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Man Rescues Child Walking on Theme Park's Monorail Tracks; Chicago Braces for Trump's Federal Immigration Crackdown; Illinois Governor Says Deploying Troops to Chicago Would Be an Invasion; Kristi Noem Says More Resources Headed to Chicago for Immigration Crackdown; Weekend Travel Expected to Break Records; 11-year-old Killed After Doorbell Prank; Pope Leo Calls for End to Pandemic of Arms; Pope Leo Meets With Prominent LGBTQ+ Catholic Advocate; Scholars Group Says Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza. Aired 2-2:30p ET
Aired September 01, 2025 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- wandering along a monorail track before a bystander comes to the rescue. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."
A very happy Labor Day to you. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Boris Sanchez in Washington, D.C. My colleague, Brianna Keilar has the day off. And today, we're keeping a close eye on Chicago where a feud with President Donald Trump is escalating. The president just a short time ago, posting new insults about the city's crime just days before a federal immigration crackdown is expected to launch.
Chicago's mayor signing an executive order over the weekend after sources revealed that armored vehicles and hundreds of federal agents could soon descend on the streets of Chicago as soon as Friday. The National Guard is also set to be a part of the potential operation. All of this happening as the president takes a victory lap on his crime approach in the nation's capitol. CNN's Whitney Wild leads us off from Chicago. So Whitney, what more are you learning?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Boris, our understanding about what this immigration enforcement is going to look like is, it's going to look a lot more like Los Angeles. And so what we've seen across the country over the last several weeks is this enforcement in Washington, D.C. and then again in Los Angeles. And our sources are saying that it's going to look more like Los Angeles because this is going to be a ramped up immigration enforcement with the National Guard there. As a peacekeeping measure at the time, when the National Guard was deployed to Los Angeles, the effort there was to make sure that law enforcement from the Feds, the federal level could do their job effectively and safely. At least that is what the White House had said.
The idea that the National Guard could come to Chicago is absolutely alarming for officials here. Governor J.B. Pritzker saying that they are absolutely not welcome. They have not asked for it. They have no information from the White House about when this is going to happen or what it's going to look like. How many assets may be deployed. They say that that lack of communication is proof that this is not a sincere effort. And instead, they call this authoritarianism. Here's more from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. J.B. PRITZKER, (D) ILLINOIS: No one in the administration, the president or anybody under him has called anyone in my administration or and me, have not called the City of Chicago or anyone else. So it's clear that, in secret, they're planning this. Well, it's an invasion with U.S. troops if they in fact do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILD: Illinois leaders know that what they can do is limited, Boris. The reality is, they can't do much to stop this federal effort ahead of time. But what they can do is control state and local assets. And so what Mayor Brandon Johnson is doing, he signed an executive order over the weekend that has some major components. The first is it reaffirms that the Chicago Police Department will not partake in any of this. The second is it directs city officials to look for legal and legislative ways to try to stop this or react to it in a formal way. And then finally, it urges federal law enforcement not to wear a mask, to wear a body camera.
And then finally, and perhaps most importantly, Boris, it demands frankly that the Trump administration just abandon this effort altogether. Although the latter two things I mentioned, his urging that federal law enforcement not wear a mask or wear a body camera, for example, unlikely that that's actually going to happen. What we expect to see is that once this actually happens, once there's an overt act, the Illinois Attorney General will file a lawsuit. That happened in California as well. We know that they're watching that case very closely, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Whitney Wild in Chicago, thank you so much. Let's go to the White House now. Kristen Holmes is standing by. Kristen, are officials saying anything more about this planned operation?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, what I'm hearing from these White House officials is they really want to differentiate between what they're doing in Chicago and what is happening in the District of Columbia. They are saying that Chicago is an immigration crackdown. This isn't just about fighting crime. But if you are looking at what President Trump is posting on Truth Social, he's posting all about those crime numbers which of course, as we know, are not related to the immigration numbers.
