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CNN This Morning
President Trump Returns To The U.S. After Concluding His China Visit; U.S. Plans To Indict Raul Castro Raise Cubans' Fears Of Force; Trump Returns From China With No Breakthrough On Iran; Supreme Court Kills Virginia Redistricting Push. U.S. Supreme Court Kills Democrats' Redistricting Push in Virginia; Voters Head to Primary Polls in Louisiana; Democrats Representative Steve Cohen Announces Retirement, Blames Redistricting. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired May 16, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:00:30]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN This Morning. Here's what you need to know. Today, President Trump is back in the U.S. after his visit to China. He called the trip historic, but there are some serious questions over what was achieved. What Trump says was the most important issue raised during his summit with Xi Jinping.
New this morning, we are hearing from one of the Americans evacuated from that hantavirus stricken cruise ship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been hard to work through it myself, but thankfully I have family and friends that are so supportive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: And what we know about the cases here in the US. Also happening today, voters in Louisiana will head to the polls. Its stripped down primary is happening, but it could have major implications for one Republican, especially if President Trump has his way. And it's the taco order heard across Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have breakfast tacos.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Potato, egg and cheese?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. That's right too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is again fighting back against claims that he's a secret vegan or vegan as the president says. And now everyone from the state's governor to President Trump is weighing in.
Welcome to your weekend. Glad you're starting with me. It's Saturday, May 16th. Good to be with you. I'm Victor Blackwell.
President Trump is back in Washington this morning after a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Now, while the president touted the Beijing summit as a historic moment, the meetings between the two leaders ended without substantive agreements announced on key issues.
President Trump said on Fox that Taiwan was the most important issue for Xi during their talks that President Trump made it clear that he would like the situation with Taiwan to stay the way it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: Has the policy changed at all?
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: No, nothing.
BAIER: U.S. policy.
TRUMP: No, nothing's changed. I will say this. I'm not looking to have somebody go independent and, you know, we're supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I'm not looking for that. I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down. With me, I don't think they'll do anything when I'm here, when I'm not here. I think they might, to be honest with you. So I'm not sure that they do anything if it remained as is.
But they have somebody there now that wants to go independent. Well, it's a risky thing when you go independent. You know, they're going independent because they want to get into a war and they want to they figure they have a United States behind them. I'd like to see it stay the way it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Our CNN's Mike Valerio joins us now from Beijing. Mike, no president wants to come back and say they didn't get much done. He calls it historic summit. What were some of the important takeaways?
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDNET: I think that very much the vibe and the optics were the biggest takeaways because you're right, there seemed to be very little of substance that as of right now, the president was able to bring back.
But in terms of recalibrating the relationship from the depths of the trade war, from going to a competitor to a partner, I think that, Victor, for everybody back home in America watching this morning, is the biggest thing again, competitor to partner, that palpable shift that was on display in Beijing.
But Taiwan, secondly, of course, is the other huge thing for Americans to know about and how this could be changing. We're all waiting to see what the president is going to decide to do with this $14 billion arms sale.
So of he was talking to Brett Baier on Fox News. I want to throw to a sound bite of when the president was coming back to D.C. on Air Force One. He's talking about Taiwan. Listen closely and we'll talk about it on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Xi said that there was a risk of conflict with the U.S. over Taiwan. What's your response to that?
TRUMP: I don't think there's a conflict other than we don't need their strait. We don't need.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President Xi said there was a risk of conflict with the U.S. over Taiwan.
TRUMP: No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I think we're going -- I think we'll be fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIO: OK, so the beginning of that clip, Victor and everybody, he says we don't need their strait, meaning the Taiwan Strait.
[06:05:00]
So at this hour, we have the presidential office in Taipei saying that everything is fine, that there's no change in policy. But when you have the President of the United States talking about Taiwan that way, saying we don't need the Taiwan Strait, this is a body of water, we're talking about the Strait of Hormuz, this is another critical choke point.
This is where, according to Bloomberg Shipping data, in 2022, about half of the world's container ships went through that waterway between mainland China and Taiwan in just seven months alone. This is also where the United States and other countries get about 90 percent of their advanced chips.
