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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Schools Create "ICE Policies" Amid Uptick In Raids; Chicago Braces For Possible Federal Immigration Operation; Army Cadet And Father Rescue Man From Fiery Crash. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired September 02, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:34:13]
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Guatemala's president says his country is prepared to receive up to 150 unaccompanied minors every week from the United States.
This comes as the Trump administration has been attempting to deport minors from Guatemala back to their home country, but those efforts were temporarily blocked by a federal judge on Sunday. U.S. officials say the parents or legal guardians of some of the children requested that they be returned to Guatemala. The judge, however, says she wants to see evidence of that. Attorneys for some of the minors say they will be in danger if they are sent back.
Immigrations raids, meanwhile, have become so frequent in the past few months around the U.S. that some childcare facilities now have ICE protocols.
[05:35:00]
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty spoke with teachers and parents about what's become their new normal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: If you don't have this on you how do you feel?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unsafe. I don't feel safe.
SERFATY (voiceover): A passport is typically not something that a teacher needs to bring to their classroom, much less the bathroom --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every time I go outside or wherever I go, it's always with me. Yeah -- always, like, even in the bathroom. I just keep it with me all the time.
SERFATY (voiceover): -- but such is the reality for this preschool teacher as she begins this new school year in Washington, D.C.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning. Welcome. SERFATY (voiceover): -- where the joy of kids returning to the
classroom is meeting the political moment.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I just want to thank everybody very much.
SERFATY (voiceover): As President Trump's federal law enforcement surge casts a shadow on the start of the school year with National Guard troops, checkpoints, and immigration raids, parents, teachers, and students are fearful about getting caught up in this even if they are U.S. citizens.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't wait. Yes, that's another.
SERFATY (voiceover): At CommuniKids, a Spanish immersion preschool in northwest D.C. administrators are making very specific changes to respond to the new environment aimed at protecting teachers, students, and families as fears mount.
JEANNINE PIACENZA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COMMUNIKIDS PRESCHOOL: Our Spanish-speaking staff feels targeted. They feel that there's profiling and they're fearful.
SERFATY (voiceover): The school has spent weeks ensuring employees' documentation is in order. It now has hard copies of those records at each of their sites in case they are asked for them and is advising teachers to carry their papers and passports with them.
For the first time, the school has created an ICE protocol outlining for teachers exactly what to do if immigration officers arrive.
PIACENZA: This was something we never had to even think about in the past -- an ICE policy.
SERFATY (voiceover): Some parents are also taking precautions.
KARLA MARRERO SANTOS, PARENT OF A D.C. PRESCHOOLER: I'm afraid of speaking my language and I'm sticking to English just to feel safe, especially when I'm with my daughter outside.
UMBERTO VILLALON, PARENT OF A D.C. PRESCHOOLER: A few years before it was a very happy environment to grow a family, and so we're looking for that to get into a normal -- a normal stage back into the city.
SERFATY (voiceover): During back-to-school meetings administrators say parents asked an unusual combination of questions -- if the snacks they serve are organic, and what are their plans for dealing with ICE enforcement.
PIACENZA: Probably a year ago nobody knew what ICE was and now we have parents asking us what is your ICE policy. It's very unsettling.
SERFATY (voiceover): Other schools and daycares, especially from less affluent areas of D.C., tell CNN they are taking other steps to navigate the current environment, posting teachers both on campus and beyond school grounds to provide help if needed. Others setting up a more formalized system of chaperones to walk kids to and from public transportation stations as they go to school. And one school is even pulling money from its budget to charter a private bus for some of their students. Parents at one school asked for a remote option to keep their kids safely at home.
Administrators are still trying to maintain a sense of normalcy, greeting students with colorful balloons and joyful teachers while trying to make sense of a start of school like no other.
PIACENZA: I never thought that I would see the National Guard patrolling a city that there are not riots going on.
SERFATY: ICE, so far, has not showed up to any schools here in D.C. And in an interview before school started the acting ICE director said parents should not expect to see that but did not rule the possibility that ICE may need to come into schools for special circumstances in the future.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Still to come, Chicago braces for a potential flood of federal agents and National Guard troops sometime this week. What we know about the possible federal operation just ahead.
And quick thinking during a split-second emergency can make all the difference. How one college football player's training and bravery saved a life.
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[05:43:32]
ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is praising what he says is his country's unprecedented level of friendship with China. Putin met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for formal talks in Beijing. This comes before China will host Putin and other heads of state for a massive military parade. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is among the guests of honor and has just arrived in the Chinese capital.
