Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Ukraine and U.S. Delegations Meeting This Weekend in Miami; Trump Ramps Up Immigration Crackdown After National Guard Shooting; Vigil Underway for National Guard Members Shot in Ambush Attack; Holiday Spending Seen as Hearty, But Inflation Anxieties Persist. Manhunt Underway for Football Coach Wanted on Child Porn Charges; Arrests Made After Protesters Block ICE Agents in NYC; Ohio State Rolls Michigan for First Win in Five Seasons; Aired: 7-8p ET

Aired November 29, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:37]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And new tonight, a senior U.S. official telling CNN Secretary of State Marco Rubio will take part in talks tomorrow with a Ukrainian delegation in an effort to end Russia's war. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are also expected to participate. Meantime, Russia overnight launching its largest aerial assault on Ukraine in more than a month. Local authorities say at least 33 people were killed, dozens more injured in those attacks. And CNN reporters in Kyiv say the city was under an air raid alert for more than 10 hours.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is traveling with the president this weekend, and she joins us now from West Palm Beach, Florida.

Kristen, we look ahead to this meeting tomorrow. What do we know?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know so far that it's just up the road in Miami. And it comes at a time that the White House has been increasingly optimistic when it comes to ending this war in Ukraine. Now, I do want to note they have been optimistic in the past, only to have things fall apart. But when you talk to various White House officials, they feel like they really are on the cusp here of getting some kind of deal.

There are still a number of sticking points, though, and while the White House will not go into detail about what they are, we have a general idea from some of our allies and U.S. officials what we're looking at. One of them being territory. We've heard from the White House in the past, President Trump has essentially told Ukrainian President Zelenskyy that he's going to have to give up land in order to have this deal. Zelenskyy has balked at that in the past.

The other one of these sticking points is likely security guarantees for Ukraine, and that's something we heard from our European partners. One thing to note, and this is just right now reading tea leaves, we're still figuring out the real answer for this. But as all this is happening, we have learned that the secretary of state after this meeting is not going to be going to a NATO meeting of foreign ministers later in the week.

Part of the reason that that's so interesting given the timing, is the fact that it's our NATO allies that have been calling for these more robust security guarantees. So unclear if that's related. We did not get any details on that, but it does give you kind of a picture of how this is all coming together.

Now, we've also heard that Steve Witkoff is going to be later going to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. We also know Dan Driscoll, the secretary of Army, is going to be meeting with Ukrainians. They clearly are doing a full court press here, again, at a time when they are feeling increasingly optimistic.

I will note, when it comes to trusted negotiators, there are really not two people that President Trump trusts more than Steve Witkoff and Marco Rubio and Jared Kushner. He specifically believes that Kushner and Witkoff helped get this deal across the finish line when it comes to the Gaza and Israel hostage deal. And so those are two people he's leaning on. He believes they can get this done.

Again, you know, we always have to pump the brakes here a little bit because we've heard all this before. But I'm telling you, from talking to these White House officials, they really do feel like they're closer now to some kind of deal than ever before. President Trump says he's not getting involved until it's done.

DEAN: All right. So we'll see. We'll see how tomorrow develops. But that is the state of play right now.

Kristen Holmes from West Palm Beach, thank you so much for that.

Meantime, President Trump doubling down on his anti-immigration policies and directing his administration to make moves to limit legal migration. Among these moves, the administration says it will now reexamine all green cards issued from people -- for people from these 19 countries.

This follows the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom has died from her injuries. U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe is now fighting for his life. The suspect in that shooting is an Afghan national who was granted asylum earlier this year. He worked with the CIA in Afghanistan previously.

We are now joined by CNN senior political analyst and opinion columnist for Bloomberg, Ron Brownstein.

