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The Situation Room

Maryland Declares State Of Emergency Ahead Of Dangerous Storm; Border Patrol & Ice Officials Hold News Conference In Minneapolis. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 23, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:38]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, historic storm from the Southwest all the way to the East Coast. Tens of millions of Americans are bracing for the triple threat of heavy snow, dangerous ice and bone chilling cold.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And more breaking news from the West Coast. A source now telling CNN that the former Olympian, Ryan Wedding, who was on the FBI's 10 most wanted list, has been captured.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown. And you're in The Situation Room.

We begin this hour with Breaking News. Over 160 million Americans, almost half the U.S. population, are now bracing for a winter storm that could be among the biggest in years. It will stretch from New Mexico to Maine. And in most of the south, the storm is as ominous as it is sprawling. At least 12 states have already declared a state of emergency. Heavy snow and very dangerous temperatures will hammer much of those northern states in blue and purple, as you can see there.

BROWN: And to the south, this foreboding line of pink shows dangerous amounts of snow. We can show that up to an inch thick in places heavy enough to bring down power lines. And temperatures will be low enough that could cause some outages that could last for days. And as you can see, North Carolina is in the thick of this. The state's governor has a briefing at the bottom of the hour and we'll bring it to you live.

And in Chicago, let's head over there, an interesting site. Crews use flames to prevent the tracks of the metro commuter rail from freezing. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is in the weather center very busy. What's the latest you're seeing, Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, so we're still keeping an eye on who's going to get what. You know, some folks are just going to get snow. That would be the purple color you see here. Others are going to stay too warm. There's just simply going to get rain. But it's these areas here in pink, those are the ones we're most concerned about because those are the areas that are going to get a little bit of everything over the next 72 hours. That's why you have all of these winter weather alerts that stretch from New Mexico all the way up to Maine. That's more than 2,000 miles. Now, overall, when it is said and done, some of these areas could be looking at upwards of an inch of ice accumulation. Keep in mind, that's not just on roadways. That would be on things like trees and power lines, which could lead to widespread power outages.

On the colder northern side, this is where we could be looking at well over a foot of snow that comes down again in some of these places that just simply don't get that kind of volume of snow. But we also have the northeast. Now, while it's going to be later into this system, not necessarily today or tomorrow, like the southern region is going to get, the northeast and the mid-Atlantic is really going to start to see their winter precipitation ramp back up once we get to very early Sunday.

You can see a lot of snow here for places like Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Some of those areas are going to see a little bit of a changeover into that ice and freezing rain once we get a little bit later into the day Sunday. But then again, you get some more snow on the backside again. So a lot of these areas are just going to be dealing with back and forth of different types of precipitation as we go through the next few days.

In although much of the northeast and really especially into New England, you could be looking at widespread totals of eight inches, some areas that could pick up more than a foot of snow total. We also need to talk about some delays because when you're looking at airline flights, there could be cancellations. There could be delays. The tough spots are really going to be in this area here where you see that light purple color and then also the darker purple color the farther you go down to the south because those are going to be the areas where you have ice or you just have such high totals of snow. It makes it very difficult to clear off those runways.

BLITZER: Allison Chinchar, thank you very much. We will stay, of course, in very, very close touch with you. Appreciate it very much.

I want to continue this conversation right now. Joining us is Russell Strickland. He's the secretary of the Maryland Department of Emergency Management. He oversees, among other things, the state's emergency preparedness. I'm sure this is a very, very busy morning for you and so many others. So thanks so much for taking a little time and joining us to talk about what's going on. Your state of Maryland has already declared a state of emergency just ahead of the storm. What are you expecting and is Maryland prepared?

[11:04:54]

RUSSELL J. STRICKLAND, SECRETARY, MARYLAND DEPT. OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Well, thank you very much for the opportunity and, yes, Maryland is looking toward a major storm with dangerous conditions that are going to go across the entire state. Very cold temperatures are expected Friday night with snow and ice beginning later Saturday and lasting through Sunday into Monday. Travel across the state will become extremely hazardous and life-threatening, and we're asking folks, if not impossible, to simply stay off the roads. That's about the best thing they could do Saturday night into Sunday.

