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CNN This Morning
Trump Fires Back At Canada As Trade War Escalates; U.S. Imposes 50 Percent Tariffs On Canada After Talks Collapse; Iran President Says Country Is In A "Full Scale War"; President Trump Promises "Economic D-Day" Against Iran; Iranian Official Threatens Full Strait Of Hormuz Shutdown; Texas Judge Denies Karmelo Anthony's Request For A New Trial; Paramount And State Attorneys General In Talks Over Warner Bros. Discovery Merger Fight; Beijing Kicks Off 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games; President Trump To Drop Green Flag For Freedom 250 Grand Prix; Manhunt In Massachusetts For Wife Of Slain Police Officer; Data Center Fight Grows, GOP Group Warns Of Impact On Key Race. Trump: Americans Should Support Data Centers For Economic Reasons; Tropical Storm Moke Set To Impact Storm-Weary Hawaii; Crying Child Clings To Father During ICE Detainment; Empowering People With Disabilities Through Mobility, Hope; California Pastor Creates AI Twin To Reach More People. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired August 23, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:28]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. Here's what's new. President Trump fired back at Canada after the country imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products. We've got the latest on the escalating trade fight.
Also new this morning, Iran says it's in a full scale war as the U.S. prepares to impose new sanctions as soon as tomorrow. President Trump says they'll be the toughest in history.
In the U.S. the normally packed streets of Washington, D.C. have been turned into racetracks. The Freedom 250 Grand Prix kicked off this weekend. A preview of today's main event is ahead.
Plus, you've heard of ChatGPT, but how about PastorGPT?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every sermon I've ever preached, books, all of that are in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You obviously evolve as a human --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- and as a -- and as a preacher and a pastor. Does it evolve with you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every single day it updates. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: How one pastor is using A.I. to reach new congregants day or night. It's all coming up on CNN THIS MORNING.
August 23rd, 2026. We are moving through summer, brand new week. Good to start it with you. I'm Victor Blackwell.
We're starting with the escalating trade war between the U.S. and Canada. New this morning, President Trump claims he is targeting Canada in defense of American farmers. He posted on social media earlier this morning, Canada wants the benefits of being a state without being one. They have also charged our great farmers for many years, massive amounts of tariffs. No more.
Now this tit-for-tat between the two countries started after trade talks collapsed Friday night. President Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hit back and posed retaliatory tariffs on steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp, paper, and electronics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: The new U.S. tariffs are designed to hurt us and divide us. They are miscalculation.
I warned that America is trying to break us so they can own us, and I promise that that will never, ever happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: CNN White House correspondent Julia Benbrook has more on this now escalating fight.
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The big takeaway here is there is no deal. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, as well as top trade officials from both countries, had been in direct contact over the last week after Trump had placed a three- day delay on those tariffs. Both sides had expressed some optimism that they would be able to reach an agreement before that new deadline.
In fact, just hours before everything fell through, Trump said that talks with Canada were moving along and that the United States and Canada should be able to come to a deal. There is now, though, a 50 percent tariff on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, and Canada has vowed to match that tariff dollar for dollar starting September 8th.
Both sides are looking to place blame on the other. And both say that some changes, some disagreements at the end of these talks are really what unraveled it all. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that there were some new demands and some walk backs on other commitments by Canada. And in an interview with Fox News, he said that as of right now, there are no plans for more talks to start up. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIESON GREER, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: We don't have new talks planned with the Canadians. We're moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation. Remember, as President Trump has introduced a trade policy to reshore American production and protect American jobs, two countries have retaliated against the United States, the People's Republic of China and Canada.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BENBROOK: For his part, Carney said that there was not an agreement between the two countries because the United States failed to meet Canada's objectives and that some last minute changes put into question the reliability of any sort of a deal. All of this injects more uncertainty when it comes to the relationship between these two countries, and there's no sense right now of when the two sides could come back to the table.
Julia Benbrook, CNN, the White House.
[06:05:00]
BLACKWELL: Just in to CNN, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is now admitting -- he admits that the country is in a full scale war. Iranian state media reported this morning that the president acknowledged the country's economic difficulties as the U.S. prepares to ramp up sanctions. Tomorrow, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will hold a news conference to detail the new sanctions, the likes of which Bessent says have never been seen before.
