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Trump Administration Launches Immigration Enforcement Blitz In Chicago; Interview With Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA); California National Guard Works To Reduce Mudslide Risk Ahead Of Rain. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired January 26, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOOP JACKSON, SPORTS JOURNALIST: You know, there's rookies and everybody else. There is that threshold where they get treated totally different, because you are a rookie.

JALEN BRUNSON, NBA ALL STAR: Anything you've done in the past, no one cares about. No matter what you've won, where you won, what you did. You're back to the bottom of the totem pole.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he is not acquiescing at all. Like, dude, you can't feel that you're that special.

TRACY MCGRADY, FRIEND AND NBA HALL OF FAMER: Because he doesn't give a (bleep) what they thought. He didn't care.

He's about this basketball, about his craft. Like he is real serious about this and all the time, I mean, I used to hear, "I am better than Michael Jordan." Like he used to say that faithfully, "I'm better than Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan ain't got nothing on me." And I was like, this dude is insane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: The new CNN Original series "Kobe: The Making of a Legend" replays tonight at 10:00 PM Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

[15:01:11]

All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I am Fredricka Whitfield, and we begin this hour with breaking news.

President Trump making good on his tariff threat. Moments ago, he announced that he is issuing sizable tariffs on all goods from Colombia, a retaliatory move coming after two U.S. military deportation flights of migrants were not allowed to land in Colombia.

CNN's Steve Contorno is joining us now from Florida. Steve, what more are you learning?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Fred, 25 percent tariffs, that is what Donald Trump is threatening on the country of Colombia right now, and the threat would grow to actually 50 percent. And again as you said, all of this in response to Colombia deciding not to allow two planes carrying undocumented migrants captured by the United States back into the country of Colombia.

And Trump, writing on Truth Social just moments ago: "Petro's denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and public safety of the United States." And then he goes on to list a bunch of actions that he is taking against Colombia, including those tariffs that I mentioned, a travel ban and immediate visa revocation on Colombian government officials and allies, as well as sanctions on party members and supporters of the Colombian government.

Now, our Priscilla Alvarez reporting moments ago that this move by Colombia's president actually caught the Trump administration by surprise. They believed that they had clearance from Colombia's government to bring these two plane full of people back to the country, and they were surprised to have the Colombian president say that these planes were not allowed to enter the country.

And now we are seeing this early attempt by Donald Trump to make good on his threats to use tariffs to wield other countries in the direction that he wants them to -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then, Steve, some of the things that are imported from or exported from Colombia into the U.S. involve like vegetable fats and oils, some soaps, salts, things like that. So consequently, things coming from that country might cost a little bit more in the coming days or months here in the U.S. as a result of this 25 percent tariffs.

So let's talk about something else, because, you know, this week, three more of Trump's Cabinet picks will be facing a grilling on Capitol Hill. What is at stake with these three confirmation hearings?

CONTORNO: Quite a bit, Fred, especially coming off of this week where we saw Donald Trump's pick for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have this very narrow victory in getting him the 51 votes needed to actually a tie break from Vice President JD Vance in order for his nomination to be confirmed.

Well, we have three more contentious nominees this week who will be having their hearings, including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. who is Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services; Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's choice for Director of National Intelligence; and then Kash Patel, his pick for FBI Director -- all three of these individuals have raised concerns not only among Democrats, but among Republicans, and democrats have been trying to push back against these nominations.

Take a listen to what Senator Elise Slotkin had to say earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI) Having someone in charge of our Intelligence organization that shows a preference for our adversaries, to me, is just right off the bat a deep question. And so, again, I hope that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who now have control of the Senate, control of the House, that they think about again, their commitment to the country, not to any one party.

[15:05:12]

I do not believe she is qualified for this role.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: So, Fred, it remains to be seen if any Republicans cross over with Democrats and try to block these nominees. So far, it hasn't happened yet.

WHITFIELD: All right, Steve Contorno, thank you so much.

All right, more on another breaking news story and we are following this out of Chicago, one of the first cities to see President Trump's immigration crackdown in full force. Several federal agencies that now have increased authority launched an operation earlier today and arrested what they say are undocumented immigrants, according to multiple sources.

ICE agents are expected to be joined by officials from multiple Justice Department agencies as they target public safety and National Security threats in a multi-day operation that will spread across the country.

White House Border Czar Tom Homan telling ABC News today that he is being realistic about deporting all migrants who entered the country illegally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS HOMAN (Border Czar): There is no number on it. So my success can be based on when Congress gives us more money, the better we are going to do. I am being realistic. We can do what we can with the money we have.