Ron, good to see you. We now see Trump really digging in on this issue that helped propel him to his second term in office, immigration. And he's going to -- his administration now at his direction targeting these current green card holders. Just what are your thoughts as someone who's covered immigration for many years? This is an escalation in his immigration crackdown, let's call it. RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I'm not sure people

have fully apprehended the magnitude of the charges that Trump has unleashed in the aftermath of this, you know, unquestionably horrible event.

[19:05:09]

In his posting on Truth Social, he didn't only criticize undocumented immigrants or even refugees and asylum seekers, he described the entire foreign born population of the U.S., over 50 million people, about 15 percent of the whole population, he described them as, quote, "Most of which are on welfare, from failed nations or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs or drug cartels."

We're talking about a group, you know, we're talking about a group that is now 20 percent of all of our workers, over 33 million, about 33 million people in the workforce. And if you look at the projections from the Census, without a steady flow of immigrants, our working age population almost immediately begins to stagnate or even decline. And that's a pretty ominous prospect when we need workers to pay the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare for what's going to be a rapidly growing senior population over the next decade.

So I think you are right that this language portends a much broader attempt to roll back the number of legal immigrants in American society, akin to something he proposed in 2016. And we will see where it takes him. But it is something that could have profound effects. Not only kind of in the short term, but on the kind of stability of our economy going forward.

DEAN: And there had been some reported frustration in the White House over lagging immigration arrests that they wanted the number higher. Do you expect we'll see increased arrests?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, look, I mean, this has been the -- this has been the kind of the tension from the beginning when Stephen Miller reportedly gave ICE a 3,000 a day quota and you have seen the very aggressive militarized tactics that have taken place all over the country.

I mean, you know, I remember talking a few weeks ago to an Hispanic activist who described these as trauma videos that are now inescapable for anyone in their social media feed if they are Hispanic. And certainly the administration, I think, you know, their instinct is to go in that direction. But look at what happened in November. Look at the reversion away from Republicans that we saw among Hispanic voters in Virginia and especially New Jersey.

The poll out this week from Pew Research Center, with his disapproval rating among Hispanics over 70 percent, including a substantial share of the Hispanics who said they voted for him in '24. I think there are a lot of Republicans who are nervous that the inroads that Trump made, the beachheads that he established in '24, are being washed away by a combination of frustration over the economy and backlash over the very aggressive enforcement. And that will be a counterforce, I think, against this push in the White House. DEAN: Yes. I also want to ask you about another Republican retirement

that we're hearing about today. Texas Republican Troy Nehls, a Trump ally, announcing he's not going to seek reelection. We obviously saw the blowup with Marjorie Taylor Greene and over the summer, Don Bacon of Nebraska. Do you expect we're going to see more of this before the midterms?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, if I was a college math professor sketching on the blackboard, I would write frustration plus apprehension equal retirement. And that's really what you've got, I think, among a lot of House Republicans. You've got frustration over the fact that Mike Johnson has so unequivocally subordinated the institution and its institutional prerogatives to Trump. I mean, he really has, you know, kept them out of session for weeks at a time. And they feel that they, you know, that their independence and their prerogative has basically been squashed.

And at the same time, you have apprehension. I mean, after those election results in New Jersey and Virginia, the decline in Trump's approval rating down to the lowest, second lowest point that Gallup has ever had him had in his two terms. Only 25 percent among independents. There are Republicans who are nervous about what the 2026 election may look like. So, you know, that combination of frustration and apprehension tends to produce retirements, and it would not be surprising if we see more of them, you know, coming in the weeks ahead.

DEAN: Yes, and it is interesting to see that in concert with, you know, just earlier this week, Trump, our reporting had indicated that Trump wanted to release some sort of a plan around these health care subsidies and even more broadly. And then that got postponed. And, you know, there were a lot of questions about why. And the pushback that the White House was getting from the Hill in a way that we really haven't seen them push back much on the president over the years. But we are seeing a little bit more now.