When we're talking about munitions and missiles depleted from the war with Iran, all of these advanced chips that power those missiles, many of them are coming from Taiwan. So to hear the President speak in those terms, this is all for Beijing's point of view about sowing doubt in the minds of the Taiwanese people that if there were, God forbid, to be a conflict between the island and the mainland, that the United States very may well not come to the island's defense.
So when you hear comments from the president like this, Beijing is certainly relishing in new seeds of doubt being sown. Victor?
BLACKWELL: Yes, and the president also non-committal on that $14 billion weapons sale to Taiwan as well. Mike Valerio setting the table for us. Thanks so much.
With me now, Melanie Hart. She's the senior director of the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub. Melanie, good morning to you. Before the trip, you outlined five possible outcomes that would have made this trip a success. So let's run them down.
Avoid fumbles on Taiwan, separate U.S. export controls from Chinese purchase commitments, reduce trade tensions, free detainees, and secure stronger commitments from Beijing on critical minerals. All right, so what's the verdict? How many did the President check off?
MELANIE HART, Senior Director, ATLANTIC COUNCIL'S GLOBAL CHINA HUB: Unfortunately, as of this morning, it's a solid zero. We were comforted. You know, Washington had breathed a sigh of real collective relief yesterday because it looks like President Trump had at least avoided the traps that Beijing was setting for him on Taiwan.
But now with this new footage from the interview that you guys just showed on the screen, that is the President of the United States echoing Chinese government talking points on Taiwan.
This is not U.S. views and U.S. messaging. These are Chinese government talking points. And then to see him refer to Taiwan as a bargaining chip, that's all deeply disturbing. So, you know, unfortunately, we're batting -- as of this morning, we're batting at zero across these marks.
BLACKWELL: Let me talk more about this pending potentially now weapons sale to Taiwan, $14 billion here's what the President said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm holding that in abeyance. And it depends on China. It depends. It's -- it's a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly. It's a lot of weapons. It's $12 billion. It's a lot of weapons. But, you know, when you look at the odds, China is a very, very powerful, big country. That's a very small island. You think of it, it's 59 miles away. 59 Miles. We're 9,500 miles away. That's a little bit of a difficult problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Even if the president doesn't block the sale, what's the impact of the rhetoric and the equivocation that you heard from the President there?
HART: Is now telling Xi Jinping that he's willing to link U.S. national security, military moves that have always been based on our own national interests, to what Xi Jinping is willing to give him. And since he came home empty, with no absolutely zero concrete promises on any of the deals we were expecting, from soybeans to airplanes, why would China sign on the dotted line for any of those promises without demanding even more U.S. concessions?
Unfortunately, this really emboldens Xi Jinping, and because now Xi could -- Xi can give him a call and say, great, give me the receipts. Let's discuss what. What you're willing to put on the table as a negotiating chip in exchange for me buying a few soybeans. BLACKWLEL: The President also said that he's considering lifting sanctions on Chinese companies that have purchased oil from Iran. Iran produces more than 1.6 million barrels a day. 90 percent of that is sold to China.
Why, at this point in the war with Iran, would it make sense to lift some of those sanctions?
HART: To be honest with you, that doesn't make sense to me at all. And the reason is that the U.S. imposed those sanctions because China was continuing to buy oil from Iran. Beijing has actually ordered those companies to violate U.S. sanctions.
[06:10:02]
So China is actually openly flouting and violating U.S. policy on this. I do not understand what the President thinks he would gain by scrambling backward. China has not promised to help the U.S. out on Iran. They don't have an incentive to do so. So he must think that he can get some Chinese concession on this. But that's really not in the cards.
BLACKWELL: Before the Supreme Court determined that his the president -- President Trump's so called Liberation Day tariffs were unconstitutional, There was a trade war between the U.S. and China with 100 percent plus tariffs on the other's exports into the respective countries. Are you surprised as a President Trump says that tariffs didn't come up in the conversation?
HART: I'm shocked would be a more accurate word. It really seems, you know, the information, the news from these meetings has been trickling out slowly. We didn't see the U.S. put out a big fact sheet as normally happens that lays out what they covered in the meetings. So it's been this slow trickle over the past hours and I really am starting to realize that it seems that China really set the table for and defined the summit.
