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New Day

Trump Says He'll From "Deportation Force"; Can Trump Win Latino Voter With His Immigration Plan?; Several NYC News Choppers Targeted By Lasers; GOP Punchlines. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired November 12, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: -- making threats on social media. It comes hours after 19-year-old Hunter Parker was arrested for allegedly posting racially charged death threats against the University of Missouri students.

Racial tensions boiling over at other schools across the country, students at Ithaca College in New York staging a walkout demanding their president resign over his handling of racial issues on their campus.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Maybe the most coveted TV time slot of the year goes to Stephen Colbert. CBS is announcing a special Sunday night edition of the "Late Show." It will follow Super Bowl 50 on February 7th.

Now networks typically give the slot to popular or debuting primetime shows. CBS no doubt hoping the $114 million projected Super Bowl viewers will stick around to see Colbert who is averaging about 3.3 million viewers a night in his first few months since taking over for David Letterman.

PEREIRA: We'll look forward to seeing that. All right, back to our politics here, Donald Trump doubling down now on his promise to secure the U.S. border with Mexico. He says he'll form a deportation force to evict 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. That plan, though, getting pushback even from some conservative groups.

Alfonso Aguilar is the executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles and he joins me now. Good morning to you, sir. Thanks for joining us.

ALFONSO AGUILAR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LATINO PARTNERSHIP FOR CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES: Good morning. Thank you so much for having me.

PEREIRA: It's obvious that -- it's no revelation that Donald Trump has a conservative view of immigration. We know that this message is resonating with the base. I'm curious, though, where you stand as a conservative Latino?

AGUILAR: Well, look, I think what he's proposing is a travesty. I don't know of any serious law enforcement official, who thinks that we can remove from our country over 11 million undocumented immigrants. And it's really insulting for Trump to mention in the debate, the Eisenhower policy of mass deportation as a model.

When history shows that that program which was called operation, and I hate to use this word, wetback, was a travesty. There were human rights violations. People removed to distant places sometimes deserts without water, food.

Over 80 people died. Even U.S. citizens who were of Mexican origin were removed. It was terrible.

PEREIRA: Can I just ask you about that? To me, it's the elephant in the room. The fact that after the debate that Donald Trump was so widely discussing this very operation with such a pejorative term, that right there, my Spidey senses went off. It's a terrible word to so many people.

AGUILAR: Correct.

PEREIRA: And to continually reference this, that's problematic. I imagine you're hearing from a lot of people.

AGUILAR: Absolutely. But for him to portray it as he was some compassionate policy, look, everybody liked Ike, but I think this is one of those policies that frankly was not very popular or successful.

In fact, he was criticized in the United States for the policy also in Mexico. So, look, I mean, we have to find a way -- the problem here is that there are people like Trump and others arguing that anything sort of deporting people is amnesty.

PEREIRA: Right.

AGUILAR: Which is ridiculous. I think what Governor Bush is proposing and I think he was forceful in the debate saying, look, we can't deport them all. Let's find a way, given a path to legal status after they pay a penalty. So it's not amnesty.

PEREIRA: I want to play for you, actually, Trump for his part was challenged by this on Fox News last night. I want you to listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: That was brutal what they did to those people to kick them back. I mean, the stuff they did --

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well --

O'REILLY: -- was really brutal. It could never happen today.

TRUMP: I've heard it both ways. I've heard good reports. I've heard it bad reports. We would do it in a very humane way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: First of all, the word humane, I mean, could that even be done? AGUILAR: Look, this highlights how serious the Trump campaign is on this issue and many other issues where he just makes statements. He doesn't make policy proposals. Look, we want to secure the border.

We want to make sure that we don't have people entering illegally. But this has happened we have an undocumented system that's so big because our system is broken.

Let's fix the system and then let's prospectively enforce the law to ensure that those who enter illegally are removed immediately. But now we have children who are U.S. citizens to remove them, it's not only that policy, but it's just un-American.

And yesterday, doubling down saying he would create a deportation force that sounds -- really, that's un-American. I don't think the majority of likely Republican voters actually respond to that. Many booed him.

[07:35:02] PEREIRA: I heard that. I heard that. I'm curious, do you think a sound immigration policy and, you know, the conservative values of the GOP, do you think that those two things are at odds to each other, as a conservative Latino?

AGUILAR: No, not at all, if you look at Donald Reagan, the last thing with immigration reform under Ronald Reagan. I think conservatives are faced with a false choice right now. You either support Obama's so-called amnesty or Mitt Romney's self-deportation.

There is a third alternative, which is a conservative alternative that has been embraced by Governor Bush and Marco Rubio and recently by Ben Carson talking about securing the border, using E- Verify, having an exit registry -- exit and entry registry, but also providing a path to legal status and a guest worker program to allow people who want to come here to work to enter legally.

Our guest worker programs in this country don't work. That's why they're coming in illegally.

PEREIRA: Alfonso, let me ask you one last question, you get a sense. You get phone calls. You talk to a lot of people within your community, what are you hearing? Do Latinos love Donald Trump? What are you hearing?