BROWNSTEIN: And this was on the right. This was pushback from the right. I mean, this is kind of similar to what we've seen through the really the whole presidency. One of Trump's insights going all the way back to 2016 was as the Republican coalition has -- as he has tilted the Republican coalition more toward non-college, economically modest, economically strained voters, and a lot of older voters that there's less of a constituency than Republicans thought among their own voters for cutting back entitlement programs.

[19:10:17]

And, you know, if he had his druthers, I'm not sure he would do very much of that at all. But under pressure from the conservatives in the House caucus, they approved this summer the biggest cuts in Medicaid ever. And now those same conservatives are rebelling against any effort to extend the subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. And as a result up to four million or five million people could lose coverage at the end of this year and another 20 million could see their premiums explode. And, you know, you have Republicans in more competitive seats who are

saying, look, we've got to do something. You can't leave us hanging out to dry with these kinds of premium increases and the right who tend to be in safer seats are saying ideologically they don't want to do anything to extend the life of Obamacare.

Trump is mostly siding with them in terms of delaying this plan. But clearly people around him recognize the political peril here. So this is a kind of a standoff, you know, that could go on for a while. I suspect they're going to find some way to extend at least some of the subsidies because health care is a real Achille's heel for Republicans at a time when the failure to get the cost of living under control is probably the principal reasons Trump's approval rating has dropped so much since he returned to office.

DEAN: All right. Ron Brownstein, good to have you. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: Still to come, a community mourning after the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members. We're going to -- this is a live look at the vigil taking place right now. West Virginia's governor speaking. CNN is talking with family and friends as they cope with this tragedy.

Plus, a major winter storm threatens travel plans for millions of Americans who are headed back home this holiday weekend. We'll have a look ahead at your forecast.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:40]

DEAN: Happening right now people in West Virginia coming together to pay tribute to two National Guard members shot in a targeted attack. The governor speaking there. You're looking live at Webster Springs, West Virginia, where people have gathered to honor 20-year-old Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe.

And Wolfe is currently in critical condition. Backstrom died Thursday from her injuries, and she is being remembered tonight as a very loving person.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At Webster County High School, Sarah was the kindest student teachers hoped for. She carried herself with a quiet strength, a contagious smile and a positive energy that lifted people around her. She was sweet, caring and always willing to help others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: A true tragedy to lose her. This is one of several events taking place following the attacks.

To honor these two Guard members, CNN's Gabe Cohen traveled to West Virginia to the hometowns of both of these soldiers to learn more about them and how their friends and family and their community are coping with this terrible tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What's it like being back here?

ADAM CARR, FORMER BOYFRIEND OF U.S. ARMY SPECIALIST SARAH BECKSTROM: I didn't come here much without her, so I was always here with her. So it's just that missing piece.

COHEN: This is a place that Sarah Backstrom loved. Salmon Run near Summersville, West Virginia, where she lived. She'd come here to swim and to fish. It was her happy place.

(Voice-over): Adam Carr tells me he dated Sarah Beckstrom for nearly six years. They split just a month ago.

CARR: I kind of just can't wrap my head around it at all seeing her picture everywhere, just hearing the whole -- that she's gone, kind of unbelievable.

COHEN (voice-over): The 20-year-old U.S. Army specialist, one of two National Guard members ambushed Wednesday. She joined the Guard back in 2023 and had been deployed in D.C. since August.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:: Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, outstanding in every way.

COHEN (voice-over): Her father writing on Facebook, "My baby girl has passed to glory. This has been a horrible tragedy."

Tell me about her.

CARR: She was super kindhearted, super sweet, one of the best people around that you could meet. She'd do anything for you and didn't even have to know you.

COHEN (voice-over): Carr says Beckstrom eventually wanted to work for the FBI.

How did she feel about being deployed to D.C.?

CARR: Hated it. Absolutely hated it. She was crying before she left. She dreaded it. She did not want to go. The more she was there, the more she warmed up to it and she actually volunteered for a longer time. She definitely knows she was making a difference for the right cause and she's one of the biggest hearted people out there and I'm glad most of our time was together.

