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U.S.-Born Children Left Behind After Working Mother Deported; Actress Jodie Sweetin Speaks Out on Kimmel Show Suspension; DOJ Nears Decision on Whether to Charge Former FBI Director James Comey. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 24, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Millions of children who are U.S. citizens live with their parents, who are undocumented. And as a result of President Trump's immigration crackdown, many undocumented immigrants have either been removed from the country or have self-deported.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Many of those parents have been forced to leave their children behind, often with no friends or family to take care of them. CNN's Kyung Lah has the story of one family, which experienced it all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: What happened to mommy?

ANGELO PEREZ, MOTHER WAS DEPORTED TO HONDURAS: ICE took him.

LAH (voice-over): For more than a month, six-year-old Febe, nine- year-old Angelo, and 14-year-old Isaac have been in Galveston, Texas, separated from the only parent they have. ICE arrested and deported their mother to Honduras. The siblings can explain they miss their mother. Why it's happened is what they don't understand.

ISAAC PEREZ, MOTHER WAS DEPORTED TO HONDURAS: Do you know what ICE is? Say immigration.

A. PEREZ: Immigration?

LAH: Do you know what that means?

Did you guys get to say goodbye?

A. PEREZ: Yes, we do.

FEBE PEREZ, MOTHER WAS DEPORTED TO HONDURAS: Yes.

I. PEREZ: Those two did.

LAH: Did mommy say something?

F. PEREZ: I love you. LAH (voice-over): Those were the last words they heard at home. Their mother's arrest was just the beginning of their goodbyes. The eldest, Isaac, is leaving. He came to the U.S. at age eight and is undocumented, now self-deporting to join their mother in Honduras.

LAH: Your brother is leaving tomorrow?

A. PEREZ: Yes.

I. PEREZ: Don't cry, don't cry. You are strong, don't cry.

LAH (voice-over): Febe and Angelo in limbo. They're different from Isaac and their mom. They were born here and are U.S. citizens.

Their mother is Kenia Perez, who raised the kids alone after her husband died during the pandemic. She fled Honduras 10 years ago and was detained at the border. She was eventually released. She had a legal U.S. work permit, no criminal record, paid taxes, never missed an ICE check-in.

What's happening to citizen children like Febe and Angelo is unfolding across the country. CNN found more than 100 U.S. citizen children, many through public GoFundMe pages, essentially orphaned in recent months because of ICE enforcement. No one is tracking these children and experts say it's just the beginning.

Estimates show nearly two million citizen children live in households where both parents are undocumented, vulnerable to ICE's new immigration enforcement. These children met their new reality on June 4th.

[15:35:00]

I. PEREZ: Like I woke up to like calls and texts on my phone. It was my mom. She was like, run -- like runaway as far as she can. I jumped out the window. I just kept running because I'm like, if I get taken too, there's not going to be a way for Angelo and Febe to like figure out what's going on.

LAH (voice-over): Without their mother, the kids were left in the care of friends like Jeff Chaney.

JEFF CHANEY, FAMILY FRIEND: This is my first time ever coming here.

LAH (voice-over): Who Kenia had asked to become a temporary legal guardian for the children one day before she was picked up by ICE.

CHANEY: If you would've told me, no, they're going to get families too, I'd say you're crazy. That's not going to happen.

LAH: But it's happening.

CHANEY: No, it's happening. It's happening now. It's shameful. It's shameful what our nation has become.

LAH (voice-over): Today, Isaac is leaving the U.S. for Honduras. We're following him on his journey.

LAH: What is it like to leave your siblings behind?

I. PEREZ: I hate it because I know my brother is going to be scared, my sister is going to be scared.

LAH: What is it like to say goodbye to them?

I. PEREZ: I was crying. I didn't want to leave them. I thought I was going to go with them to Honduras.

LAH (voice-over): Isaac is flying alone. His younger siblings were supposed to join him, but since they don't have U.S. passports yet, they can't legally fly out of the U.S.