Rescue teams are battling difficult conditions in Afghanistan after a powerful earthquake struck and killed at least 1,100 people on Sunday. Injured survivors had to be evacuated by helicopter after landslides cut off parts of the devastated remote mountain region.
And a landslide in Sudan has killed at least 1,000 people. It happened after days of heavy rainfall in a remote mountain village on Sunday there. The victims were fleeing the civil war between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces that has been raging for two years.
Chicago saw a violent Labor Day weekend with at least 56 people shot in the city over the holiday, according to police. About 34 shootings were reported in all and at least seven people were killed.
[05:45:00]
The violence comes as state and local officials await a potential deployment of National Guard troops and federal agents from Washington as soon as this week. President Trump has repeatedly threatened to take matters into his own hands, citing Chicago's crime rate as a reason to intervene, but if an operation is going to happen the city's mayor says he's gotten no official word from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON, (D) CHICAGO: we have received credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before out city sees some type of militarized activity by the federal government. It is unclear at this time what that will look like exactly. We may see militarized immigration enforcement. We may also see National Guard troops. We may even see active-duty military and armed vehicles in our streets.
We have not called for this. Our people have not asked for this. But nevertheless, we find ourselves having to respond to this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more details on the possible operation.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: A potential collision and confrontation is brewing between the White House and the city of Chicago. President Trump and other Trump administration officials signaling that they intend to perhaps send federal troops to Chicago by the end of the week.
Our reporting is showing that this would largely be an immigration effort but, of course, mirrored somewhat after Washington, D.C. But Chicago and Washington, of course, so different. Washington, a federal city where there actually can be a takeover of the police force. Chicago is not that at all.
And Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who has been quarreling with President Trump for weeks over this, said he's not been notified at all.
GOV. JB PRITZKER, (D) ILLINOIS: No one in the administration -- the president or anybody under him -- has called anyone in my administration or -- and me -- have not called the city of Chicago or anyone else. So it's clear that in secret they're planning this -- well, it's an invasion with U.S. troops if they, in fact, do that.
ZELENY: So President Trump and Governor Pritzker have been going back and forth with criticism for weeks if not longer. But a central question here is will there be a legal action that is taken if the federal government is sending in troops to Chicago. It's an open question what that will look like, of course. But there is no doubt President Trump wants to make law and order and
crime a central focus of the next year heading into the midterm elections and he's looking for a confrontation with blue state officials. He hopes he finds one in Illinois.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Crowds turned out in Chicago to protest Donald Trump's policies and his plan -- the so-called crime crackdown -- and to speak out against what they see as a billionaire takeover in government.
Chicago was just one of the cities across the U.S. holding demonstrations and marches on Labor Day at "Workers Over Billionaires" events where those hitting the streets rallied for workers' rights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PASTOR JAMAL BRYANT, NEW BIRTH MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: There are more labor workers than there are billionaires. It is because of your sweat equity. It is because of your sticktoitiveness. It's because of your focus that America is still standing. You are the true patriots.
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ABEL: In Boston, union members and lawmakers, including the mayor and Massachusetts governor, joining rallies and marches taking place on Monday.
And President Trump announcing that Rudy Giuliani will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That's the highest civilian honor here in the United States. This announcement -- it comes after Giuliani was involved in a car accident over the weekend.
The former New York City mayor was in office during the September 11 terrorist attacks, you may remember, and was often referred as America's mayor.
Giuliani is President Trump's former attorney and has worked in various capacities with the White House. However, he was also disbarred last year in New York State and Washington, D.C.
A spokesperson for Giuliani says, "There is no American more deserving of this honor. Mayor Rudy Giuliani took down the mafia, saved New York City, comforted the nation following 9/11, and served in countless other ways to improve the lives of others."
And longtime New York Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler says he will not seek re-election in 2026. The move comes after 26-year-old Democrat Liam Elkind launched a primary challenge urging Nadler to pass the torch and retire.
Nadler has served in Congress since 1992, leading on key legislation throughout the years. And he also led the first impeachment of President Trump. He joins a number of Democratic lawmakers who have announced retirements this year.
Parts of Nevada and Arizona are cleaning up from a powerful dust storm. The weather system -- it knocked out power to some neighborhoods and delayed flights in Phoenix. Meanwhile, the central U.S. saw a drop in temperatures while the mercury continues to rise out West.
[05:50:10]
CNN's Chris Warren has the forecast.
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CHRIS WARREN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Heat is the big story along the West Coast from the Pacific Northwest all the way down to Southern California where more of a fall feel can be expected in the central and eastern time zones.
