[Holmes:] Welcome back. Foreign-born workers in the U.S. are hitting back against U.S. president Donald Trump and his harsh stance on immigration. A Day Without Immigrants protest shut down businesses across the U.S. on Thursday. Many employees refusing to go to work or spend money. Restaurants were especially hard hit. The National Restaurant Association says almost a quarter of U.S. restaurant workers are foreign born. Lawmakers in Washington felt the pinch as well. Three dining options at the capital were closed along with eateries at the Pentagon. Even a steakhouse in the Trump International Hotel in Washington had a limited menu and reservations.
[Soares:] Well, the protests come as Mr. Trump says his new executive order on immigration will be issued next week. And he's not the only world leader promising a crackdown. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has a hard line stance against immigration and a lawmaker from his party says it plans to detain migrants while their asylum requests are processed. Human rights groups said the proposal would be illegal. Take a listen.
[Marta Pardavi, Head Of Hungarian Helsinki Committee:] Detaining every asylum seeker from the moment of arrival in Hungary until their case finally considered would be absolutely illegal. It's very clear under Hungarian law and also under human rights law that automatic detention, indefinite detention does not comply with the rule of law. It would be arbitrary detention, in fact.
[Soares:] Well, let's get more on this Hungarian ruling party's plan. I'm joined now by Zoltan Kovacs. He's the international spokesperson for the Hungarian government. Mr. Kovacs, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us here on CNN. Talk us through the plan by your government to detain all asylum seekers. Why go this far?
[Zoltan Kovacs, International Spokesperson For The Hungarian Government:] The reason is very simple. For the past years, maybe decade, asylum seekers, illegal migrants as a matter of fact, have basically misused not only the Hungarian but the European asylum system for their benefit. And that means that applying for asylum or applying for any kind of legal status is basically used to gain access to the freedom of movement within the European Union. And we believe it's completely unacceptable that illegal migrants, asylum seekers, enjoy better conditions or the rights which are only for European citizens. And also keep in mind that just lately in the couple of weeks the European Union is stepping up and introducing stricter rules for its own citizens who are in possession of visas and documents according to the agreements with the United States and other international organizations. So we are going to check, say, European citizens leaving and entering the European Union, the Schengen borders. And it's impossible that illegal migrants and asylum seekers enjoy more rights or, you know, the freedom of entering the European Union without any kind of check in.
[Soares:] OK. So what happens to asylum seekers under this plan? You know, while they wait for the application to be processed where do they stay?
[Kovacs:] Well, we have already provided for the past year, basically, the possibility to enter Hungary, therefore the European Union, legally. The so-called transit zones. So according to the plans, we've discussed in the Cabinet we are going to introduce a regime which is going to ensure that everyone who would like to enter the European Union are going to be provided shelter and everything that is required by international law. But up until there is a final verdict in that case they should remain in the transit zones and will not be able to move freely within Hungary and therefore within the European Union.
[Soares:] You said shelter. What kind of shelter? Did you say they were able to move they are able to move freely or not?
[Kovacs:] No, they will not be able to move freely because that would be against Hungarian and international law. We believe that, again, you have to be a legal migrant to be able to move, in possession of visas and documentation in a given country or in the European Union. I believe that's the case in the United States.
[Soares:] Well, I'm sure you heard just before we came to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee basically say that your plan is basically illegal and violates international law. Do they have a point here?
[Kovacs:] Well, that's not a new claim. So-called civil societies, NGOs who are interested in a completely different scenario and ideologically are against what we do and they believe that the illegal migration itself is good and should be incited, we believe that, you know, they have criticized and went against the measures we have introduced for the past year and a half including building the fence which we don't like but was necessary to stop illegal border crossings along the Hungarian-Serbian and the Hungarian-Croatia borderline. And it just turned out that building the fence, though it's not a nice thing, is completely in line with European law and international law because European law under the Schengen criteria requires member states to do everything at their disposal to stop illegal border crossings.
[Soares:] I think their point was the fact that you would detain them en masse and they wouldn't be able to move. But let me ask you this, Prime Minister Orban is well known for pretty much taking go ahead.
[Kovacs:] If I may interrupt. I mean, each and every case has always been the case is going to be considered individually. And as a matter of fact it's not Hungary who is trying to introduce something on the level of groups or en masse, it's the European Union.
[Soares:] Yes.
[Kovacs:] We believe that indeed will be completely legal actually to talk about quarters and distributions without each and every case being considered individually.
[Soares:] But let's look at the bigger picture, your prime minister, you know, takes a pretty tough position when it comes to migration. His right to defense. Yourself said it there, we have been looking at pictures of that on the border with Serbia. And then as well as the refusal to accept EUI, the silent protest. Is it fair to say that looking at your government's policies that your prime minister simply does not want any asylum seekers and refugees in Hungary?
[Kovacs:] Well, in general if you like the bigger picture we don't believe that Europe's future is dependent on Europe should be relying on migration as a source of renewal or addition to population issues. We believe governments, Hungarian governments and member state governments should be more for their own citizens actually to have more kids to be born. But that's a philosophical difference and a big difference based on principle. We believe that otherwise we believe that all member states should be doing everything at their disposal to follow the existing rules in the European Union. And again what you see at the borders of Europe, at the Hungarian border, the Mediterranean Sea, are basically against the existing European legal environment. So states
[Soares:] Yes.
[Kovacs:] They like it or not, willing or unwillingly, are violating European law today.
[Soares:] Zoltan Kovacs, thank you very much, sir, for joining us here on CNN. Michael?
[Holmes:] Isa, thanks. Well, the head of Samsung under arrest on corruption charges in connection with the scandal that brought down the South Korean president. Jay Y. Lee is accused of bribing the then president Park Geun-Hye to gain support for a merger which would have given Lee a tighter grip on Samsung, South Korea's biggest conglomerate. Paula Hancocks joining us now live from Seoul. All right, Paula, let's walk through the arrest and exactly what it is he's accused of. What's believed he has done?
[Paula Hancocks, Cnn International Correspondent:] Well, Michael, it was a couple of days ago that the prosecutors wanted to have this arrest warrant issued. They have to apply in advance then Jay Y. Lee has to come in front of a judge and make his case as to why he doesn't need to be arrested. The judge in this occasion did not agree. Last month they actually rejected the arrest warrant. But this time they said there was a new charge the prosecutors have brought against him. New evidence and they believed it was necessary that he was kept in detention whilst this investigation continues. So the charges that prosecutors have at this point are the likes of bribery, perjury, concealing criminal profits, embezzlement and hiding assets overseas. Now Samsung denies any wrongdoing. Jay Y. Lee denies any wrongdoing. There was a fairly swift response from Samsung. Their statement saying, "We'll do our best to ensure that the truth is revealed in future court proceedings." So the basic crux of it is that prosecutors allege he gave money to the government and to a confidante of President Park Geun-Hye who is at the center of this massive corruption scandal to try and gain favor. Something he denies Michael.
[Holmes:] Yes. And just quickly, we're talking about the biggest company in South Korea. How damaging might this be to Samsung and for that matter, the government?
[Hancocks:] Well, certainly from a brand point of view it is not going to help them. From the day-to-day running of the company, he is the overall head. Each different affiliate of Samsung has its own chief executive. So you're not going to expect anything to come grinding to a halt. But certainly it's very damaging for a company that only last year had that embarrassing exploding phones fiasco. So certainly it's not welcomed.
[Holmes:] All right. Paula, thanks so much. Paula Hancocks there in Seoul, South Korea. And do stay with us. We'll be back right back with more news after the break.