I. PEREZ: I never thought I would leave.

LAH: Were you worried about your brother and sister too?

I. PEREZ: I never wanted to leave them behind. I wanted them to come with me but --

I. PEREZ: I'm here now.

KENIA PEREZ, DEPORTED TO HONDURAS: I love you. Thank you for coming.

I am happy but not complete.

LAH: You're not complete?

K. PEREZ: No. I need my two kids. My daughter today tell me, Mom, I need a hug. No, it's not easy.

LAH (voice-over): Kenia now lives in San Pedro Sula, a city in the northern part of Honduras. This country tops Central America in its murder rate.

LAH: This is a working-class community that is heavily controlled by gangs. The big concern about her kids coming back to this community is that the recruitment age for gangs is between 13 to 15.

LAH: Hello Kenia.

K. PEREZ: Hello. Good meet you one more time.

OK.

LAH: Yep.

K. PEREZ: Welcome for my new room. This is the bed for baby Angelo and me. Probably Isaac go for my mother.

LAH: All three of you will sleep here.

K. PEREZ: Yes. Yes. I need my kids here, my daughter, my son. Not easy. Not easy to see for the camera. No, he tell me, Mom, it's OK, it's OK. But, no, it's OK. No, it's OK.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to Kyung Lah for that very important report.

And ahead and emotional, Jimmy Kimmel returns to ABC. The late night host urging viewers to stand up to President Trump's threats. We'll discuss with sitcom star Jodie Sweetin next.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: One day after Jimmy Kimmel's big return to his late night show, Nexstar Media Group, one of two local television giants currently preempting ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live, said in a statement it is having, quote, productive discussions with executives at Disney, adding that the focus is on ensuring the program reflects and respects the diverse interests of the communities we serve.

SANCHEZ: Nexstar and Sinclair together own dozens of ABC affiliates nationwide. Both companies said they would continue to keep Kimmel's show off the airwaves for viewers across the country.

Joining us now to discuss is actress Jodie Sweetin. She played Stephanie Tanner on Full House and currently co-hosts the podcast How Rude Tanneritos! with her former Full House co-star Andrea Barber, who played Kimmy Gibler on the show.

Jodie, thank you so much for being with us. What did you think of Kimmel's monologue last night, what he said?

JODIE SWEETIN, ACTRESS, PLAYED STEPHANIE TANNER ON FULL HOUSE: You know, I thought he threaded the needle really well. I mean, it was, you know, he didn't hold back from what he said, but he said it in a way that I think everyone could hear that everyone could kind of listen to.

[15:45:00]

But you know, having grown up around comics and comedians and you know, knowing how important it is to have that sort of political satire and even thinking that his show was gone for a week was incredibly appalling.

KEILAR: Yes, he said it wasn't his intention to make light of the murder of a young man. He choked up while he said that, or to blame any specific group. The spokesperson for Turning Point USA said that wasn't enough. He called Kimmel an unrepentant liar, saying he should have said I'm sorry. What do you think hearing that?

SWEETIN: I think that it'll never be enough, right? I think that, you know, if even if Kimball did apologize, I think there would be, you know, a bar said that, well, he didn't do this or it has to be this, you know -- and I think -- what he said last night in his, in his speech about, you know, it's not about the show being important, it's about living in a country that allows a show like that to be important.

And you know, I think that's the thing that we're all terrified of losing is not The Tonight Show with Jimmy Kimmel, but the ability to have a show that maybe speaks to a different audience. You know, there's there's so many things that you can choose from. You don't have to watch it, and you know, I think that -- that's a choice, right? And we live in a country where you get to make that choice.

And you know, companies like like Sinclair and others are, you know, removing that choice from people. And I think that it, you know, it's always going to be sort of a moving target of what, you know, the left is supposed to do or not do. And you know, at the end of the day, it's kind of a nationwide gaslighting in a lot of ways. Because you know, a lot of things that are being said one way or not the other, and it be really frustrating.

