And on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to start with the issue which arguably helped sweep Donald Trump back into power, immigration.
He promised to carry out the largest mass deportation in history. But is the administration's plan backfiring? We're going to take a look at scenes like this playing out in Southern California, where hundreds of farm workers were arrested in a raid by ICE agents.
One man died from his injury Saturday after falling from a greenhouse during a raid last week.
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SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA): It's causing ICE to get more aggressive, more cruel, more extreme, and these are the results. It's people dying because of fear and terror caused by this administration.
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CORNISH: On Friday, a federal judge actually issued an order for Southern California barring immigration arrests based solely on race, spoken language, or a person's job.
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KRISTI NOEM, DHS SECRETARY: This federal judge's ruling is ridiculous. We never ran our operations that way. We always built our operations, our investigations on casework, on knowing individuals that we needed to target because they were criminals, because they had conducted violent crimes against individuals in their communities or had overstayed their orders, had violated federal laws and that is always how this is done.
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CORNISH: The ruling in California comes as Alligator Alcatraz begins filling up in Florida with hundreds of migrant detainees. According to a list obtained by "The Miami Herald," more than 250 people, out of that 250 people of the 700 held at the site, the minority have no criminal history or pending charges.
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SCHULTZ: We were very suspect of that because they have a bracelet system of red, yellow, and -- and green, I believe. And, you know, there were -- we -- we could hardly get up close to any of them, but it was clear that there were not many with red bracelets. But then "The Herald" story comes out this morning and shows that hundreds of these 900 detainees have no criminal conviction. And that was our suspicion to begin with.
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CORNISH: So, we want to talk about how this is going over with voters. The latest Gallup poll shows 62 percent disapprove of how Trump is handling the issue. These are the worst numbers he's gone on immigration during his second term.
Joining me now to discuss Sara Fischer, CNN media analyst. Zolan Kanno-Youngs, CNN political analyst. And White House correspondent for "The New York Times." And Zachary Wolf, CNN senior politics reporter and the author of the "What Matters" newsletter.
Zach, I also -- I -- I really want to start with you because you've been talking about the fact of the spending. And I think you've been reporting about this as well. ICE is about to become what? Or one of our largest federal law enforcement agencies?
ZACHARY WOLF, CNN SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER: The largest federal law enforcement agency and by a good bit. I mean the new bill, the -- you know, the -- the law, the great Big, Beautiful Law, I don't know what we're calling it at this point, but --
[6:05:03]
CORNISH: Yes.
WOLF: -- that is going to -- it's going to supercharge ICE. So, if -- if you don't like, you know, what you're seeing, the -- the mass agents of that, there's going to be a lot more of those people as soon as they can start to hire them. They're going to have this infusion of cash. There's, you know, a lot more money to build detention centers. So, this is like the template and it's going to get a lot bigger when they can make that happen.
CORNISH: Here's how people are feeling about it so far. I think Gallup has shown the sharp shift where you have 62 percent now disapprove of Trump's handling of immigration. This is a huge reversal from just a few months ago.
But this is what he promised. And I think people understood that. What do you hear in those numbers disapproval, disapproval of how it's being carried out, disapproval of how it's gone?
ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
CORNISH: Help me understand.
KANNO-YOUNGS: Well, he definitely promised mass deportations and promised a historic campaign. But even when you look at some of the polls that were taken during in the presidential campaign, there was a bit of nuance there. People definitely wanted deportations and definitely wanted to crack down on the border. But those polls would often sometimes show that some of those same people did feel that there should also be a legal pathway to citizenship.
Since the beginning of this term, you know, you've seen Trump's aides came into office really emphasizing going after undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Well, we've seen a broadening since then, right? Did people ask for the deportation of immigrants to a terrorism prison in El Salvador? A crackdown on college campuses, the detaining of a tough student for writing an op-ed, really a use of deportations to crack down on dissent as well.
CORNISH: Yes. And it's been, I think, underscored by people like Joe Rogan. You know, there's sort of other folks who supported Trump during the election, even on this issue, and they're raising kind of the loudest questions most consistently.
SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, and Rogan was one of the folks that came out and questioned the deportation of a man to El Salvador. That constituency, we call it the manosphere, right? They're not explicitly conservative, but they have huge audiences online. They're very, very powerful to reaching young voters, a lot of who voted for Donald Trump.
And so, if they're going to come out and start to question some of these policies, that's why I think you see these mass shift in the polls, because these are people who make big impact now in politics, also would be missed not to note.
I think one of the discrepancies in the polls of how people feel right now is because this is a very visual raid.
CORNISH: Right.
FISCHER: Because you have in L.A., of course, all the pushback. You have the smoke. People see visually how frustrating, how big of an impact this is having on communities. That is very different from the sort of these more silent efforts where you go in quietly, you litigate with someone, maybe you pull them out in handcuffs quietly in the back. That is not what this is.
CORNISH: Yes. Have you noticed online, people on Reddit, et cetera, posting little videos of ICE detentions that are happening in their neighborhood or on the --
FISCHER: Yes. Yes.
CORNISH: -- streets surreptitiously.
One of the things that's been interesting is watching the partisan view of immigration shift. Now, the question they were asking here was just, do you think immigration is a good thing? And you see this shift from 2024 where you had even independence just 66 percent said that.
Now that number is 80 percent. And I think it shows that. Go ahead. FISCHER: Well, you know what's so funny to me? Remember when Elon Musk came in and he was advocating on the visa issue for immigrants? He was saying, look at me, I'm a huge entrepreneur. I brought electric vehicles to this country. I'm sending most of your supplies up to the space station.
Look at what an immigrant can do. That broke MAGA, right? You had Steve Bannon and other Trump allies saying, you know, this is not going to work out. Where did Trump side? He sided with Elon Musk. And I think he did it because he knows that this -- this idea of Americanism is secretly deep down. It is rooted in immigration and there's a sentiment around that --
CORNISH: Yes.
FISCHER: -- both parties.
CORNISH: And fundamentally, I think all of this is reminding people of that instead of the opposite.
You guys stay with me, because we're going to talk a lot more about this and other things today.
And I want you to read more of Zach's writing in the "What Matters" newsletter. You can subscribe to it online and publishes every Monday through Friday.
And coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, is President Trump ready to give up on Russia's president? The big announcement that could put more pressure on Putin.
Plus, it's peak tomato season, but the summer staple is about to get a little more expensive. We're going to explain why.
And why a long-standing feud between President Trump and Rosie O'Donnell is now back in the spotlight.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, Rosie's a loser. She's always been a loser.
Rosie is a very self-destructive person.
I said very tough things to her. And I think everybody would agree that she deserves it and nobody feels sorry for her.
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[6:10:17]
CORNISH: It's now 13 minutes past the hour and here is your morning roundup. Two women are dead after a shooting at a Baptist church in Lexington. That's happened on Sunday. Now, just moments before that shooting, the suspect was stopped by a state trooper for a traffic violation.
He actually shot the trooper and then fled the scene. When he got to the church, he shot to two women, two others who are still alive. The suspect was then fatally shot by officers. We're told he had a connection to the church.
And the decades old feud between President Trump and Rosie O'Donnell reignited. The president is now threatening to deport her, vowing to revoke her U.S. citizenship.
CNN has reached out to the White House for more on why Trump made this threat. Last week, the U.S. -born O'Donnell criticized Trump's response to the Texas floods.
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[6:15:09]
DAVID CORENSWET, AMERICAN ACTOR: Hey, buddy. Eyes up here.
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CORNISH: And "Superman" is a super hit. The movie topped the box office bringing in $122 million on opening weekend. And that is the third biggest box office opening of 2025.
Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, FEMA's response to the flooding in Texas now under a microscope. New reporting shows some teams didn't show up until it was several days too late.
Plus, a power shift in the workplace now back in the favor of bosses. And as we go to break, a live look at Savannah, Georgia.
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[6:20:09]
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most people want to have a security, a well- paying job. They want to, you know, be able to afford their rent or their mortgage.
Should you be able to do that without working evenings and weekends and putting all of the hours in? Yes. I really think that you should.
