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One World with Zain Asher
Trump Unveils New Executive Orders on Birthright Citizenship; Thailand Has One of Highest Gun Ownership Rates in SE Asia; Iran's Top Negotiator Mocks Trump Amid Disputed Talks; Senator Bill Cassidy Supports Todd Blanche for Attorney General; Ceuta Border Rush Reignites European Debate Over Migration; 97-year-old Breaks Her Own Wing Walking World Record. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired August 07, 2026 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Right, it is a tragic day in Thailand after a teenage shooter targets his school, killing several teachers. "One
World" starts right now. I'm going to be speaking to a security analyst about Thailand's gun control laws in the wake of the school shooting.
Plus, President Trump unveils two new executive orders attempting once again to curb birthright citizenship. And the worst may be over from the
fallout of the migrant crisis, but it certainly still lingers in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. I will speak to CNN's Fareed Zakaria about the
global push for immigration reform.
Right, coming to you live from New York. I'm Zain Asher. Shock and mourning in Thailand after a deadly school rampage. As the day got underway, one
student says he thought he'd heard firecrackers before it turned out to be gunfire. Police near Bangkok say a 14-year-old student opened fire on
teachers and students at his school north of Bangkok.
Gosh. In this video, you can actually see terrified students huddled under their desks, sobbing, crying as shots rang out nearby. When the shooting
stopped, five teachers were dead, dozens of people were injured. Authorities say that before the rampage, the gunman killed his grandmother
and grandfather in their home.
He later died after turning the gun on himself. One rescue worker describes treating the suspected shooter at the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIATIKHUN VERAPONGPRADITH, RESCUE WORKER, RUAMKATANYU FOUNDATION: While we were doing CPR, we thought the perpetrator had died, but he was still
making a groaning sound, when we removed the CPR device, we saw his chest rising and falling.
So, we quickly continued CPR and took him to the hospital. We also saw a firearm on the ground, and in his chest pocket, we saw bullets remaining.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Our Kristie Lu Stout has been following the story from Hong Kong and filed this report for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a horrifying act of violence carried out by a 14-year-old on Friday. A student opened fire at a
secondary school just north of Bangkok, taking lives before taking his own. Sheltering in place during a school shooting, boys and girls crouching
under their desks with gunshots heard in the background.
This is at a school in Thailand. On Friday, a 14-year-old student opened fire at a secondary school just north of Bangkok. Several teachers are
among the dead. His grandparents are found dead at the home where he lived. The suspected teen shooter turned the gun on himself before going to
hospital.
He was later confirmed dead by the prime minister. In this social video verified by CNN, we see students evacuating. In uniform, they rush to leave
the halls of their school as a staff member helps to evacuate them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We started hearing some noise in building 5, and we had no idea what happened after that. At first, I thought they were sounds of
firecrackers or someone banging onto something loudly, but then we started realizing they were not. And then it started getting more frequent, like
bang, bang, bang, and then it went quiet at one point, and the shooting started again.
I didn't think it was the sound of a gun. After that, we went to the toilet. We thought it was over. I walked over there when a teacher shouted,
quickly, run here. He's gone to building 4. So, we had to run here.
STOUT: This is believed to be the weapon that was used. Police handout reveals a handgun along with several rounds of ammunition scattered on the
ground. People across Thailand have reacted with shock and sadness, including the Thai Prime Minister.
ANUTIN CHARNVIRAKUL, THAI PRIME MINISTER: I'm very sad that this has happened. I'm not only sad for the deceased. I'm sad by the fact that this
kind of incident could happen in our country. This is the reason why the government does not permit the extension of firearms possession. This is
exactly why.
STOUT: Mass shootings are rare in Thailand, but gun ownership there is high compared to other countries in the region. According to a 2017 survey, more
than 10 million civilians held firearms in Thailand. That's 15 guns for every 100 people.
[11:05:00]
After today's shooting, police will investigate how a student managed to get hold of such a lethal weapon and why.
Thailand's Ministry of Education has expressed deep sorrow and pledged tightened safety measures for students, and this would include measures to
prevent weapons from being brought into schools. The ministry also announced financial aid for the families of the victims. Kristie Lu Stout,
CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right, let's bring in Security Analyst Michael Picard, who has done extensive research on guns and crime in Thailand. Michael, thank you
so much for being with us. As our reporter in that piece just mentioned, Thailand does have a relatively, it's obviously compared to the United
States-it's a drop in the bucket.
