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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Shift In Demographics At U.S.-Mexico Border Poses New Challenges; NASA Reschedules Artemis 1 Moon Mission For Saturday; Remembering Princess Diana: Her Life And Legacy. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired August 31, 2022 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:30:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: $300 to $1,100. It's $685 in New York -- the maximum tax liability.

The group says states are expected to issue further tax guidance in the coming days and weeks.

All right. Coming up, remembering the people's princess 25 years after her death. And the growing shift involving migrants arriving at the southern U.S. border.

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[05:35:00]

ROMANS: Texas has spent millions busing migrants who crossed into the state from Mexico to New York City and Washington, D.C. Figures obtained by CNN show the state has paid more than $12 million to this charter service that's transporting the migrants. Texas has sent nearly 9,000 asylum seekers to the two cities in recent months as Gov. Greg Abbott pushes back against the Biden administration's immigration policies.

A CNN analysis of the rising number of migrants coming to the southern U.S. border reveals a significant new trend. The data says a lot about what the Biden administration is facing there and why the situation has been so difficult to solve.

I want to bring in Catherine Scoichet, senior writer covering immigration and demographics for CNN. Catherine, thanks for getting up early for us this morning.

I mean, your piece and your analysis has been just so spot-on and interesting because you crunch the numbers. What are you seeing here, and why is it so significant?

CATHERINE SCHOICHET, CNN DIGITAL SENIOR WRITER (via Webex by Cisco): Thank you so much for having me this morning.

So, for many years, most of the migrants that border patrol agents encountered between ports of entry were from Mexico. And then, in more recent years, we've seen many migrants coming from the area that's known as the Northern Triangle, which is Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Now we are seeing a new category of people coming in significant numbers from other countries outside these places.

I took a look at the latest numbers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection with our colleague Christopher Hickey who is on our data team, and we found that for the first time in the latest data that we have for this year, the number of people who are coming from these other countries is larger than the number of migrants from either Mexico or the Northern Triangle. Border patrol data shows that more than 730,000 encounters with migrants from these other countries, so far this fiscal year, have occurred. That is an 11,000 percent increase from 2007. And as you can see in our chart, we've seen a particularly big spike in the past two years.

This is a really new complicating factor that other administrations have not faced at the border. It's really important but it hasn't been getting much attention.

ROMANS: Yes, represented in purple there on that chart that you've just given us.

Do we know Catherine why this is happening?

SHOICHET: You know, one of the experts who I spoke with, David Bier from the Cato Institute, put it this way. He said you know, there are as many answers to that question as there are countries in that group.

Some of the countries where we've been seeing a big increase in encounters with border patrol are Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

Another expert who I spoke with, Doris Meissner from the Migration Policy Institute, told me the pandemic is really playing a huge role here because it's increasing economic pressures and problems in a lot of these countries. People -- they're desperate for work and they think that they are going to be able to find it in the United States, in some cases.

Of course, also the political climate in these countries can play a big role in --

ROMANS: Sure.

SHOICHET: -- people's decisions to migrate and what they might be expecting to find once they make it to the U.S.

ROMANS: So I guess the big question is what can be done about this? This is why it is such a riddle, I guess, for authorities in Washington trying to figure out how to stem the tide. The president says the U.S. border is not open.

SHOICHET: That's true -- the president does say that. Critics of the Biden administration are pushing for more of a crackdown. They feel like the administration's policies have really incentivized illegal immigration. The experts who I spoke with said that they really are expecting this trend to continue and in the end, that there's really only one solution that they see. They say that Congress needs to create more legal immigration pathways so that the situation at the border can be managed better.

ROMANS: Yes, something also that there are those in corporate America who say there need to be more legal pathways as well. They see that there's a -- there's a U.S. economy shortage of workers in the United States that also can help be a draw or a magnet to -- to say nothing of the terrible conditions in some of these places.

Catherine Shoichet, nice to see you. Thank you for bringing your expertise to us this morning.

SHOICHET: Thank you.

ROMANS: All right. Next on "NEW DAY," is Vladimir Putin using a nuclear plant to intimidate Ukraine? And the countdown to getaway day. The outlook for Labor Day travel and beyond.

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[05:43:35]

ROMANS: Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.

Looking at markets around the world, Asian markets finishing mixed there, but Tokyo and Shanghai down as COVID-19 cases rise. And new data shows factory activity declined in the world's second-largest economy. Europe has opened lower here following the tone from yesterday in the U.S.

But on Wall Street, stocks narrowly mixed here, trying to rebound when stocks open in a few hours, after a third down day on Wall Street yesterday rattled by a frank warning from Fed chief Jerome Powell of more aggressive interest rate hikes. Three days down in a row on that warning.

Still, signs of strength in the jobs market. More job openings in July than expected. Employers were looking to hire around 11.2 million workers, up from June and way above the pre-COVID levels.