They made this summit all about Taiwan. President Trump came home talking about Taiwan and we don't have for the U.S. side, we don't have any concrete movement on any of these economic issues that the President was hoping to address in China.
So it really seems like China set the agenda here. China is also talking about what they call a new strategic framework, a kind of new type of cooperation with the United States. They're hoping to box the U.S. in into a more predictable U.S.-China relationship. Their readout of the meetings focuses a lot on that.
And sadly, we aren't yet seeing any deliverables for the American people other than the President spending some time together and trying to move toward predictability. But I have to say that predictability is a bit blown up this morning with these new statements on Taiwan.
BLACKWELL: Yes. And speaking of one of your five points here, freeing those detainees, I have the families of two of those held in Chinese prisons coming up at 8 o' clock Eastern on First of all, Melanie Hart, thanks so much for being with me this morning.
HART: Thanks for having me.
BLACKWELL: All right, headlines now. President Trump is doubling down on his comments that he's not focused on Americans finances as the war with Iran continues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: That's right. That's a perfect segment. Make it again.
BAIER: You can imagine how many people stop the sound bite at I don't think about America. They play the situation. So what's your response to that framework?
TRUMP: Very simple. When people hear me say it, everybody agrees. Short term pain, it's going to be short term pain, but the pain is much less than people thought.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Well, this morning the average price of gas sits at $4.52 a gallon and could keep rising as Iran maintains control of the Strait of Hormuz. Several administration officials said they wanted to see how the talks between Trump and Xi played out before determining a path forward on Iran.
But in a Truth Social post made yesterday, President Trump said his military campaign against Iran is to be continued.
This morning, all 18 American passengers evacuated from the Hantavirus linked cruise ship are in quarantine at a medical center in Nebraska. Two of those passengers were first taken to a hospital in Atlanta, but have since been cleared and moved to Nebraska for further monitoring. Here's what one of them said about his experience so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE ROSEMARIN, IN QUARANTINE IN NEBRASKA: It's been hard to work through it myself, but thankfully I have family and friends that are so supportive and we do if we request have outside help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Health officials say in total, 41 people in the U.S. are now being watched, including others at home or in different locations.
Right now, the nation's largest commuter railroad is shut down. Workers on the Long Island Railroad walked off the job just after midnight. They halted all train service into and out of New York.
Five unions representing 3,500 workers walked out after talks over pay and work rules broke down. If this continues, it could affect hundreds of thousands of commuters heading into the workweek.
The U.S. is ramping up pressure on Cuba's communist government. Still ahead, the plans to indict the island's former president and address the growing energy crisis.
Also, voters head to the polls today in Louisiana. Votes cast in some of the races won't count. How the redistricting battle is upending today's voting. Melissa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And today, the first day of a new thunderstorm outbreak that's going to last into early next week. We'll time it out and what to expect that's ahead.
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[06:19:46]
BLACKWELL: CNN has learned that the U.S. is preparing an indictment against Cuba's former president Raul Castro. Sources say the indictment against him he's 94 years old would be for the 1996 shoot down of planes that belonged to a Cuban American exile group.
[06:20:00]
CNN Savannah bureau chief Patrick Oppmann explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Tensions between the U.S. and Cuba continue to escalate with news the Trump administration may be seeking an indictment against former Cuban leader Raul Castro. For months now, there seems to been a dynamic playing out where Cuba is offered carrots, economic aid and coercion. The idea that further economic sanctions could be put into place, that officials could be targeted, and that this indictment for the 1996 shoot down of civilian planes that had come into Cuban airspace could be issued against former president Raul Castro, who of course is very significant here.
Although he is 94 years old and retired, he is ultimately considered the most powerful official by many on this island. That is why the U.S. has been reaching out to him and his grandson, who is his bodyguard and has been an emissary and in between the U.S. and Raul Castro to try and come up with some kind of deal that would open up Cuba politically and economically, force through reforms, the kind that the Cuban government has simply resisted over the years.
It seems like those negotiations have broken down because I've been told by Cuban officials that if Raul Castro were to face an indictment, which is still an if at this point, but that is the indications we are receiving that the U.S. Is seeking this indictment against a former Cuban leader. And Cuban officials have told me that if that were to happen, they would not foresee talks going further.