COHEN (voice-over): Beckstrom grew up in Webster Springs, West Virginia, and worked here at the Custard Stand in high school.

ALYSSA CLAYTON, WEBSTER SPRINGS RESIDENT: I think she'll be remembered as the hero.

COHEN (voice-over): Alyssa Clayton's parents own this restaurant.

CLAYTON: It's just hard because it's hard to lose somebody from here that wanted to leave this community and be successful and do something for our country and for our community.

COHEN (voice-over): This small town held a vigil Thursday night.

Across the state, another community is reeling as 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe remains in the hospital.

[19:20:02]

His father telling me Thursday, "Just pray for my son. He's a fighter." A Guardsman since 2019, Wolfe is part of the 167th Airlift Wing near his hometown of Martinsburg, West Virginia.

MICHAEL LANGONE, SGT. ANDREW WOLFE'S NEIGHBOR: Just really good guy. We always looked out for each other. Best neighbor you could ask for, really. I just hope that the right thing happens for him and he comes back.

TINA GESFORD, SGT. ANDREW WOLFE'S NEIGHBOR: God bless his family and all of them. So hope everything turns out good.

COHEN: And this weekend there are more vigils planned here in Webster Springs for Sarah Beckstrom. And I can tell you, having spent so much time in these communities across West Virginia over the past few days, there are still so many people dealing with shock and grief trying to process this tragedy.

Gabe Cohen, CNN, Webster Springs, West Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: All right, Gabe. Thank you for that.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:25:12]

DEAN: A storm system is leading to dangerous travel conditions for many people trying to get home after Thanksgiving. We're seeing cars and trucks sliding in snow. This is Interstate 80 near Des Moines, Iowa. That's what it looked like a short time ago. More than 50 million people are under winter weather alerts all across the northern part of the country.

Meteorologist Chris Warren is keeping tabs on it all.

Chris, what are you seeing right now?

CHRIS WARREN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Jessica, seeing some improvements in the Chicago area for flights. Now, the flights leaving O'Hare are experiencing fewer delays, about a half an hour delays. However, still big time delays if you have a flight going into Chicago. Midway is also seeing some improvements.

But that snow still coming down. It is coming down in a big way today in Des Moines. Eight inches so far, making it the third snowiest November day on record. So as far as the November days go, this is the third snowiest, the fifth snowiest November day on record for St. Louis. Almost six and a half inches of snow.

Here are some of the other big time totals we've seen. More than a foot of snow in parts of Illinois, Iowa, and also getting close to it and some other spots here with double digits in many locations. This is the wintry scene now here in Chicago with some people out for a walk on this evening. Generally light snow. Getting a bit of a break right now. 29 degrees, but winter storm warnings still in effect.

That's the pink colors here for a lot of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, where it's going to be snowing for a long time. And you can see all this blue. This is all snow. The darker blue, the heavier snow, and there's pockets of a break and you're just finishing off your break there in Chicago with more snow moving in. And that should be the last significant band for the evening. And then just kind of hit and miss showers into the overnight.

Showers and thunderstorms here in parts of east Texas and around the Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston area. But back to the snow, expecting to see in pockets still around eight inches to even about a foot of snow. Additional snow in the Chicago area, maybe a couple to a few inches. Here's the timing for that. How that's going to come down. This is this evening at 10:00 Eastern Time. We'll put it in motion.

You can kind of see that back edge right here. You might get another little encore push on the back of the storm. But there is the edge right there of the snow. A little bit of a rain-snow mix in some spots, but generally, as this low moves up into Canada and scoots along the border, it will start to wind down in a big way.

Now, as far as the showers and thunderstorms in Texas goes, here's Dallas down to Houston. Showers and thunderstorms are firing right now, and this evening it is possible that these storms could have damaging winds. There could also be some large hail and an isolated tornado.