But in Southeast Asia, when you consider how extensive gun ownership is, Thailand is pretty high for the region. Just explain to us why and what the
history of that actually is.
MICHAEL PICARD, SECURITY ANALYST AT TORCHSTONE GLOBAL: Hi, Zain. So yeah, you're absolutely right. As your reporter noted there are about 10 million
firearms in Thailand. We think 6 million of those are legally registered. That's about one gun for every seven people in Thailand, which is the
highest rate of gun ownership in Southeast Asia.
Now, the reasons for that quite complex. Of course, this is a country that values certain aspects of firearm ownership, especially has a certain
cultural significance. It's man -- power, prestige. It's like this in many other countries. But what maybe makes Thailand unique, especially within
Southeast Asia.
Is that -- it's relatively easy for people to get firearms, both through legal channels and the legal channels as well, and maybe to dive into this
a little more.
ASHER: When you compare this sort of the rate of gun ownership to how prevalent mass shootings are or are not in Thailand, what is the
correlation there?
PICARD: So, I will first off say this shooting is concerning because it started to show a trend emerging. For 2020, mass shootings were relatively
ingredient in Thailand. Since then, they've been happening at a steady rate of about one or two years, at two per year, and this year alone.
So, if you look at Philippines, there have been multiple school shootings, so this is something that seems to be increasing. Now, of course, like any
country, Thailand has its social tensions. These are always just below the surface. But the fact is, is because it's a country with a higher rate of
gun ownership, when tensions spill over into violence.
That's just more likely to be a gun available, and that's what leads to concerning horrific accidents, violence.
ASHER: When you look at some of the sort of more severe mass shootings where I am in the United States, oftentimes when there is a mass shooting
here, there is, of course, calls to restrict or limit sort of people's ability to carry weapons, either in public or background checks, that sort
of thing.
There is a push for -- usually a push for gun control, but of course in the U.S. politics is very divided, and so that is part of the reason why a lot
of the laws don't really see the light of day. When you look at Thailand, the prime minister is saying, listen, after this, I'm certainly going to do
my best to improve gun safety and basically impose trade restrictions on the public's ability to carry weapons.
Just walk us through whether or not there are the sort of same political divisions that we see in the United States that make that sort of change
less likely to get off the ground.
PICARD: I'd say Thailand is its own country. It's a very different context to the U.S. Namely, that the U.S. Thailand does have a relatively strict
government paper. It's just the enforcement where sort of the issues lies. Now, I also want to note that whenever there is a mass shooting or a high-
profile incident in bottled fire or in Thailand, there's usually a lot of public outrage.
And public officials are very quick to say that they're going to revise and they're going to tighten down the gun laws. But the issue is, is that
there's first off not much proof that actually happens. It seems that this issue sort of fades over time. And then the second issue is that oftentimes
the measures that they announce, sort of to tighten the gun laws.
Don't actually line up with the weaknesses that caused the incident to take place. And so that's something I think worth keeping an eye on with this
mass shooting as it develops, you know, it's going to be very interesting to see if there is an honest conversation about how the government gained
access to the firearm and how that actually relates to the country's difference.
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ASHER: So, walk us through what sort of difficulties or challenges that authorities face in not just trying to impose new gun laws, but really
enforcing the gun laws in Thailand that actually already exist, that are on the books already.
PICARD: Sure, that is a really important question. So, I think the first thing to note is that there's a significant loop. It's called the gun
system. That's a system in which government employees they get discounted access to firearms, specifically those in the security sector.
They get discounted access. They face fewer controls and checks and balances that normal civilians face, and they can basically collect as many
firearms as they want. That's at least how it works in practice. Maybe on paper is different. So, this turns into basically a vector of, let's just
say, people having easier access to firearms, and that generally leads to its control.
The other sort of big factor here is, of course, the effect of corruption, bribery, and all in all, I think the big question I have coming out of this
is, we know the firearm used in the incident today. It belonged to the government's threat father. He illegally owned it. He was registered.
The question for me is did he buy this as a normal civilian, going through due process? Did he pay a bribe to get easier access to this firearm, or
was he a government employee who benefited from the welfare system and got it at a discount? I think the answer to that question is basically going to
show us how gun laws can build a difference in the future.