AGUILAR: That's the other fallacy. They hate him. His unfavorability ratings are according to Gallup, negative 51. If he is the GOP nominee, he cannot win. The good news is that within the GOP field, you have good candidates who are constructive on immigration.

That's why I think Democrats, Hillary Clinton, is very concerned with having an opponent like Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush or I think even Ben Carson.

PEREIRA: All right, Alfonso Aguilar, really great to have you with us. Thank you so much. You do not want to miss Donald Trump. He will be on with Erin Burnett "OUTFRONT" tonight 7:00 Eastern right here on CNN -- Alisyn. CAMEROTA: All right, Michaela, the FAA investigating laser strikes against several planes in Texas and local news helicopters in New York, another threat emerging in the skies. So we'll get some perspective on how tough it can be for pilots and where this has all happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, several incidents of lasers being pointed at aircraft in the Dallas area. The crews of at least three different jets reporting laser strike on their cockpits here in New York City. News choppers for the local stations of all three major networks were hit by lasers. Good news, two arrests in that case.

Let's bring in CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the DOT, Mary Schiavo. Mary, you've been telling us for a long time. This isn't a joke. It's dangerous. Blinding a pilot could have real consequences. Is there any mitigation when it comes to doing something like this?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: For the pilot, there isn't much mitigation. There are glasses, protective eyewear that you can get. The problem is, you can't fly with them throughout the whole flight.

So as you're coming in for a landing, you'd have to, first of all, the airlines you have to purchase this eyewear. And then you'd have to get them on and the simple solution is to enforce the law against the people who do it.

The news about that is sentences are starting to get pretty stiff. I think the strongest one was handed out in South Carolina three years and they mean business. You're going to go to jail for it.

PEREIRA: Well, it's not just mischief, that's the point. Listen to this chopper and see what it was like for him to have to deal with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see the people involved right now. They're walking in and out of the building. Hitting us right now, don't look, George. Yes, you think this is a joke?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: The guy, when that hits you in the eyes, it's a real problem for these pilots. I've had them say it to me, the local guys.

SCHIAVO: That's right, it is. Usually it causes temporary night blindness. There have been cases outside of the U.S. where it has caused permanent damage and in one case although it wasn't the pilot, it was someone playing with the laser caused blindness.

But in the United States because you have this flash blindness is what it's called and the pilots can't see. It's very, very dangerous, because it usually happens on landing. And that's the time when you've got to have all eyes on the runway and it's the most dangerous part of flight.

And also because there are so many planes in the area so this night blindness effect has in all cases in the U.S. so far cleared up, you know, within a matter of time after landing. But overseas, there have been permanent injuries.

And if it were just a joke, you know, if that's what they're going to complain about when they get jammed up. There's been too much reporting on this. It's too well-known that it's not funny and dangerous. So any charges that come you're OK with?

SCHIAVO: Yes. They will stick and they are sticking. I mean, the first cases where they actually saw a criminal prosecution, about not quite ten years ago, but the first time this came up was back in 1995, while I was still inspector general and this came about because of laser shows.

But the proprietors of laser shows now have to coordinate with the FAA, and they do. The FAA has a big program to coordinate so places like, you know, Las Vegas which is the first place it happened and Disney World, they can have their laser shows. They just have to coordinate.

CUOMO: This is about somebody being a jackass or worse. Not about some laser show. Let me ask you something else, with what we're learning about Metrojet Flight 9268, there is now this focus on the domestic security situation, whether it's the people at TSA or how we look at cargo. I feel like these issues have been around for a while. Are we being aware of threats but not acting on them? What's your analysis?

SCHIAVO: Well, these issues literally have been around almost as long as there have been flights. We've heard the same issues since September 11, 2001 when the system was to be overhauled.

But there was a decision to be made, it was an intentional decision to lead out airport workers out of the security screening in the regime and they get a background investigation, literally more than a passenger.

They get the same kind of screening as a TSA pre-check, which is ridiculous when you think about it. But airports and airlines have resisted screening of all airport workers and that's the biggest loophole right now.

CUOMO: If you know that cargo is a vulnerability, if you know you're supposed to do the manpower checks, if you know that security is such a big deal, is this just about money?

[07:45:07]And if so, what's the remedy? Where's the accountability? What are we supposed to do to make it better?

SCHIAVO: Well, it is about money. It's about the airlines and airports saying it would take too long to do it. But we still have people in Congress pushing back against the TSA. Remember before the TSA, the airlines do it, and sadly, the way we legislate in this country is we base it on the last attack.

So people sight this as a success and they said there hasn't been a major attack since 2001 instead of saying, we know there are holes. We know they are gaining the system.

We know that the hijackers on before September 11. Look at all the airports they were using, many, many times made trial runs and so we have this warning of Metrojet. We have to heat it, but sadly we often wait until it happens and then we close the door.