President Trump has doubled down on the severity. He says that it will be an economic D-day for Iran. But the Iranian security chief says that he'll shut down the Strait of Hormuz again if any of the country's neighbors enter this economic war.
CNN's Sebastian Shukla is with me now from Berlin. Sebastian, what could we see from any new measures?
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN FIELD PRODUCER: Yes. Good afternoon, Victor. Well, I think that what is most interesting here is if you look at how sanctions are implemented, usually you begin with sanctions pressure. And then if you don't reach the aims or stated aims, then you end with a war.
The way that this administration has been looking at this war and fighting this war with Iran is completely on its head. We started with the fighting, and now we are at the economic pressure and the sanctions measures that, as you just mentioned, Scott Bessent will hopefully lay out tomorrow in what the president termed last week as economic D-day.
But I think that we need to look at the big picture here. Iran has been under severe economic sanctions since the late 70s, following the Islamic revolution. And through that time has managed to keep its 90 million strong population and economy afloat and even in some instances thriving. So, the questions remain as -- well, Scott Bessent has said that never before seen measures. What exactly are those measures going to be and how successful are they going to be?
As you also mentioned, we've heard now from the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who said that we are apologetic that these problems exist, as we find ourselves in a full scale economic, military, and security war.
That, to me, doesn't sound like the Iranians are going to roll over and take these sanctions particularly lightly. And I want to play to you a soundbite from the security chief in Tehran, Mohsen Rezaei, who's also been talking to Iranian state media about the Strait of Hormuz and how they will shut that down if needed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHSEN REZAEI, SECRETARY OF IRAN'S SUPREME NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL (through translator): If President Trump decides to take further action, our response, our retaliation, will be seismic.
Any country that takes part in imposing economic restrictions on us will be regarded as an enemy. Of course, we will first negotiate with them. We will hold talks and tell them to step aside and distance themselves from the United States. But if they do not act, we will strike. We will target that country's interests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHUKLA: So the Iranians are talking about economic sanctions, or at least the pressure that comes from the chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, on the rest of the world, and particularly on the United States, which is already being felt through gas and oil supplies.
Victor, this is not going to be a straightforward outcome. And I think the rest of the world is looking ahead to what exactly these sanctions measures are going to include. And, importantly, how effective they will be in bringing the Iranian people, but particularly the Iranian regime, to its knees. Right now, that seems unclear, as the strategy with this entire war has been from the White House, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Indeed, Sebastian Shukla for us there. Thanks so much.
All right. Here's some other headlines we're watching this morning. In Texas, a judge has denied a motion for a new trial for Karmelo Anthony. He's a teenager who was sentenced to 35 years for the fatal track meet stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf. Anthony's defense argued strict courtroom rules compromised the trial, but the judge upheld the guilty verdict. Anthony's lawyers say they will appeal.
Paramount and state attorneys general suing to block its merger with CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. They're heading to a meeting to potentially negotiate this week, but the path forward is not expected to be easy. California's attorney general says that any settlement requires major structural changes to the deal. Both sides are preparing for an antitrust trial scheduled for March. China's second human -- world humanoid robot games, it's new, world humanoid robot game started Saturday. The Chinese robot shattered Usain Bolt's 100-meter world record. But the track quickly devolved into chaos as the robotic contestants started slamming into barriers, they caught fire, and left on stretchers.
[06:10:12]
More than 2,000 robots are competing for teams from 16 countries to showcase their abilities. Race cars roaring into the National Mall for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. Thousands of people are expected to attend today, including President Trump. Ahead, more on the unprecedented nature of this event.
Also, police are now searching for a woman who is considered armed and dangerous after her husband, a police officer, was found dead. And ICE detains a five-year-old boy and his father on their way to soccer. Ahead, more on the incident that has some people outraged.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:15:36]
BLACKWELL: The streets around the National Mall have been turned into a racetrack this weekend. It's part of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. Qualifying races were yesterday.
IndyCar driver sped past some of America's most iconic landmarks at speeds of up to 180 miles per hour. It's part of the build up to today's main event. President Trump, who pushed to hold the race in D.C., and the first lady, are expected to take a ceremonial lap around the track in The Beast. The president will also drop the green flag from his seat to start the race.
