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Judge Stops Deportation of Minors in Middle of the Night; Afghan Government: At Least 800 People Killed in Quake; Break Point: Tempers Boiling Over at the U.S. Open. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired September 01, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Novak Djokovic also secured a spot in Tuesday's quarter final after a dominant victory over Germany's Jan- Lennard Struff.
[06:00:09]
The 38-year-old fired off 12 aces throughout the match. Djokovic will face American Taylor Fritz next as he chases a record 25th major title.
And this Labor Day, Powerball will offer its fifth largest prize ever, if somebody wins the jackpot. Today's Powerball jackpot drawing, worth an estimated $1.1 billion. So, if somebody wins and selects that cash option, they will receive 498 million bucks.
Lottery officials say the average American's chance of winning the Powerball jackpot is roughly 1 in 292,000,000.
Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds of children were on the brink of being deported until a judge ordered their plane to turn around. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD BLANCHE, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Today you saw something extraordinary in Washington, D.C. And by extraordinary, I mean disgusting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The Trump administration stopped by the courts. So, what happens to those migrant children now?
And the death toll rising after a massive earthquake rocked parts of Afghanistan.
China hosting Vladimir Putin. President Trump not invited. But they're sure talking about him a lot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON (D), CHICAGO: We do not want to see tanks in our streets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Chicago's mayor bracing for a sweeping ICE operation that's both unwelcome and imminent.
And Congress back to work this week as a government shutdown looms. Democrat Debbie Dingell speaks to us live about the challenges ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAYLOR TOWNSEND, TENNIS PLAYER: I showed up as myself. And I handled it the way that I wanted to handle it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Tirades, tantrums, and tears. What's going on at the U.S. Open?
It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at New York City.
Good morning, everyone. It's Labor Day, September 1. Thank you so much for waking up with me. I'm Audie Cornish. And here's where we're going to start.
Hundreds of Guatemalan children remain in U.S. custody this morning after a weekend attempt by the Trump administration to send them back to their home country.
In the early morning hours Sunday, the Trump administration loaded up planes with children who had arrived to the U.S. as unaccompanied minors.
One lawyer tells CNN many kids were woken up in the middle of the night, terrified to be returned.
The federal judge in the case called the effort to remove the children in the middle of a holiday weekend, quote, "surprising." She blocked the removal flights, which were supposed to take off from Texas and deliver the children back to Guatemala. One plane was in mid-air when it was ordered to turn around.
Now the Trump administration is crying foul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLANCHE: Today you saw something extraordinary in Washington, D.C. And by extraordinary, I mean disgusting. In the middle of the night, at 3:30 a.m., a local judge in D.C. enjoined the Department of Justice, ICE, and DHS from sending Guatemalan children back to their parents in Guatemala.
Now, think about that. Think about that for a minute. In the middle of the night, without even asking the government for their position, this judge enjoined the conduct of ICE and DHS. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, the government now has until Friday to provide evidence that the children have been requested to return by their parents or legal guardians.
Joining me now in the group chat, Sara Fischer, CNN senior media analyst and senior media reporter for Axios; Stephen Collinson, CNN politics senior reporter; and Jackie Kucinich, CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for "The Boston Globe."
OK, I want to start with you, Stephen, because this is one of those moments that feels very much on-brand for the administration. They have wanted to use these flights and move quickly. This is a situation where you have unaccompanied minors. What makes it distinct, these particular flights?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think we don't know all the details, and that's probably by design from the administration. The fact they did this over the holiday weekend when a lot of people might be looking in another direction.
They have not provided, at least publicly, evidence that shows that these kids, all of them, have somewhere to go, that they'll be safe in Guatemala.
I think it's part of the -- it's a symptom of the attempt, I think, to try and get these numbers up. That's also, I think, what's behind the crime crackdowns in D.C., potentially in Chicago in the coming weeks, National Guard going there to try and, you know, ramp up the pace of these --
[06:05:06]
CORNISH: So, you see these things as kind of linked (ph) way of doing business?
COLLINSON: I think if you look at a lot of the things the administration is doing, it's all designed to increase the pace of these deportations.
CORNISH: Yes.
COLLINSON: But there are big questions about where these children are going to end up. Will they be safe? And you can just imagine the -- the trauma that some of them may have faced.
CORNISH: Yes. Their argument is that they're returning them to their family.
COLLINSON: Yes.
CORNISH: I think anyone who has kids knows you don't pick them up in the middle of the night from the airport.
COLLINSON: Yes. CORNISH: That feels like not the first choice.
But, Jackie, I want to talk to you, because in the -- in the first Trump term, the child separation policy was supposed to serve as a deterrent, right? They -- this dealing with accompanied minors. They've done it in ways that I think advocates have deemed as harsh before.
Is this moment any different from that in that context? Help me think about it.
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think Steve is right, that there were -- there are a lot of questions that we just don't have the answers to.
