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Fear Growing Among Migrant Community; DHS Set to Pay Undocumented Migrants to Leave Country; White House Targeting Cuts in Overdose Prevention?. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired May 05, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Well, right now, there is escalating concern about potential cuts to lifesaving overdose treatment.

A preliminary budget proposal from Republicans would cut about two dozen substance abuse prevention and treatment programs, and among those that could be on the chopping block, a $56 million annual grant that helps distribute Narcan kits and train first responders on how to use them.

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Narcan is a brand name, a medicine -- of a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. The administration says no final decisions have been made about the upcoming fiscal budget, including potential cuts to this program.

But it's important to discuss, because it could be on the chopping block.

With us now are co-instructors in a Missouri program that would lose federal funding if these proposed cuts go through. Ray Rath has a substance abuse disorder and is a certified peer support counselor with the Raytown -- a recovering, we should say -- with the Raytown Fire Department. Also with us is Matthew Cushman, a community paramedic with the Raytown Fire Protection District.

Thank you both for being here.

Ray, I want to go to you. As someone who is recovering from a substance abuse disorder, how did you get involved in this program? And why is it so important to you?

RAY RATH, CERTIFIED PEER SUPPORT COUNSELOR, RAYTOWN, MISSOURI, FIRE DEPARTMENT: Well, I landed in this field completely on accident, and it was one of the absolute best things that ever could have happened for me. I had a friend that introduced me to the field. I got in, and I just

-- I fell in love with it right off the bat. This is something that means so much to me. Addiction almost took my life, and it has taken the life of so many people that I love and care about.

And I just want to give somebody a chance to live a life that they deserve.

BROWN: And this is it right here. This is an example of what you would use, the Narcan.

Matthew, if everyone can see it, so you have trained thousands of first responders on how to use this right here. And some of them might ask, well, I mean, why can't you just train over video, put a YouTube video up, rather than in person, to save this kind of money? What would you say to that?

MATTHEW CUSHMAN, COMMUNITY PARAMEDIC, RAYTOWN, MISSOURI, FIRE DEPARTMENT: Well, I think that they do those trainings online and that there is a possibility that an organization or an individual could do that.

But I think one of the important things about the training and also the leave-behind kits that we also provide is introducing people in recovery like Ray, because, when you do that, you reduce the enormous amount of stigma that people with a substance use disorder has.

And Ray can speak to that very well. He has many stories that detail just what a barrier stigma places on those folks with opiate use disorder.

BROWN: Tell us more about that, Ray, because I'm from Kentucky. It's a big issue there, the opioid crisis. And you really can personalize it and tell us why these kinds of programs are so important.

RATH: Well, I think that the greatest part about this, the trainings that we do, is that we humanize it, getting to get in these classes and show people that, first off, recovery is possible, and, second, to show what it looks like.

I was somebody just a few short years ago that I couldn't manage anything in my life. And now, because of the fact that I was able to find recovery and I have got such an amazing support group behind me, I'm able to do these things for other people. And it's -- I make the comment on some of these trainings that we do that you never know. That person that you saved could be standing in front of you one day.

And I just -- we got to give people hope.

BROWN: Yes, I want to follow up on that, Ray, because I was reading about your story. And when you were resuscitated, some of the first responders kind of made a light of it, right? Like, why are we even saving this guy, right?

RATH: Correct. Correct. And that's part of that stigma, is we think that a lot of people, oh, they chose this life. And that's not always the case. Two out of three people end up in addiction and struggling with it because of prescriptions that they got from doctors. And we really need to humanize them.

We need to stop treating them poorly. We need to have compassion. I think that's -- the biggest thing that I can say is just we have to treat them like people.

BROWN: And now that you were saved, you were rescued, you are now trying to save other lives.

Matthew, on that note, the administration says combating the drug crisis and the opioid epidemic is one of its top drug policy priorities. You have Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was a heroin addict.

If you could speak directly to the administration and to these Republicans on Capitol Hill, what would you say?