CNN's senior enterprise reporter Isabelle Khurshudyan is with me now. All right. So, 250 -- 250-mile race commemorates the 250th birthday of the country. There are a lot of ways to celebrate. How did this make the list?
ISABELLE KHURSHUDYAN, CNN SENIOR ENTERPRISE REPORTER: Well, as you might imagine, events like this are usually planned well in advance. This one came together on a very quick timeline. Penske Corporation, which puts on several events for IndyCar, started lobbying for this last summer, and the track route originally ran around the Capitol building. Now, the problem with that was that congressional grounds would need bipartisan approval from Congress. They just didn't have the votes.
And so, the president of Penske Corp., he told us he was even ready to kind of give up on the idea entirely after failed lobbying efforts. That's when the Trump administration stepped in and said, come up with a different track route, something that still wraps around the iconic sites, but technically off congressional grounds so that they could circumvent Congress entirely. And President Trump signed an executive order seven months later. Here we are.
BLACKWELL: Here we are. So, you were at the qualifiers yesterday. What was it like? Give us a sense of the atmosphere.
KHURSHUDYAN: Yes. I think there was a fair amount of excitement for the people who were there. General admission tickets are free. It was difficult to see the track from most places, but when you're getting in for free, it's kind of hard to complain.
I will say from a racing perspective, it looked really bumpy for the drivers, and I think that goes to show the challenge of even when you're doing construction on these roads, to kind of smooth out the potholes, the manhole covers, it's difficult to turn city streets into a track that's suitable for 175 miles per hour racing past. But it was cool to stand on the National Mall and kind of hear the broom of the cars going past you in that site.
BLACKWELL: Yes, this is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for folks who were there. So, you mentioned the manhole covers being smoothed out. Streets had to be blocked, tracks built, staging set. Who's paying for all that?
KHURSHUDYAN: Yes. So very similar to the UFC fight on the White House lawn earlier this summer, where UFC ended up paying the cost, Penske Corporation and IndyCar are taking care of the bill for this one. It's a big gamble by them. It's going to cost more than $35 million.
They'll try to recover some of that cost with premium ticket sales and sponsorships. But otherwise they're just hoping that, you know, the attention from this President Trump attending, it's going to bring eyeballs and attention to the sport.
BLACKWELL: All right. Isabelle Khurshudyan, a lot of people will be watching. Thanks so much.
KHURSHUDYAN: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: So public backlash against A.I. data centers, it's growing. It's actually growing pretty fast. And some people are moving to block them all together. Up next, I'll speak to an expert on how these facilities could impact the communities they're built in.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:23:29]
BLACKWELL: Police in Massachusetts are searching for Karen Solomon. She's wanted in connection with the death of her husband, who's a police officer, who had been on the force for more than three decades. Investigators say that Kurt Solomon was killed with a sharp object happened inside the couple's home early last week.
In a twist, Karen Solomon co-founded an organization dedicated to police mental health. Search teams have deployed divers and dogs and helicopters to comb parks nearby. Authorities say she is armed and dangerous. Here's CNN's Gloria Pazmino with more.
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, let's first start with the search, which has been going on for more than four days at this point. Police in the area have deployed several resources, including marine and air units, canine units, and police officers on foot, all scouring the area looking for evidence. They have also closed down public beaches and recreational areas as they search for Karen Solomon, the woman who now appears to be at the center of this mystery.
Here's what we know about Karen Solomon. She is known in the community as a public advocate for first responder mental health. She has written books about the subject and led a nonprofit that focused on this work. But she is now facing an arrest warrant after her husband, Worcester police officer Kurt Solomon, was found dead in inside his home on Tuesday.
[06:25:00]
We have images of Karen -- doorbell camera captured Karen walking in a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops early on Tuesday morning. Police say that this is minutes after police responded to a call from the home where her husband was found dead.