ASHER: And just talk to us about how the sort of mass shooting we're all talking about today in this school sort of compares to recent acts of mass
violence. Obviously, there was the 2023 mall shooting. You have a massacre at a daycare that was back in 2022. A market in Bangkok that was just last
year, around this time last year, where a gunman opened fire at the market, killing about five people, primarily security guards.
Just talk to us about how what we're seeing today compares to recent acts of violence there.
PICARD: Absolutely. So, I think are two big points that two patterns that I've seen kind of between all these different incidents. The first is that
they seem to follow familiar script, and that usually starts with someone experiencing a moment of great social professional distress or isolation,
having snapping in you know, a domestic or sometimes a professional context, and then taking that into the public, it could be school, it could
be a mall, something like that.
So, I think that first off says something about the psychology from which these incidents are enriched. I think the second thing to note is
connecting this with the mass shooting that happened in the Philippines in Tacloban earlier this year, is we have to ask ourselves to what extent was
the gunman, the suspect, engaging in online communities that might encourage random and senseless stylistic acts of sort of violence?
We have seen photos of investigators removing presumably the suspect's computer, and I'm assuming that, that's probably a lot of anticipation that
they're going to follow.
ASHER: Right, Michael Picard, thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate your perspective on this. Right, Iran and Oman may be close
to finalizing a deal that would manage shipping traffic through one of the world's most critical energy choke points.
Fars News Agency is reporting that vessels would enter the Strait of Hormuz through the northern corridor and exit through the southern lane. But Iran
warns the agreement does not mean the waterway will reopen, and says it also requires a number of guarantees from the United States before the war
of course.
The strait before the war, of course, rather the strait was freely open to all ships, with no fees. All of this as Iran-backed groups are reportedly
ramping up efforts to target U.S. partners in the Gulf region. Saudi Arabia is bracing for attacks by Houthis in Remen, Yemen, rather, and Iraqi
militias under the guidance of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Meantime, Iran's lead negotiator is mocking the U.S. President, accusing Donald Trump of theater diplomacy, following his repeated threats and
claims that negotiations are taking place. Iran denies any negotiations with the U.S. are taking place, and Donald Trump's repeated threats and
ultimatums do not seem to be having much impact on the Iranian regime.
Adding to the president's frustration for learning he is furious over reports claiming that American munitions are running dangerously low.
Senior U.S. officials say that Trump has privately complained that those disclosures are making the U.S. look very weak at a critical point in the
war.
However, here's how Trump publicly described the situation on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have certain types of munitions that are very powerful. That we have unlimited, virtual
unlimited supply. We have others where it's a little bit tighter, and we're getting them in on a daily basis.
[11:15:00]
We have certain types of munitions which are very -- they may not be as accurate. They may not be, you know, they're not as elite. We have elite
too, but we're watching that very closely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: CNN's Kevin Liptak joins us live now from White House. So, Kevin, you know, the president is right about one thing, is that, of course, if
the Iranian regime believes that the U.S. is running dangerously low on munitions, that does make it harder for the U.S. to have the upper hand in
negotiations.
Obviously, the president gave his own characterization just there. Just walk us through what we know for sure about the U.S. stockpile.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. And what we have learned from officials is that the U.S. has gone through, in particular,
those missile interceptors at quite a rapid pace. So, 80 percent of the THAAD missile interceptors and about half of the Patriot missile
interceptors, and that's what the president is talking about there when he's talking about the elite weapons that he wants to have more of.
The president is saying that the U.S. has plenty of less sophisticated weapons, and he says that, that would be enough if he needed to return to
war with Iran. And in fact, even as the military warns the president about these dwindling stockpiles, you know we've heard, in particular, the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, has been warning about that in meetings with the president.
What he's told the president is that the U.S. does have what it needs to conduct this war and to be successful. But their real concern is that if
another conflict pops up, perhaps with Russia, perhaps with China, that, that is where this shortage could potentially become a real problem.
And the president did actually allude to that yesterday, saying that if something else popped up, that that's where he would be really worried.
Now, the ways that the U.S. has tried to remedy this, they have you know they've hauled in the CEOs of defense contractors to the White House.
The president invoked the Defense Production Act to try and get some of these weapons made more quickly, but that will be measured in years. You
know, if a factory is just starting to, or a company is just starting to build a factory to produce Patriot interceptors now, they're obviously not
going to be rolling off the assembly line in November, and so this will take quite some time.
