Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Today: CBP Commander Leaves Minneapolis, Border Czar Arrives; Viral Arrests, Surveilling Protestors: ICE's Social Media Arsenal. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired January 27, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:16]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish, and right now on CNN THIS MORNING, political fault lines emerging as the GOP raise alarms about immigration tactics in Minnesota.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): What I think the administration could do better is -- is the tone with which they're describing this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And Greg Bovino, the architect behind the Minneapolis enforcement, is out. What this means for a city grieving the killing of two people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think Bovino leaving can only be a good development, and we'll hope for the best.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: After years of tension and tragedy, the final hostage in the Israel-Gaza crisis has been brought home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: He's the last to leave a hero of Israel. Rani is back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: All right. We're going to begin, though, in Minneapolis. That's where the Trump administration is changing who's in charge of the ongoing immigration crackdown.
So, is this a sign that the president is backing down? Today, Border Patrol Commander-at-large Greg Bovino -- he's seen here in this archived video throwing a gas canister at protesters last week. He's going to be leaving town. He's expected to take some of the 3,000 federal agents in the city along with him. The White House says border czar Tom Homan will take over the
operation. For protesters on the ground, Bovino's exit is only a first step.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good riddance. Couldn't have came sooner. And -- but I mean, it doesn't mean everything stops, right? We can't take back what happened before; that we're still living in trauma from Renee and countless other people, right?
But now we have this, that he came to our community and caused all this damage. It doesn't just go away because he leaves. And then who comes next? And what happens next?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst and national political reporter at Axios; Audrey Fahlberg, "National Review" politics reporter; and Chuck Rocha, Democratic strategist and former senior advisor to the Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns.
Alex, can I start with you? Because we got some signals from the White House. The president said he had a conversation with Governor Walz, I believe; that there's some dialog there.
But what do you think made the administration finally rethink how it was talking about the death of Alex Pretti and the ICE tactics overall?
ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, because for the first time in probably at least a decade, the politics of immigration are no longer on Trump's side. He always felt that this was his strongest issue, and every poll showed that was the case.
With the increased -- and this is not just about Alex Pretti. This is about increasingly over the -- over the course of the last year, voters have increasingly soured on the way that Trump has done immigration enforcement.
CORNISH: Right. We have some polling about this. "The New York Times:/Siena poll, how ICE is handling its job. The number I always look at: independents, 70 percent disapprove. And this was January 12th. So, this was even before the second shooting.
THOMPSON: And they know that, and they sense it. And so, Trump is now frantically -- you also have a looming government shutdown that will happen -- or at least partial government shutdown that could happen as soon as this weekend, unless they can pass some of the DHS bills. And you need Democratic votes to do that.
So, the Trump administration is now trying to do all these things via executive actions to try to placate some Democrats. But Democrats so far have said they're not going to go along with that. CORNISH: Now, it's in "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board. You
had seen other people sort of come out and say, Hey, I think this is backfiring. Is the president hearing it?
But the thing that stuck out to me was Chris Madel. He's a former candidate for Minnesota governor. I say "former," because he has just decided to drop out from the race.
And to give people some context, this is the guy who apparently was a lawyer representing the ICE agent who shot Renee Good. So, think about that. Very high-profile. And he thought he was going to then run for office. Instead, he released this statement on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS MADEL, FORMER MINNESOTA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I support the beginning of Operation Metro Surge, the idea of getting rid of the worst of the worst. And they did some of that.
But it has gone so far beyond that goal that it just got to a point where I just literally cannot support that. I can't look my daughters in the eye and say, yes, I'm doing the right thing by -- by continuing this campaign, by being a member of -- of this effort.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: There's political ramifications all across the board here, but there's also real-life ramifications.
The reason what you're seeing from the White House is because you can say a lot about Donald Trump -- and I disagree with a lot of things with Republicans and what they do -- but he is politically astute. And he understands when poll numbers start sinking around an issue that's very direct.
[06:05:11]
And this is -- to Alex's point, if you looked at those independent numbers prior to the election, they were upside-down. When you asked him if they should be deporting criminals or people that were doing bad things, 70 percent of independents would have been for that.
But to Alex's point, it's the way that they've implemented that. We're not talking about the border being closed. We're not talking about actually bad people that's been deported. We're talking about what we're seeing in the street with American citizens dying, and that's his problem.