We have also obtained audio dispatch of the officers responding to the home, and you can hear them arriving there describing the scene, also trying to get in contact with the person who placed the 911 call, which the officer identifies as Karen Solomon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is the caller a male or female?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE It was a female. Her voicemail on her phone says it's Karen Solomon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Visible blood inside the building, inside the bathroom in the back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAZMINO: Now, Victor, police have declined to discuss the details of that call. But in the meantime, Solomon has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Police say the 58-year-old woman is considered armed and dangerous, and they are asking the community that if they know anything, have seen anything, or if they know anything about the potential whereabouts of Karen Solomon to get in touch with their local law enforcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL SAUCIER, CHIEF, WORCESTER POLICE DEPARTMENT: We will not stop until we find her, either way, here or somewhere else. And we want to bring closure to the Solomon family.
Kurt was a hell of a guy. He was an awesome police officer and an awesome person, and he's going to be truly missed.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PAZMINO: Officer Solomon was a 31-year veteran of the force. He was also an army veteran. He was a father to two children. And police did say that he suffered a fatal injury with a sharp object. They have not released any other details about what they believe happened at the scene while this investigation is still underway, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Gloria Pazmino, thank you for that report. The battle over data centers, it's ramping up across the U.S. These massive buildings power A.I., the internet, and email use. But there are major concerns over the huge amounts of energy required to run these facilities.
Now, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is warning A.I. companies that Democrats could weaponize data centers in the key battleground state of Ohio. But as this political backlash is growing, it's interesting to note that few of these structures are actually getting built. President Trump weighed in on this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I were a community, I would want the data center. It means jobs. It means income, and it means lower taxes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Joining me now is Ben Green. He's the assistant professor of Information and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Ben, good morning to you.
Let's start with the public sentiment numbers. Let's put up these polls from Politico, January to July. It shows a notable shift in whether Americans want data centers built within three miles of their home. Support in six months, down 13 percent, 37 percent to 24 percent. Opposition up 13 percent, 28 to 41. Gallup showed a static opposition to local data centers nearby at 70 percent in May.
Now, it's not exclusively the environmental impact. So, what's driving these numbers?
BEN GREEN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF INFORMATION AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Yes. Good morning, Victor. I mean, there are so many factors here because there are just a lot of reasons to dislike data centers. So certainly there are the environmental reasons, uses up a lot of energy, a lot of water that then leads to higher electricity prices.
There's also the noise and light pollution that these facilities create. If you are in the vicinity of a data center, it is actually incredibly loud. And you have this high pitched whirring noise that is running constantly 24/7.
And then I think on top of those kind of direct elements, there's this larger feeling of being taken advantage of by these big tech companies that are coming in, working under the dead of night to, you know, get these developments organized in secret often with politicians signing non-disclosure agreements. So, there's this kind of -- also this larger sense of the political and economic corruption that is driving this.
BLACKWELL: And so as I just read those numbers, Gallup in May had the number 70 percent of people who opposed it. But we heard from the president there said that he would want these data centers in his community if he lived -- he would want it there. Is there anything that informs that disparity between what the federal government is saying and what we're seeing from the public?
GREEN: Well, you know, President Trump and the federal government has made a big push for A.I. development. And so, it makes sense that he is trying to, you know, say whatever he can to try to convince communities to accept these facilities because he thinks that A.I. development is really important for the country and wants to see rapid growth.
But, you know, many, most Americans agree, I've seen polls where over 70 percent of Americans say they would not want these facilities. And we're now seeing that across the country in local, state, federal level elections where politicians are realizing that if they are in support of data centers, that politicians, voters will be bad at them and will go the other side.
And so, you know, I think to some degree, President Trump is just trying to give a sort of PR support to this issue and try to convince some of his voters that they should be in support of data centers because that's not currently the case.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: We've also seen the polling from Politico that shows that an increasing number of Republicans are opposed to -- opposition to the data centers in their communities.
Now, so we've covered the not in my backyard element of this. How does that compare to the reliance on these data centers? For as much as we use them, we have a growing appetite for AI and for all that they process.
GREEN: Yes, I mean, so the scale of the build-out that these tech companies are planning is far beyond any kind of real demand that people have. And this is why there are concerns that the AI economy is bringing us into a bubble because there are trillions of dollars of investment in data centers, often heavily leveraged by debt, but the revenues for these companies are in the tens of billions of dollars. It's nowhere near the level that is actually needed.
And, you know, these companies, Anthropic, OpenAI, they are hemorrhaging money. They lose billions of dollars per year. They are not profitable.
