Daughter Reunited with Mother; Government Faces Reunification Deadline. Progressive Wave in Democratic Party
HILL: This morning, new concerns the government will not be able to meet its court ordered deadline to reunite more than 2,000 migrant children with their parents this month. All of this as CNN captures an emotional reunion in Miami. The mother and daughter you see here were separated for nearly two months under President Trump's zero tolerance policy. Kaylee Hartung was at that tear-filled reunion and she joins us now with more. Kaylee, good morning.</s>KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica. When that seven-year-old girl wrapped her arm around her mother for the first time in two months, she asked that they never be separated again. We saw tears of joy and relief. There was even laughter when seven-year-old Janne asked for pizza for dinner, her favorite, her first meal back with her mother. This reunion as emotional as you could imagine it to be. But let me give you some more context to this family's story to better understand the significance of that moment you see. Buena Ventura came to this country on May 1st with her then eight- month-old son. She and her family wanted a better life outside of the gang violence that they saw in Guatemala. One week later, her husband, Pedro, and their daughter, Janne, followed. But in the time between their arrivals, the zero tolerance policy went into effect. So, suddenly, this family was divided, split up and shipped across this country. Buena was detained in Arizona, but she was released with her son. She came here to Miami, where she had family waiting for her. But her husband was sent to Georgia, her daughter to Michigan. She said there was a feeling of helplessness as they were apart. But you see the joy in that reunion just yesterday. Another Guatemalan family also reunited yesterday at LAX. This a case of a 12-year-old girl and her mother who were forcibly separated at the border more than a month ago. With all of this emotion swirling, though, Buena told us, for any other families who are searching for a better life like they were, she says, find another country. She says the laws in America now are too harsh and she says people here don't have a heart. Erica, we don't know how many other families are waiting for the moments like we see here. The last number we got from HHS was last Tuesday saying 2,047 children were in their care. But as many immigrant attorneys have told me, they don't see a clear process. They don't see how the government will be able to meet the deadline they have set for themselves to reunify these families.</s>HILL: Still so many questions. The most important one, as you pointed out here, being how will those 2,047 children be reunited. Kaylee Hartung, appreciate it. Thank you. Joining me now, CNN political analyst Eliana Johnson and Matt Viser. There is no way that we're going to get away from this topic immigration. Not that we're going to stop (ph) talking about these 2,047 children either. And yet there are not a lot of clear answers. All of this happening as we see Democrats, even more Democrats, jumping on this bandwagon, pushing to abolish ICE. Matt, the president's embracing that as well saying, go for it. This is going to be a win for Republicans in November if Democrats continue to go down this road. Does he have a point?</s>MATT VISER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: He does, a little bit, yes. I mean Democrats are sort of bringing up a new issue that in some ways diverts from a very -- a harder one for President Trump, which is the family separation and indefinite detention of family members as the Trump administration is now perusing to a new issue, which is about ICA and, you know, abolishing ICE, which has been a new litmus test for a lot of 2020 candidates. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, all recently starting to call for that. And I think it gets to be a much more complicated issue and a harder one to explain. And it also diverts because ICE is not the one currently responsible for separating the families, it's another part of the government and the customs and border control. So I do think it's a complicated issue for Democrats.</s>HILL: A complicated issue. Not all Democrats are on board, as we know. Here's Tammy Duckworth from "State of the Union" this weekend.</s>SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D), ILLINOIS: I just think that if you abolish ICE as it is as an executive agency, it reflects the policies of the White House, of the president. You abolish ICE now, you still have the same president with the same failed policies. Whatever you replace it with is just going to still reflect what this president wants to do.</s>JAKE TAPPER, "STATE OF THE UNION": So, no, you don't support abolishing ICE?</s>DUCKWORTH: I -- you know, I think there's a lot of other things we can do before we get to that point.</s>HILL: The big question, of course, Eliana, what are those other things? And can Democrats be of one accord moving into November?</s>ELIANA JOHNSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that's the key question. I think it was widely understood in the country that the president overplayed his hand here with the child separation or the zero tolerance policy, but that he did have a mandate in the election for cracking down on immigration. So the Democratic response then has been, well, let's abolish ICE to respond to the president overplaying his hand. The point I think that Tammy Duckworth was making was that the abolition of ICE is going to be understood in the country as Democrats pushing for no border enforcement. But the crisis on the southern border of young migrants and now young migrants with their parents flooding across the border I don't think will be accepted or tolerated by Americans. That's why Trump had a mandate and he bungled the execution. I don't think that the proper response, no border enforcement or no borders by Democrats is a good one or is going to be -- is going to get a lot of following from the American people.</s>HILL: As Democrats try to figure out what their message is come November and beyond, it's interesting, there was some pushback against Senator Duckworth from Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, of course, who won here in New York, representing the Bronx and Queens, who she hopes to then go on and represent in Washington. And she tweeted, with respect to the senator, strong, clear advocacy for working class Americans isn't just for the Bronx. She's talking about various policies here. Noting that states that Bernie Sanders won, of which several were then lost in the general. So what's the plan to prevent a repeat? Matt, is part of the answer here that there needs to be some young blood, there needs to be some new way of thinking and perhaps it's time for some of the old guard to step aside?</s>HILL: And, Eliana, to that point, as both parties -- at least the fringes of both parties become more and more vocal, where do moderates from either party go?</s>JOHNSON: Look, I think that's a real problem for -- that you're going to see. Republicans grappled with it in 2016. You're going to see Democrats grapple with it in 2018. But just to be frank -- and let's be serious here, you know, the Democratic calls to abolish ICE are akin to Republicans calling to abolish the Department of Education or other departments. And so, you know, "The New York Times" called for Democratic leadership to step aside. That's real. But I think that the calls to abolish ICE are, you know, absurd. And that's the problem that Democrats are faced with. They need new leadership. They don't have good solutions on the other side.</s>HILL: Eliana Johnson, Matt Viser, appreciate your insight, as always. Thank you. Family and country, not the president. It is family and country that come first. That's what we heard from President Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, breaking his silence.