Now, the other factor we're going to be watching through the rest of this evening and into tomorrow is the wind. And the wind itself can lead to some delays at the airports in addition to more snow and once again, Jessica, another system will be working across the country early next week.

DEAN: All right. Chris Warren with the very latest. Thanks so much for that.

And 'tis the season for holiday shopping. Americans say they're nervous about the economy, particularly about higher prices and a weak job market. But many retail experts are forecasting hearty sales growth. Mastercard pegs the spending growth at about 3.6 percent for the year.

Joining us now, Hitha Herzog, retail and consumer spending expert at her own firm, H Squared.

Hitha, great to have you. Thanks for being here with us. So what do you think so far about what we're seeing for this holiday shopping season?

HITHA HERZOG, RETAIL ANALYST: Yes, you hit the nail on the head. This is going to be one of those major holiday shopping seasons. I'm going to break it down for you. As of now, we're looking at Black Friday numbers of almost $12 billion. That's up 9.1 percent. This is from Adobe Analytics. And also the spending online and in-store was up about 4 percent.

Now I was tracking some of the real time statistics coming out of the Afterpay, the Afterpay Cash App ecosystem. This is run by Block, and per neighborhood. So New York was doing about 54 million, Miami 20 million, Los Angeles was 20 million, and Chicago was 24 million. And it also broke it down in neighborhoods. My little neighborhood here in the Upper West Side did almost $1 million for Black Friday.

Food and beverage, up 5.8 percent, which kind of shows that people aren't just spending on clothing and objects. They're also going out to eat and, you know, buying those gift cards. And also apparel retail was up 4 percent, according to this Afterpay block ecosystem. So it's pretty interesting that spending is really there. People are certainly going out in droves, but we can't ignore the fact that this economy is bifurcated, that K-shaped economy that larger spender, that one, that the high earner is the one that's really kind of spending and putting that on the credit card or the lower income earner are taking more specific steps to spend. They're being a little bit more careful.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: And so is that how you explain kind of this dichotomy between all of these polls we get back where people say they are really nervous, they're really pessimistic about the economy, and then these spending numbers that we are seeing that you're just listing.

HERZOG: Absolutely. So, I was looking at -- and I know I am throwing a lot of statistics at you, but I was looking at a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, right? It said that a lot of the consumer spending is being driven by higher income earners putting things on their credit card. They are really price agnostic, I've been saying this a lot, but it doesn't matter if the price of strawberries go up or price of a handbag goes up, it doesn't matter to them.

Meanwhile, the lower income spenders, they are the ones that are price sensitive. So when we see that spending, that drive in spending, it is from that upper part of the K, that higher income earner that's putting it on the credit card, and then they are paying off that credit card each month.

The lower income spender that is putting it on credit cards, they are the ones that have to be careful because if they are not paying that off every single month, those interest rates are going to bite them. DEAN: Yes. And then what about inflation? How is that factoring into

any -- to any of this?

HERZOG: Well again, looking at the K-shaped economy, right? The higher income earners are not really that sensitive to inflation, but the lower income earner is. Absolutely, and then we were talking about the credit card. It all kind of comes around. Right?

So if the lower income earner is putting things on credit cards because they want to have a Merry Christmas, right, we are a society that likes to shop and likes to celebrate, if they are not paying that off every month, and if those inflation rates either stay the same or potentially rise, that's what is really going to hurt them in the long run.

And that's where it starts to get a little iffy for them.

DEAN: Yes, and so for people out there who are preparing to shop, are there any trends, anything they should be aware of, like good notes as they are shopping for the holiday season?

HERZOG: Well, there is a way to go ahead and track your prices. So, you know, everyone wants to get a discount. But there is a thing called price dynamics, right? So when -- that means basically promotions change, prices change, but one way as a consumer that they can fight back or we can fight back is getting a plug in into your browser.