So yes, people use the internet, but these data centers are driven by the desire or by the need to train and deploy AI models. You know, it is not checking your e-mail that is driving these data centers and demand for these generative AI technologies is nowhere near the level that data centers are, you know, being developed to provide.
BLACKWELL: JP Morgan reports that despite 750 billion in AI infrastructure investment, about 60 percent of data center capacity planned for completion next year hasn't even begun construction.
Is that a consequence of public opposition or something else?
GREEN: It's a mix of factors, but the public opposition has been incredibly effective and honestly far more effective than I would have expected if you'd asked me a year ago. But there have been many projects that have been blocked, spanning, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars of planned investment.
So across the country, I've been incredibly inspired to see all of these different communities of, you know, different natures, different sizes that have organized. And it's just local residents coming together and pushing back to make it clear that they don't want this facility and putting in friction. And in many cases, they've been able to get local resolutions that block a project or pass a moratorium or get the developer to back out.
And so many of these projects have been blocked just from local opposition. And that's part of why, you know, it's not just politicians that are realizing this is an issue, but the tech companies themselves realize that they're not going to be able to pursue their plans unless given this backlash because so many projects are being blocked and the issue has become really quite politically toxic.
BLACKWELL: We are certainly seeing this as increasingly becoming an issue as we head into the November election.
Ben Green, thank you for helping us understand it.
GREEN: Got it (ph).
BLACKWELL: A new tropical system is threatening more flooding and strong winds in Hawaii as the state still recovers from Hurricane Lala.
Our Allison Chinchar is here with more on this potential storm. What do we need to know?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, so unfortunately, it's going to bring even more rain to the Big Island of Hawaii, which is really the last thing they need.
Yes, they've had a break because the last system was here last weekend, but they got two to three feet of water. That doesn't just go away very quickly.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
CHINCHAR: So even adding a little bit more is going to cause problems.
This is video from the last storm. This is Tropical Storm Lala when it kind of made its way past Maui. Again, you can see all of that water just kind of flowing through these rivers, creeks, and streams, and in some cases, even streets, because all of that water had to go somewhere. Now, this is the new system we are talking about. This is Tropical Storm Moke. Now, again, it is much farther south than Lala was, so we don't anticipate quite the extreme impacts that we had with the last particular system. It's also not expected to strengthen into a hurricane. It's going to pretty much stay right at about where it is in terms of strength, but it will continue to push westward, getting close enough that it can still provide some impacts, very high surf, some gusty winds, and also very heavy rainfall.
[06:34:59]
So here's a look at the forecast. Again, you can kind of see it's going to stay well south of the islands, but a lot of those outer bands will still get close enough to bring some very heavy rain, not just today, but also as we go into Monday too, before it finally pushes much farther away on Tuesday. So in all widespread rainfall totals of three to five inches, but on the big island, not out of the question to have six, eight, or even 10 inches of rain.
Again, this is on top of the two to three feet of rain that they picked up last weekend. So again, that's going to be a big concern. There's already flood watches in effect there.
Now, this is not the only tropical basin. We are also keeping an eye on this cluster right through here, Victor, for some potential development in the Atlantic coming up this week.
BLACKWELL: All right. It's a busy time.
CHINCHAR: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Allison Chinchar, thanks.
Take a look at this video of a five-year-old boy crying as ICE officers take that boy and his father handcuffed away.
Now the boy is at a detention center in Texas instead of starting kindergarten. More on this incident is ahead.
And if you're heading out, I'm always down for the ride. You can stream my show from anywhere. Take us with you anywhere in the U.S., right from the CNN app. You can also go to CNN.com/Watch.
And good morning to Block Island in Rhode Island. Beautiful sunset, sunrise.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:41:04]
BLACKWELL: A father and his five-year-old son right now are in ICE custody. Their case is generating a lot of outrage in their community in Texas. The video of their detainment is also going viral.
CNN's Rafael Romo has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Victor, good morning.
A spokesperson for the family told CNN the father and son, who are both undocumented, said they were on the way to a soccer match in Austin, Texas when they were pulled over. In a video that has gone viral, the five-year-old boy, identified by his family as Liam Tadeo, appears to be crying as he tried to hold the hand of his handcuffed father being escorted to an unmarked vehicle.
