Beto O'Rourke Announces Launch of Presidential Campaign in El Paso; President Trump Vows to Close U.S. Border with Mexico if Mexican Government Does Not Stop Illegal Immigration into U.S.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Right now, across the state of Texas, Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke is rolling out his first official day of campaign rallies.</s>BETO O'ROURKE, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am so glad to be here with you today, in my hometown, in my home state, to announce that I'm running to serve you as the next president of the United States of America.</s>WHITFIELD: At the heart of his pitch to voters -- immigration, and the crisis unfolding at the border. Meanwhile, the president is renewing his threat to close down the border next week, as Homeland Security officials say conditions are dire, and resources are strained. CNN Correspondent Leyla Santiago is in El Paso. And so, Leyla, it was a pretty good turnout there in his hometown, and his message was that of inclusion.</s>LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. He actually said that he's not going to use what he says President Trump uses, which is the effort to divide the country with rhetoric that he does not believe in. He talked a lot about the need to not let differences define us. But to your point, he really did focus a bit on immigration as one of his top issues, and that's because again where we are right now, just half a mile from the southern border. U.S. and Mexico, where they meet, talking about what has really become a big headline over the last few days, a lot of families who are now being housed under an international bridge, saying they are humans, too, and we must treat them as human beings. So immigration certainly a big part of his speech, talking about his hometown, when he was introduced by Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, she called him a son of the border and talked about the importance of coming back to El Paso to officially launch his campaign. But remember, he actually announced his bid for the presidency about two weeks ago, via video on social media, and he went straight to those early voting states, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, South Carolina. And so what we've heard today was a lot of what we heard over the last few weeks as he was engaging with voters on issues like immigration, on issues like health care, climate change is a big one, criminal justice reform. And he said, as president, he would vote for a new voting rights act. He would put one in place. So these are issues that he has spoken on before. His critics have said that he doesn't have, they need clarity on his policies. In fact I was thinking back to a gentleman I spoke with in South Carolina, who after Beto O'Rourke spoke, he said, well, I like him. He's identified the problems. Now I need him to identify the solutions.</s>PAUL: And then, as he canvasses the rest of Texas, or two other big cities in Texas, is he likely to repeat a lot of those messages or perhaps unfold what some of those solutions might be, or how he sees solutions to some of those problems?</s>SANTIAGO: Right, so after here, after he leaves El Paso, he will go to Houston, and then after Houston, he will go to the state capital of Austin. What he will be saying in those speeches, the campaign has said, will sort of mimic what we've heard him discuss earlier. He's talked about the issues that are very important to him. Let me let you listen to one of the things he said today.</s>BETO O'ROURKE, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We also know that our children and that your children and the generations that follow them are depending on us now at this moment. This is our moment of truth. The challenges before us are the greatest of our lifetimes. We must overcome these challenges, but we must first ask ourselves how this, the wealthiest, the most powerful country on the face of the planet, the most powerful country that world history has ever known, has found itself in such a perilous position.</s>SANTIAGO: That's a statement that got a lot of applause here in this crowd. Another statement that got a lot of applause, when he talked about the woman's right to choose. So he definitely knew his audience, given that he is on his home turf. Now he heads to Houston, and then Austin.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Leyla Santiago, thank you very much from El Paso, Texas. And this just in to CNN, as the president threatens to shut down the U.S. border with Mexico, next week we are learning that thousands of migrants could be released into the Texas Rio Grande Valley in the coming days. Let's check in with CNN's Natasha Chen at the southern border in front of the Hidalgo Texas point of entry. And what more can you tell us about this?</s>NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we spoke with the Brownsville city manager this morning, who has actually been observing migrants being dropped off for about the last two weeks. The city of Brownsville and nonprofit partners have already been assisting those people in, assisting those people in trying to get them tickets, bus tickets, plane tickets, to their next destination. So this has been a difficult process, and they're trying to be as helpful as possible, and they got notification, the city manager tells me, that they can expect about 5,900 more migrants being dropped off throughout the Valley in the coming days. So that's something that we are speaking to Custom and Border Protection about. Now, they also just tweeted, the agency tweeted in the last 10 minutes or so, that at least five U.S. customs and border protection facilities are well over 100 percent capacity. So there is a huge problem here. In a statement, CBP said this is not sustainable. Meanwhile, as the president threatens to shut down the border, we're talking to people, as you can see behind me, who are crossing into Mexico from Texas here, people going about to dentist appointments to see their families. Here's what a couple of them had to say about a potential border closure.</s>CARLOS FLORES, VISITS FAMILY ACROSS THE BORDER: Once every time I get a chance, so that I can go see my dad. He lives over there. He just acquired his visa, but he's only been over here for like three or four times. My kids have barely met their granddaddy. I haven't even showed him around. And having this border getting shut down, what am I going to tell my kids? You know what, your granddad can come over here no more.</s>CHRIS LEACH, LIVES IN MEXICO AND WORKS IN U.S.: Every day on the bridge, sometimes that line for people coming from Mexico to go to the States can be up to two hours long, just to give you an idea of how many people are crossing to go to work.</s>CHEN: That gentleman you just heard from is from Boston, but he lives in Mexico with his wife and comes into the U.S. daily for work. He told us he is a Trump supporter. He likes the president. But he said if the border is closed, that's going to cause a lot of frustration for his daily life, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Natasha Chen, thanks so much. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump says if Mexico does not stop all illegal immigration, he could close the border or large sections of it next week, and warns he could keep it closed for a long time.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mexico could stop it right at their southern border. It is very easy for them to stop people from coming up, and they don't choose to do it. Well, we're not going to give them hundreds of billions of dollars and tell them that they're not going to use their strong immigration laws to help the United States. So there is a very good likelihood that I will be closing the border next week. And that will be just fine with me.</s>WHITFIELD: Let's go to White House reporter Sarah Westwood in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the president is spending the weekend. So what more you can tell us about this threat and if the president is serious about following that up?</s>SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Fred, President Trump has long demanded more cooperation with Mexico when it comes to stemming the flow of undocumented immigrants over the southern border. But President Trump is for the first time attaching a deadline to that threat. It's not the first time that he has said he would close the southern border and not follow through. For example, he did so in December, called on Congress to change immigration laws, but nothing ended up happening. And in November, the president did close down one border crossing near San Diego, temporarily, and business owners in the area did report a great economic impact just from that one narrow closing. Now, we're not sure at this point whether the president is just talking about closing ports of entry or whether he is talking about a broader shutdown of shipments of goods over the U.S./Mexico border. That would obviously have a much greater economic impact. The president has offered few specifics about what he means. And he is again calling on Congress to change immigration laws, even though obviously we are just a couple of months out of a very contentious shutdown where Democrats and Republicans did talk about immigration reform, did talk about border wall funding, and nothing really got done. The president declared a national emergency and Congress has failed to override that. And the president's threats to close the southern border come as customs and border patrol are saying that there is an enormous strain on their courses because of the increased flow of undocumented immigrants over the southern border. They say that the detention centers are reaching capacity and that they are struggling to meet the demands that this increased flow has caused. Customs and border patrol says that they are on track right now in the months of March to apprehend as many undocumented immigrants for the first time any month since 2008. So they are reaching higher points, and the administration continuing to describe the situation as a crisis, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Sarah Westwood, thank you so much, from West Palm. Straight ahead, what could a potential shutdown of the southern border with Mexico really mean? And could it strain ties with one of our biggest trade partners?