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CORNISH: OK. I'm going off script for a second because there's been a bit of a vibe shift. I mean, coming off the great resignation and then, you know, work-life balance talk. We are seeing a major move post-pandemic where basically you go from flexibility to jobs basically demanding long hours.
And that's in addition to this growing number of executives who are just outright saying, look, there's going to be a white collar job bloodbath brought to you by AI.
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SEBASTIAN SIEMIATKOWSKI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, KLARNA: We're a significantly bigger business. So, we have been able to utilize AI to become fewer, to do the same amount of -- or even more work.
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CORNISH: That CEO of Klarna there I spoke to a few weeks back. So, what does this mean if you're trying to get hired? We're joined now by Jessica Kriegel. She's Chief Scientist of Workplace at Culture.
Jessica, good morning.
JESSICA KRIEGEL, CHIEF SCIENTIST OF WORKPLACE CULTURE: Thanks for having me.
CORNISH: So, I was looking at some research you guys did and you asked a question that -- that kind of embodies what I'm talking about. The percentage of employees who say management cares about them is not looking so great.
But the thing that is interesting is I feel like that's the exact kind of question we started asking when we started caring about work-life balance.
KRIEGEL: Yes, absolutely. So think about this. On day one of a new job, people on average think that their management team cares about them at about a rate of 72 percent. On month seven, that number has dropped to 37 percent.
So, there's something happening in those first six months, which is making people say, wait, what happened? I thought you guys were going to be a great culture.
And what's happening is probably the lived experiences are not matching the expectations that they had when they started in that job. And -- and that's a problem.
CORNISH: Is that about expectations? Or are you actually seeing managers, companies say, look, it was a little overboard, the demands before, and now you've got to do A, B, and C?
KRIEGEL: It's expectation shifting, right? So now, you're seeing finally employers are being a little bit more transparent about what they're expecting for new hires. So, Shopify just said, please come here only if you're interested in working an unrelenting pace.
Google said that 60 hours is the sweet spot. So now, we're being a little bit more vocal about what we always really did expect, which is productivity, productivity, productivity from the get-go.
CORNISH: What's the difference for hourly workers versus salary workers? KRIEGEL: Well, there's a privilege difference in the -- in the experience of working, right? So for a salaried worker, many of them have a hybrid work environment. They're working from home when you feel burnt out. Sometimes you can sneak away without anyone noticing.
An hourly worker does not necessarily have that privilege. For those people, they don't have very much predictability in their shift schedule, looking two weeks in advance. They don't know what their schedule is going to be. They have very specific breaks allocated. Let's say your break room is five minutes away from where you're working and you have a 10-minute break, spend your entire break walking to and from the break room. And so it's a very different experience. And that's also something that needs to be addressed.
CORNISH: Before I let you go, the jobs numbers right now are quite good. What are you seeing in the fine print of those numbers that's a red flag, that also might be making it so that employers feel more confident making demands?
KRIEGEL: Yes. I mean, the unemployment rate is a tricky number to look at because it doesn't necessarily reveal the whole truth. We don't see, for example, in that number, the people who wish they had full- time but took on part time work in the meantime.
And so really, I'm interested in the jobless claims. And that number has been growing. And you see a lot of companies being hesitant to hire because of AI, because of tariff uncertainty. And so right now, it's hard out there for employees looking for work.
CORNISH: And we see you. Thanks so much, Jessica Kriegel. She's Chief Scientist of Workplace Culture. Thank you.
KRIEGEL: Thanks for having me.
CORNISH: So, after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, a MAGA rift deepening over the handling of the Epstein case. The director of the FBI versus the attorney general, and President Trump now putting his way behind his A.G.
Plus, a historic lodge destroyed as a wildfire rips through the Grand Canyon's North Rim. The governor now demanding answers about the response.
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[6:25:44]
CORNISH: Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING. It is now half past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.
U.S. Futures slipping ahead of the opening bell after President Trump's latest tariff threat. The president said he would impose 30 percent tariffs on the U.S. and Mexico. That's supposed to start August 1st.
And this morning, a slow moving storm system causing rivers to --
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