AUDREY FAHLBERG, POLITICS REPORTER, "NATIONAL REVIEW": But I think this is also putting into stark relief the very real and long existing tensions within the administration about how this deportation strategy is taking place.
So, we have people like Noem, Corey Lewandowski, Stephen Miller, who want deportations up as much as possible for their own sake. Then, we have people like Tom Homan, who is seen by Republicans as
more of the adult in the room. You know, he's controversial among Democrats, of course.
CORNISH: We heard folks at FOX repeatedly saying, you know who you should send in? Tom Homan.
FAHLBERG: Right.
CORNISH: And then pretty shortly after, Tom Homan was going in.
FAHLBERG: Proof that the president definitely watches a lot of FOX News.
CORNISH: Yes.
FAHLBERG: But he's, you know, a proponent of more of this "worst first" kind of -- you know, focusing on illegal criminal aliens. Excuse me. Illegal aliens with a criminal background.
But I think, you know, another thing. There's a tragic, tragic, you know, fatal shooting in and of itself. And there's the administration's response to it. And Noem and Stephen Miller accusing Pretti of domestic terrorism was obviously not the right course here.
CORNISH: This --
THOMPSON: We saw this last weekend, it was the Stephen Miller- Kristi Noem response to this.
CORNISH: Yes.
THOMPSON: Because that is what they -- how they responded to every controversy over the last year. And what's so striking is that this is the administration overruling, in some ways, Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, which they have not done so far this term.
CORNISH: And I think there was a meeting with Noem and -- and Trump at the White House.
THOMPSON: And Lewandowski.
CORNISH: But not Miller?
THOMPSON: On my understanding, I'm not sure.
CORNISH: Yes.
THOMPSON: I'm sure he is somewhat involved. I don't -- I know that they -- those two were in the meeting.
CORNISH: All right. So, the question we're going to have going forward this week is what Democrats do with this moment and also how the White House, what it looks like to deescalate.
What is that actually going to be in practice? Are we going to see people withdraw from Minnesota?
You guys stay with me. We've got a lot more to talk about this hour.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, President Trump's immigration policies are raising concerns around the World Cup. The former FIFA official joining the call to boycott matches.
Plus, a major change is coming to one of America's biggest airlines. Southwest's new boarding process.
And a government shutdown threat intersecting with tensions over immigration enforcement in Minneapolis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): Put some guardrails on what's going on, some accountability. And that would solve this problem. We don't have to have a shutdown.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:12:18]
CORNISH: It's ten minutes past the hour. Here are five things to know to get your day going.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter joins the group of people calling for a boycott of World Cup matches in the U.S. The international soccer community is concerned about President Trump's travel bans and the immigration crackdown.
The U.S. is, of course, co-hosting the World Cup with Mexico and Canada this summer.
And FBI Director Kash Patel says his agency is looking into Signal group chats used in Minneapolis. Networks of ICE observers use the app, which offers end-to-end encryption, to share sightings of federal agents.
He says information shared about agents can put them, quote, "in harm's way."
And it will be days before the power is back on in Tennessee. This weekend's freezing rain toppled trees and snapped power lines. The head of Nashville's electric services says more than 100,000 customers are still without power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This will be a weeklong event, at a minimum, that were going to be working on this. But we think, if we make it through today's cold weather and the trees continue to fall; as our vegetation crews come in and clear some of that other risk, we'll start to make more progress as the days continue on. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Hundreds of crews are working in below freezing temperatures to repair the damage.
In Mississippi, winter weather has caused multiple power outages across Oxford. At Ole Miss, university officials issued a shelter in place order for students.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEAU MOORE, LAFAYETTE COUNTY EMA: I think things will accelerate over the next couple of days. Northeast will be able to add bigger chunks of power to -- to residents. But I still think it's reasonable at this point that there are still areas that could be out through most of the week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Officials say recovery could take more than a week.
And the new assigned seating policy for Southwest Airlines goes into effect today. Travelers will now either pick their seats in advance for an extra charge, or be assigned a seat at check-in.
It's a big change for the airline, which used to let passengers choose any open seat. Now the airline will board my group like everybody else.
And after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, ICE running a social media blitz. We're going to take you inside its effort to shape public perception of its often violent immigration enforcement.
Plus, a major U.S. military move in the Middle East. What the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln signals to Iran.