And the president is angry that all of this information is now being out in the public, and he has tasked the Justice Department to conduct a leak
investigation to find out how exactly that happened.
ASHER: Right, Kevin Liptak, live for us there. Thank you so much. Right, still ahead, the president, the U.S. President, rather, is once again
trying to curb birthright citizenship, despite the Supreme Court ruling that rejected his first effort. What he's doing now when we come back.
Plus, a summer hiring slump dogs the U.S. labor market in July. The latest jobs report has just been released. It's not good. Details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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ASHER: He was the wild card who just voted yes on Todd Blanche's nomination to be the next U.S. Attorney General. Senator Bill Cassidy says he'll
support Blanche's nomination, clearing the way for his narrow confirmation. The Louisiana Republican appeared to choke up while announcing the
decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): When Former Attorney General Bill Barr endorsed Mr. Blanche, he said Mr. Blanche will run the department as effectively as
anyone can under President Trump. Some have called that faint praise. I don't think that it is. I think it is a reality.
Barr specifically addressed the allegation that Mr. Blanche would be a yes man for the president. He said that any attorney to represent a client well
has to have tough conversations and confront a client with difficult truths. That because of his previous attorney-client relationship with
President Trump.
Mr. Blanche would be precisely the person to push back on President Trump. But that ultimately, and here Barr echoed what I heard from Blanche.
Decisions are made by the president. Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this. But the choice is not between perfection and Mr.
Blanche.
It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general, who may not run the department effectively under President Trump, and who indeed may
not be as good as Mr. Blanche. This puts at risk the progress made fighting violent crime, human and drug trafficking, and fraud, and this does not
serve the American people well.
This is not a referendum on President Trump. It is a decision regarding Mr. Blanche in very specific circumstances. All considered, I will vote for Mr.
Blanche.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: It comes after weeks of scrutiny over Blanche, the Acting Attorney General, once served as the president's personal lawyer. Cassidy's vote was
crucial after two Republican senators said no to Blanche. Senator Lisa Murkowski said the U.S. needed an attorney general who would check the
worst impulses of the administration?
Maine Senator Susan Collins also said no as well, and Senator Mitch McConnell is still absent because of ill health. The U.S. President is
renewing his push to curb birthright citizenship. Donald Trump has signed two executive orders that tighten some laws already in place.
It comes less than six weeks after the Supreme Court struck down the president's previous attempt. One order target alien enemies and members of
foreign terrorist organizations and categories of people who lobby and act on behalf of foreign governments, making children born to people in those
groups, ineligible for birthright citizenship.
The second executive order focuses on so-called birth tourism, which has been a focal point for immigration hawks. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez takes a
closer look at the executive orders and their implications.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump is taking another swing at birthright citizenship and birth tourism yet again with
the signing of two executive orders just yesterday. Now, what these executive orders appear to do is take a far narrower approach.
So, first on birthright citizenship, it specifically targets alien enemies, members of foreign terrorist organizations, and categories of people who
lobby and act on behalf of foreign governments. Now, there are already exceptions to birthright citizenship, and it appears here that they are
trying to broaden those exceptions.
But we don't know yet what this would look like in practice, and whether it would similarly face lawsuits. Now on the other front, there is birth
tourism. Now Stephen Miller, the architect of the president's immigration policy, says that there is an outright ban. This essentially marks an
outright ban on birth tourism.
However, U.S. law already bans people from obtaining a visa, and I'll quote here for the primary purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child by
giving birth in the United States. So, it's unclear here how this ban in this executive order would be different from what is already in U.S. law.
So, there are still questions in how these executive orders look like in practice.
It is clear, however, that the president is trying to placate immigration hawks and his allies, who, despite the Supreme Court's decision in June,
which upheld birthright citizenship, still wants to see some action on this front. Now, again, as it happened last time, there were lawsuits
immediately following executive orders, so, we are keeping a close eye on all of that.
[11:25:00]
But the president, again, making clear that this is top of mind for his administration in trying to find yet another way to approach this issue,
despite what the Supreme Court already said in June. Back to you.
ASHER: Thanks to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez for that report. Right, the U.S. government's monthly snapshot of the labor market is in, and it shows the
American economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July. Here's how the markets are reacting to that. They are green across the board because of
what this means about the Fed not raising interest rates.