Gas prices ticking down a fraction of a penny overnight, leaving the national average at $3.84 a gallon. Gas prices have plunged more than a buck since the peak in June -- finally reflected, by the way, in consumer confidence. Consumer confidence improved slightly.

A big weekend ahead for the travel and leisure industry and the fall travel season is not far behind. So, what's in store for Labor Day and beyond in an industry that's been struggling to find its footing since COVID hit?

Joining me now, Jay Stein, CEO of the Dream Hotel Group. Jay, thank you so much for joining me. I'm dying to know what you're seeing out there. People complain about the economy and all these sentiment polls are so miserable. But after 2 1/2 years, I mean, it's boom travel in travel, is it not?

[05:45:05]

JAY STEIN, CEO, DREAM HOTEL GROUP (via Skype): Christine, thanks for having me on.

You're exactly right. As you would imagine, there's a fair amount of pent-up demand for people who want to travel and experiences are what people want to have and not so focused on material things. And you've got to get out there. You can't do it virtually.

ROMANS: Yes.

STEIN: So, yes, there's a lot of pent-up demand and we're seeing it.

ROMANS: That's why the retailers are stuck with all this excess inventory because people aren't buying stuff to nest anymore. People want to go on vacation. They want to drive, they want to fly, they want to book a hotel.

And looking around the industry from hotels to airlines, it doesn't seem like companies are having much trouble raising prices. They raise prices and the consumers keep coming.

STEIN: Yes. I think prices were fairly reasonable for a long period of time. And we've seen great price increases in our more resort areas and leisure-driven areas, and we're starting to see it now coming to the urban areas. I think it's going to be about a 2-year run of rates coming back up in the urban areas and we'll meet it because labor is coming up -- prices coming up there as well. So to keep ourselves profitable there's no doubt we're going to need to raise the rates in the hotels.

ROMANS: Right. That's a really good point because it's costing you more to pay your workers and your input costs are rising for food and all kinds of other things. So that's one reason why you have to raise costs. But, so far, it hasn't turned away consumers, right? The pent- up demand is the number one factor here.

STEIN: One hundred percent. I'm sure if you go out to eat and you were paying $13.00 for a burger 2 1/2 years ago and you're paying $17.00 now -- you know, that's a pretty big increase percentagewise. But people -- they want it. They want to go out. They want to spend time with friends and family.

So the same thing for travel. If you were spending $290 for a room before and it's going to be $340 now for an upper upscale type of accommodation, people are fine with it -- yes.

ROMANS: Here's a tweet from a traveler on Twitter, right, who says "It's actually pretty easy to travel on a budget. Hotels and hostels are cheaper than Airbnb and you can go to the grocery store instead of eating out. And there are so many free, cheap activities in every city. Small lifestyle changes at home go a long way."

What advice, Jay, would you give to travelers, especially over the holiday weekend, for how to get the most of their travel dollar?

STEIN: Yes, that was a good point that tweet -- that tweet made.

Travel is always reasonable. There's always different ways to find reasonably priced rooms in most big cities. There's certainly ways to go out to eat or to go to supermarkets and get food. So, yes, there are a lot of opportunities to travel on a reasonable budget.

But yes, this coming weekend -- it's a busy time. I think people need to have patience.

I was just over in Europe. Flights were fine -- the ones that I were on -- but the lines in the airports, going through immigration. They're also having problems with labor -- short staffed. So people are definitely going to need patience. I'm sure roads will be packed as well.

ROMANS: I think patience is really exactly the right thing. I mean, even if you open your wallet it doesn't mean -- it doesn't mean that everything is going to go exactly like you thought it would have in 2019.

Jay Stein, thank you so much. Really nice to meet you, and thanks for coming on and giving us your insight.

STEIN: Thanks, Christine.

ROMANS: All right.

NASA rescheduling its Artemis 1 mission to the moon for Saturday now after an attempted liftoff was scrubbed this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Artemis launch control with an update. Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson has called a scrub for today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So the original launch was canceled on Monday, of course, due to trouble getting one of the four engines to cool properly. After reviewing the data, engineers believe it is likely related to an inaccurate sensor reading. They say their new strategy for Saturday involves starting the process of chilling the engines earlier in the countdown. So move your watch party to Saturday.

All right, next on "NEW DAY," mothers still scrambling to feed their infants months now into the baby formula shortage. And remembering Princess Diana -- wow -- 25 years later.

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[05:53:44]

ROMANS: Today marks 25 years since Princess Diana died. Her tragic death in a car crash in Paris stunned the world.

During her life, the Princess of Wales -- the people's princess -- was a beloved icon and her legacy endures. She's being remembered today around the world.

CNN's Jim Bittermann is live at a memorial site in Paris. And Jim, I watched you cover her wedding, her tragic accident and funeral. And now, 25 years later -- and it strikes me that over all of that time she is as popular today -- Her image is as revered today as it ever was.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you could certainly say that, Christine, and you can sort of observe it here because there are a lot of people out here this morning on this anniversary date. But you know what? I mean, there are people out here -- they're almost -- continuously, there have been people out here in the 25 years since she died.