CUSHMAN: Well, I think it's really important that -- we often sit here and criticize cuts, and, certainly, I think that this would be a bad idea.

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But the priorities and the values that pretty much both parties have expressed, as well as this administration, is, we have to do something about this crisis. It is every bit an epidemic in this country. But with programs like the one that they are proposing to cut, we have shown where that not only has been successful in not only providing great training to public safety agencies, but, most importantly, what it has done is save lives.

We have had about a 25 percent reduction in our state, in Missouri, alone in opioid-related fatalities. That is directly correlated to these kids in this training. We have supersaturated our neighborhoods and our communities with Narcan, and we are seeing the effects of that. Less people are dying. EMS and law enforcement are safer because of that.

The ripple effects are absolutely overwhelming for this to be ignored and to be cut, in the guise of some sort of savings.

BROWN: So then, Ray, bottom line, what will the impact be if this program loses funding?

RATH: I mean, for me personally, I fear that we are going to lose a lot more lives, people's family members, their brothers, their sisters, their mothers, their fathers.

These are people that are struggling with a disease. We cannot give up on them. We need this help. And the data shows that the work that is being done out here is saving lives, and it should continue to do that. BROWN: Do you ever keep in touch with some of the people whose life

you have saved? And I just wonder if you have done that and what you hear from them, Ray?

RATH: I do get clients that I have worked with reach out to me. I had one recently that reached out to me to let me know that they were having a really hard time and they checked themselves back into recovery, a recovery unit, and they're doing better now.

And I love getting those, when somebody reaches out and says, hey, something that you said clicked with me and it stuck with me and it made me want to do something different. So I'm always open if somebody wants to reach out. I'm always here.

BROWN: That's wonderful. If they do want to reach out, how should they reach out to you? I just want to make sure we put that out there.

RATH: So, that's a good question. I mean, I have social media. My name is Ray Rath.

BROWN: Ray Rath, OK. We can have -- folks can reach you on social media.

RATH: Yes.

BROWN: That's a good way. That's how a lot of people communicate these days. I just want to put that out there, because there are a lot of people struggling who do need that help, and you're someone who can offer that kind of help and really understand what they're going through.

Ray Rath, R-A-T-H, and Matthew Cushman, thank you so much.

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BROWN: And if you or a loved one struggle with substance abuse, there is help. You can text or call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

We will be right back.

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BLITZER: All right, this just into CNN. The Department of Homeland Security now says it will pay undocumented migrants who leave the United States and return to their home country.

Here with us right now CNN correspondent Priscilla Alvarez, who's monitoring these latest developments.

What are you learning Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is yet another push by the Trump administration to have people self-deport. That means leave the country voluntarily. And it speaks, Wolf and

Pamela, to the fact that it is difficult for the administration to execute its mass deportation pledge without people doing this. Now, here are some of the details that the department is releasing just this morning.

So they are offering a free airline ticket and a stipend of $1,000 to people who verify that they have left. They're making the comparison to what it costs to detain -- detain someone and deport them if the government were to do it.

The number the Department of Homeland Security is providing is $17,121. That is the average if the government were to do the arrest, the detain -- the detaining and the deporting of an individual. So their argument here is, well, it's cheaper for the federal government if we just pay for you to leave and it's better for you, the undocumented immigrant, if you choose this route.

Also offering or appearing to offer that, if they did this, that they still would have some opportunity potentially to come back to the United States in the future, because that is also very tricky here. If you're undocumented in the United States and you want to become legal, it is a long process. And, in many cases, people have to leave and then come back again. So, that is something that they're offering here, though they are not guaranteeing.

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But, bottom line, what the administration is trying to do in many ways is up the number of people who are self-deporting. In many cases, some of what we have seen with their immigration policies that seem painful or immigrant advocates might call cruel, well, the point is, make people leave.

And that is because it is so difficult to do mass deportation the way President Trump has pledged to do. So this is news coming in this morning of the department just launching another program. And, remember, they had also launched the CBP Home app to get people to leave voluntarily.