And I think that Jimmy Kimmel last night, you know, he showed his humanity. He was not trying to be mean or cruel, and that was not the way that I took it. But criticizing the administration is something that we should all be able to do. That's an American right.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Kimmel said that he understood why people felt his original monologue was perhaps ill-timed or unclear or both. He also said that if the situation were reversed, there's a good chance that he may have felt the same way. Do you think that late night comedians and other Hollywood entertainers should be reflecting on whether they are potentially offending, in some cases, a large group of Americans?

SWEETIN: I think that comedy is sort of the bellwether for what comes for all of our freedom of speech, right? If you start limiting what comedians say, even if you don't agree with them, even if you find them off putting when you tell someone that they cannot say it, or that they have to tone down their speech to, you know, a particular administration happy. You know, I think that that's a really scary place to be.

You know, I -- it was enough when we lost the correspondents dinner, right? Because we, you know, being led by someone who can't take a joke. And I think jokes are the thing that sort of relieves the pressure, relieves the tension. It pokes fun at something. It lets us all sort of take a breath together. And you know, right now, I don't know that any of us are able to take a breath together. And that's really unfortunate because we. We all need to kind of stop and take a breath.

KEILAR: You were one of about 400 other celebrities who signed on to that open letter by the ACLU backing Jimmy Kimmel. Do you think I mean, what do you think it was? Was it the pressure from the artistic community? What were the factors that you think contributed to getting Kimmel back on air?

SWEETIN: You know, I think -- I think yes, it was, you know, people with known platforms and things, but I think really it came down to Americans saying this is not -- this is absolutely not both on the right and on the left. You know people that I really disagree with Candace Owens things that we don't see many things eye to eye. This was a point that I think we all said like OK, what are we doing?

And I really think that it was everyday Americans saying no with this is not the direction that we want to go in. And you know, let's see what happens from here. But I think that if we continue showing up, you know, all of us as American citizens, I think that, you know, we can put enough pressure to hopefully retain the rights that we have so, so cherished over these last 250 years.

KEILAR: Jodie Sweetin, it is great to have you on the program. Great to speak with you. Thanks for being with us.

SWEETIN: Absolutely. Thanks so much.

KEILAR: And now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour.

YouTube says it will reinstate some of the accounts it banned for repeatedly spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and the 2020 election. This came to light following the House Judiciary Committee investigating whether the Biden administration pressured big tech companies to remove some types of content.

[15:50:00]

YouTube's announcement follows similar moves in the industry to loosen restrictions.

SANCHEZ: Also, a successful rocket launch lighting up the morning sky over Kennedy Space Center, NASA, and NOAA embarking on three new missions aimed at learning more about the effects of space weather and solar wind. Each of the three spacecraft on board the SpaceX rocket successfully deployed and are now making their way to their destination about a million miles from Earth. NASA says they should get there by January to begin their missions.

And a scene you might expect out of a movie not on the streets of Seattle, a car crashing through a safety gate, jumping the gap across a partially open bridge to escape police. Police say the chase began when they tried to stop a vehicle with a license plate marked as stolen. They later found the car. They are still, though, searching for this daredevil driver.

Well, still ahead, more pushback after President Trump licked autism to Tylenol use during pregnancy. Could the announcement open the door to litigation? We'll discuss with a legal expert next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:00]

SANCHEZ: We have breaking news into CNN. Sources telling us the Department of Justice is nearing a decision on whether to charge former FBI Director James Comey with lying to Congress. KEILAR: We have former U.S. Attorney Michael Moore joining us to discuss this. Michael, your reaction to this news?

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Yes, well, I'm glad to be with you. This is not surprising. I mean, I think we've seen it sort of tweeted out and planned out that Trump was going to try to take on people that he saw as his political enemies. And we've seen how the Department of Justice treated Jim Comey's daughter in the firing recently of her position, so I think this is just another step that way.