But it is -- it's this trying to outpace the judiciary, as well. Right? Moving so quickly that perhaps a judge can't rule, can't stop something in the mid -- in midair.
That also has been a symptom of this administration and the ensuing outrage when they are eventually stopped.
Now, this doesn't seem to be over. They have until Friday, as you mentioned, to make a case that there actually are people on the other side of this, waiting for these children.
But I -- they're -- they don't seem deterred. Right?
CORNISH: No. And the messaging there, right, is like, "This is disgusting."
KUCINICH: Exactly.
CORNISH: This is horrible that a judge weighed in, right? It wasn't, like, the children or something.
So, help me understand the messaging. Like, again, because it stopped. This is -- I can't see Democrats not picking this up and talking about it this week, but I don't know if the issue is -- people are talking about it the same way.
SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. I mean, I think that, to Jackie's point, they -- we know they're not deterred, because they filed an injunction.
So, they know that they have until Friday to answer the question of, do these parents actually want their kids?
Which, by the way, when asked, the official, the lawyer representing the government said, that's what I've been told. So, we don't really have any concrete proof.
On the messaging side, Donald Trump ran on this platform that he was going to increase deportations and crack down on immigration, and that's overwhelmingly what the people wanted when they elected him. What shifted is, I think over the past few months, we've seen a lot of
tactics get taken that have really upended communities, especially in certain industries. You think about farms, you think about labor.
And this is where people have started -- the public sentiment has started to change.
CORNISH: Yes.
FISCHER: People see that the tactics that are being taken feel brutish. They don't feel aligned with the law.
You said, Jackie, going around the judiciary, whenever you bring in kids, that also tends to change sentiment. Because as you said, anyone who's a parent knows it doesn't matter where your kid is from, all you want to make sure is that kids are safe.
I don't think that this one is going to have the same kind of public perception as some of their ICE raids have.
CORNISH: It will be interesting to see if it gets picked up in the kind of manosphere podcasting world, too, where you saw people really seize on the Kilmar Abrego case and the case of the hairdresser. Do you remember that?
COLLINSON: Yes.
CORNISH: Like, you started to see those voices say, what are we doing here?
COLLINSON: I think Joe Rogan started talking about it. Why are we deporting these people?
CORNISH: Yes.
COLLINSON: Does that capture the public imagination?
But you see Todd Blanche's comments there. This is yet another of those issues where the administration wants the fight. It feels like this is its issue.
It's the same with sending National Guard reservists into cities. They get the Democrats, in their opinion, into the weak spot of defending or of opposing --
CORNISH: Something that's indefensible, yes.
COLLINSON: -- a harsh immigration policy. So, that's the political calculation from the administration side.
Does that, as you say, start to erode? This could be an interesting issue going into the midterm elections next year.
A lot of this Texas redistricting is premised on the idea that Hispanic voters in Texas will stay with Donald Trump after voting for him in increased numbers in the last presidential election. Does something like this start to hurt those numbers? So, it'll be interesting to watch that.
CORNISH: And we're going to have a Democrat on the show today to talk about that at the start of this week. So, you guys stay with me.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, rescue crews are rushing to the scene after an earthquake in Afghanistan where hundreds of people are reported dead.
Plus, President Trump plans to sign an executive order restricting the way Americans vote. A plan recommended by Vladimir Putin.
And a postwar plan for Gaza. The Trump administration's vision for rebuilding the strip, and it sounds a lot like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[06:14:29]
CORNISH: We have some breaking news this morning. A massive earthquake has rocked Eastern Afghanistan. The death toll is climbing. In fact, there's more than 800 people reported dead already. Thousands more are injured.
The 6.0 quake hit early this morning near Pakistan's border in a remote mountainous area, which is making it difficult to get rescues done.
CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is following this for us.
Nic, can you give us the latest on what's happening?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, there are a couple of reasons that the death toll is growing higher and is relatively high already.
One of them is exactly what you mentioned, that it happened in the night. So, most people were in their homes.
But in this rural area, a lot of the homes there are made of rock, stone, mud, timber; poorly made, easily collapsible. And this is -- this is one of the reasons that the death toll is where it's at.
The other reason: that it is inaccessible, that some of the access roads that were already poor roads, dirt roads, have been hurt by landslides. That's making it difficult for -- for medical and rescue services to get in. The Afghan government is using helicopters to try to reach some of the
more remote areas. They're being transported to some of the regional hospitals there: Jalalabad, Asadabad. And that's the area in the East of Afghanistan, close to Pakistan border, Nangarhar and Kunar province. Kunar province seems to be the worst affected.
And the other reason that, of course, this 6.0-magnitude quake is having such a significant impact is that it is relatively shallow.
And if we look back to October 2023, there was a quake of similar magnitude back then; 2000 people died in that. And it's expected that the death toll will -- will climb.
And of course, sort of piling on the misery here is the fact that Afghan's international aid budgets, like so many countries, have been slashed. It's already suffering a very poor and fragile economy. This is hampering all of it, hampering the rescue-recovery efforts.