That it would become an issue of whether or not the United States would try to seize Raul Castro as they did Cuba's ally Nicolas Maduro if there would be open military conflict between these two countries. Certainly for the many Cubans caught in the middle who are suffering the worst power outages of their life, we're talking about 20 plus hours of power outages each day. People are going out in greater numbers at night to protest against their government. Often who they blame for this crisis for not investing in the infrastructure. These are really the people paying the price. And when you ask them, you know, what do you want to happen, they say they really don't care at this point. They just want the power on. They just want to have a normal life. But the reality seems to be that life is going to get harder for Cubans, at least in the near term as these tensions continue to ratchet up. Patrick Oppmann, CNN Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: President Trump is weighing his next steps in the war with Iran. Talks with China's leader Xi Jinping, who holds a lot of sway with Iran, did not produce any major breakthroughs. In a Fox News interview, the President said that Xi offered help, but he said the U.S. doesn't need it. Trump has rejected Iran's latest counter proposal. He called it unacceptable. And that extends the stalemate over Iran's nuclear future as we approach the 12th week of the war.
CNN's Leila Gharagozlou is with us now. So, President Trump posted on social Media that the U.S. military campaign against Iran is to be continued. What are we hearing from Iran?
LEILA GHARAGOZLOU, CNN PRODUCER: So we've heard a number of things from the Iranians over the last couple of days. Iran's foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the BRICS Summit said that Iran would actually be open to help from the Chinese to help resolve this regional conflict. As you mentioned, Iran and China are quite close. China is a key trading partner and ally for Iran.
Now we've also heard from Iranians over the last couple of weeks and couple of days that if there is an escalation or a return to hot war, that Iran will retaliate. They will stand strong and fight back. But most importantly, we heard also again from Abbas Araghchi at the BRICS summit that the biggest hurdle for the Iranians is the lack of trust. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We have no trust to Americans. This is a fact. And this is the mind. This is the main obstacle in the way of any diplomatic effort. So the current negotiation is suffering from the lack of trust. It is also suffering from contradictory messages we receive from Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GHARAGOZLOU: This is something that the Iranians have mentioned time and time again. And even over the weekend and last couple of days, we've seen President Trump have contradictory messages when it comes to what he wants from Iran. And Iran says that this is going to be one of the biggest obstacles to get them over any sort of line. So we're going to have to see what happens.
But we are seeing these contradictory messages from the White House and the Iranians are likely to respond again to that. BLACKWELL: Leila Gharagozlou reporting from Abu Dhabi. Thank you very much. We have an exclusive CNN investigation into the growing number of deaths inside ICE detention centers since Donald Trump retook office.
[06:25:05]
Also the story of one family's demand for answers after the loss of their loved one.
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BLACKWELL: The Supreme Court has rejected a long shot bid by Virginia Democrats to use a new voter approved congressional map in this year's midterm elections. That map could have flipped four congressional districts and given Democrats 10 of the state's 11 House seats. The Supreme Court decision, with no dissents, leaves a ruling in place by the Virginia Supreme Court that found legal flaws in the new map.
[06:30:00]
That map was proposed by Democrats as part of their nationwide redistricting effort in this ongoing war that was sparked by President Trump's call for Texas to draw a map for favor -- more favorable to Republicans.
We're hours away from polls opening in Louisiana, and Republican Senator Bill Cassidy is facing a Trump-backed primary challenge, and he's trailing in the polls. Cassidy's vote to convict Trump during the impeachment hearings and his frequent criticism of the administration has made him a target of the President's revenge tour. Here's his pitch to Louisiana voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): I'm not claiming the President loves me. No, but you can work with people even if you don't love each other, if you got a common goal. And my goal is to make my country and my state and everybody who lives here better off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Meanwhile, thousands of protesters are expected to hit streets in Selma and Montgomery today in Alabama to demonstrate against redistricting. Ken Thomas joins us. He's a national political reporter with the "Wall Street Journal". Ken, good morning to you. So, these demonstrations in Selma, and I should say the demonstrations, they are very careful about not calling them protesters according to the organizers.