The numbers are far worse, though, when you look at this 23,000-job loss. They're far worse than the roughly 95,000 gain that economists had been
expecting. The unemployment rate, however, drops slightly down to 4.1 percent from 4.2. Friday's report adds to signs that employers are becoming
more cautious about hiring as they navigate growing headwind.
CNN's David Goldman joins us live now from New York. I mean, this is not what people were expecting, right? Not a 23,000-job loss, especially given
what we saw in the specific sector of leisure and hospitality. A lot of people thought that we'd see a bump because of the World Cup.
DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah.
ASHER: That wasn't the case, David.
GOLDMAN: No, no, we did not get a World Cup bump at all, and this is some evidence of it. I'm going to give you a little bit more evidence. This
number doesn't even tell you how bad the jobs numbers really are, because in the previous two months we had revisions that ended up losing 100,000
jobs that we thought that we had gained, that turned out we didn't gain.
And so over the course of the past several months, the jobs picture now looks considerably worse than we thought it was before. Now this
unemployment rate number falling from 4.2 that feels like it should be good, but it fell for the wrong reasons. It's because so many people said,
forget it.
I'm not even going to look for a job anymore. I'm so fed up because I can't find one. When you don't count those folks, the rate falls, and that's what
happened there. Now, undeniably, this is fine. It's not a bad unemployment rate at all, but it shows a weakening jobs market, and that is key.
You can see that weakening jobs market because look at these past couple years compared to what we were creating in 2022, 2023, you can just see the
volume of jobs that we are creating every month has fallen, and you know it's kind of topsy turvy. We're losing some jobs in some months.
That's not what we want to be seeing either. Another thing that we definitely don't want to see in the United States, the average pay gain
over the past year is now 3.2 percent. Why is that bad? It's because inflations at 3.5 percent. So, inflation ate your pay raise over the past
year.
We were in a very different situation, Zain, just you know a couple years ago, where we had this whole three-year period where inflation was lower
than your pay raise, and so you were gaining ground. Well, not the case recently. We're actually in the opposite, where you've been losing ground
to inflation.
We don't want to be in that situation. What about the World Cup, as you mentioned? Weren't we supposed to gain all of those jobs? There's not a lot
of evidence for it. Retail fell 19,000 in the last month, and the number of leisure and hospitality jobs, as you said, fell 40,000 just in one month
after 43,000 the month before.
There is no evidence that the World Cup has actually created a jobs boom in this country. And that's a problem when you only have 22,000 healthcare
jobs in the last month. This was averaging significantly more just a few months ago. If we're going to have a slowdown in one of the most robust
jobs markets, job sectors in the United States, that is a significant problem considering how many old folks are in need of healthcare.
I just want to point out your point, markets are up, but because the Fed can't cut rates now or can't hike rates now, if this is the state of the
jobs market, that's why bond yields are falling too, Zain.
ASHER: Yeah, I mean that it's such a bizarre thing, right? When you have this kind of job report, but the markets react so positively because they
know that the Fed is not going to be in a rush to raise interest rates. But at the same time, they also know that it's not a good signal about the
health of the overall economy.
David, I'm being rushed. We have to leave it there. Thank you so much. Right, still to come here on "One World", the ongoing migrant crisis in the
Spanish enclave of Ceuta, as the Spanish government seeks to transfer about 1000 minor migrants to the mainland. What officials and migrants are
saying, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ASHER: Welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher in New York. Here are some of the headlines we are following today. Authorities say that five
teachers are dead after a shooting rampage at a high school north of Bangkok, Thailand. They say that a teenage boy opened fire inside the
school, then turned the gun on himself.
Police say he killed his grandparents before attacking the school. Iran and Oman are reportedly close to a deal that would temporarily keep routes open
in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Fars News Agency, the agreement would focus on a new commercial shipping corridor, giving Iran control over the
northern lane, while both Iran and Oman would manage the southern lane.
But Iran warns the deal does not mean that the strait is going to reopen. This new video, geo located by CNN shows the moment when Ukrainian drone
struck a Wildberries logistics facility. For several weeks now, Ukraine has been ramping up its attacks on Russia's e-commerce giant.
The disruption to Wildberries facilities is sending shock waves through Russia's retail sector. Some rough news for the U.S. labor market, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July. Economists had been expecting a gain of about 95,000 jobs.