But there is, as Whitney said, some real reasons for doing this, for focusing on the immigration aspect instead of just the crime aspect. And that's because President Trump will have a little bit more leeway when it comes to working around those Illinois officials if he's talking about ramping up programs that were already in place. Take a listen to what this -- the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTI NOEM, (R) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Well, we've already had ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago and throughout Illinois and other states, making sure that we're upholding our laws. But we do intend to add more resources to those operations. We will continue to go after the worst of the worst across the country like President Trump has told us to do. Focusing on those that are perpetuating murder and rape and trafficking of drugs and humans across our country, knowing that every single citizen deserves to be safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[14:05:00]
HOLMES: So again, talking about ramping up ongoing efforts there instead of talking about putting in people to serve as law enforcement, which was something he was able to do in D.C. because of home rule, something that Mayor Bowser really had no way to fight against. However, states have different rules, different laws that they're able to fight back in certain ways.
Now, one thing to point out, Whitney mentioned this, that the mayor there signing an executive order saying that the Chicago Police will not work with these federal law enforcement agents. And we heard from President Trump this morning, encouraging leaders of these various states and that includes the Governor of Illinois, to work with the administration. Of course, we've also heard that there's been no communication with the administration in terms of the White House dealing with Governor Pritzker, Governor Pritzker's office, any kind of reach out there. So still a lot of questions as to how they would even work with the administration on this since it does seem as if this is happening in a silo.
SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, live for us at the White House, thank you so much. As summer draws to a close, millions of Americans are on the move in the air and on the roads. This Labor Day is shaping up to be one of the busiest holiday travel weekends on record. Today, airports across the country are expected to be packed as millions head home from their getaways. The TSA expecting more than 17 million travelers to pass through security checkpoints over the holiday weekend, a record-breaking end of the summer travel season.
CNN's Pete Muntean is live for us at Reagan Washington National Airport. Pete, I hope you've got some patience packed, some pretzels, maybe some cocktail weenies. How's it going out there?
(LAUGH)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It's going OK, Boris. The good news is the cancellations have remained relatively low today, only 50 cancellations. Just check FlightAware, in the U.S. all day today. The big news now though is that the FAA just imposed a ground stop due to low air traffic controller staffing for flights going into Newark Liberty International Airport. That is an airport plagued by problems. Things picking up a little bit here at Reagan National Airport. And you mentioned that 17.4 million number over the six-day travel period that TSA considers folks traveling during the Labor Day holiday.
Today, anticipating about 2.8 million people at checkpoints like this one nationwide. Pretty big number in the terms of the number of flights. The FAA anticipating its controllers working today will handle about 46,000 flights in total. So things really start to ramp up now as folks sort of gear back towards reality and back to work on Tuesday and likely back to school.
We're not totally out of the woods yet. The FAA says there could be more ground stops and delays put in place in places like Houston and Miami, in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando. That is a big concern. Also, the Dallas airports, Fort Worth, DFW and Dallas Love could see a ground stop as the day goes on. That is an area that has been hit by thunderstorms day after day and it's why the delay numbers for American Airlines have been relatively high the last few days.
Today, American Airlines has delayed about 13 percent of all of its flights, although yesterday, delayed about a third of all of its flights. Remember, DFW is the biggest hub for American Airlines. Want you to listen now to Aixa Diaz of AAA. So many people, given all these problems in the air, may elect to drive. And she says, now is the time that so many people are going to start heading home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AIXA DIAZ, AAA SPOKESPERSON: Monday is going to be especially busy, the holiday itself coming back. So a lot of people are going to do short road trips, couple of nights, or maybe even some staycations or day trips. That's why you have to watch the traffic because some people might be going and coming back on the same day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: AAA says, essentially now is the time to avoid being on the road between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time, depending on where you are. So if you haven't hit out the road already, you may want to wait a little bit while longer as all these folks start heading back from the beach, grandma's house, back to school tomorrow. The big, piping hot take I have here, Boris, it is --
(LAUGH)
MUNTEAN: It's a lot of folks not traveling for business here. I can kind of tell as folks are going into security. If you're not old enough to drive a car, probably not old enough to be riding one of those suitcases or using a roller board --
(LAUGH)
MUNTEAN: I've seen a lot of --
(LAUGH)
MUNTEAN: I've seen a lot of little kids kind of wily as they sort of go into the checkpoint here. This is just my opinion though. There's no rule about it. The big rule that has changed here at TSA is that you don't have to take off your shoes anymore when you go through standard security screening. That's a welcome news for so many travelers as we hit the big numbers now on this last day of the Labor Day travel rush.