In reaction to the Kay Ivey's decision, have Democrats formulated a strategy to try to counter or dampen what will be the impact of losing some of the advantages in those districts across the south?
KEN THOMAS, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Yes, good morning, Victor. I think at this point, there is not yet a clear strategy. I was on Capitol Hill on Thursday; House Democrats had a meeting behind closed doors to discuss this.
And they came out of the meeting saying that they really did not have a specific plan on how to approach it, that they were still, you know, learning from the ruling and trying to figure out ways of responding.
I think if you talk to many Democrats, they will say at this point, on the redistricting side of things, there's not a lot that they can do. There are not a lot of states where they can go in at this point in the primary calendar, and try to change the maps.
So, this may be more about 2028 in terms of redistricting, but for now, I think, you know, in these districts around the south, you're going to see increased activism. You know, a real push to make clear that these voters feel like their vote is being diminished.
Their representation is being diminished. And as a result, I think you're going to see not only demonstrations in Selma, of course, the site of the Bloody Sunday, you know, incident in the 1960s, but across the south.
BLACKWELL: Yes, let's talk about one of these districts specifically, and Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen says that he will not run for re- election in Tennessee's Ninth District after the state legislature really redrew Memphis into three heavily-Republican districts. Here's Cohen on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. STEVE COHEN (D-TN): I've had people tell me as recently as today, that African-American and Caucasian don't quit. And I don't want to quit, I'm not a quitter. But these districts were drawn to beat me. They were drawn to defeat me. Memphis is my home, and that's what I fight for.
And I want to do it again. And if I get the chance, I'll do it. But otherwise, I'll be retiring from Congress and from, I guess, from public life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Ken, is he expected to be at the front of the line of some of these Democrats who are now facing these redraws, or is he expected to be an outlier?
THOMAS: Not exactly clear. You know, his district, as you mentioned, was drawn into three. There's really no path for him to win, you know, but Jim Clyburn, for example, in South Carolina, you know, the long- time congressman from the Columbia and Charleston area, he has said he's going to run regardless of what the South Carolina legislature does.
They began meeting yesterday after the governor there called a special session to start a redistricting process. You know, Clyburn said, hey, look, I'm running. You know, Shomari Figures in Alabama, he could be adversely affected by the new map down there. It's not clear yet what he's going to do, but I think certainly, this
has sent a sort of shockwaves, I believe, through the congressional black caucus. Many of these districts are adversely affected. And so, members are trying to figure out their future and how they can move forward.
BLACKWELL: Oh, let's talk about Louisiana. The U.S. House races have been -- the primaries for those have been postponed as they now redraw that map. But Bill Cassidy, the Republican senator, he's facing primary challenges.
[06:35:00]
There is Representative Julia Letlow, who's backed by President Trump. There's also the -- another state official, the state treasurer, who is in the race, too. How much can we learn today about the potency of a Trump endorsement from this race?
THOMAS: Absolutely. We learned a lot in Indiana. But that was on a much smaller scale. Those were state Senate elections recently. Trump was able to wipe out most of that Senate, state Senate delegation that opposed him.
Here in Louisiana, Cassidy has been a thorn in the President's side. He famously was one of the seven Republicans who voted to convict the President in the 2021 impeachment trial. The President decided to get behind Julia Letlow, who is a congresswoman.
But there's also John Fleming; a former congressman and very much a leading conservative in his own right. He's one of the founders of the House Freedom Caucus. So, I think the polling shows that Cassidy is in a very difficult spot. And you have to keep in mind that this is also a closed primary. So, only Republicans will be voting. I think that makes Cassidy's task even more difficult.
BLACKWELL: We'll be watching closely, Ken Thomas, good to have you on the show. Thank you. Still ahead, a possible food faux pas on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I'm thinking is, got to get the street Taco. I need maybe like a holy moly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Nothing wrong with that order, but could James Talarico's order make some problems for his campaign? Hey, if you're heading out, remember you can stream our show from anywhere in the U.S., right from the CNN app. You can also go to cnn.com/watch.
