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Latinos on Trump's Immigration Speech & Mexico Visit; Trump Lays out Immigration Plan in Fiery Speech; Interview with Rep. Jerry Nadler. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 01, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

ILEANA GARCIA, CO-FOUNDER, LATINAS FOR TRUMP: So, going up against, you being a Republican, and going up against the candidate for the presidency under that umbrella just doesn't seem productive to me. So, you can say whatever you want, perceive whatever you want, and so can the rest of the nation.

[07:00:13] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Rudy, final word.

RUDY FERNANDEZ, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO GEORGE W. BUSH: Chris, there's a big difference between tough talk and tough action. Yesterday Trump called for 5,000 custom Border Patrol agents. The Gang of Eight, which was vilified by the hardliners, called for 20,000 custom Border Patrol agents, four times -- you know, four times as many agents on the border. That would have been a tough way to deal with illegal immigration.

The real tough kind of an illegal immigration with Ted Cruz, and he's a man of principle.

CUOMO: All right. Rudy Fernandez, thank you...

GARCIA: Wouldn't be the first time we saw exaggerated facts.

CUOMO: Rudy Fernandez, thank you very much. Ileana, it's good that you slipped that under the wire there. Ileana Garcia, thank you very much. Appreciate the debate.

GARCIA: Thanks.

CUOMO: All right. There's a lot of news this morning, including we're going to have a live interview with former Mexican President Vicente Fox. Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We take anybody. Come on in, anybody. Not anymore.

VICENTE FOX, FORMER MEXICAN PRESIDENT: He doesn't know how to run a nation. He doesn't even know how to run a business.

TRUMP: We will build an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful southern border wall. And Mexico will pay. GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: After years of

hearing leaders talk about ending illegal immigration, elect a leader who will actually do it.

TRUMP: There will be no amnesty.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We don't build a coalition by insulting our friends or acting like a loose cannon.

TRUMP: Those here illegally today, they will have one route and one route only.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I alter. I switch it up.

CUOMO: I respect that.

Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. Donald Trump ramping up the tough talk on the -- immigration in a fiery speech in Arizona. Trump vowing there will be no amnesty for undocumented immigrants. He says he will deport millions of criminals and undocumented people who have overstayed their visas.

CAMEROTA: The speech was the opposite of the diplomatic tone on display in Mexico. Trump insists that Mexico will pay for the border wall, but Mexico's president says he made it clear his country will not foot the bill.

Let's begin with Sunlen Serfaty, who's going to try and straighten it all out for us. She's live in Washington.

Hi, Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Alisyn.

Well, this was certainly not a softening by Donald Trump. Trump returned to that tough talk that we knew from the primary campaign, declaring no amnesty, calling for the wall, saying Mexico wild pay for it, but he still did not give a definitive answer about what to do with the undocumented people living in the U.S. who are not criminals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: There will be no amnesty.

SERFATY (voice-over): Donald Trump recommitting to a fired-up no- mercy stance on illegal immigration.

TRUMP: For those here illegally today who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only: to return home and apply for re-entry like everybody else under the rules of the new legal immigration system.

SERFATY: The billionaire vowing to swiftly expel millions who have overstayed their visas and undocumented criminals.

TRUMP: I am going to create a new special deportation task force, focused on identifying and quickly removing the most dangerous criminal illegal immigrants in America who have evaded justice, just like Hillary Clinton has evaded justice, OK? Maybe they'll be able to deport her.

SERFATY: Insisting he will detain and remove anyone caught crossing the border.

TRUMP: We are going to end catch and release.

SERFATY: And force other countries to take back their citizens who have been ordered to leave the U.S.

TRUMP: There are at least 23 countries that refuse to take their people back after they've been ordered to leave the United States. Not going to happen with me, folks. Not going to happen with me.

SERFATY: And declaring he will block funding from the 300-plus so- called sanctuary cities across the country.

TRUMP: Cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars.

SERFATY: But Trump is not saying how he would deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

TRUMP: Only the out-of-touch media elites think the biggest problem facing America -- and you know this -- is that there are 11 million illegal immigrants who don't have legal status.

SERFATY: As for anyone who wants to live and work here...

TRUMP: To choose immigrants based on merit. Merit, skill, and proficiency.

SERFATY: ... Trump says they will be up against extreme vetting.