Today's report shows more caution around hiring as employers navigate the rapid adoption of AI and higher oil prices. Right, turning now to the
ongoing migrant unrest in Spain's northern, north rather African enclave Ceuta. Officials say that between three and 5000 migrants remained there.
It comes after about 72,000 migrants from Morocco illegally entered the area in a 24-hour period last week. Officials say at least 100 of them died
in transit. Ceuta is seeking the transfer of roughly 1,100 unaccompanied minors to mainland Spain. They arrived before and during the influx, and
cannot be summarily deported.
Here's what one young migrant said about why they wanted to go to Spain.
[11:35:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YESIM, MIGRANT: We wanted to go to Spain because we heard you have a king under whom no one is wrong. Morocco, we suffer corruption in administration
and justice and at any level of health and education. We suffer in these four sectors. We want to work hard.
We have young energy and we have capacity, you know, and we want to develop our second country and make progress, you know, and boost your economy.
This is our intention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Let's bring in CNN's Fareed Zakaria, the host of Fareed Zakaria GPS, right here on CNN. Fareed, thank you so much for being with us. I want to
make it clear to our audience that, you know, when you think about Morocco, it really is the tale of, I think two countries.
I mean, I've spent time in Morocco. I've visited the Medina's and the souks and the deserts. You know, you see the mountains. It's a beautiful country,
but the side that tourists see of Morocco is really a curated side to the country. And then there's also the experience of the financial elites.
And we've talked, you know, many times about you know the investments in renewable energy and infrastructure and that sort of thing. But when you
think about the other side to Morocco, this is a country that has a lot of inequality. Youth unemployment is about 40 percent.
There's also rural poverty. There are a lot of reasons why young people in places like Fnideq want to go to a place like Ceuta, partly because they're
attracted by the European dream, so to speak. But it's also about escaping some of the poverty that they're experiencing in their home country.
One of the issues here is that even though Spain has managed to send back thousands of migrants back to Morocco without addressing the underlying
problems that have caused or made a lot of Moroccans willing to make this journey. This is a problem that might indeed continue to happen. Just give
us your take on that.
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST OF FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: Yeah, look, this is the future for Europe as the realities that you describe persist, even in
places like Morocco, that, as you point out, are by some measures doing well financially, but still -- and economically.
But still, lots of inequality, lots of uneven growth, and the reality that you know it's getting much, much hotter in Northern Africa. It is becoming
much more unlivable, particularly hard to farm and things like that, and so people are going to try and make their way to Europe.
The fundamental thing this does highlight, though, is the degree to which the whole system of immigration is busted. Because I'm sure a lot of these
people are going to go to Europe and claim asylum. And now asylum is meant to be for people who are in individual situations facing extreme political
or religious persecution, and your interview with that guy showed.
I mean, he's basically an economic migrant. He wants to, you know, he wants better opportunities in Spain. God bless him for that. I can totally
understand it, but that is not what the asylum system was meant to do. So, and that's one of the reasons why European countries aren't able to turn
some of these people back because they have to assess these asylum claims.
So, the whole system has broken down. You have more push on the side of people coming from Africa into Europe, and you have don't have the tools to
distinguish easily between who are the genuine asylum seekers who face political or religious persecution, and who are just coming in because they
are attracted to the idea of a Europe where they can work and make more money.
ASHER: That's such an important point about sort of making that distinction. Talk to us about how this affects regional politics. I mean,
not just in Europe, honestly, but even here in the United States. I mean, as expected, you know, the U.S. President did pounce on this, saying, gosh,
this looked like the invasion of a country.
This is an example, guys. This is this is what could happen in America if Republicans don't win. Just explain to us how those with political views
further to the right, both in Europe and beyond, saw those images and sort of used those images that we saw last week, Friday, to advance their own
political messaging.
ZAKARIA: You know, in a sense, migration and the uncontrolled migration that has happened over the last 10 or 15 years is the rocket fuel that has
propelled right-wing populism around the world. If you look at you know the economies of countries in Europe, it's a mixed picture.
There are places like you know in Eastern Europe that have been growing very fast. There are places like Germany that have maintained
manufacturing, they have not, you know, lost their manufacturing. There are places like France that have provided very generous benefits to their
workers.
[11:40:00]
But in all of them, you see right wing populism gaining ground on one issue. And that is immigration, migration, and its assimilation more
broadly. So, you are absolutely right. It is the issue, and of course, it is the issue that propelled Donald Trump to power twice in the United
States.