CUOMO: Mary Schiavo, always appreciate the perspective, thank you.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

CUOMO: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Chris, as you know, Michaela, and I have learned a lot from you this morning on the art of the chest bump. Chris does not approve of Jeb Bush's chest bump --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: You said it was a good chest bump, I said --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

PEREIRA: Wait for it. Wait for it.

CAMEROTA: You educated me. Chris will demonstrate the right technique for going mano-a-mano, next.

CUOMO: I will.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: I did not know there was an art form to the chest bump. You have educated me.

CUOMO: Well, look, this is a nice window into some of the controversy that goes on in this. Usually I am the victim, but not today.

This is what happened with Jeb Bush. He has a new supporter. The guy says I like your plan. I'm for you now. Give me some and that is the chest bump. Slowmo, look at the reaction of the guy who get the chest bump, by the way.

PEREIRA: You've got a real problem here. I understand your analysis. You've got a height discrepancy. That's never going to be executed well when you have that kind of height discrepancy.

CUOMO: We can write it off. It's not here for criticism. It's just for showing you what it is. So I said I will show you --

(CROSSTALK) CUOMO: I think he will receive criticism is what I said.

CAMEROTA: So you showed us how to do it with gusto.

CUOMO: I think that there is a right way to -- criticism I think that Jeb Bush is going to get, one, it needs some kind of momentum. Two, it needs a little bit of lift off, there is got to be a hop, and three, there is some kind of audible enthusiasm afterwards, two-way. Are you ready? Bring it.

PEREIRA: It was a stomach bump.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: You're a hater.

PEREIRA: I'm not a hater.

CAMEROTA: Please let us know via Twitter and Facebook what you thought of Chris' -- we have more levity for you.

The late night crowds -- yes, they are experiencing a debate hangover, but they are using it for last. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump said he got to know Vladimir Putin because they were on "60 Minutes" the same night even though they were interviewed by different hosts in different locations. Yes, and he said it was a pleasure to meet Slow (ph), the progressive lady during the commercial break. He loved that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After the debate, Ben Carson did say he is tired of answering questions about his personal history and the last thing Ben Carson needs right now is to be even more tired than he already appears to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The debate aired on Fox Business Network and they used a dinging sound to tell candidates when their time was up. It's sort like of a doorbell, which would explain why Trump starting barking every time it went off.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: That is awesome -- I love that.

CUOMO: All right, the Republicans wasting a little time getting back on the campaign trail and back at each other's throats. Immigration has become a real issue now. They are showing how they are different. It's about policy. How it will affect you? Who's got the best plan? Answers ahead my friends, give yourselves a chest bump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:57:04]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Overseas, "Operation Free Sinjar" launched in Northern Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ISIS has had over a year now to build that city into (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sinjar itself full plumes of thick black smoke that simply haven't stopped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taking Sinjar will really be an important step.

TRUMP: People want borders. If we don't have a border, we don't have a country.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are parts of the border you can't build a wall. I don't care what Donald Trump says.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After ten years on the work permit, I personally am open.

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm in favor of securing our borders and this is not a difficult thing to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was running down the field and all of a sudden it just like hit me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) and they couldn't get it to go down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thought was a possible concussion, but it was something far more likely to result to death.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Thursday, November 12th, 8:00 in the east. We do have breaking news overnight, a major Iraq battle ongoing, over 7,000 Kurdish forces on a mission to retake a critically strategic city. This could be a defining moment in the war on ISIS.

CAMEROTA: The U.S. will be playing role with coalition war planes providing air cover. Now the goal of the Peshmerga fighters is to surround Sinjar and drive out hundreds of ISIS insurgents while also cutting off a critical supply line to the terrorists.

Let's go to the outskirts of Sinjar and bring in CNN's senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh -- Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just behind me you can see the thick black smoke that has been covering the center of Sinjar since pretty much about this morning when the offensive began in the first light.

In the distance over here too, this being pretty consistent, exchanges of heavy machine gunfire. I can't tell you precisely. We are on the outskirts of Sinjar because of the rules we agree to when working with the Peshmerga.

But there is intense fighting here. They are trying to dig themselves in and I'm standing on a key part of the strategic mission here, which is to take over this route that runs between ISIS capital of Raqqa in Syria and the key town of Mosul in Iraq.

Now at this stage, the Peshmerga seeing to hold this particular thanks to the noise I'm hearing above me, of coalition jets, drones as well, and also hear potentially, military advisors in the local area too.

Further down this road, though, the challenge gets messier. We are hearing a potentially 300 ISIS fighters still in the urban school there. It's densely packed. The Peshmerga are moving around in an arch it seems to try and go round the entire city, but tense fighting potentially ahead here.

No sense of things slowing and ISIS very close to where we are, within a kilometer frankly of where I'm standing so much optimism at dawn. This could be over days. As the day ends, the booby traps, the mines, the sheer exhaustion potentially of moving into the city.

The booby trap roads making some Peshmerga here slightly optimist this could be over as quickly as they hope -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, we'll be watching that with you. Thanks for the update on the developments, Nick. Back here at home, the Republican candidates --