There are little plug ins, hilarious names, but one is called CamelCamelCamel. The other one is called PayPal Honey and the other one is called Keepa, and they can go ahead and track the prices and offer coupons so that if there is a specific price you want to pay on a product, it can tell you well, the price is dropping or its increasing, or buy now or wait a bit. So that's one way.

And of course, agentic A.I., people really leaning hard on agentic A.I. Amazon has Rufus. That's helping people keep more organized. And I think between those two, you can keep organized and also keep on top of the pricing.

DEAN: Some good tips.

All right, Hitha Herzog, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

HERZOG: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: Sure. Thanks.

Coming up, a manhunt underway in Virginia as police search for a high school football coach wanted on child pornography charges. What his family says he took with him before he disappeared. That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:38:02] DEAN: Happening now, police in Virginia are searching for a missing

football coach wanted on child pornography charges. An attorney for Travis Turner's family tells CNN he disappeared into the woods more than a week ago. He faces charges for child pornography possession and using a computer to solicit a minor.

CNN correspondent, Rafael Romo joins us now with the latest on this search. So what happens now, Rafael?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, no word yet where he might be. The family says that he was last seen about a week-and-a- half ago, and they don't really know where he is tonight, and as the search for Coach Travis Turner continues, the high school football team he coaches played a second game without him this afternoon.

It was a regional championship game that started at 2:00 P.M. Eastern Time, after the Union High School Bears won a playoff game last Saturday, also without their coach.

Days into their search, Virginia State Police announced on Tuesday that 46-year-old Travis Turner is wanted on five counts of possession of what its laws call child pornography, and an additional five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor.

Police also said they had obtained ten warrants relating to the charges on Monday, but did not release additional details about the allegations. In a new development, the coach's family issued a statement Friday that in part says the last known contact the family had with Travis occurred on or about Thursday, November 20th, after he left his residence to walk in the woods.

He is believed to have entered a heavily wooded and mountainous area, at which point no warrants had been issued for his arrest. An earlier statement from the family said he had a firearm with him, but the latest statement dropped that reference. We've reached out to the attorney to ask why.

Searching the area where the coach went missing is not easy. It is nestled in a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, where the rugged topography features rivers and forests, as well as elevations that vary from low valleys to high peaks.

[19:40:02]

A local woman who told CNN affiliate, CYB, she has been acquainted with Turner since high school, said the Union High School head football coach needs to come forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA BARKER, ACQUAINTANCE OF TRAVIS TURNER: I couldn't see him doing it, but if the charges they just put on him are true, then he needs to be brought to justice.

If he did do it, he needs to turn himself in for the sake of the victims and for his family. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Jessica, according to the "Bristol Herald Courier," a local newspaper, Turner was a quarterback at Appalachia High School before it consolidated with another school to form Union High in 2011. That school's team is the one he now coaches and played a regional championship game this afternoon, by the way, beating their opponent by a final score of 21 to 14.

Now, back to you.

DEAN: All right, Rafael Romo with the latest reporting on that story. Thank you so much.

Officials in Iran say they will boycott next week's World Cup draw in Washington after the U.S. denied visas to members of their delegation. Iran's Soccer Federation says the visa problems go beyond sports and have asked FIFA to step in.

The Trump administration recently banned travel from several countries, including Iran, but did promise exceptions for athletes. It is not clear if those exemptions apply to the draw. The event will take place December 5th at the Kennedy Center.

Pope Leo is on his first trip abroad since his election and made his first visit to a mosque as Pope today. He went to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

He was accompanied by local Muslim leaders. He took off his shoes as a sign of respect before entering the mosque's interior, but did not appear to pray after he was invited to, according to a Muslim leader.

Still to come tonight, a look at the real life impacts of the President's crackdown on immigration and how the impact it is having on families all across the country. Why some lawyers say ICE tactics have turned courtrooms into war zones.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:46:34]

(PROTESTERS CHANTING "ICE OUT OF NEW YORK!")