[07:05:04] TRUMP: We are going to suspend the issuance of visas to any place where adequate screening cannot occur.

Another reform involves new screening tests for all applicants that include an ideological certification to make sure that those we are admitting to our country share our values and love our people.

SERFATY: Trump also renewing his commitment to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

TRUMP: And Mexico will pay for the wall. Hundred percent. They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for the wall.

SERFATY: Hours earlier, a more measured and softer tone on display as Trump met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

TRUMP: We did discuss the wall. We didn't discuss payment of the wall.

SERFATY: But after Trump left the country, President Pena Nieto disputes that, tweeting, quote, "From the start of the conversation, I made it clear: Mexico will not pay for that wall."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: And the Mexican president added to that in an interview late Wednesday, saying that some of the positions that Donald Trump has taken, quote, "are a threat to Mexico."

And the Clinton campaign, meantime, they are responding to Trump's speech, saying in part, quote, "He showed us very clearly what's at stake in this election by painting a picture of his idea of America, one in which immigrants are not welcomed and one in which innocent families are torn apart" -- Chris and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Sunlen. Thanks so much for all of that.

Let's discuss the tale of two Trumps, meaning the trip to Mexico and the speech about immigration, with our CNN political commentator, Ana Navarro, and New York City councilman and co-chair of Donald Trump's New York campaign, Joseph Borelli. Great to have both of you.

Let's start with Trump's trip to Mexico. Ana, what came out of it?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think Trump won the afternoon. Look, I think he made Pena Nieto look like a pipsqueak. I can tell you that every Mexican I've spoken to, every Mexican-American I've spoken to, today might be the only day where they feel more scorn towards Pena Nieto than they do for Donald Trump.

This -- this controversy that emerged after Trump left...

CAMEROTA: About who would pay for the wall?

NAVARRO: Well, you know, here's the problem. The guy was standing next to Trump, five feet away. It was Pena Nieto's press conference. It was Pena Nieto's podium. It was Pena Nieto's, you know, house. It was Pena Nieto's microphone. Trump says it didn't come up right next to him, and Pena Nieto doesn't utter a word.

I think most Mexicans feel very well-represented by what Vicente Fox is saying, by what even President Calderon is saying. But their own president, who was at 23 percent approval rating in Mexico before this, I'm sure there are Pena Nieto's pinatas getting sold today in the streets of Mexico right next to the Trump ones.

CAMEROTA: Pena Nieto says that he didn't clarify at the press conference that he was not going to pay for the wall, because there was confusion and chaos at the end of it.

So this morning there is still confusion, because Donald Trump says, "We didn't discuss it," who was going to pay for the wall. Pena Nieto afterwards seemed a little annoyed by that, and so he put out this tweet. He says, "I emphatically said Mexico will not pay for the wall."

So Joe, where are we with this?

JOE BORELLI, CO-CHAIR, DONALD TRUMP'S NEW YORK CAMPAIGN: Well, you know, kind of parlaying off what Ana said, I think Pena Nieto might be backtracking a little bit on what happened at the meeting. Maybe there was a brief mention of who'd pay for the wall, but it seems like there wasn't any formal discussion of financing of the wall, per se.

That said, there probably shouldn't be. You know, Donald Trump is not the president of the United States yet. And it's not the time and place to do a formal negotiation. But you...

CAMEROTA: But he has staked much of his campaign on it. I mean, in other words, if he doesn't want to deal with it yet, he has been saying all along and promising...

BORELLI: Right, but -- but...

CAMEROTA: ... in no uncertain terms that Mexico will pay for it.

BORELLI: But the takeaway -- and he still does, as we saw in our next, I guess, segment, when we talk about the speech tonight. But the takeaway is that the two men agreed that the wall is something that could, should, and probably will happen when Trump is president.

They agreed that NAFTA has to be modernized. They agreed on a whole bunch of things. And it portrayed Donald Trump in a way that Donald Trump needs to be seen. He appeared presidential.

Hillary Clinton, where is she? She's hiding in the Hamptons or in Martha's Vineyard this weekend. Donald Trump in the past two weeks travels to Louisiana, travels to Mexico. He's becoming the president.

CAMEROTA: OK. So you both agree it was a win for Trump?

