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ICE to Work with IRS to Target Undocumented Immigrants; $100M Expected to Be Spent on Wisconsin State Supreme Court Race. Aired 6- 6:30a ET

Aired March 24, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: As for the test that has to be passed before you can climb Mt. Fuji. Apparently, it takes, like, six or seven hours to get up, four or five hours to get down.

[06:00:12]

So, maybe just pack (ph) a day or two to take the class.

All right. Thanks for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Rahel Solomon, live in New York. I will see you tomorrow. But in the meantime, CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: It is Monday, March 24. Here's what's happening right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, TRUMP'S BORDER CZAR: We're going to continue to arrest public safety threats and national security threats.

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CORNISH: The Trump administration may have a new tool to help mass deportations: the IRS. But are undocumented immigrants who pay taxes national security threats?

Plus, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, SPECIAL ENVOY: I'd take him at his word in this sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: U.S. negotiators believe President Putin does not want to take all of Europe. But is he just playing the White House?

Then later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The American people are fed up with the old guard. There needs to be a renewal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Kamala Harris wanted an opportunity economy, but some Democrats say a better word is "abundance." What's behind the latest movement in the party.

And later, wildfires burning out-of-control. Thousands forced to evacuate. When will conditions improve?

It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here is a live look at New Orleans. Good morning to the Big Easy, where today's Louisiana governor is heading. He's going to be coming to D.C. to meet with President Trump at the White House.

Good morning to everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me.

And I want to start with the IRS, because the agency could soon help President Trump try to fulfill his promise of mass deportations.

So, CNN has learned that the IRS is nearing an unprecedented agreement with immigration officials. The deal would allow ICE to use tax data to locate people it suspects of living in the country illegally.

Immigrants' rights groups have sued, arguing that the deal violates disclosure laws.

So, this means yet another Trump immigration policy is going to wind up before a federal judge and eventually, maybe the Supreme Court. And with three justices handpicked by President Trump, that pretty much seems to be the plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Supreme Court will get involved. This is an out-of-control judge, a -- a federal judge trying to control our entire foreign policy. And he cannot do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now to talk about all this: Stephen Collinson, CNN politics senior reporter; Jonah Goldberg, CNN political commentator and co-founder of "The Dispatch"; and Ashley Allison, CNN political commentator and former senior policy adviser in the Obama White House.

All right. I want to actually start with Trump's border czar, Tom Homan. And here's what he said this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you mean when you say, I don't care what judges think?

HOMAN: I don't care what that judges [SIC] think, as far as this case. We're going to continue to arrest public safety threats and national security threats. We're going to continue to deport them from the United States. I understand this case is in litigation through the Alien Enemies Act,

and we'll abide by the court order as litigated. But my quote was, despite what he thinks, we're going to keep targeting the worst of the -- worst of the worst.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, Jonah, I want to talk about that last part, "the worst of the worst." Usually, the -- people don't realize this, but immigrants, undocumented immigrants, even pay taxes in order to show they're not the worst of the worst. So, help me understand this policy.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. So, it's funny. Remember the whole brouhaha about Elon Musk discovering all these people were like 250 years old?

CORNISH: Right.

GOLDBERG: That was, in part, because a lot of undocumented immigrants use these -- use secret [SIC] -- Social Security numbers from deceased people as a way to sort of get through the paperwork.

So, and the irony is that they're paying in money that they'll never be able to collect.

CORNISH: Yes.

GOLDBERG: Look, the broader thing is, I think, I think Homan is not the most sophisticated spokesman when on -- that kind of stuff. But he's actually pretty effective, I think, in the big-picture things.

The problem is, they're running into is like with this IRS thing, is -- and the way they're rescinding a lot of asylum status, is they're going after more to -- They're going after more of the -- the legible undocumented immigrants, the ones that can -- the government can see, because there's paperwork on them.

And by definition, if you're sending money into the IRS, right? If you're paying your taxes, if you're showing up for immigration appointments, as these Cuban immigrants did in Florida this week, and they got they got detained while showing up to appointments, you're not getting drug gangs. You're not getting criminals and rapists.

[06:05:09]

You're getting people who are trying to play by the rules as best they can and make a living. And I think there's a lot -- that's a lot more politically fraught than they appreciate.

CORNISH: Stephen.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think what's going to end up happening, potentially, is that undocumented migrants that largely obey the law are going to stop filing tax returns, and that's going to cause not just chaos. And the government won't know where everybody is. It's going to cost billions of dollars in revenue.