Remember that an indictment by grand jury is sort of the lowest bar that a prosecutor can have. I mean, the stories you could indict a ham sandwich if you want to, because really, in a grand jury, you just present your side of the case. There's not a chance for that side to be challenged by defendants. So basically the prosecutor will go in and say, here's what we think. Will you all please give us an indictment. And you could see it. It's certainly not the end of the case. It's certainly not a finding that somebody's done something wrong, like a conviction would be.

SANCHEZ: I'm curious about the standard for a perjury conviction, in part because this goes back to September of 2020, in which Comey testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee, and he defended the investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia back in 2016. He also argued that the investigation was appropriate and essential, and notes that it began before that famous Steele dossier was ever produced. I imagine, just given his statements in the past, that that is probably what irks the president the most.

MOORE: That's probably it. I mean, so for a conviction on perjury, you've got to have somebody give sworn testimony that they determined to be intentionally false, right? It has to be material to what's been investigated or what's going on. So that's one way you can charge somebody with giving false statements to Congress through the perjury statute. You can charge them under a separate stature. Sometimes it's called the 1001 violation, which means that you've given a government agency or government law enforcement a false statement.

But if they go after perjury, of course, and then they'll have to talk about whether or not what he said was material and actually given under oath. At the time he was talking about when the investigation started, what evidence they used as they decided to move forward, what the origins of the dossier may have been, those types of things that I expected has been under Trump's saddle for some time. He's had a burn in his saddle about that.

KEILAR: We also have to remind viewers, you know, roughly just what happened, what was found, what wasn't. There wasn't prosecution for collusion, but there were a number of indictments, and there was a finding that Trump's associates welcomed any advantage that Russia's preference for Trump conferred upon Trump. There were --there was a lot of exposure. There were meetings, right, between with Trump associates. So there were a lot of details that were of considerable interest here. MOORE: And I think probably politically this is not going to be a good move for the Trump administration because they're going to dig this back up. Because there were a lot of -- there was a lot of information that came out and you may remember that. So Bob Mueller was doing the investigation at the time as special counsel, and he really basically says, I can't do anything because I've been told that we can't indict a president. We can't do -- my hands are tied as to how we go forward.

But it's a lengthy report and with a lot of findings about these types of contacts and positions that the people in the Trump orbit were taken at the time dealing with whether or not Russia was having some interference in the election. Whether or not there was some collusion. There were meetings of discussions about meetings, perhaps at Trump Tower. All that now gets dredged back up.

Probably not what he wants to be talking about, but at the same time, he'd probably rather be talking about Jim Comey than he would the Epstein files, which we think now there's been a new election that Congress has the votes will likely see that a move to have those files released.

KEILAR: The discharge petition.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I wonder, given that the president named Comey in his social media post, trying to urge his attorney general to move forward on an investigation like this. If there is an indictment and there is a a trial even, does Comey just hold up that that social media post and say this is my defense. This is persecution.

MOORE: I think you likely will see that I could about promise you that there'll be a cut and paste into some type of motion to dismiss that the Comey team will file if in fact they move forward. And really, you know the judges they sort of look through the political nonsense, by and large, and so it's likely to be that they'll see this for what it is, and this is just sour grapes and a continued groaning by the administration.

KEILAR: At, let's be clear, at considerable expense for Jim Comey, discomfort. I mean, just take us through what it means to have the weight of the federal government coming at you.

MOORE: You know, the government is like a big machine, and it can roll over you pretty quickly, and so even somebody in his position you may find that he has a lot of extra burdens to do just because of the government investigation.

[16:00:00]

It's likely that they'll start interviewing people that know him. They'll want to talk to him. I'm sure his lawyers will make a decision on whether or not he does that. He'll have to get a group of attorneys at some great expense to him I'm sure. Certainly it would be an expensive thing if somebody brought us in.

You know, that's part of the price he's paid for giving some service to the country at this point. And that is that he got on the wrong side of somebody who has liked to slam his hands down on the scales of justice when it doesn't suit him.

KEILAR: Michael Moore, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate it.

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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