NAVARRO: Absolutely. I think the imagery worked for him. I also think, look, I give the guy credit for going into -- I think he out- mavericked, outmaneuvered Pena Nieto.

Pena Nieto should have never issued this invitation, gave a person that is abhorred by Mexicans and Mexican-Americans a platform, made him look presidential. You've got those two podiums standing next to each other. And I think -- you know, I think most Mexicans woke up today really wanting to skewer this president. If you take his poll numbers today, he'll be in the single digits. Forget 23.

CAMEROTA: OK. Quickly, let me move on, because I want to talk about his speech. So that was the afternoon. A couple of hours later, Donald Trump shows up in Arizona, and he gives his speech, his long- awaited speech on immigration.

Let's talk about the, at least, five top points that he made about his immigration plan. He says, no amnesty, no path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people here now. Remove the criminals and the millions who overstay their visas. "The Washington Post" said that could 6 million people that will have to be removed by a deportation force somehow.

[07:10:18] Build a wall that Mexico pays for. That's an open question, as we know. Defund sanctuary cities and rescind President Obama's executive orders. Is that what you wanted to hear from him, Joe?

BORELLI: Yes, I mean, as someone who's conservative, as someone who's a Republican, as someone who cares about immigration in the country, I want to hear Donald Trump being consistent, which he was on there being no amnesty, no pathway to citizenship, unless people remove themselves from the country, reapply, get in line with everybody else.

CAMEROTA: But you're OK with no specifics? I mean, he didn't explain how the 6 million people will be deported.

BORELLI: Well, I think he said we're going to add about 5,000 new ICE -- ICE enforcement officers. So he was specific.

Compare that to Hillary Clinton. Spoke at the American Legion. Didn't even speak about how the V.A. is a disaster. So I don't think you can compare and contrast the candidates without talking about how she's failed in specificity.

CAMEROTA: Ana, what did you think of his speech?

NAVARRO: Look, I'm not supporting any candidate. That leaves me free to actually call it as I see it. The same way I tell you I think he won the afternoon, at night, it was a disaster. We saw, you know, again Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And it was, you know, the -- the same Trump we have seen for the last 16 months that showed up.

CAMEROTA: What do you mean Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Meaning he was no longer the diplomat?

NAVARRO: Right. We saw a -- you know, we saw a diplomatic, we saw a quiet, we saw a listening Donald Trump in the afternoon. We saw him feeding the fire, feeding the ire again at night.

We also saw, as you -- as you say, the lack of specifics. If you -- if you were in law school, if you were in second year of law school, and they asked you, for an immigration class, to put together a legislative proposal and you showed up with that, you would get an "F." What he did was a sixth-grade level proposal. What he did was put numbers in front of his campaign slogans. Build a wall, No. 1. Sanctuary cities, No. 2. He didn't discuss birthright citizenship. He didn't discuss DREAMers. He didn't discuss spouses of U.S. citizens that may be undocumented. I didn't hear one word about wet foot, dry foot when it comes to Cubans. I mean, there were -- you know, immigration is a very intricate topic with a great big...

BORELLI: I disagree.

NAVARRO: Of course you disagree.

BORELLI: I disagree. I think Donald Trump's critics last week were saying that he wasn't strong enough on immigration. This week they're saying he's too strong on immigration. I think Donald Trump's critics are always going to be his critics.

And as far as specificity, he went chapter and verse, a ten-point plan, addressing some of the things that are not new ideas, some of the things that are ideas that both parties agree on that have not been implemented. That's very specific.

CAMEROTA: Joe, do you think that he expanded his base with that speech? Many people say that that speech was more of the same, and it was fiery. Do you think that he reached out to more people who were on the fence with that speech last night?

BORELLI: A lot of people in this country believe that immigration is a huge issue, driving this election. And something that the next president has to face.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but most people -- all the polls suggest that most people believe that those people who are here should not be deported.

BORELLI: If you think immigration is a big issue and you're using that as a litmus test for voting in the presidential election, there is two clear choices. There's Donald Trump's plan for immigration, which we heard. There's Hillary Clinton's 100-day amnesty for all program. There's a clear difference. If immigration's your issue, you have a choice.

CAMEROTA: OK. So did he do what he had to accomplish in terms of reaching out to the independents, to the people who are fence sitting?

