Surge of Immigrant Families Crossing U.S. Border
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Let's head right to Capitol Hill for some breaking news. Senator Chuck Schumer elected Democratic leader. They're holding their Democratic leadership press conference now. Let's listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Chair -- the next chair of the Democratic campaign committee and --</s>SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), MINORITY LEADER: Stay tuned.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why</s>SCHUMER: Stay tuned.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Senator, what did you learn from the elections that is reflected in your choice?</s>SCHUMER: We needed a much sharper, bolder, stronger economic message. And we needed to let the American people understand what we all believe, that the system is not working for them and we are going to change it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: At the Supreme Court, where are you willing -- were you going to draw a line in the sand?</s>SCHUMER: Again, first we're deeply disappointed the way our colleagues treated Merrick Garland. And I'll underline that we did not change the rules for Supreme Court because we thought on something as important as this, there should be some degree of bipartisan agreement. Last question.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You talk about the merits of Feinstein moving to Judiciary, and what that means for future Supreme Court --</s>SCHUMER: Dianne Feinstein has huge respect in the caucus. She will be a superb ranking member and she's going to have a very important job. Making sure that every aspect of the president's nominee is explored and brought before the public. Thank you, everybody.</s>COSTELLO: All right. That was Senator Chuck Schumer, elected Democratic leader. All right. Even before Donald Trump was elected our 45th president the mere suggestion of his being elected and building his wall left thousands of immigrant families fleeing across our borders. The surge of immigrants crossing in the southwest so great this month, 150 more agents are now stepping up to handle the influx. CNN's Polo Sandoval in Mission, Texas, with more. Good morning.</s>POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Good morning. Consider the mounting numbers for a few seconds here. In August, about 37,000 people crossed the entire border illegally. In September, about 39,000. Last month, close to 46,000 people. Add it all up, and those figures have already exceeded what we saw during the last migrant surge about two years ago. We learned from government t officials that a bulk of some of those border crossings are happening on this stretch of the border. This right here is the Rio Grande that divides both countries. That land over there is Mexico. Many more families are expected to come today. But that lingering question, what could be behind this latest surge? Well, we came here to find out.</s>SANDOVAL (voice-over): It's the second south Texas border surge and there are hardly any empty seats on the unmarked buses that pull into McAllen Central Station. Thousands of undocumented Central American families fleeing crime and poverty are again saturating America's immigration system. They turn themselves in to authorities at the border, are processed, then released wearing an ankle monitor and the promise of returning for a court date. (</s>On camera): What is it that brings you to the United States? He says that the level of crime in his country is what brings him and his son Juan Carlos here. (</s>Voice-over): Before heading north, Carlos Cardona and his 4-year-old son made a brief stop at a shelter that opened its doors during the immigration surge of 2014. It's run by Sister Norma Pimentel.</s>SISTER NORMA PIMENTEL, HUMANITARIAN RESPITE CENTER: The violence instead of diminishing they escalated and so we have families that fear for their lives, especially of their kids.</s>SANDOVAL (on camera): Well, volunteers have been walking these families from the bus station to the shelter and back for already two years now. But what's new are the numbers that we are seeing lately. And if you hear from some of the officials here in South Texas they will also tell you that there is another reason why so many people are rushing to the</s>U.S. MAYOR JIM DARLING, MCALLEN, TEXAS: They all know about President Trump. They all know about a wall. When you talk to them, they know that.</s>SANDOVAL (voice-over): Mayor Jim Darling suspects it's no longer just violence and poverty in Central America fueling this wave.</s>DARLING: If you talk about building a fence, and we're not going to allow people in, I mean, you better get over here now before January and the swearing-in ceremony.</s>SANDOVAL: Back in the shelter, these new arrivals are weighing in. (</s>On camera): So who comes here fearing that Donald Trump plan to build a massive border wall? (</s>Voice-over): Among the crowds, we found this 17-year-old Diriam Fuentes and her father Neri. (</s>On camera): Now that you're here in the U.S., are afraid of the idea of mass deportations? (</s>Voice-over): Fuentes tells me she fears being returned to her native Honduras. On the banks of the Rio Grande more migrants emerge out of the darkness and turn themselves in to authorities. It's a seemingly endless flow of families arriving night and day.</s>PIMENTEL: There's a big fear in that community about what's going to happen. But ultimately, what we have to respond is to the fact that they are human beings.</s>SANDOVAL: Carlos Cardona and his son are starting the U.S. stretch of his journey. Like so many others who are now in their shoes, they face an uncertain future.</s>SANDOVAL: Those additional 150 border agents already working this morning, Carol. The focus of their responsibilities will be processing all of these new migrants in some of these detention centers so the local agents are right here on the border, really working on some of those apprehensions -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: All right. Polo Sandoval reporting live from Mission, Texas, this morning. Coming up in the NEWSROOM, students across the country, you see them there, they are taking a stand. These pictures taken just moments ago. These high school students walking out in protest in Rockville, Maryland. They are from Richard Montgomery High School. And said they're very concerned about undocumented immigrants. We'll talk more about this next.