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The Situation Room

Lawmaker Urges ICE to Take Immigrant's Medical Care Seriously; Sen. Sanders, Rep. Casar Unveil "Superintelligence" Ban; Rising Health Insurance Costs Pressure Millions of Americans. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired September 24, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, new video just coming in from police and social media showing the moments before ICE agents shot and wounded a Venezuelan immigrant Sunday in Austin, Texas. And now, a Democratic congressman is accusing the Department of Homeland Security of not taking 28-year-old Wilber Garces Perez 's medical care seriously. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GREG CASAR (D-TX): He finally got to see a specialist and that that specialist told him that he needs surgery to remove the bullet that remains in his body. The government should not be allowed to shoot you, take you to the hospital briefly, pull you out of the hospital, have you sleep on a concrete floor bleeding, and then not have you see a specialist for days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Democratic Congressman Greg Casar from Texas, whom you just heard from there, joins us now. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for all you're doing. I know you were at the detention center there where Garces Perez is being held. How is he doing, first of all?

CASAR: Good to be here with you, Wolf. I was just with Wilber Garces Perez yesterday. And look, he's still got a bullet in him. He's in a wheelchair and a sling bleeding out of the wound in his back and covered in bruises on his front. He's trying to keep his spirits up, but he's certainly in severe condition.

And so, I've made three demands here. One, if he chooses to go forward with surgery, which his surgeon or specialist has said he needs to get that bullet removed, that ICE needs to expedite that surgery and not get in the way. Second, ICE needs to immediately release all of the body cam footage and dash cam footage from this incident. Local police has already done so. So, we need to know exactly what happened, get some transparency quickly. And third, ICE needs to cooperate with the independent investigation being led up by local law enforcement.

And so, the ICE agents involved, as well as Wilber, should all be interviewed by ICE, but also by local law enforcement, independent investigators, because ICE has proven thus far that they are not trustworthy to investigate themselves. And second, they've proven themselves untrustworthy to protect the health and safety of people, including this horrific lack of medical care over the last few days for Mr. Garces Perez.

BLITZER: You say, Congressman, that ICE needs to take his medical care, and I'm quoting you now, extremely seriously. I take it you believe they're not doing that. What else would you like to see them do right now to save this man's life?

CASAR: Right now, they need to make sure that he gets scheduled for that surgery. Of course, surgery comes with its benefits, some risks. And so, if he chooses to move forward today, he should be immediately heading to the hospital. And then he doesn't need to go sleep in a detention center. I mean, Wolf, you or I, anybody watching at home, if you just got finished getting shot in the back and are still bleeding, you would still be in medical care. And so, he needs a doctor. He does not need a detention.

And look, ICE sent a swarm of agents here a few weeks ago. And many of us said then that they need to leave Austin before it becomes Minneapolis or Houston, where somebody gets shot. Unfortunately, and tragically, that happened. And we do not need it to happen again.

Wolf, what they've been doing here is unacceptable. They deported a five-year-old. They arrested a man in front of a church food bank. And now, they shot this DoorDash delivery driver in the back and are trying to get him deported before he can get the medical care he needs or testify about what happened.

BLITZER: The Department of Homeland Security responded to your claims in a statement to CNN saying that Mr. Garces Perez was, quote -- and I'm quoting him now -- quoting Department of Homeland Security, "Receiving medical care around the clock, including pain medication." And DHS denied he was forced to sleep on the floor, saying, and I'm quoting now, "He slept in a bed," end quote. What's your response to their statement?

CASAR: I mean, DHS and Secretary Mullin have tweeted at me like a dozen times in the last couple of days. They literally are just liars wearing masks with a blank check here from Donald Trump. Remember, this is the same DHS that called Renee Good a terrorist. And then the video came out, showed she's a U.S. citizen, mom in a minivan, who was killed needlessly when she was trying to speak out for her neighbors.

Here they are refusing to answer questions about what happened. They've so far stonewalled local investigators. They need to send those investigators the evidence and get to the very truth of this matter.

[11:35:00]

Also, Wolf, if you look at some of DHS's tweets, they tweet mugshot after mugshot of people they say they've arrested who are dangerous and have criminal records. But what's most telling is there's no mugshot of Wilber Garces Perez because he has no criminal record. He was just delivering DoorDash. And like so many other people, ICE is stopping. They are just going after everyday people, and they aren't actually trying to keep our community more safe.

