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Federal Law Enforcement to Begin Interviewing Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Government Custody; Trump Administration Seeking $1 Billion Settlement from UCLA; Economists Warn Tariff Rebate Checks Could Fuel Inflation. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 08, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, now to a CNN exclusive. CNN has obtained an internal notification that federal law enforcement is planning to begin interviewing unaccompanied migrant children in custody at shelters across the country. The move marks an escalation in the Trump administration's focus on migrant children who arrived unaccompanied at the southern border.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now with her exclusive reporting. So Priscilla, what more can you tell us about this government plan to interview children?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I've been talking to sources about this over the course of the week and I obtained this internal notification that went out to shelter providers. They are operated by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is a federal agency charged with the care of children. And what that notification said is essentially put them on alert that federal law enforcement will be conducting in-person interviews of these unaccompanied children.

So who exactly are we talking about here? These are kids who arrived to the U.S.-Mexico border alone, no parent, no guardian, and are placed in government shelters. Until then, they can be released to families or guardians in the United States. Sometimes, for example, a parent is already here, they're crossing the border to reunite with that parent.

In other cases, we are seeing unaccompanied minors who were living in the United States, who were with their sponsor in their home, but because of interior enforcement actions are being put back into the system.

[14:35:00]

So this is sort of the category of kids that we are talking about who are in these shelter systems who now may be subject to these interviews with federal law enforcement.

What it left unanswered, however, is how many children, who and why are they being interviewed? What it did do was refer back to a guidance released in July about ongoing criminal activities. There's been ongoing investigations by this administration to essentially look for any potential criminal activity that may involve children, be it smuggling or anything else. And it stems from the president's criticism of the way the Biden administration handled migrant children. You may have heard the president has said that there are thousands of children unaccounted for.

They have expressed skepticism over the federal program that is charged with the care of these children. And so there have been these ongoing investigations.

Now, experts and officials that I speak with, some of them say, look, there isn't a whole lot of evidence here, but it is where a lot of these efforts are stemming from.

Now, I did receive a statement from the Health and Human Services spokesperson, Andrew Nixon, who said, quote, We are committed to working with our partners to identify criminal activities that threaten unaccompanied alien children to root out both trafficking and fraud.

I also received a statement from the Department of Homeland Security saying that they are in their analysis and assessment of the unaccompanied kids who are in custody. They are pursuing more than 4,000 investigative leads, including fraud, human trafficking and other criminal activity.

Currently, 2,000 children around there are being held in these shelters. All of them may be subject to these interviews based off this notification that went out to these providers this week. We should also note that in the past, there have been processes in place in the event that there is concern about a child.

For example, if an attorney has a client who is an unaccompanied child and there is signals of potential trafficking or other sort of nefarious activity, they would get federal law enforcement involved, and oftentimes in an interview with that child would happen off campus. Because what you don't want here, according to advocates, is federal law enforcement coming into these shelters where there's a lot of children who are already a vulnerable population, who may already be traumatized, and then they are suddenly confronted with that federal law enforcement in a setting that is supposed to be safe. So without the necessary guardrails here, there is a lot of concern as to how this is going to unfold.

And those are the questions that we still have as well and have posed to the departments. For example, will they be able to have an attorney present, and how exactly will these interviews be conducted?

WHITFIELD: Right, and you're talking about a variety of ages when you talk about that many kids, which means it's not just simple questions like your age, you know, where may have been your place of origin. But these sound like very comprehensive questions that now these kids have to be able to know how to answer.

ALVAREZ: Right. WHITFIELD: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

All right, still to come, President Trump is floating the idea of tariff rebate checks. While it sounds good on paper, some economists warn it could end up costing you.

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Today, a CNN exclusive, the Trump administration seeking a $1 billion settlement from UCLA. It's the latest in a string of efforts by the White House to influence higher education and get significant concessions from universities. The Trump administration began withholding millions in funding from UCLA last week, prompting the university's chancellor to warn of devastating effects on its research mission.

We're here now with CNN senior reporter Betsy Klein, who covers the White House. Tell us about this deal they're seeking.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER AND WRITER: Well, President Trump and his team have been working with to target higher education institutions in an effort to extract major concessions, as well as enact sweeping policy changes. And we learned just last week that about half a billion dollars in federal funding for research had been frozen at UCLA. Today, sources tell me that UCLA officials had come back to the negotiating table, talking to the White House to try to get some sort of deal to restore that funding.

And the Trump administration now laying its marker in this new proposed settlement deal, seeking a $1 billion settlement. I exclusively obtained a copy of that agreement, was able to review it. Now, it is very important to note, Brianna, UCLA has not agreed to this.

But just to tick through some of the proposed provisions, UCLA will pay the federal government $1 billion, plus an additional $127 million to settle Title VII claims. There will be a resolution monitor to oversee their compliance. It requires revised policies on protests, including a ban on any overnight demonstrations.

It mandates the end of race and ethnicity based scholarships. It ensures recognition for female athletes in women's sports. And the UCLA hospital and medical school notably are expected to stop performing gender affirming care.

Now, in turn, the federal government is expected to restore that frozen federal funding. But James B. Milliken, he is the UC system president, responding to that in a statement warning it could be devastating.

He wrote just moments ago.

As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country's greatest public university system, as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians.

Of course, all of this comes as President Trump has pushed for so many policy changes at schools like Columbia and Harvard and Brown, even seeking some multimillion dollar settlements with Columbia and Brown University. And it remains engaged in a pair of lawsuits with Harvard, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, this is a public university.