And there seems to be some inconsistency between the -- the president's arguments that we're going after murderers and rapists and people who have been taken out of jails in Central America.

CORNISH: Yes. And we're going to talk about that later this hour.

COLLINSON: Right.

CORNISH: There's this kind of push into everyone who has a legal status. Legal status.

Ashley, I want to talk to you, because Senator Bernie Sanders has been holding massive rallies focused on fighting oligarchy. But he was also asked around some of these immigration ideas. Here's what he told ABC this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything that you think Trump has done right?

REP. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Yes. I mean, I think cracking down on fentanyl, making sure our borders are stronger.

Look, nobody thinks illegal immigration is appropriate. And I happen to think we need comprehensive immigration reform. But I don't think that it's appropriate for people to be coming across the border illegally.

So, we've got to work now on comprehensive immigration reform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Obviously, the Obama White House did a lot of deportations. So, help me -- help translate for me what we're seeing from this wing of the party.

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think you are going to see this across the entire Democratic Party.

Democrats want comprehensive immigration reform. The challenge is, is that Congress is incapable of getting it done for many, many reasons, but particularly because of politics.

Whether you think the timing of the killed bill before the election was -- whatever your take on it --

CORNISH: Yes.

ALLISON: -- it could have gotten done. It didn't get done. It was politics.

But I think what the Trump administration, and what Bernie Sanders was trying to get to, is that immigrants do have a place in this country. But the approach the Trump administration is taking, and that I've

said before, is that they said they want to go after criminals and the worst of the worst, because nobody wants bad people out doing bad things to anybody, particularly Americans. But that's not what they're doing. They don't.

This is an anti-immigrant administration. And so, when you go after people who pay your taxes, when you go after people who go to their -- their court cases, that's not trying to arrest the worst. That is a very clear policy determinant -- directive to folks, is that we don't want immigrants living in this country, and we'll do it by any means necessary.

And we will challenge the court and make it a conversation piece to see how far we can actually go.

CORNISH: Yes, OK. I want you guys to stick with us. We're actually going to talk about this more this hour.

But coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, is there actually a path to peace in Ukraine? Negotiations continue between the U.S. and Russia.

Plus, the road to perfection at a dead end. The game that ended it all for your office pool.

And the Easter egg roll will roll on, for a fee. And it's not just because of the price of eggs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, this was them in the wild rumpus room. Dum dum-dum, da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. Oooo!

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[06:12:48]

CORNISH: OK, as you're getting ready this morning, it is 12 minutes past the hour. I want to give you your morning roundup: some of the stories you need to get your day going.

A wildfire raging in New Jersey is forcing people to evacuate a state park. Firefighters helped get this 80 percent contained so far.

And in North Carolina, areas still recovering from Hurricane Helene are facing evacuation orders because of wildfires.

There is some rain in the forecast this morning. They're hoping that could help.

This week, second lady Usha Vance and national security adviser Mike Waltz both set to visit Greenland as President Trump repeatedly talks about taking control of the island. Greenland's prime minister calls the visit highly aggressive and

suggests the Trump administration wants to, quote, "demonstrate power over us."

23andMe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. After struggling for years to turn a profit, the genetic testing firm says it plans to sell.

And if you're wondering about your data, so is California's attorney general. He's warning customers to go to 23andMe's website and delete their genetic data immediately.

And you've got to see this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Floats it home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maryland, on the right side of a buzzer beater!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: This is a freshman for Maryland, sinking that game-winning buzzer beater against Colorado State. Basically, the coach asked in the huddle right before who thinks they can take the shot. And Derik Queen stepped up.

After this weekend, there are no perfect brackets left. The last one was taken down by Kentucky's victory over Illinois.

Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, why have the controversial Tate brothers return to Romania just weeks after that spectacle of coming to Florida.

Plus, why a state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin is drawing national attention and possibly $100 million in donations.

Good morning, Virginia Beach. It's going to get up to the mid-70s today.

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[06:19:05]

CORNISH: A hundred million dollars. That's how much money could be spent on a state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. And that would make it the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history.

On the ballot is a Trump-endorsed judge, and he's facing a judge whose campaign is actually backed by billionaire George Soros.

And there's a lot at stake here, because the outcome will actually determine the ideological control of the Wisconsin high court.

So, we're bringing in Daniel Bice. He's a columnist with "The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel." And Daniel, first, just start out with the two candidates. Who are they?

DANIEL BICE, COLUMNIST, "THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL-SENTINEL": Well, thanks for inviting me to be here.

On the one hand, you have Brad Schimel. He's a conservative and a former Republican attorney general, and he has the support of the president and Elon Musk.