This is not actually a memorial to Princess Diana but, rather, a replica of the flame atop the Statue of Liberty, which was erected years before the crash by the International Herald Tribune. But because it sits directly above the tunnel where the accident happened, this has been the place where people have gravitated to over the years.

[05:55:00]

The sociologists call this community mourning -- the spontaneous sites like this one that sprang up right after the accident but still exist, like this one, today in some places. In any case, where people can feel a connection to the person who died and maybe share their grief amongst the other people that are here.

But it attracts all kinds of people. We have a Princess Diana lookalike. I'm not sure she's still here. But she has -- she's dressed in pink and has stiletto heels. And she joined us -- joined us just a few hours ago to sort of parade around and get herself on camera here at the -- at this memorial site.

But clearly, an attraction that goes on.

And another thing that has not changed here over 25 years, and that is the explanation of why the accident and how the accident occurred. It's still the same explanation has popped up almost immediately thereafter, which is that the chauffeur of the car was drunk and going through the tunnel at a high speed. And if Princess Diana had been wearing her seat belt perhaps she would have survived -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, 25 years later. I can't believe it. All right -- thank you so much, Jim Bittermann. Nice to see you in Paris this morning.

All right, Serena Williams will be back under the lights for her second-round match at the U.S. Open.

Andy Scholes has this morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Christine.

So, the fans showering Serena with love on Monday and that's going to be the case again tonight as it could be her final singles match. Serena is taking on second-ranked Anett Kontaveit from Estonia. She's never faced her before. And the match will be under the lights again at Arthur Ashe Stadium starting around 7:00 eastern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERENA WILLIAMS, 23-TIME MAJOR WINNER: Quite honestly, everything is a bonus for me, you know how I feel. And that -- I mean, I think every opponent is very difficult and I've seen that over the summer, and the next one is even more difficult. So it's good that I was able to get this under my belt.

ANETT KONTAVEIT, RANKED WORLD NO. 2: I'm really excited. I was really rooting for her to win today. I've never played against her. I mean, this is the last chance. Better late than never. But, yes, I'm really excited. I mean, I think the atmosphere is going to be amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, win or lose tonight, Serena will still be playing in the doubles draw with her sister Venus tomorrow. Venus, meanwhile, knocked out of the singles draw on Tuesday.

And a number of notables going down last night. Two-time U.S. Open champ Naomi Osaka is also out, losing in straight sets to American Danielle Collins who made the Australian Open final back in January.

And Emma Raducanu's Open title defense is over after just one match. She failed to Alize Cornet in straight sets. Raducanu didn't lose a set in 10 matches last year.

All right, former Raiders coach Jon Gruden, meanwhile, speaking for the first time since resigning last October. Gruden was forced out after emails from him that contained anti-gay, misogynistic, and racist language were published in The Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Gruden is suing the NFL, claiming he was singled out in the email leak and says he wants another chance to coach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON GRUDEN, FORMER LAS VEGAS RAIDERS HEAD COACH: And I'm ashamed about what has come about in these emails and I'll make no excuses for it. It's just -- it's shameful.

But I am a good person. I believe that. I go to church. I've been married for 31 years. We have three great boys. I still love football.

I've made some mistakes but I don't think anybody in here hasn't. And I just ask for forgiveness and hopefully, I get another shot. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes.

And we had an awesome scene at the Commanders' facility yesterday as running back Brian Robinson was back after being shot twice in an armed robbery attempt on Sunday. Robinson did not suffer any structural damage from the gunshot wounds and the Commanders have kept them on their active roster. No timetable has been set for his return to the field.

And finally, Easton Oliverson, the Little Leaguer who fell from his bunk bed in Williamsport and had to have emergency brain surgery, finally making the trip back home to Utah yesterday. And Easton's family posting this video of him thanking everyone for their support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EASTON OLIVERSON, LITTLE LEAGUER WHO FELL FROM BUNK BED: Hi, everyone. This is Easton. Thank you for all of your prayers. Please keep praying for me as I continue to get better. I know that prayers and blessings have worked and that my heavenly father is blessing me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES; Aww, Christine, just so awesome to see him doing so well and we wish him continued success in his recovery.

ROMANS: What a freak accident, but we're so glad that he is better. The whole country has been rooting for him.

SCHOLES: Yes, they have.

ROMANS: Thanks for that Andy.

SCHOLES: All right.

ROMANS: Nice to see him going home to Utah.

All right, thanks for joining me. I'm Christine Romans. "NEW DAY" picks it up right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A stunning new photo released overnight -- folders labeled top secret, secret, sensitive. Officials say these were taken from Mar-a-Lago even after Donald Trump's team claimed they had handed.