[14:45:00]

So a very interesting situation here. Betsy Klein, thank you for the latest there -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brianna. President Trump's sweeping tariffs are generating plenty of revenue for the federal government. Nearly $30 billion just last month. With that extra windfall, the president has considered doing one of two things next.

Pay down our multitrillion dollar national debt or send rebate checks to the American people. While the idea of extra cash from Uncle Sam sounds good on paper, it could actually widen the deficit.

CNN senior reporter Matt Egan joins us now. Matt, economists are warning this could backfire. Why?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Fredricka, look, it's easy to see how tariff rebate checks could be very popular. I mean, who doesn't like getting money from the federal government? And a lot of people right now, they could really use that money, especially given the high cost of groceries and other essentials.

But here's the problem. Tariffs are already causing some price hikes. And economists tell CNN that if you end up giving people tariff rebate checks, then that would just intensify this inflation problem, right?

Because history shows that people tend to spend their stimulus checks when they get it from the government. And so you'd have a situation where you would be boosting demand without addressing any of the supply problems in the economy right now, like a shortage of workers or the trade war itself. It would be like handing out free tickets to an already sold out concert without adding any more seats. Probably not going to end well.

Every economist that I talk to, they told me that this is a bad or very bad idea. Stephanie Roth from Wolf Research, she told me that she thinks that this would be potentially quite dangerous.

David Kelly from JPMorgan, he said that when you're running out of workers, giving people more money is just going to cause even higher prices.

Kim Clausing from the Peterson Institute said that it just doesn't make any policy sense to collect a tax and then hand that money right back to taxpayers.

And Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former Bush economic advisor, he called this idea, quote, pandering at its lowest form.

Now, I reached out to the White House and they said that, yes, tariff rebates are being considered, but no, there's nothing imminent on that front. And they say it would be premature to talk about the potential inflationary impact.

Still, though, just last week, Senator Josh Hawley, Republican senator, he did propose a bill that calls for using tariff revenue to send checks of at least $600 per adult, making up to $75,000 a year.

And for families making up to $150,000 a year, they're saying $600 per child. So, if you have a family of four, you could be looking at a rebate of at least $2,400. And the president and Hawley are right about tax revenue. It is skyrocketing, right, $30 billion of tariff revenue in July alone. That's triple what the federal government collected in revenue just a year earlier.

Look at that chart. You can see the tariff revenue going off the chart right there. And we should remember that that revenue is being collected by tariffs that are being paid by U.S. importers, right? This is not coming from foreign countries.

And a lot of those importers end up passing along the cost to all of us as consumers. I think the bottom line here, Fredricka, is, yes, this would be very popular, but it could also backfire.

WHITFIELD: All right, Matt Egan, we'll leave it there. Thank you.

All right, still to come, crews are trying to get control of a raging wildfire in Southern California. Look at how quickly the flames grew and who's at risk.

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KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. California officials now say a fast-moving wildfire in the mountains north of Los Angeles is 25 percent contained. This is time- lapse video that gives you an idea of just the explosive growth that this fire has been igniting since yesterday. At one point, it burned an area bigger than a football field every two seconds.

Thousands of people are under evacuation orders because of this, after the fire spread to about 5,000 acres in just a matter of hours. It's one of several dangerous fires in the West that have exhibited explosive growth in recent weeks, fueled by searing heat and bone-dry conditions on the ground.

And charges have been dropped against a Georgia man accused of trying to snatch a child from his mother at a Walmart north of Atlanta. The mother accused Mahendra Patel of trying to grab her child from a motorized cart he was riding in, but he claimed he put his hands on the boy only to keep him from falling out at one point. Surveillance videos appeared to prove his defense. Patel was jailed for 45 days.

The release of the security footage sparked a petition drive calling for his release that received some 90,000 signatures.

Also, want to own your own island? Who among us does not? Well, now you can for only $4 million. The secluded Thorn Island is located three miles off the coast of West Wales in the U.K. The military fort was first built in the 1850s, later served as a hotel and a family home. A British tech entrepreneur bought the island for $670,000, if you can imagine, in 2017.

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Then it had no windows or utilities. It has since been, as you can see, completely renovated, which allows the fort to be off-grid, completely self-sufficient. The current owner is now looking for another renovation challenge.

That can be yours. You can go full Game of Thrones with your very own island there.

And the new CNN original series, "AMERICAN PRINCE, JFK JR.", follows the story and lasting legacy of John F. Kennedy Jr., from his early years that were marked, of course, by his father's assassination to his decision to create a new political magazine, George, and his iconic love story with Carolyn Bessette. Here's a preview.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You might call it a very commercial mind. He was more of a businessman. He understood numbers.

He understood marketing. He understood how to sell a product. He brought a certain discipline to the process that John perhaps lacked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In addition to the fact that political magazines wouldn't sell, the experts early on advised us of just one other key point, never go into business with a friend. Well, being right one time out of two ain't bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was the process of hashing it out. I think it was during that period when I had my first conversation with John about it. And he obviously had bought into the idea and was very excited about it.

So the two of them together created George.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Remember the remarkable life of John F. Kennedy Jr. and his lasting legacy on the new CNN original series, "AMERICAN PRINCE, JFK JR.", that premieres Saturday at 9 p.m. here on CNN.

Still to come, new details about a decision inside the Biden White House to not give President Biden a cognitive test.

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