SANCHEZ: And we can all be grateful for that. Pete Muntean, thank you so much, live at Reagan National.
(LAUGH)
SANCHEZ: Still to come, a ding-dong ditch prank turns deadly. What we're learning about potential charges for the person who shot and killed an 11-year-old.
[14:10:00]
Plus, Pope Leo making his first public comments on gun control. His message just days after the deadly Catholic school shooting in Minneapolis. And later, the significance of a new group accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. That and much more coming your way next.
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[14:15:00]
SANCHEZ: An 11-year-old boy was killed after police say he was shot while playing a prank, commonly known as ding-dong ditch. It happened Saturday night in Houston and witnesses say the boy and several others were ringing doorbells then running away when tragedy struck. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Houston now and joins us with the details. Ed, how did this happen?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, all of this happened Saturday night around 11 p.m. and according to Houston Police, this 11-year-old boy and a group of kids had been going through the neighborhood ding-dong ditching as, it's commonly known among kids this age -- knocking, ringing on doorbells and then running away. And that's when Houston Police say, they knocked on one person's door and that person came out. And as the group of kids was running away from the home, that the homeowner fired shots at those children, shooting the 11-year-old in the back. That 11-year-old, later died of the injuries.
A Houston Police detective says that it does not appear at this point that this was a case of self-defense, that the shooting took place away from the home. Obviously, those kinds of details play a huge factor in these kinds of shootings if a self-defense claim is going to be made at some point. But, criminal charges have not yet been filed. The shooter has not been identified and the identity of the young boy, those identities have not been made either. But neighbors in that area are clearly rattled by what happened Saturday night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE SKINNER, NEIGHBOR: I got a 10-year-old grandchild. I got some great-grandchildren. They play up and down the street and got a little old four-wheeler. They go through there and they'll make a u-turn in the driveway. So now, they are going to have to turn around somewhere else because I don't even want them turning around in that driveway if something like that happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: And Boris, as I mentioned, we still do not know what criminal charges may or may not be filed in this case. So we have not gotten any more details, except for this preliminary information from investigators who have alerted the information so far on this case. We have reached out to the address where -- the homeowner of the address where the shooting took place and have not been able to get through. But investigators, at this point, have not filed criminal charges. So we'll wait and see what -- how all of that continues to unfold throughout today and into tomorrow as well. Boris?
SANCHEZ: Ed Lavandera, thank you so much for that update. For the first time, Pope Leo is making public comments about gun violence. It follows last week's shooting at Annunciation Catholic School and church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which killed two children and injured 18 others. The world's first U.S. Pope denounced the attack during his weekly public prayer at St. Peter's Square.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE LEO XIV, SOVEREIGN OF VATICAN CITY STATE: Our prayers for the victims of the tragic shooting during a school mass in the American state of Minnesota. We include in our prayers the countless children killed and injured every day around the world. Let us plead God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Joining us now is Father Edward Beck. He's a Roman Catholic Priest and CNN Religion Contributor. Father Beck, great to see you as always. What is the significance of the Pope's words?
FATHER EDWARD BECK, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND CNN RELIGION CONTRIBUTOR: Well, again, Pope Francis, Boris, spoke out about guns and these kind of assault weapons, but this is the first time an American pope, because he's the first American pope, has spoken about this. And of course, for those of us in the United States who realize the seriousness of this issue, it's important that the Pope who is American understands it, names it directly.