BLITZER: Any indication that this incentive of $1,000, plus flight fare and all of that, is working, that people will start self- deporting?

ALVAREZ: We will see.

But I will give you two data points. One, I have seen numbers that the department provided of people who self-deported, and they did have some people who decided to leave. I recall it being somewhere in the thousands. And, also, I have talked to families, immigrant families, some of whom have considered this.

The one caveat they always mention to me, though, is, we are giving the government our data. We're telling them where we are, even if we want to leave. And that does make them very nervous if there's not trust with the federal government. BLITZER: Excellent reporting. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very, very

much.

BROWN: Thank you, Priscilla.

All right, well, today is May 5, and that means Cinco de Mayo, Wolf, a holiday that celebrates Mexico's victory over France. But some -- in the Battle of Puebla, I should say. But some communities have canceled or scaled back cultural events because of President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration and the fear among many Latinos that they could be arrested.

BLITZER: Hector Escobar helped make the difficult decision to cancel Chicago's Cinco de Mayo Parade. He's the president of Casa Puebla and the Cermak Road Chamber of Commerce.

Thanks very much for joining us.

What is the level of fear in your community that drove this decision?

HECTOR ESCOBAR, PRESIDENT, CASA PUEBLA AND THE CERMAK ROAD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Thank you for having me, first.

And, well, our people are very scared. And, honestly, they're saying they don't want to go to work. They have to go to work because they have to feed the families. So, if they both they were working now, one person is working.

So that took us to consensus around the community and asked them, how about the parade? How about the festivities? And they say, well, if we're scared to go to work, I don't think it's nothing to celebrate. So, that took us the decision over money, so -- because money is an issue here for the community, for the business there.

But if we know...

BROWN: We're clearly having a bad connection with him.

BLITZER: Yes, we will see if we can fix that up.

But it's a big story right now that they have to cancel.

BROWN: It is.

BLITZER: I think we got them back.

BROWN: OK, yes.

I want to go ahead and go back to you, if you would, Hector. We lost you for a little bit, but go ahead.

ESCOBAR: OK.

Well, like I said, it's -- our people are scared. And it took that hard decision, because, yes, we lose money. The business lose money. But we have to protect our people, more important than money. And we see, all over the country, this picking up of people with no record, criminal records.

And, honestly, it's horrible what we have seen in my 45 years have been living in the United States.

BLITZER: Hector, I want to share some new numbers from President Trump's first 100 days of his second term.

ICE says it has arrested more than 56,000 undocumented immigrants -- 65,000 undocumented -- 66,500 undocumented immigrants and deported more than 65,000. How has all of this impacted your community?

ESCOBAR: Well, like I said, when they see what they have seen on the news, what they have seen in the community, not only the news -- they have seen the immigration department.

So, of course, it's going to be impacted. And, believe me, some people are already thinking about to go back to Mexico. And especially from my hometown, where the Cinco de Mayo for the French, Puebla, the governor, Alejandro Armenta, is going to open an office here in Chicago to help people who want to go back to Mexico and try to do some business or trying to put the kids back to school in Mexico.

BROWN: President Trump, as we know, has been targeting Chicago and other sanctuary cities by threatening to revoke federal funding. He's providing local law enforcement with legal services and military assets.

What do you think about that? What does that mean for your community?

ESCOBAR: Well, again, we are in the sanctuary city, and, supposedly, we're protected.

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Yes, we're protected from the state, from the city. The police department doesn't get involved. The State Police department do not get involved, but does not stop the federal government to go and grab anyone.

And, of course, we're losing money from the federal government's services which are provided for the most-needed people. And it's kind of terrible, because immigrants give almost $100 billion, $100 billion with a B, with -- it's not accounted. So it's -- that money, the federal government has that money.

And they should give that money back to the people who they are deporting back to Mexico or to any other part of the country.

BLITZER: Hector Escobar, thank you very much for joining us.

And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us as well. We will see you back here tomorrow 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

BROWN: "INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" is next after a short break.