DEAN: More than a dozen protesters were arrested today after trying to block federal agents at a Manhattan garage. This is according to a law enforcement official. That video showing the demonstrators forming a barrier trying to stop federal agents.

The official said some grabbed planters from the roadway and hurled them at federal vehicles. Some officers appeared to deploy pepper spray at those protesters. The New York Immigration Coalition, criticizing law enforcements' response and calling for those who were arrested to be immediately released.

An eye opening look inside America's courthouses in the age of the Trump immigration crackdown. Across the U.S., migrants showing up for the hearings are being detained by Customs and Border officers, either before they entered the courtroom or when they come out.

Last spring, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded guidance that had previously limited immigration enforcement near courthouses.

CNN's Omar Jimenez reports on the emotional toll of these arrests.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDGE CARMEN REY CALDAS, NEW YORK: I will never forget the visuals of seeing masked, armed men walking past my courtroom as I am watching the people in front of me shake in fear from what is coming.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": The woman was forcibly slammed to the floor.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: ICE took the rare step of relieving an officer of his duties.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Every weekday in New York City, foreigners come here to 26 Federal Plaza to meet with the judges overseeing their immigration cases.

JIMENEZ (voice over): But since this past spring, they're not just seeing judges, ICE agents are there, too, detaining some men and women without explanation as they leave routine court hearings, even when their case is still ongoing.

OFFICER: Look this way.

JIMENEZ (voice over): These are civil courts, and according to an analysis of federal data, over 70 percent of people in ICE detention have no criminal convictions.

Ben Remy comes here almost every day to deliver free legal advice to whoever needs it, wherever they need it.

BEN REMY, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY, NEW YORK LEGAL ASSISTANCE GROUP: This was a first for me, giving legal advice in a bathroom, but I actually encountered them in the bathroom with a CBP agent that was asking them questions.

(BEN REMY speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: I'm an immigration lawyer, okay? You don't have to talk to the officers if you don't want to. That's your right.

JIMENEZ (voice over): An hour later, that same man is immediately detained outside the courtroom.

(BEN REMY speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: You have rights. You can give me your card if you want.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: That's my address and phone. (BEN REMY speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: I am going to walk with you so you are not alone.

JIMENEZ (voice over): In New York City, ICE made nearly half of all of its arrests outside courtrooms through July this year. The detainees are then transferred to ICE detention facilities across the country, like Sonya's (ph) husband, who was sent to a detention center in new jersey.

Sonya and her family came from Ecuador in 2023 and filed an asylum claim here in the United States. Her husband worked as a truck driver. Earlier this year, he was arrested for petty theft, but the charges were set to be dismissed and sealed.

In response to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security referenced Sonya's husbands petty theft charges without mentioning those charges were set to be dismissed, saying, "Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S."

Sonya says her children are struggling.

[19:50:05]

(SONYA speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: The boy was fine. But the day before yesterday, when we were sleeping, he couldn't sleep and he told me, mommy, I miss my dad.

It's been many days since he hasn't come back.

The girls, she always cries. She is older. She kind of understands what's going to happen.

JIMENEZ (voice over): These detentions are leaving immigrants with an impossible choice. If they skip a hearing, that's grounds for removal. But since President Donald Trump has come into office, they can still be detained even while trying to go through the legal process.

(SONYA speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: I have friends from the neighborhood who have never shown up for court, and nothing has ever happened to them. They haven't showed up to court since getting here, but I've always shown up. We were doing things the right way.

JIMENEZ: Judge Carmen Rey Caldas worked on the 12th floor of 26 Federal Plaza, ruling on asylum cases just like Sonya's and her family.

REY CALDAS: The hallway space at 26 Federal Plaza is public, and so the court really doesn't have a lot that it can do to prevent ICE from being in the hallways.