According to family spokesperson Zaira Garcia (ph), Liam was getting ready to start kindergarten this week in Austin. She also said that both the father, Victor Martinez Nieto, and his son are undocumented immigrants from Mexico and remain in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.
The case is drawing comparisons with another detention that also impacted a five-year-old boy in suburban Minneapolis in January. Liam Conejo Ramos was wearing a blue-knit bunny hat when a masked federal agent held the handle of the boy's Spiderman backpack before he and his father were transported on a plane to Dilley Detention Center in Texas, the same facility where the other boy is now being held.
In an interview with CNN affiliate Univision, the mother of the boy detained with his father Sunday in Austin and who asked not to be identified said she remembered the Minneapolis case after her own son was detained. Univision was at her home when she spoke with her son who remains at the Dilley Detention Center.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ROMO: Texas Representative Greg Casar, a Democrat, spoke about Liam's case in a video posted on his Facebook account.
REP. GREG CASAR (D-TX): His name just like the name of the little boy from Minnesota is Liam. And Liam should be starting kindergarten this week. Instead, he's sitting in a trailer of prison right now in Dilley, Texas.
I'm calling for the immediate release of Liam, the immediate release of all of these kids and for the closure of the Dilley trailer prison.
ROMO: In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that Victor Martinez Nieto, whom it called an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested last Sunday during a vehicle stop in Austin, Texas and had illegally entered the country around March 2022 near Laredo, Texas. The statement goes on to say that on November 15, 2025, ICE arrested Martinez Nieto in Hutto, Texas. He accepted voluntary departure and was removed from the country on February 12, 2026. Martinez Nieto illegally reentered the country at an unknown time and place. After being removed, Martinez Nieto and his son will remain together in ICE custody pending removal.
DHS also said that the Dilley Detention Center is retrofitted for families and that children held there have access to teachers, classrooms and books. Victor, now back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: All right, Rafael Romo, thanks for that story.
Still to come, how one pastor is using AI to minister to his congregation when he can't be president himself.
We'll explain. That's coming up next.
Now, in some countries, government health programs often don't provide wheelchairs or prosthetics for people living with amputations or other disabilities.
Well, this week, CNN Hero is an engineer in the Mexican city of Nogales, and he's made it his life's mission to empower people with disabilities through mobility and employment and hope.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIKO TRUJILLO, MEXICAN ENGINEER, ARIZONA SONORA BORDER PROJECTS FOR INCLUSION: When someone is amputated, they have two choices, go home or go out in the streets and beg. And the same goes for kids that are born with a neuromuscular disability that require a customized wheelchair. We need to help them.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
[06:45:14]
TRUJILLO: Nobody walks out of here without what they need.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
TRUJILLO: I've been living on the border for many years. I come from a family of 11 brothers and sisters. One of my brothers was born without his left hand. I took on industrial engineering. But I wanted to do something for my community.
I got a phone call from Dr. Duke. He's a pediatrician. He said, I'd like to help people with disabilities. My brother came to my mind at that time.
DR. BURRIS "DUKE" DUNCAN, PEDIATRICIAN: He's just a very resourceful guy. Kiko knows everybody in Nogales. We're a village, and everyone is kind of contributing to make things happen.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
TRUJILLO: We hire folks with the same disability that the device that they're going to be building. The person that makes prosthesis, he wears a prosthesis.
Once we see people that have lost a limb, they're devastated, they're depressed. When they talk to the guy that makes the prosthesis, and he lost his leg, they'll listen.
Close to 3,500 people with disabilities have benefited from our program. We're located right next to the border. We have been able to involve all sectors of the society on both sides. We work towards helping people overcome the barriers that they face. We are changing the lives of not just the patient, but the entire family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: For the full story about Kiko and the work that he's doing, go to CNNHEROES.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:51:43]
BLACKWELL: Artificial intelligence has seeped into almost every part of our daily lives. And that now includes how some people practice their faith.
A pastor in the San Francisco Bay Area has now launched an AI version of his ministry. It's available to his congregants from the comfort of their homes whenever they need religious guidance.
Here's CNN's Nick Watt with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REV. JUSTIN LESTER, FRIENDSHIP MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: You forgot who you were talking to. You forgot who my daddy was. You forgot where I came from. You forgot Father Justin. I have thoughts (INAUDIBLE).