I mean, he began the Angelus by talking in Italian, but when he switched to talking about the school in Minneapolis, he switched to English. So it was very clear this was an American talking about a distinctly American problem in how large the number of these mass shootings are in our country. So I just think it's really important that the leader of a worldwide Catholic church weighed in on this issue and he talked about it directly with regard to weapons.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, as you noted, Pope Leo spoke about this in -- that portion in English, saying that prayers for the victims of the tragic shooting during a school mass in the American state of Minnesota and the countless children who are killed and injured every day should be top of mind. I wonder how you think American Catholics specifically should be hearing this.
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BECK: Well, I think they should be listening to him. The bishops in this country at one time, spoke very vociferously about this issue like in the '90s. And when in 1994, we had the assault weapons ban, the bishops praised that ban. And we had that, of course, in place in this country for 10 years until 2004, when it expired. And when it expired, these mass shootings again began to rise.
So, I mean, it doesn't take a rocket science to see that there is a direct correlation between mass shootings and the access to these assault weapons. And so, I think American Catholics have to hear what the leader of the church is saying now, what Pope Francis said, what bishops have said quite strongly in the past, a few of them even this time, and take heed to it, that they have to work for legislation and encourage their legislators to work for sensible gun control.
SANCHEZ: I also wonder --
BECK: It's a life issue, Boris. You know, we speak a lot about abortion and other life issues, but this is a life issue. And some bishops put this forward. The Pope is putting it forward. And I think Catholics in general have to put it forward.
SANCHEZ: I wonder if, Father Beck, what you make of the debate over the phrase thoughts and prayers, in part because it was Vice President J.D. Vance, who is a vocal Catholic, and met with the Pope in May hand delivering a letter from President Trump, who took offense to something that was said by Jacob Frey, the Mayor of Minneapolis, who argued that thoughts and prayers were not enough. He seemed to express some offense at the idea that prayer wasn't sufficient. I wonder how you think he hears this in particular.
BECK: I understood what the mayor was saying and what he was feeling because it seems like that phrase has become equated with inaction. I never think of thoughts and prayers as inaction. I think thoughts and prayers must lead to action. I don't think we work to change something if we haven't contemplated it, if we haven't really thought about it and prayed about it and felt in compassion a solidarity with those families affected by this, by those children killed. If we don't think about it and pray about them, I don't think any change occurs.
So I think they go hand in hand. The gospel says prayer is not enough. It's prayer and action. To pray for somebody and not do anything is useless. So I wouldn't discount thoughts and prayers, but I think they have to lead them to some kind of action.
SANCHEZ: Father, I also want to ask you about Pope Leo's meeting today with Jesuit Priest and LGBTQ Advocate, James Martin. Martin on X said that he was moved to hear the same message I heard from Pope Francis on LGBTQ Catholics, which is one of openness and welcome. I found Pope Leo to be serene, joyful, and encouraging. For me, it was a deeply consoling meeting. What's your reaction?
BECK: I think it's great that once again, we have a Pope who is welcoming all in the faith community, including LGBTQ people. And I think Father Martin has done a great deal of work in this area. He knows it well. He's written about it. He met with Pope Francis a few times about this issue and the fact that Pope Leo has received him and embraced what Father Martin came to talk to him about, I think is a positive sign that the church continues to move forward as a welcoming community, as one who recognizes we are all God's children, and that there's a place for everyone within this community. And so I was encouraged actually, by what I read and what I saw today.
SANCHEZ: So Pope Leo's predecessor, obviously Pope Francis, issued a decree in 2023, formerly permitting Roman Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples. Pope Leo though hasn't publicly commented on it. Do you think he eventually will?
BECK: I don't know if he needs to, since it's already been approved by a previous Pope. The only way he would need to opine on it is if in some way he was retracting that ability to bless same-sex couples or people in same-sex relationships. So, I think that his openness and how he receives people and how he talks about this particular issue is going to say enough. I don't think he necessarily has to speak about the blessings. I think if he allows them to continue, that's comment enough.
SANCHEZ: Father Edward Beck, thank you so much for joining us and Happy Labor Day.
BECK: Thank you, Boris. Same to you.
SANCHEZ: Of course. Ahead, as Israel takes aim at occupying Gaza City, some legal scholars say its actions in the enclave meet the legal definition of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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We'll discuss the impact of the finding in just moments.
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