And the form it takes politically is very simple. In general, over the left the last 10 years, the center left has been unwilling to really come to
grips with the reality of this problem that you have many, many more people trying to come into the country. And as I say many of them are really just
economic migrants and they figured out that there is a path to not being deported if they say they're claiming asylum.
So, the whole asylum system has broken down. And because the establishment and the left in general have been unwilling to sort of call a spade a spade
and look this problem in the eye, people have increasingly drifted to right wing parties, populist parties. You know, it is -- if you were to point to
one single issue that has caused transformation of politics in the Western world, it would be this kind of uncontrolled migration.
So, you saw -- you see in Spain almost like a you know it's kind of a poster child for exactly what has happened to the politics of Europe.
ASHER: If you are a 25-year-old Moroccan young man and you're not employed, you know you're not necessarily in school. You don't have enough money to
cover living expenses. There are no real economic opportunities that are motivating you at this point in time.
Why would you not make this trip? Why would you not try to cross the border into Ceuta again?
ZAKARIA: Oh, I entirely agree with you. It's a perfectly rational thing for these migrants to be trying to do, and the only way that they would be
deterred. The only way, the only answer to your question would be because you will be turned down. You will be turned back, because it is very hard
to make that journey, because there are real borders and real border controls, which means you are forced then to try the legal path.
That has to be, to my mind, the solution to this kind of out-of-control migration, right? Which is, all these countries take in migrants, but
legally, lawfully, with the process. If you're going to simply try and do an end run around that whole thing, they have, you know, if these countries
don't have some controls, not only will they be overwhelmed because there are you know there are hundreds and hundreds of millions of people in
Africa who could make this this journey.
But more importantly, you will lose control of the politics of your country because people will, you know, people in Spain and in other parts of Europe
will start voting for parties that do shut down the border, just as Donald Trump did shut down the border in the South in the United States.
ASHER: Fareed Zakaria, good to have you on the program. Thank you so much for that.
ZAKARIA: Always a pleasure.
ASHER: And don't forget to tune in to Fareed Zakaria's GPS this Sunday, 03:00 p.m. if you're watching in London, 10:00 p.m. if you are watching
from Hong Kong. All right. Still to come here on "One World", questions left unanswered. Nearly one year later, CNN's Jake Tapper takes a closer
look at the U.S. military's controversial strikes on alleged drug boats. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
ASHER: All right, we're nearing the one-year mark since the Trump White House began its campaign against alleged drug boats carrying out military
strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and in the Pacific. In a new report, CNN's Jake Tapper sheds more light on who the Trump Administration is
targeting and why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. TIME KAINE (D-VA): They're murder victims.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): That's Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine's assessment of the Trump Administration's campaign targeting
people that the administration calls narco-terrorists. In a letter to the White House this week, Kaine accused the Pentagon of going far beyond its
original goals in Operation Southern Spear, and killing people who are quote, entirely unaware that they are marked for execution.
Operation Southern Spear, which began nearly a year ago, has killed 221 people and destroyed at least 66 vessels. But the results do not seem to
have been effective. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, analyzed by the think tank the Washington Office of Latin America, does not show a
meaningful decrease in cocaine seizures.
During the 10 months before the boat strikes began, CBP reported seizing more than 56,000 pounds of cocaine during the 10 months following the
beginning of the boat strikes September 2025 through June 2026, CBP's reported seizures actually increased 2 percent.
Fentanyl, which President Trump claims this operation is targeting, is largely produced in Mexico, not Venezuela or Colombia, according to the
Drug Enforcement Agency. And CNN reporting shows military officials do not always know whom they're targeting. Some of whom may even be innocent.
Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo were believed to have been killed in the October 14th strike last year. Their families are suing the Trump
Administration for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing. The complaint says, quote, Mr. Joseph and Mr. Samaroo were not members of or affiliated
with drug cartels.
And Trinidad's government says there's no evidence drugs were on board. Chad and Rishi's families told ACLU Attorney Jeffrey Stein they were
fishing and doing farm work in Venezuela, and boarded a boat to get home to Trinidad.
JEFFREY STEIN, STAFF ATTORNEY AT ACLU NATIONAL SECURITY PROJECT: Rishi wanted to come home to help care for his elderly mother who had fallen ill,
Chad wanted to come home to see his wife and three young children.