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Passion, emotion, love. Black Americans are world leaders at making worship very, very human.
WATT: My church when I was a kid was like this. I might still be religious.
WATT (voice-over): Now, Pastor Justin Lester is pioneering the inhuman. He's cloned his mind, birthed an AI digital doppelganger, which ministers to his flock when the real man cannot.
STEVE SMEDLEY, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, FRIENDSHIP MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: I can make an appointment with the pastor, but I can ask this question right now.
REV. STEPHANY BAKER, SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT, FRIENDSHIP MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: It's amazing. You have to try it sometime.
WATT: I will. I will.
WATT (voice-over): I did. I'm feeling a little lonely today.
LESTER: It's not good for man to be alone. That's scripture. That's truth. And it applies to you right now. Loneliness isn't weakness. It's a signal that you were made for connection.
So here's what I want you to do today. Reach out to one person.
BREANAH DRAKE, EVENT COORDINATOR, FRIENDSHIP MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: I like to use it when, one, he's away, or two, there's a question I'm too embarrassed to ask him because I feel like I should know the answer to it.
SMEDLEY: Some things you may be hesitant to say out loud.
WATT: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
WATT (voice-over): So how does it work?
LESTER: I connected on YouTube, my TikTok, my Instagram, and everything I've ever written. So all the way back to --
WATT: OK.
LESTER: -- every sermon I've ever preached. Books, all of that are in there.
WATT: Do you obviously evolve as a human --
LESTER: Yes.
WATT: -- and as a preacher and a pastor? Does it evolve with you?
LESTER: Every single day it updates.
WATT: You said in your sermon Sunday to give other people credit. What did you mean?
LESTER: Nick, I appreciate you pressing me on that. Let me be real with you. I was talking about giving credit to the people around you.
It creeps me out because somebody's literally talked to it before and was like, I literally thought you had a conversation with me. So I don't have the video part on --
WATT: OK.
LESTER: -- because that was weird. But --
WATT: OK, so if the tech there catches up, will you do so I can look at you?
LESTER: Absolutely. Absolutely, yes, I'll do it. Because I'm curious about it. I'm an innovator.
DRAKE: I'm not going to lie. I would live for that. I live for that.
WATT (voice-over): He's already launched PastorGPT, which helps other pastors write sermons. And his little church offers coding classes and uses AI to handle the earthly and mundane.
LESTER: I went to school to preach the gospel, to teach the gospel, care for God's people. I did not go to school to e-mail.
WATT: So AI is giving you more time to --
LESTER: Yes.
WATT: -- be human.
LESTER: Absolutely. AI, man, gives me more time to be a better father, be a better husband, to be a better pastor. Hospital visits don't have to be five minutes. They can be 20.
WATT (voice-over): But can AI do this?
LESTER: (INAUDIBLE).
WATT: And when I watch you preach, you know, I see and I feel humanity. I see --
LESTER: Yes.
WATT: -- the frailty. I feel all these human things.
LESTER: Absolutely.
WATT: Can you really bottle that into an algorithm?
LESTER: Oh, no, no, no, no. So AI cannot feel.
WATT: You're also not creating something that's going to replace you.
LESTER: No, no. I think I'm pretty cool. And so, no.
[06:55:01]
WATT: We're not going to be replacing the pastor.
BAKER: No.
WATT: We're not going to be having weird virtual churches --
BAKER: No, not at all.
WATT: -- with no humans.
BAKER: No. I think what we see is an expansion of the church happening.
WATT: OK.
BAKER: An expansion of love, an expansion of humanity.
WATT: If you try and make the AI twin talk about something random, weird, someone tried Swedish politics, it will not engage. The bot will only talk about things that the real man himself knows about.
Also, if you bring up something very serious, homicide, suicide, violence, abuse, the bot will say, that's too much for me, call the pastor. As the poetic pastor himself says, rivers are great because of the banks. AI is great with guardrails. Maybe that's a lesson for the wider world as well.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: So the AI allows him to be more human. That's a really interesting framework for that.
Nick Watt, thank you for that report.
Grand Theft Auto 6 has its big release in November. Ahead, we'll explain how the Army unit in Fort Stewart, Georgia, is using that to incentivize its troops to reenlist.
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