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[06:40:00] BLACKWELL: Now to a CNN investigation that revealed a disturbing trend in ice facility detentions across the country. Nearly 50 detainees have died. That since President Donald Trump returned to office last year and pushed for mass detentions, and many of those deaths were preventable.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez uncovered this information and why it may be happening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTONIA TOVAR, HUSBAND DIED IN ICE DETENTION: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Antonia Tovar's husband, Jose Ramos, died in March, only about a month after being detained by immigration officials. He's now one of nearly 50 ICE detainees who have died since President Donald Trump's return to office.
TOVAR: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ALVAREZ: Ramos came to the U.S. nearly 30 years ago. Last year, he was charged with theft and possession of a controlled substance and was placed in a diversion program, which meant that if completed, those charges would have been dismissed.
(On camera): We know from ICE that Jose was arrested on February 23rd, his wife said they were making a stop here at the superior courthouse in Torrance so he could deliver some paperwork.
TOVAR: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ALVAREZ: OK --
TOVAR: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ALVAREZ: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) OK, so that's their car. Antonia told us she briefly stepped away, and when she looked back, she saw this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand back here. Give us --
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Antonia worried about Ramos' medical conditions, diabetes and high blood pressure. He was sent to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center about two hours from where they lived. According to ICE records, Ramos went through a medical intake and was prescribed medications.
GLORIA RAMOS, FATHER DIED IN ICE DETENTION: I don't think it really hit me until I walked into the room and I saw him.
ALVAREZ: What was that feeling like?
G. RAMOS: When I walked into the room, his back was towards us and we walked in, and I walked towards him and he was just sitting there looking down.
(GLORIA RAMOS SOBBING)
ALVAREZ (on camera): We're driving to the Adelanto detention facility. This is where Jose was held for several weeks, and it's one of many facilities across the United States where ICE holds detainees. As you can see in this case, it is in a pretty remote area of California, about an hour and a half or more outside of Los Angeles.
Now, Adelanto had stopped accepting new detainees because of a federal judge during the coronavirus pandemic, but that was lifted in January of 2025. And since then, the population ballooned from around three people to nearly 2,000.
(Voice-over): A CNN investigation found that deadly outcomes in more than a dozen cases could at times be linked to substandard treatment at facilities where populations are rapidly growing. At Adelanto, four people in detention have died since 2025.
A spokesperson for geo group, the private company that operates Adelanto, did not answer questions about Ramos' death, but told CNN that the company provides detainees with, quote, "around the clock" access to medical care, and is, quote, "independently accredited by industry groups".
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This call is subject to recording and monitoring. Press one to accept the call.
ALVAREZ: We spoke to one of Ramos' cellmates, Marco Martinez, who called for help when Ramos collapsed.
MARCO MARTINEZ, ICE DETAINEE (via telephone): The guard didn't do anything at all, like he just stood there and watched him like shake, and then got to a point where his eyes like rolled into the back of his head, and he still didn't do anything.
[06:45:00]
The medical showed up, but they didn't show up until like another ten minutes.
ALVAREZ: According to a public ICE detainee death report, a registered nurse arrived one minute after a guard first noticed Ramos in medical distress and began providing aid. Emergency medical care services arrived 10 minutes later and began administering care.
Ramos was transferred to a nearby hospital and was pronounced dead three minutes after he arrived.
ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Lack of adequate healthcare staffing has been a theme across the facilities, including in Adelanto.
ALVAREZ: A California Attorney General has the unique authority as of 2017 to inspect detention facilities in the state. The AG's office exclusively shared those findings with CNN. BONTA: I think a big part of the really difficult set of results and
data that we're seeing, including the deaths, is the surge in number of detainees and the complete inability and unpreparedness of the facilities.
ALVAREZ: Ramos' family still has not been notified of the cause of death. The uncertainty over what happened is a living nightmare.
(ANTONIA TOVAR SOBBING)
TOVAR: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALVAREZ: A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security disputed that there had been spike in deaths, saying in a statement, quote, "consistent with data over the last decade, as of April 30, death rates in custody under the Trump administration are 0.009 percent of the detained population.
As bed space has rapidly expanded, we have maintained higher a standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens, including providing access to proper medical care." Victor?