We have been working preparations this week, working closely with our local governments, our state agencies, our nongovernmental partners to meet the needs of our residents and visitors throughout the storm. And in the days following, our state emergency operations center is staffed 24/7 for the duration of the storm. We have done a state of preparedness at this point in time.

BROWN: I'm so sorry. I have to interrupt, Russell, because we have an important press conference we have to get to. We'll hope to get back to you. This is Gregory Bovino, a commander with the Border Patrol. Let's listen in.

GREGORY BOVINO, BORDER PATROL COMMANDER AT LARGE: Thank you to my colleague, Mr. Marcos Charles. And at that time, after Mr. Charles is done, we'll take any questions that you may have. So operations continue unabated here in Minneapolis. Several illegal alien criminals taken off the streets yet again over the past 24 hours.

Again, that is what we're here to do, and we're not going to be deterred in doing that. We are going to take these criminal illegal aliens off the street and make America a safer place, make Minneapolis a safer place again. That is why we're here.

Let me detail a couple of illegal aliens we took off the streets over the past 24 hours that were walking our streets over those past 24 hours. Here's one, Mr. Carlos Gomez Acosta (ph), charged with cocaine trafficking and a controlled substance violation. This is an interesting one because this individual was what we would term as a golf, which is a gotaway across the border.

This individual crossed the border and was a golf, a gotaway. More than likely over those past four years when we had millions crossing the border unabated. This is what we get in our communities. What happens at the border does not stay at the border.

And then we have Linlin Li (ph), an illegal alien from Red China. This individual is charged with child neglect and endangerment. Let me say that again, child neglect and endangerment and prostitution. An illegal alien walking the streets of Minneapolis.

Now, we just talked children yesterday a little bit. Let's talk a little more since we've got an illegal alien we just took off the streets of Minneapolis that was someone engaged in child neglect and endangerment. Here in the U.S. Border Patrol, I will say unequivocally that we are experts in dealing with children. Let me say that again, experts in dealing with children.

Not because we want to be, but because we have to be. Over those past four years, hundreds of thousands of children were trafficked across that border. Guess who they came into contact with? Sometimes who was the very first law enforcement agency or American citizen that they saw? U.S. Border Patrol, followed by our counterparts at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

We're definitely the experts at dealing with children, unfortunately. Hundreds of thousands under that last administration. Not to mention the 300,000 lost children, 300,000 plus lost children that were trafficked across that border. Now, when we've got the news media talking about children, I'd certainly love to hear more reporting on the 300,000 lost children. How about the 14 that we recovered at that pot farm a few months ago in Camarillo, California? The 14 lost children trafficked across the border that were found working illegally on a pot farm in California.

Very little reporting from the Minneapolis news media here. I didn't really hear much from you guys. And then some of the more heinous crimes against children that are trafficked across the border that ICE and Border Patrol saw daily back when that border was out of control over those past four years.

I'll detail one for you, folks, that's truly heinous. Border Patrol agents there in the El Centro sector encountered a young child who was approximately three years of age. The child appeared to be drugged, not with his parents, with strangers.

Agents managed to wake the child up after doing what is known as a sternum rub, which is something that, which is a technique to wake someone up that may be induced by drugs. As the child woke up, we understood the child's parents were not, technique to wake someone up that may be induced by drugs. As the child woke up, we understood the child's parents were not with him. And medical examination saw that this child had non-surgical sutures in his abdomen.

[11:10:18]

Let me say that again, non-surgical sutures in the child's abdomen. He was being tracked across the border in that condition. That's not an isolated event with the U.S. Border Patrol or ICE. We saw that many, many times. Drug children coming across the border and guess what? Other than a couple of news outlets, I believe "News Nation" and "Fox" reported, nobody else would. Nothing on a child with non-surgical sutures in his abdomen and nobody knows why.

Now, the five-year-old yesterday, some of yous had questions on the five-year-old yesterday. That five-year-old remains with his family. Let me say that again, remains with his family. We know that. That false media narrative that was pushed out yesterday was, well, it was false. Remains with his family, but let's talk about who doesn't remain with their family.

I think this is the most important thing that we're talking about with children. How about our victim of the day, a victim at the hands of illegal alien criminals, the same criminals that we are taking off the streets that you see on these screens behind us? This victim was Rachel Morin (ph). She left behind five children. Let me say that again. She left behind five children after she was killed by an illegal alien from Central America. He decided to murder her and hide her body in a culvert.