Good morning. A live look: New York City's residents are still digging out of this weekend's brutal winter storm.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:19:06]
CORNISH: OK. So, a source tells CNN top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino is now kind of locked out of his social media accounts, because he's known for flooding the X feeds. He calls out his critics, touts his officers' arrests, jeers his press.
In his latest spree, he even got into it with several members of the GOP.
But here's the thing: it's all part of a broader strategy by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They basically push out these hype videos on social media. This serves as a promo for their work and also a warning for migrants. "The Washington Post" to look -- took a look inside ICE's media
machine, and they wrote in part, "For years, this ICE team had run like a routine government com shop. But during President Donald Trump's second term, ICE's public affairs arm has rapidly transformed into an influencer-style media machine."
Joining me now, the reporter on this piece, Joyce Sohyun Lee. She is "The Washington Post" senior reporter for the visual forensics team.
Thanks so much for being with us.
JOYCE SOHYUN LEE, SENIOR REPORTER, VISUAL FORENSICS TEAM, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Thank you for having me.
CORNISH: So, you guys reported they do a couple of things, whether it's the music choices, to try and draw in pop stars into kind of online battles.
But also, they had a strategy to be -- to use video of their arrests. Right? And how did that play out? How did they do that?
LEE: Yes. So, when Trump -- when the second Trump term began, we spoke with several officials within the DHS who described a somewhat rapid transformation of the public affairs units within DHS, within ICE.
And within ICE, we reviewed thousands of internal chat messages that sort of revealed how -- how professional this operation had become. And so, they --
CORNISH: And it's sort of a hybrid professional, right? You've got them using influencers that they brought into the department to help shape the narrative. But is this why we are also seeing ICE officials carrying their own cell phones?
LEE: You know, I think that is difficult to say. In the past, the public affairs office, to my understanding, has historically asked agents in the field to, you know, to film what's being done before and after operations. So, filming the perp walk.
But to be filming during the operations is sort of a is something of a departure from standard protocol. And so, that could be for any number of reasons. Right?
Perhaps that is because of there's this insane -- an incredible demand for more video of these arrests to help legitimize President Trump's aggressive deportation campaign.
Or there's also, perhaps they're filming to protect themselves in the field.
And the last one of the other possibilities that's come to light recently is that DHS and ICE, there are credible reports that they are compiling a database of anti-ICE -- ICE protesters and observers.
And the White House border czar, Tom Homan, has called for this -- you know, has called for a database of ICE protesters who he says are impeding or obstructing federal immigration enforcement action.
And so, it's difficult to know, of those reasons what exactly it could be. Perhaps it could be a confluence of all three.
CORNISH: So, we're in this moment where ICE had been, for months and months, generating content. Right? Each one of these conflicts were contents for their social media feed. They were sort of fist pumping in their group chats about it.
And the Internet, in a way, sort of fought back, meaning all of these other people who are on the street being observers, put out their own content, their own video of what's going on.
Are we seeing a moment where this ICE media machine is breaking down a bit?
LEE: It's -- you know, one thing that struck us as we went about this reporting is this willingness behind the scenes to somewhat bend the rules.
You know, as you noted, using copyrighted music without permission from the rights holders; to perhaps do video edits in a certain way that portrays a narrative that supports the administration's agenda.
And I think we see that reflected even now on ICE's Social media account. If you look at what they posted in the media aftermath of the latest shooting in Minneapolis, you'll see that they were pushing -- they did not really address the death of Alex Pretti.
Instead, they spoke about and said they were tweeting about, you know, protesters who are being violent against ICE officers and -- and in particular, this graphic photo of someone they claimed -- an ICE agent they claimed had a bit of their finger bit off during a particularly violent interaction with a protester.
And so, I believe it's at this time when we're looking at sort of dual competing narratives that are playing out on social media, and something of -- the discrepancies between the two and the breakdown of that.
CORNISH: Joyce Sohyun Lee from "The Washington Post," thank you for your time
LEE: Thank you so much.
CORNISH: Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, the Republicans breaking away from President Trump. Why the aggressive immigration enforcement in Minneapolis might be creating some political pushback.
And the last known hostage now recovered from Gaza. What that means for the ceasefire deal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CORNISH: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish I want to thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING. It is half past the hour here on the East Coast. And here's what's happening right now.
The USS Lincoln aircraft carrier and other warships arrive in the Middle East. According to the Pentagon, the deployment is meant to bolster security in the region amid mass protests against Iran's government.
[06:30:00]