CORNISH: CNN's Nic Robertson. We're going to have more information on this quake for you throughout the day.
And after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, Chicago bracing for the president's crime crackdown. Will the mayor's plan to resist really work?
Plus, break point. Tensions running high at the U.S. Open.
And a live look at Boston, one of the many cities where Labor Day protests are expected. We're going to have more on that coming up.
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[06:21:20]
CORNISH: Is it end-of-the-season stress, the heat, or the New York City crowds to blame? Whatever it is, tempers are flaring at the U.S. Open.
A confrontation over grunting, players refusing to shake hands. And some yelling at umpires. We saw multiple crash-outs on the court over the weekend.
The most heated back-and-forth was between Taylor Townsend and Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko when Ostapenko said the American had, quote, "no class and no education." Something she has since apologized for and clarified what she meant by etiquette.
When asked about all the attention she's been getting and if it added any pressure, Townsend had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOWNSEND: I showed up as myself. And I handled it the way that I wanted to handle it. And so, I was unapologetic about everything and, you know, I was proud of the way that I handled everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Well, we're going to bring in CNN contributor and host of "NAKED SPORTS," Cari Champion.
Good morning, Cari. Thanks for being here.
CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. And I love to talk about tennis. It's one of my favorites.
CORNISH: OK. So, people are getting into it. They're getting into it about etiquette. The Townsend-Ostapenko was, like, the biggest kind of attention-getting one.
And then, I went and looked it up, and Ostapenko has all kinds of altercations with players at tournaments all over. Am I reading that right?
CHAMPION: You're absolutely correct. You know, it's interesting, because when this actually happened, and I'm watching the match -- I went to the U.S. Open -- I thought to myself, well, isn't this ironic in so many ways? A player known for not having the best etiquette or the best attitude, or yelling at certain umpires uncontrollably, having as you mentioned, crash-outs, is now giving someone lessons or some sort of lecture on how to behave?
And unfortunately, it just really felt to me like it was just very high-handed of her to do so.
CORNISH: Yes.
CHAMPION: And I'm glad that, you know, Taylor stood her ground.
CORNISH: You know, what's interesting: that got a lot of attention, but there are a lot more incidents with the male players, I've noticed, as well.
And during the break, I was talking with Stephen, and he's like, the last time I paid attention to tennis was McEnroe, who also incurred massive fines, disqualification, right? I think it was in the '90s.
Is there something about New York?
CHAMPION: There's definitely something about playing -- for the American players, playing in a Grand Slam at home that it fuels this certain fire.
But you mentioned McEnroe. McEnroe made a career of -- from yelling at people. He has commercials. He made money off of it after he'd long retired.
And I don't know if you remember, Serena was fined --
CORNISH: Multiple times.
CHAMPION: -- probably one of the highest fines. Multiple times, for not having, quote unquote, "proper etiquette." And what I've learned is that when women compete -- and I'm not
standing up for anyone -- but when they compete at that same level, there's always this -- this tag team of how it should be appropriate.
And it's -- now that we get to see what these players are saying on these -- these crossovers and these exchanges, look, I think all is fair if you can call them out. If you want to dish this type of criticism, then I should be able to respond to it.
And Taylor gave us a good example. Taylor Townsend gave us a good example of how to respond. But I still feel like the officials at tennis need some sort of level ground.
You allow the men to do it, and then the women get this reaction where there would be from -- from those who don't really understand tennis. And they -- I think they get treated differently. I really, truly do.
CORNISH: One more thing. A match that everyone's talking about today: Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff. Their last match-up in 2019 ended up, like, they're comforting each other. It's tearful.
But since then, they've both won U.S. Open titles. So, what are you looking for in their performance today?
CHAMPION: You know what I'm excited about when you talk about women's tennis? More specifically, American women's tennis? I started off at the Tennis Channel when it was all about the Williams sisters, and Andy Roddick was saying good-bye to his career, as well, when I started off in sport.
[06:25:09]
Now, we have a new crop of stars, of American tennis stars. Coco Gauff, by far, is one of the best that we have in terms of eyes, and people want to watch her.
Naomi is making her comeback.
I am looking for two huge superstars to take over that court and really give us our new world, our new era of tennis, meaning American tennis that's here to stay with some really dominant figures.
And this match is going to be amazing, because they both respect one another. They've both been in the trenches, and they know what it feels like to be down and pulling themselves up.
So, we're in for some special tennis today for this Labor Day, this middle Monday at the Grand Slam.
CORNISH: Well, Cari, you made me want to watch. So now I'm tuning in. Appreciate it.
Cari Champion, thanks for waking up for us.
CHAMPION: Of course. CORNISH: Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, what's the saying? The
enemy of my enemy is my friend? That might be playing out right now in China, where world leaders who have one thing in common get together.
And Rudy Giuliani hurt after a car accident. What he was doing when the crash happened.
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[06:30:00]