NAVARRO: I don't think so. I think, frankly, from a political perspective, I think he does need to double down. He tried. I think he tested the waters. And the reaction he got from his base was, "We're giving you no wiggle room. You cannot fudge on this immigration issue."

CAMEROTA: Meaning when he seemed to soften on deportation and said that it was going to be done humanely, then he pivoted away again?

NAVARRO: Exactly. He got quite a backlash from them. And frankly, he's not going to change the minds of Latinos. He's not going to change the minds of minorities. He's not going to change the minds of the people who think he's a racist.

The problem with Donald Trump are not his policies. You can disagree with people on policy. The problem with Donald Trump is Donald Trump. People are not going to forget in one week him questioning the citizenship of a judge born in Indiana of Mexican heritage. People are not going to forget in one week him calling rape -- Mexicans rapists and criminals. People are not going to forget in one week him mocking a disabled person.

BORELLI: I -- I disagree.

NAVARRO: People are not going to forget in one week him sending an outrageous "I told you" so...

BORELLI: His support -- his support among Hispanics... NAVARRO: ... tweet about the cousin of Dwayne Wade.

BORELLI: ... is improving.

NAVARRO: And so he's not nothing to gain from changing policy other than losing supporters.

BORELLI: But look, his support among Hispanics, English-speaking Hispanics, are at 41 percent. Native-born Hispanic people are at 30 percent. Those are better numbers than he had in the beginning.

CAMEROTA: What poll is that?

BORELLI: Pew and Gallup. So he's improving amongst -- he's improving in Florida, a state with a predominantly large number of Hispanics. So I think there is some movement. The polls are narrowing. Let's see what happens.

CAMEROTA: Ana, Joseph, thank you very much.

Coming up on NEW DAY, we will get reaction from Hillary Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine. What did he think of Trump's day yesterday? And Hillary Clinton's, as well? He'll join us in our next hour -- Chris.

CUOMO: And I have to counter with this. In just minutes, we're going to speak with, live with former Mexican president, Vicente Fox. What did he think of the meeting with the president currently? What did he think about the speech last night? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:19:10] TRUMP: I am going to create a new special deportation task force focused on identifying and quickly removing the most dangerous criminal, illegal immigrants in America who have evaded justice, just like Hillary Clinton has evaded justice, OK? Maybe they'll be able to deport her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Donald Trump slamming Hillary Clinton during his major immigration speech last night. Clinton hitting back, calling Trump's speech the darkest yet and accusing him of, quote, "pitting people against each other and demonizing immigrants."

Let's discuss with Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler. He's endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Congressman, it's good to see you.

REP. JERRY NADLER (D), NEW YORK: Good to see you.

CUOMO: The problem is real. Donald Trump, yes, the celebrity, yes, the media hype, but him grabbing this issue with both hands catapulted his candidacy early on. It's a problem. People think not enough has been done. And that is the momentum here.

[07:20:12] Isn't that a fact, that there is a real problem, it hasn't been handled the way it needs to be?

NADLER: Well, I don't know that. There is a problem, but we have been -- a lot of -- we have been doing a lot of things. Unfortunately, deportations under this administration are way up from what they were before. We have increased our border security budget, I think, by something like 1,400 percent in the last...

CUOMO: You say "unfortunately." Why unfortunately?

NADLER: Because I don't think there -- I think there have been too many deportations. But that's a different question. But we have -- we have been enforcing the law much more rigorously than previously.

CUOMO: But you still have, by a shallow estimate, about 6 million people in this country who have criminal records of one kind or another that are undocumented.

NADLER: I think 6 million is way, way overboard. You can get up -- the question was how...

CUOMO: Well, wait. Six million is overstayed visas and the criminal stuff. But so let's play with that number because the -- but that's a lot of people, you know?

NADLER: The number of people with any kind of serious crimes is in the tens of thousands, not the millions, No. 1.

No. 2, this kind of scapegoating, I mean, Donald Trump made it sound -- he's scapegoating immigrants. He's making it sound like you have millions of illegal immigrants, undocumented aliens who are criminals running around, rapists, murderers. He had people there whose kids were victims.

But the fact is that undocumented aliens commit less crime -- fewer crimes per capita than native American -- than people who are here. It is not -- immigration enforcement may be a problem, but it is not a criminal problem. Because the people who are here without documents commit crimes at a much lower rate or a substantially lower rate than people who are in...