Elon Musk is here in a big way in supporting him.

And then you have Susan Crawford. And she's supported by, as you said, George Soros, a number of others -- J.B. Pritzker, Reid Hoffman. A number of wealthy Democrats around the country are helping her campaign.

And right now, you said 100 million. Right now, it's about 76 million has been spent on the race. And we have another week to go before the -- before people go to the -- to the ballot box.

CORNISH: Now you'll understand why we jumped the gun to 100 million at the rate the money is pouring in.

One example, Elon Musk --

BICE: It will be spent.

CORNISH: Yes, you're going to hit it.

I want to mention this. Elon Musk's political action committee offering any Wisconsin voter 100 bucks if they sign a petition, just expressing their opposition to activist judges. One way to capture their addresses.

But can you talk about the other ways that money is showing up in this race? What does it look like for voters?

BICE: Well, Elon Musk has two different groups here. He has America PAC, which, as you might remember, played a big role in organizing voters around the country and in Wisconsin.

And they came in around February 20th and started organizing people. They had digital ads. They had all sorts of things.

And they got off to an inauspicious start. They had a digital ad with the wrong picture of Susan Crawford. They ran a picture of a professor at Harvard and not the person running for office.

But then there are TV ads. And, you know, a lot of people felt like the election was over in November, but it's not here. It's hard to get away from the TV ads. I think there's been a little over $56 million spent on TV ads here.

And so, both sides are spending a lot of money. One -- on the Republican side, it's a lot of outside groups from around the country. On the Democratic side, it's the Crawford campaign herself. There's a rule here that allows political parties to receive as much

money as they can, and to transfer as much money as they can. And Crawford is going to report this morning that she's raised $24 million in the race so far.

CORNISH: Can you talk about what's at stake? I understand it's the ideological balance, but you've also said something interesting here, which is that the election never ended in Wisconsin. So, is this money pouring in because of 2026, 2028? Like, kind of what is the impetus here?

BICE: It is 20 -- 2028. But what you have to remember is 2020, and Trump lost here by about 20,000 votes. And he had a number of grievances and concerns that he had at that time.

And he took four petitions to the state Supreme Court to try to overturn the election. And in each of those cases, the petitions were rejected by a 4-3 vote. Very, very close.

And if he could get one more vote, he feels like he could get a 4-3 majority for conservatives. So, that's really big heading into both the midterm elections and into the next election, the next general election.

CORNISH: Any sense on polling? Are voters actually that interested in this, or are they being drawn into the race just by the sheer amount of marketing and money being spent?

BICE: It's not going to be like the general election, but there will probably be about a 40 percent turnout, which is 2 million people.

But as I said, $100 million for 2 million people is just incredible.

But in terms of -- there have been a couple of polls recently that have shown that Crawford is ahead by 4 or 5 points. And here, these off-year elections tend to favor Democrats. But with all of the money being spent on the Republican side, it's hard to tell who's going to be ahead at the end.

CORNISH: Before I let you go, do you think other states will start to see this kind of spending? I mean, I know the era of sort of all politics is local is, like, kind of over. But what's your warning for everyone else?

BICE: I think it's -- I think it's primarily because we're a swing state. That's an important thing.

And then, you know, Elon Musk is trying to turn this into a referendum on Trump. And then the Crawford campaign is trying to turn this into a referendum on Musk.

I think we're just catching a situation where Musk is at a particular point where the one side can turn him into being the -- the focus of the election.

CORNISH: That's Daniel Bice of "The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel." Thank you for your time.

BICE: Sure.

CORNISH: I want to also turn to some sad news this morning, because the former Utah congresswoman and CNN contributor, Mia Love, has passed away, this following her battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer.

She was the first black woman to be elected to Congress as a Republican. She was just 49 years old.

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[06:29:09]

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LINDA MCMAHON, U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY: We want to make sure that those students do have -- that those special services and those needs which they have, which is really monitored and -- and taken care of at the state level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: That was the education secretary's response when asked whether she could guarantee that the kids with special needs would keep getting that support if the federal department is dismantled.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me. Here's what's going on, on CNN THIS MORNING.

Workers at the Department of Education will have 30 minutes to start today, pack up their cubicles, and get out. That's per the Trump administration instructions. And that's for every day this week.

Only an act of Congress can shut down the department, but the president signed an executive order last week to kick-start the process.

And the Tate brothers are back in Romania. They'd been in Florida until state authorities there launched a fresh criminal investigation into allegations of sexual exploitation of women and girls.