Oh, wait a second. That was after he raped her. She's separated permanently from her five children. Let me say that again, separated permanently from her five children. Why isn't that reported on? Very little reporting in the local news media or the news media on those types of situations. Now, I would call this the DSP syndrome. That's a term that I made up. I'm not a medical doctor. I'm a border patrol agent.

It's called the double standard phenomena. Say that again. The DSP is the double standard phenomena. We see this quite often, the DSP. American citizens that are arrested daily here in Minneapolis, are they separated from their children and families? Absolutely, as they should be. Criminals face consequences. Criminals face consequences.

But yet, that double standard does not seem to apply to illegal aliens. Why is that? Perhaps someone could detail that for me because I don't quite understand all the parameters involved in the DSP, the double standard phenomena.

So, as we continue this mission here in Minneapolis, we will continue to take these bad people, bad things off the streets despite the DSP, the double standard phenomena. Despite the false narrative reporting by many news media outlets, we will continue unabated in our mission to ensure there are no more Rachel Morins (ph) separated from her five children.

And I'll close by saying, organizations, victims' organizations, victims' rights organizations. What about the angel moms? That one's one that's never reported. How many victims do you need before an organization like that pops up? It's not one or two, I can guarantee you that. Look at MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving from back in the 80s and 90s. That organization popped up because a lot of children were getting killed by drunk drivers.

Well, what about the angel moms now? How many victims of illegal aliens that should not be here in the United States are causing family separation for American citizens? It's not reported on by most news media outlets. How many does it take? I'd like to ask, excuse me, "PBS" or CNN or any of the other outlets, how many? How many does it take? I'd love that question. There's another phenomenon there.

I would love that question answered. But the fact of the matter is we do have angel moms, a lot of them, unfortunately. It's very heartbreaking to meet them, although they're not reported on very much. Heartbreaking. But we're here to ensure there are no more angel moms. We don't want more angel moms.

And that's why Marcos and I are here, U.S. Border Patrol, ICE, and those allied law enforcement teams. We're going to take again these criminal aliens off the streets that you see behind us and that I've shown you this morning. We're going to take them off the streets wholesale. It's on. We won't quit.

[11:15:15]

Thank you for your time this morning. I'll introduce Mr. Marcos Charles. Marcos.

Good morning. Thanks, Commander Bovino. Thank you all for being here to get the real facts. BLITZER: Mr. Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander. Give his sense of what's going on. Priscilla Alvarez, you've been doing amazing coverage of all of this for us for a long time. Give us your reaction to what we just heard.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're hearing is what the administration's narrative and statements have been over the course of the last year, that being that their focus is on those with criminal records, the national security, the public safety threats, and anyone else who is also undocumented in the United States. As you heard there from the top Border Patrol official, Gregory Bovino, also talking about those who have been victims of crimes by undocumented immigrants, which we have covered here extensively, Lake and Riley perhaps being one of the ones that we were enrolling coverage on.

But what's also been true is that there are people here who are going through a process who have also been picked up, as we've seen here with the case of the five-year-old and the father. So --

BROWN: Let's actually listen in. You talk about that. Let's listen in because this ICE official is talking about it.

MARCOS CHARLES, ACTING EXEC. ASSOCIATE DR. ICE ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL OPERATIONS: While other officers apprehended his father. After conducting the arrest, my officers stayed with the child. They cared for him, took him to get something to eat from a drive-thru restaurant, and spent hours ensuring he was taken care of. Again, my officers did that, not his father. My officers did everything they could to reunite him with his family.

Tragically, when we approached the door of his residence, the people inside refused to take him in and open the door. Let me say it again. They saw the young boy, and they refused to open the door and take him back.

This is the human side of the job that my officers do. They are family men and women. They have children of their own. They sacrifice everything for their families. I know for a fact that they were heartbroken to see the child's own family leave him behind. Fortunately, Conejo Arias (ph) eventually requested that his child stay with him.

We do everything in our power not to separate families. So they took him back together to Minneapolis, here to the city, to the ICE facility for processing. And now they are being well cared for at a family residential center, pending their immigration proceedings.

This is the real face of ICE, ERO, Border Patrol, and our allied partners. If the media doesn't know our officers, we do. My officers do the right thing no matter how difficult or how long it takes throughout the day.