TAPPER (voice-over): In response to our request for comment on this lawsuit, the White House said, quote, all of these decisive strikes have
been against designated narco-terrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores, but they have provided absolutely no evidence to back up any of the
strikes, which is not to say everyone on these boats had nothing to do with the drug trade.
Some were clearly fishermen trying to make extra money. We sat down with two investigative journalists who have looked into who is being killed.
They uncovered the stories of 19 of the dead.
JOSE LUIS PENARREDONDA, EDITOR AT EL CLIP: Many of them reporting shows have -- are somehow involved in drug trafficking business, in drug
transportation business, in very low levels of the chain.
TAPPER (voice-over): Journalist Lorena Melendez told us one of the stories really stuck with her.
LORENA MELENDEZ, EDITOR AT REBEL ALLIANCE INVESTIGATES: The case of Juan Carlos, he was a bus driver, and he bought his bus damage, and he couldn't
repair it. He said, I have to do bad things. So, he traveled to Trinidad.
TAPPER (voice-over): Juan Carlos's wife told the journalistic consortium El Clip she did not want him to get on the boat, but he insisted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm leaving. I can't take it anymore, what desperation. I'm leaving to live or die, but I'm leaving. That's how he
told me.
TAPPER (voice-over): She also remembered the moment she knew he'd been killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But since I'm making empanadas here, the phone is ringing too much. When I see an international call I say no, something has
happened. Something happened to Juan Carlos. The mistake was seeing the video they sent me where they were blowing up boats.
[11:50:00]
TAPPER (voice-over): Juan Carlos was believed to have been killed in the October 3rd strike. He leaves behind three children and a grandchild,
according to El Clip. Does that sound to you like a narco-terrorist? Another victim was a fixture of his community. Here's investigative
journalist Jose Luis Penarredonda.
PENARREDONDA: I think about a Venezuelan guy called, I mean, his name was Pichirilo. Managed to speak to people who knew him very well. One of them
told me, just tell everyone he was a super nice guy.
TAPPER (voice-over): Eduardo Jaime or Pichirilo was a beloved local athlete. A family member tells El Clip he was also on the boat that was
blown up on October 14th. None of these individuals seem to have even been mid-level drug traffickers. At worst, they seem like couriers.
Remember, when the U.S. struck what Trump called a drug submarine, there were two survivors. The U.S. military held them, then released them to
their home countries again, raising questions about whether the Trump Administration knew who they were targeting.
Andres Tufino Chila was one of those two men. His sister told CNN he was not a criminal. Last month, the "Los Angeles Times" followed the stories of
eight fishermen from Mexico who vanished after the February 16th U.S. strikes, quote, the men sometimes earned extra cash by transporting
gasoline to the high seas, where they would refill speedboats ferrying cocaine from South America.
They were all killed. A mass was held for the men at sea a few days later. This video provided by the "LA Times" shows mourners drinking beer and
singing songs. There are many more of these stories from Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Maybe couriers caught in the crosshairs of the Trump Administration's so far fruitless quest to end drug trafficking, often going after the lowest
on the chain, men who felt they had no other choice and were executed by the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER (on camera): We asked the Pentagon if they knew who they were targeting, exactly who they were targeting, and the Pentagon maintains,
quote, targeting decisions are deliberate based on comprehensive assessments and reviewed through established processes.
Every narco-terrorist killed in Department of War operations was an affiliated member of a designated terrorist organization, actively
transporting illicit material, unquote. But U.S. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine tells me that the Trump Administration is quote, lying, and the
ending or transitioning out of Southern Spear will make way for an 18- country collaboration to go after drug traffickers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:55:00]
ASHER: All right. Finally, before we go, in England, a 97-year-old woman is proving their age really is just a number. This is Betty, the woman
strapped to the wing of a plane, breaking her own Guinness World Record as the oldest female wing walker. She is a first set.
She first set the record rather four years ago, and decided to do it again this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETTY BROMAGE, GUINNESS WORLD RECORD HOLDER FOR OLDEST WING WALKER: So, I want to do the things that I can do. And above my bed, it says, we passed
through this world but once. Any good we can do, any kindness we can show, do it now. Do not defer or neglected, you'll not pass this way again. And
it's so true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: So inspiring. The flight raised money for the stroke unit that helped her recover after a medical scare last year. That is just
incredible. All right, stay with CNN. I'll have much more "One World" after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