BLACKWELL: Yes, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you for that report. From Texas to the Great Plains, there's a storm on the way. Millions of people under threat of severe weather. We have your forecast next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:50:00]
BLACKWELL: This morning, millions of people are facing a severe weather threat. We're talking thunderstorms, damaging winds, large hail, risk of tornadoes. Let's bring in now, meteorologist Melissa Nord for a closer look at what's ahead. Where are we talking?
MELISSA NORD, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we're talking about the high plains and also into the Midwest. So, this is going to be a system that's not just today, it's multiple days in a row leading into early next week as well.
So, let me show you the big picture map where we're expecting these storms the next couple of days. They start today, actually, northeastern Colorado, and you can see as we get into tomorrow and then into Monday, kind of makes its way east into the Midwest.
So, each three of these days in a row, we have a level three risk of severe weather with damaging winds, large hail, and yes, that risk of some tornadoes, also possible moist air coming in along with a little frontal system.
And where those two merge, that's where we end up seeing that risk of severe weather. We do have some storms ongoing with a few severe thunderstorm warnings this morning through Illinois, also in through Michigan. But as we go later into today, we're going to be watching that orange
circle on the map there, northeastern Colorado, also into western Nebraska. We'll see those storms developing. Those will last through the overnight, and we get a whole new round as we head into the day tomorrow. Victor?
BLACKWELL: All right, Melissa, thank you. A political photo-op turned into a bit of a problem for an upcoming Texas Democrat -- up and coming, I should say. Here's the faux pas. It's a Taco order missing a key ingredient. And CNN's Tom Foreman explains why Republicans jumped on James Talarico's breakfast order and why sometimes politics and food just do not mix.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OBAMA: I hear the Tacos here are OK.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a photo-op set for success. Former President Barack Obama with gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa and U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico at a popular Austin eatery. Then Talarico ordered.
JAMES TALARICO, U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: We have breakfast Tacos.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Potato, egg and cheese --
TALARICO: That's right --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two?
TALARICO: That's right, two. I come here a lot.
FOREMAN: You heard it, potato, egg, cheese and no meat in this state stacked with ranchers, the Republican governor pounced. "Homey is not beating the vegetarian allegations, echoing past and persistent GOP claims that the popular young Democrat is vegan.
Including by Senator Ted Cruz, who once posted, this freak wants to ban barbecue. To be sure, people here have opinions about Tacos.
MANDO RAYO, HOST, TACOS OF TEXAS: They do. They do.
FOREMAN: But Mando Rayo, host of the "Tacos of Texas" podcast, says his fans instantly pushed back on the idea that a meatless Taco means anything.
RAYO: And they're like, what are you talking about? We eat this, we've been eating this since the '70s. You know, my mom and my grandma would make these all the time.
TALARICO: Politics shouldn't feel this way.
FOREMAN: Some years ago, Talarico suggested Americans should eat less meat. But --
TALARICO: Because this is a very serious allegation to make in Texas, I deny all accusations of veganism.
FOREMAN: His campaign even responded to the new dustup by posting a photo of him tearing into a turkey leg. But on Air Force One, President Trump roasted him anyway.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a vegan now. Now, all of a sudden, he's not. Texas doesn't like vegans.
[06:55:00]
FOREMAN: Food is tricky for politicians. Trump was once skewered himself for eating fried chicken with a fork and knife. Former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio caught heat when he did the same with pizza. Former President Barack Obama drew scorn for reaching over the barrier at Chipotle.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry was mocked for ordering a Philadelphia cheesesteak with Swiss cheese. And people are still giggling about how late President Gerald Ford tried to eat a tamale with the corn husk on 50 years ago.
OBAMA: All right, everybody, remember to vote.
FOREMAN: But a Taco with meat, a Taco without, is that really an issue?
RAYO: Why can't we have both?!
(MANDO RAYO LAUGHING)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: All of this may tell us less about Talarico's taste in Tacos than it does the Republican concern over Donald Trump's unpopularity. They've had an iron grip on Texas politics for a long time down there, and now there is some concern clearly on their side that Democrats might be able to break it at least, a little. Victor?
BLACKWELL: All right, Tom, thank you very much. Also, a reminder that vegans or as the President calls them, "va-gans"(ph), don't eat cheese or eggs. Still ahead, an American eagle flight ended with passengers on the wing of the plane. We're hearing from them after their emergency landing.
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