Let me debunk a couple more lies. Conejo Arias (ph) was not walking to school with his child, and we did not target the child. Arias (ph) fled from law enforcement officers and left his child behind. Again, middle of winter, in a car. We will enforce the law as it's written, but we will go above and beyond to reunite families because that is who we are. I also want to clarify the recent arrests of the ringleaders of the city's church riots. Federal law protects the freedom of religion and the right to worship without interference. What these agitators did was not a peaceful protest. They rioted at church services.

They screamed and harassed children. They denied Minnesotans the ability to worship peacefully. Again, this was not a peaceful protest. You don't go up to a child and yell at them. That is not a peaceful protest. I've been in law enforcement for 33 years now, and this is the first time I've ever seen a protest in a church where they're harassing individuals trying to peacefully worship.

It's disturbing to know that these individuals would target sacred spaces and viciously harass innocent families. Sacred spaces must be respected. While I cannot speak to ongoing investigations and prosecutions, I can say that ICE, DHS, and the Department of Justice are wholly committed to maintaining public safety and the rule of law. That is why we are here today.

[11:20:09]

I am calling on everyone, politicians, the media, and activists, to put an end to these atrocities. Put an end to the dangerous, irresponsible rhetoric once and for all. You are pitting communities against federal law enforcement, and you are pitting neighbor against neighbor in Minnesota. This is why I'm up here almost every day to show you the good work my officers are doing. This is the same reason that Chief Bovino is up here every day.

The public needs to know about the dangerous, criminal, illegal aliens we're arresting. They need to see the faces of the monsters that these agitators are trying to protect. Yesterday, we arrested the following individuals.

Jose Ocampo Leon (ph), a criminal, illegal alien from Mexico, convicted of sexual conduct with a child under 16. Also up on these. Gerardo Sanchez Acuna (ph), a criminal, illegal alien convicted of drug trafficking. Salvador Salazar Rivera (ph), a criminal, illegal alien from Mexico convicted of violent domestic assault that inflicted bodily injury on his spouse. These are not the people that you want living next door to you. Rudy Pineda Aguilar (ph), a criminal, illegal alien from Guatemala convicted of criminal sexual conduct.

Not the people you want living by your schools. And finally, Jeffrey Ramon Rabanales (ph), a criminal, illegal alien from Guatemala convicted of assault, domestic assault, and damage to property. These are the people that those protesters and agitators are trying to protect.

We have the photo. Moments ago, a group of agitators, a U-Haul van filled with shields. Oh, it's not coming up. All right. Shields and gear decided to come over here to the Whipple building and block traffic. They're trying to currently, trying to impede us from getting out of the building and going and do our mission. I will tell you right now, they're going to fail. Because no matter what they put up in front of us, we are here to do a job to protect this community, to protect Minnesotans, and to keep the criminal, illegal aliens off the street and put them where they belong, back into detention and remove them from this country. Thank you, guys. Take questions now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. We'll start from here and we'll go down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate you taking our questions. You talked about specifically five of the people who were up on the slides. For people that are just watching this and to see faces on the slides, there are no names, and just the country, there are fraudulent events, how do you build trust in the community with some that might be skeptical when they don't know who these people are and don't know everything about the people that you're bringing into custody?

CHARLES: We're relying on you guys to put that message out. We put these slides up for you so you can get the message out to the public of the good work that our men and women are doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I just follow up real quick?

CHARLES: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people that you've taken into custody when you talk about the worst of the worst that you've done, what about the other people? Are you taking people into custody that don't have criminal pasts like the people you've talked about? Are there people that are going through the green card process, the asylum process? Are those people being detained now too during the search?

CHARLES: I will tell you this. We operate through intelligence and targeted enforcement. We are looking for certain individuals. As we are looking for these individuals, if there is somebody that is illegally in the country and amenable to removal from this country, we will arrest them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So some may not have a criminal past, a violent criminal past.

CHARLES: Correct. Correct. Yes, because every day that they're here, they are committing a crime. They may have been here 20 years, but that means for the last 20 years they have failed to do it the right way. And every day that they're here, they are here illegally in the United States. Now, we are not targeting those individuals, but if we come across those individuals in the course of our duties, we will arrest them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Next question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday, Minnesota's corrections commissioner shared videos of inmates being transferred, handed over to federal agents, and he says he can't find a single case where the DOC failed to honor the ICE detainers when someone finishes their in-custody state prison term. And he also says that you are overcounting the number of noncitizens that are in state custody by 1,000.