CUOMO: Look, we've heard this argument also, that what happened to Katie Steinle is the exception, not the rule, that that's an unfair standard...

NADLER: You could take...

CUOMO: ... to point out. But you still have 6 million people who have cheated the system and are here. How is that a way of looking at it as success?

NADLER: Let me just say this. This kind of bigoted approach, you could take five or six people whose kids were victimized by Jewish criminals or Irish criminals or black criminals or Italian criminals and say the Italians, or the Jews or the blacks or somebody else is the problem. That is appealing to rank bigotry. You're scapegoating the foreigners, especially the Mexicans who are here, and saying they're the cause of the crimes. They're not.

CUOMO: Do you think that Hillary Clinton should have gone to Mexico?

NADLER: Well, I think as secretary of state, she was in Mexico many times, as she was in a lot of other...

CUOMO: But do you think it was a mistake for her to allow Trump to play to advantage, going down there, and making this appeal that he can be presidential?

NADLER: No, I mean, the fact is that he went down there because he has shown no ability to be presidential. He made a -- tried to sound reasonable for a few minutes with the president of Mexico and then comes back here and makes a blood-curdling speech, being as irresponsible and as bigoted as ever.

CUOMO: Why is it bigoted?

NADLER: It's bigoted, because you're blaming a group of people for larger crimes. It's exactly the same thing as the fascists did in Europe. The problems were all because of the Jews. Here, the problems are all because of the Mexicans. The problems were all because of Irish in the 1850s and an anti- -- an anti-immigrationist era in the 1840s and '50s. The No Nothings, it was all the -- the country's being destroyed by the Irish immigrants.

It's the same thing. You blame all the problems on a group of people who are not responsible for those problems. Yes, there are people who commit crimes who are here illegally, who are here improperly. But most crimes are committed by people who are here.

CUOMO: Another stick that he swung during his speech last night was about Clinton's own problems with the law. Obviously, he's talking about the foundation. He's talking about the e-mails. Do you believe that she's handled that situation well enough, or do you believe that's why it's dogging her in the polls?

NADLER: Well, I think she's done what she could. About the e-mails, she said she made a mistake. She's apologized for that. There's nothing else you can say, really. The FBI investigated, said that there were no crimes. And that's it.

Now, the fact of the matter is, the Republicans, and Trump in particular these days, but the Republicans for 30 years have been bringing up alleged scandal after scandal: Whitewater, Travelgate, Benghazi, that have proven, after millions of dollars of investigations, not to be anything. That she did nothing wrong in Benghazi; she did nothing wrong in those other things.

But you throw enough mud against the wall, some get the basic impression she's untrustworthy.

CUOMO: You're not concerned by the foundation overlap of what happened as secretary of state?

NADLER: Well, I think that the foundation has now announced extraordinary steps that will happen starting immediately, especially if she's elected president.

[07:25:08] The foundation, remember, is a foundation. I mean, Trump said that she's benefitting from this, that there's pay-to-play. The foundation is not an income-producing thing. Foundation has been a tremendous charitable benefit, saved millions of lives of people with AIDS and other things in Africa and other places.

And has she met with people who were donors to the foundation? Yes. As secretary of state, she meets with a lot of people. She met with Elie Wiesel. He's a donor to the foundation. She met with a Nobel Peace Prize winner -- I think it was Peace Prize, Nobel Prize winner whose donation -- who's a donor to the foundation. They're donating to a major charity, and she would meet with these people in any event.

CUOMO: Congressman Jerry Nadler, appreciate you making the case from the Clinton perspective.

NADLER: Thank you.

CUOMO: It's good to have you here -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. He has not minced words about Donald Trump in the past and yesterday right here on NEW DAY. So up next, former Mexican president, Vicente Fox, reacts to Trump's immigration plan as well as his visit to Mexico.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:01] CUOMO: There's a lot of dancing from the campaigns this morning. Did Trump have a good day or not? Was it good he went down there? Did the speech help him last night or not? That's what it really is. I mean, you're getting all these different versions based on which campaign you're listening to. So let's...

CAMEROTA: And which hour you're talking about.

CUOMO: That's exactly right.