JIMENEZ (voice over): At the beginning of 2025, there were approximately 700 immigration judges across the U.S. About 150 of them have either been fired or taken in early out offer since Trump took office.

In August, Judge Rey Caldas was one of them.

REY CALDAS: Honestly, the courthouse just doesn't feel the same. I've seen attorneys, both defense and ICE shake from the screams coming in out of the hallways. It shouldn't feel like a war zone when you're going into a courtroom.

JIMENEZ (voice over): DHS told us arrests outside courtrooms are common sense and safer because people have gone through security and been screened to not have any weapons. Sonya's husband was supposed to appear in court from detention this morning.

(SONYA speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: I am worried about not having enough to take care of them.

(OMAR JIMENEZ speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: What are you thinking about?

(UNIDENTIFIED GIRL speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: That I love him very much. That I miss him a lot. And that hopefully, we will get him out of there soon, and we will be together again.

They shouldn't separate families like that, because it is ugly.

JIMENEZ (on camera): We are still waiting to see what happens with her dad. He had already been moved to Mississippi and is now in Arizona. But this is another dynamic here. These quick transfers, another detainee that we didn't show as part of this. A Venezuelan man told us he had been moved across four cities and detention centers in just 11 days.

And when we asked DHS about him, DHS said he came into the country through the Biden era CBP One app, which even they didn't describe it to us as illegal, but rather, "disastrous," and that he has been put in removal proceedings.

And we are showing you this because you might see, oh, this person got arrested by ICE, or you might see something like that play out in one of your communities, but this is the reality of what comes next.

Omar Jimenez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Omar, thank you for your reporting, and we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:57:58]

DEAN: Ohio State, Michigan. Enough said.

CNN's Patrick Snell has the highlights.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Well, Jessica, rivalry weekend is always, always a roller coaster of emotions for football fans. Anything can happen and we already saw that on Friday with number 16 Texas handing number three Texas A&M their first defeat of the season.

So the big question, would Saturday bring another upset in one of college football's biggest rivalries between Ohio State and Michigan? Simply put, no! Top ranked Buckeyes just too much for the Wolverines on a snowy, cold day in Ann Arbor. Quarterback Julian Sayin throwing three touchdown passes, including this 35 yard pass to Jeremiah Smith on fourth down in the second quarter. Sayin finishing with 233 passing yards on the day.

Ohio State winning 27 to nine, snapping their four game losing streak to their arch rivals. Buckeyes next face Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game next weekend.

Meantime, 12th ranked Miami giving the playoff selection committee much to ponder after their big win on Saturday, quarterback, Carson Beck throwing three touchdown passes for 267 yards as the hurricanes dominate Pittsburgh 38 points to seven. Miami may miss out on the ACC title game, but finished their regular season at ten and two. Will that be enough for Miami to reach the playoffs? We shall see.

Still much more football to be played this evening where things could change next weekend during the conference title games before, we will know who is in and who is out of the playoffs. The excitement mounts. The selection for that is next Sunday, by the way.

Jessica, right back to you.

DEAN: All right, Patrick Snell, thanks so much.

A rare Faberge egg goes up for auction next month in London. Experts expect it could go for a record $26 million. This is the 1913 Faberge Winter Egg, one of only 50 ever made. It is made from a block of clear quartz and has snowflakes made of diamonds and trickles of platinum down the base.

If the Winter Egg does sell for at least $26 million, it would break the record, the auction record it already set for Faberge eggs back in 2002. Thanks so much for joining me this evening.

I'm Jessica Dean.

Remember, if you're here in the U.S., you can now stream CNN wherever you want, whenever you want on the CNN app, visit cnn.com/watch for more on that.

I am going to see you right back here tomorrow night. We start at 5:00 Eastern. "Kobe: The Making of a Legend" starts right now. Have a wonderful night, everyone. We will see you right back here tomorrow.

[20:00:31]