[11:25:06]

I'm wondering if you can address those discrepancies between what you guys have said in these press conferences and what the state commissioner of corrections said yesterday.

CHARLES: Yes, I clarified that yesterday by saying that the Department of Corrections for the state of Minnesota does cooperate. They hand people over at the end of their sentence, and we take them into custody. The numbers that we put out aren't -- when I say the state of Minnesota, I'm not talking about just the Department of Corrections. I'm talking throughout the state, counties, any municipalities that may be holding people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So he did say that there are about 207 in prison and 94 in county jails to make 301 total. I believe the numbers you guys were giving were more like 1,300. So what's the discrepancy?

CHARLES: The discrepancy is that he's Department of Corrections and we're Immigration Customs Enforcement with better databases than he has as far as who are out in custody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the state custody though, in county custody?

CHARLES: And throughout the United States. So the numbers I gave you were for Minnesota, correct. But our stats, our detainers are the ones that we count. We don't go into DOC data and count their data. It's not our data. Our data shows that we have over 1,300.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Minnesota?

CHARLES: In Minnesota.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a few questions on the five-year-old, and I'll rattle them off quickly and I'll repeat them if need be. Does the father have a criminal record? What charges was he arrested on? What's the son's legal status in immigration history? And what can you tell us about any ICE interactions with the mother as well as her legal status in immigration history?

CHARLES: That was pretty fast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's start with the first one. Does the father actually have a criminal record? And if so, what charges was he arrested on?

CHARLES: I will have to get back to you with any of this in-depth criminal history, but he was in the United States illegally, and I believe he'd been ordered removed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from the AP. Your press people do have my contact information.

CHARLES: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what's the son's legal status in immigration history?

CHARLES: The family came across as a family unit illegally a few years back. I can't get the date off the top of my head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us anything about ICE's interactions with the mother as well as her legal status in immigration history?

CHARLES: We have not encountered the mother as of this time.

MAGGIE VESPA, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: My question is for the commander, just given portions of your remarks, sir. And we appreciate you taking questions very much.

CHARLES: Of course.

VESPA: Maggie Vespa from NBC News. We have reported multiple times in- depth quoting DHS's statements saying that Liam Ramos (ph) is being held with his father in Texas. With that context in mind, we still have people saying that they're outraged at the idea of little kids being held in custody at all. So what do you say to those people, and what kinds of conditions are young children being held in?

BOVINO: As far as -- that family has not been separated. So it goes back --

VESPA: We reported that.

BOVINO: Yes.

VESPA: But even with that in mind, he's in custody, being detained in Texas with his dad.

BOVINO: Yes. With his dad. So that goes back to exactly what I just said is many American citizens are separated when they're arrested, say by Minneapolis Police Department or any other police department, they are separated from their children when they're arrested.

So take a look at what's happening here with this particular case. They're not being separated. That child is in the least restrictive setting possible. When I say that we're experts, both Border Patrol and ICE, in dealing with immigration cases that involve children, probably the most experienced anywhere in the United States by any domestic law enforcement agency.

I know that in my particular Border Patrol sector, that saw thousands of individuals coming across the border during that last administration, including hundreds of children. I remember our agents in the back parking lot playing soccer matches with those children in the back parking lot.

I challenge any other law enforcement agency, anywhere nationwide, to show me the fantastic care that ICE and U.S. border Patrol provide children. Don't come across the border illegally, especially don't commit crimes or there will be consequences and American citizens face it. So you know, the law is fair and firm.

VESPA: If I may follow up, you said he's with his family. Another way of looking at that might be that we don't imprison or detain American children, penalizing them for the actions of their parents. So what do you say to those who are troubled by the contrast? They see a child in custody. American kids don't endure that.

[11:29:46]

BOVINO: Well, I don't think there's a contrast. And the child could be without his parents somewhere, perhaps in social services care somewhere. And that's what we see oftentimes by children that are trafficked across the border. It's heartbreaking. They're not with any family. They're with Social Services or Office of Refugee and Resettlement.