Here's where, if you're not careful, the heat can be dangerous. Heat alerts with heat advisories for the areas east of the Cascades in Washington State and here in the Central Valley of California all the way down to San Diego. So from San Diego to Sacramento temperatures are going to be toasty.
On average this time of year in Sacramento you expect about 91 degrees. It's going to be 97 the next couple of days dropping down below average. Still warm -- still in the upper 80s by the end of the week into next weekend for Sacramento.
But the sizzling-hot temperatures when you would expect 79 in Spokane, it's going to be 100 the next couple of days. Pendleton, Oregon also lower 80s, really nice this time of year. But this gets a little too hot for comfort there and again can even be dangerous with 90s the next couple of days in Los Angeles.
Now to the cool side of things with highs tomorrow going to be into the 70s in the Northeast with cooler air -- much cooler air on the way for the central time zones, including around the Great Lakes by the mid to end of the week. A cold front is going to come through and reinforce what's already some cool air.
So we're going to see some of these temperatures only into the lower 60s in the Twin Cities and in the Windy City as well. But that cold front not quite getting all the way through to the East Coast. Chicago, your average high this time of year -- what you'd expect -- around 80 degrees. With some nice looking conditions it's going to be feeling a little bit more like fall for you in Chicago.
Meanwhile, this is the time of year we expect to see more development and this is the area we are watching with medium chances for development here in the Atlantic Ocean. As far as the tropical activity goes now is the time we really typically see that uptick getting into the heart -- the peak of hurricane season -- September through about mid-October. And typically here we would expect to see some of the development is where we're watching here out in the main development region and up along the East Coast. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Chris Warren, thank you.
A U.S. Army football player and his father are being praised as heroes after pulling a man from a crashed car in New York. The video you are seeing now -- it shows Larry Pickett Jr., a West Point cadet, and his father there running towards the wreckage after they witnessed a car crash into a utility pole.
And West Point praised the rescue online saying the pair embodied Army values, a sentiment echoed by Larry and his father.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY PICKETT SR., RESCUED MAN FROM FIERY CRASH: To see my son spring into action -- like to run towards a car that has a power line on it and under it -- um, you know, it was amazing.
LARRY PICKETT JR., WEST POINT CADET, FOOTBALL PLAYER, RESCUED MAN FROM FIERY CRASH: It just goes back to selfless service and just a willingness to serve others. It feels good but in the end I'm just glad that everyone is OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: The quick action and valor of the father and son duo may have saved that driver's life as they carried him to safety just before the car burst into flames. Bravo, gentlemen.
Well, she's back and Naomi Osaka is finding good form at the U.S. Open. Her latest result and more from Flushing Meadows when we come back.
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[05:57:53]
ABEL: It was one of the most highly anticipated college coaching debuts in recent memory. We are talking about Bill Belichick, a 6-time Super Bowl champion with the NFL's New England Patriots. Well, he's now in college football at the University of North Carolina and fans were absolutely pumped for Monday's night home opener.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North Carolina -- are they ready?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they're ready and I think Coach Bill, you know, have had the players all off-season. They're in the weight room. They're kicking those bed sheets early a.m. --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- and getting up and getting out of bed. Push-ups, jumping jacks, running in place. Going straight to that weight room pumping iron. You know, going on the field, hitting those sprints. Hitting the pats -- boom. Power, swim over, swim, move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, I think these guys are ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: But then the game happened. Taking on TCU, Belichick's Tar Heels jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. After that though nothing went right for UNC. They turned the ball over three times -- two returns for touchdowns, including that pick-six there. The Tar Heels were demolished 48-14.
After the game Belichick said, "They outplayed us, outcoached us, and they were just better." Yep.
At the U.S. Open in New York, Naomi Osaka, the 23rd seed, has advanced to her first grand slam quarterfinal since 2021. She beat the third seed, America Coco Gauff, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday.
Also on the women's side Poland's Iga Swiatek has advanced, beating Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 6-3, 6-1.
And then we have the men's side. Top seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner took just under two hours and three sets to defeat Alexander Bublik as he moves to the quarters.
As for the food at the Open -- that's what everybody wants to know about, right -- fans are lining up for caviar-topped chicken nuggets outside Arthur Ashe Stadium. The Korean-inspired spot Coqodaq is charging $100 for six nuggets with a side of caviar.
[06:00:07]
Fans are loving it, but some say at that price it may not be an everyday indulgence. Yeah, you think? Other offerings at this year's tournament at mahi mango tacos, ramen shrimp scampi, and rye cookies. All sound pretty delicious to me.
Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.