BLITZER: I want to bring in my co-anchor, Pamela Brown, a congressman. She has a question about A.I. Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I wanted to ask you about this legislation. You and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders just introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, and it would pause A.I. development until a cabinet-level department and secretary is created to regulate A.I. Tech leaders could even face up to 20 years in prison for violating the law. President Trump, as you know, has rejected calls for A.I. regulation, so isn't this a nonstarter while he's in office?

CASAR: Look, just a year ago, Pam, the only conversation in Congress was passing bills to get rid of state-level A.I. safety laws. But now we're living in a different world. The American public is increasingly becoming aware of how completely deregulated A.I. threatens our jobs, our freedoms, and indeed, potentially countless lives here.

So, the ground is rapidly shifting beneath our feet, and ideas that people said might have been bold a few months ago now are basic common sense. You have the leaders of the A.I. companies themselves saying their technology could eventually become as dangerous as nuclear weapons. And what Senator Sanders and my proposal does is very simple. It says these should be then regulated like weapons of mass destruction if they can have that level of capability.

And so, no, we don't need to tinker a little around the edges. We should simply ban A.I. systems that evade human control, are too powerful for humans to control, and certainly we need to ban their capability to develop or design nuclear or biochemical weapons.

BLITZER: Congressman Greg Casar of Texas, thanks so much for joining us.

CASAR: Thank you both.

BROWN: Thank you. And coming up, help with health care. Millions of Americans face the tough choice between skyrocketing prices or skipping treatment that could be life or death. Coming up, we'll talk to a woman who is going through all of this right now.

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[11:40:00]

BROWN: Well, happening now, the rising cost of living is weighing on Americans in more ways than one as the Iran war impacts the economy and gas prices, health insurance premiums have also skyrocketed for millions of Americans this year. Congress failed to extend enhanced premium subsidies for Americans enrolled through the Affordable Care Act, and that meant those subsidies expired at the start of the year, forcing many Americans to choose higher costs or dropping health care coverage altogether.

And that's the case with Kara Windeler. She has had chronic health issues since she was six weeks old. She says she'll likely have to end her coverage in November because it's too expensive. So, I want to have Kara join us now to learn more about her story and how what happens in Washington directly impacts people across the country like you, Kara. Thank you so much for coming on. Tell us more about how the cost of your health insurance changed this year and what practical effect that has had on your financial situation.

KARA WINDELER, STRUGGLING TO AFFORD INSURANCE COVERAGE: Well, thank you for having me. It changed in major ways throughout the increase in the health care premiums the entire time. In 2024, I had to sell my house of 17 years so that I could continue to afford my care. But then after the subsidies expired, or were going to expire, I had to look at what, you know, my costs, what my options were going to be. And I have a higher-cost plan because I have many specialists and treatments that are only covered under those plans.

So, I also had to look at what the billed amount to my insurance company was through all of 2025. And that was over $200,000 that was billed to my insurance, and that's not something that I would be able to afford. So, I had to remain on the higher-cost plan so that I could continue to see my specialists and have my treatment. But now, even the safety net from the proceeds of selling my house have all been expended on that health care, and there's nothing else that I can do.

BROWN: So, where do you go from here?

WINDELER: Probably the same answer that a lot of people have, I really -- I don't know. More than likely, I will have to go to a lower-cost plan, significantly lower cost per month, but I will also have to find new specialists, new medications. And when you have chronic autoimmune disorders, there are a lot of specialists and testing and medications that don't necessarily work the first try and have to try something else.

So, this is all going to be starting all over again to find specialists that take a less-expensive plan, to find medications that are covered. And I'm liquidating little pieces of my life each day to be able to afford these things, and I don't think anybody should have to just break off pieces of their lives just so that they can be covered under their health care.

[11:45:00]

BROWN: Well, you are certainly not alone. A recent KFF poll found that more than half, that's 54 percent, to be precise, of rural voters disapprove of President Trump's handling of health care and largely view his health care policies as having negatively impacted their costs. They say their concerns around health care costs are impacting the way they're thinking about the midterms. Does this resonate with you as you head into the midterms?

WINDELER: Oh, absolutely. And the thing about it is that, you know, there's the red and blue side of everything and everybody's disagreements, but this is something that is happening to all Americans, regardless of whether or not you're Republican or Democrat, and the only thing I ever seem to see with politicians are working to get reelected or working to get their next soundbite or working to fan the flames of whatever outrage they can get attention for, and nobody's doing anything to solve this problem.

And I think Americans want to see our politicians, our elected officials working for us. I don't expect them to always make our lives super easy, but to, again, put people in a situation where they're choosing having a roof over their head, feeding their family, or getting the necessary medical care that they absolutely need to survive.

BROWN: Which party do you think is most well-equipped to handle health care affordability right now? How will this impact your vote come November?

WINDELER: Well, I think the party that's in charge right now hasn't done anything, and maybe it's time to let somebody else drive the car and see what happens. So, I need new ideas, and the Republican Party is in charge, and they decided that those subsidies were going to expire, and those are subsidies that myself and millions of Americans need so that they can have that care. So, if there are qualified Democrats that have ideas, I want to hear ideas to solve the problem, I want to know what it is that you plan to do.

BROWN: But are you hearing them from Democrats? Like, do you hear ideas from Democrats that inspire you?

WINDELER: I hear ideas about bringing back subsidies, bringing back help to the consumer. I mean, also lowering the prices of other things that you have to look into when you're deciding whether or not to pay for your health care costs, food, gas, all of those things. I want these prices to come down. I want the war on Iran to end. You know, these are things that I think all Americans want.

I think that constituents are not being listened to because it's usually high percentages of constituents who are saying that they want these changes. So, if one particular party is in charge right now and those changes aren't being made, then I think we need to put somebody else in charge. More independents, possibly? I don't know, but I do know that something needs to be fixed really soon.

BROWN: Kara, best of luck for you. I know that you have a lot going on with your health conditions, and I hope that you'll stay in touch with us and let us know how your journey continues and --

WINDELER: Thank you so much.

BROWN: Thank you. Thank you so much. And after the break, we're going to take a look at just how many people could end up losing coverage this year as those prices rise. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00]

BLITZER: Welcome back. We just heard from someone dealing with the effects of higher health insurance premiums after federal subsidies expired at the beginning of the year.

BROWN: So, let's dig into what the numbers say with CNN senior writer Tami Luhby. Tami, you've covered this extensively. How does Kara's story compare to others who have lost coverage this year?

TAMI LUHBY, CNN SENIOR WRITER: Well, sadly, Kara is far from alone. Originally, we -- CMS issued some figures from February. From the actual people who were enrolled as of February. And the drop wasn't terrible. It was 21.8 million in February last year. And it went down to about 19.2 million this year. But we've been seeing that more and more people are dropping out over time.

We have a more recent report from 18 states that run their own exchanges. And they said that initially they saw just a 1.4 percent drop in enrollment. But then as of May, the drop, you know, it widened to 8.5 million. And we're seeing in some states like Mississippi, they told me in August, the insurance commissioner said that they're down 63 percent now, you know, as of August. So, more and more people are dropping out. And there's some reasons for that.

Some, like Kara, just -- you know, they want to keep the insurance. They're trying. But they've seen these premiums go up. They're dealing with higher gas prices. They're dealing with higher grocery prices. And, you know, just over time, they can't keep it up. And they're being forced to drop their coverage. But there were also a lot of people what we call were auto-re-enrolled. They were enrolled without realizing, you know, it's just a standard practice in the ACA. They're rolled over to the next year.

And they may not have checked that their premiums were higher. So, when they started getting those first bills in January, February, et cetera, they were like, oh, my God, these premiums are so much higher. I can't afford it. So, they're dropping their coverage. So, we are seeing a lot more people. I spoke to Cynthia Cox at KFF, and she said some of their preliminary data shows also that enrollment is dropping.

BROWN: And J.D. Vance also announced taking more people off, right? Tell us about that very quickly.

[11:55:00]

LUHBY: Yes. Well, that we're not sure actually how many real people were taken off. J.D. Vance announced as part of the White House's anti-fraud efforts on Tuesday that they were removing 760,000 enrollments. But the administration is saying that many of those people don't actually exist, that there were brokers and agents who were committing fraud by signing up fake people in order to get commissions. So, some of these people don't exist.

Some of these people may have been signed up without realizing it and without wanting coverage. But there are a lot of concerns by experts and advocates that some of those people do exist, want the coverage, and have now been dropped.

BROWN: All right. Tammy, thank you so much. BLITZER: And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us. We'll see you back here tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, Inside Politics with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts after a quick break.

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