We are going to try to be efficient, but with more money we have, the more we can accomplish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN correspondent, Rosa Flores is following the latest from Chicago. So, Rosa, what are you hearing about this operation underway?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, I was based here in Chicago during Trump's first term and I can tell you that at the time, there was a lot of fear in the community. I interviewed a lot of people here, DACA recipients, their parents, and there was a sense of fear, but not to the level that I am hearing right now.

I've been working the phones since last night and in full transparency, I literally just landed in Chicago, got off a plane and ran to the studio, but I've been in contact with a lot of sources here on the ground, and the words that they are using to describe the pulse of the immigrant community in this city is panic, is a lot of fear, and heightened fear.

Now, this city has a long history of advocacy for immigrants and workers' rights. There is a lot of organizations in this city that have been working to educate migrants about their rights. They have held Know Your Rights Workshops. They run a hotline so that community members can call in case they see ICE activity.

An organization filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to try to stop these ICE enforcement actions from happening in the city, and there is even an organization who started delivering groceries to migrants who have not left their homes since President Trump took office last week.

Now, I want to share this example because it really gives you a sense of the fear in this community. One organizer told me that this individual is the volunteer who is dropping off food at the doorstep of a Venezuelan couple. They have two little girls, the two little girls love coloring, they love unicorns, just regular elementary-aged sisters, but they're cooped up in their apartment and they have not left.

They have not gone to school. Their parents have not gone to work because they are so afraid that they might get caught up in these mass deportations.

Now, all of the organizations that I've talked to here in Chicago, all the contacts that I've talked to, denounce these mass deportations because of how it is impacting just regular people, just children who go to school, their parents who are not criminals, their parents who are simply working in this city to pay rent, to put food on the table.

So there is this sense of fear and the sense of panic that has all of these organizations in action and denouncing these raids and enforcement actions that have been announced by the Trump administration.

The governor of this city, also denouncing these enforcement actions. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): These are not people who are causing problems in our country, and what we need is a path to citizenship for them.

We need to secure our border. We need to get rid of the violent criminals, but we also need to protect people, at least the residents of Illinois and all across the nation who are just doing what we hope that immigrants will do.

We are not going to help federal officials just drag them away because somebody pointed at them and said, "Oh, that person is Brown, or that persons not from here. Check it out, maybe they're undocumented."

(END VIDEO CLIP) FLORES: Now, the governor also calling for a path for citizenship for all the law abiding immigrants. And, Fred, I am in contact with a lot of people here in this city, and I have not heard of actual ICE enforcement actions that have happened, but of course, we are keeping tabs on it, and we will let you know if we hear about it -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, let us know, thank you so much, Rosa Flores. Appreciate that.

All right, I am joined now by Congressman Gerry Connolly. He is a Democrat from Virginia and a member of the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees.

[15:10:10]

Congressman, great to see you.

REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D-VA): Great to be with you, Fredricka. So I do want to get your reaction to what is transpiring and what is not, thus far, on this immigration plan from the Trump administration.

The border czar, you know, saying that he is being realistic. He said that on one of the talk shows today about deporting all migrants who entered the country illegally, but now, we are reporting in this breaking news that U.S. Military flights that had migrants on board do not have the approval of landing in Colombia.

And our Steve Contorno is reporting that the Trump administration says they thought they had clearance for these U.S. Military planes to land in Colombia, only to now learn that the Colombian president says no.

What are your thoughts about this sequence of events?

CONNOLLY: Well, I am kind of horrified that this can happen in America, particularly the report you just had on what is going on in Chicago in Illinois.

I mean, we are better than that. People have to be treated with humaneness and respect and dignity. There has to be a path to regularizing status for law-abiding immigrants, whether they came here documented or not.

Criminals, that's a different matter. We don't want people coming into our country with a criminal record or who engage in criminal activity. All of us agree on that. All of us agree we want to secure the border so that a hundred percent of everyone who comes into America comes in documented and legally.

But that is not the system right now. We are breaking up families. We are showing the worst side of our own nature by creating a culture of innumerable fears about families staying together. And by the way, it is going to affect everything in a community like Chicago -- schools, nursing homes, hospitals, restaurants -- creating this climate of fear that is going to seep through the broader community as well.

We've got to do better than that. We can't be treating people that way. That's not who we are as a country or a culture or a community.

WHITFIELD: But what you're describing is the consequence of something that Donald Trump campaigned on. He said immigration was going to be his top priority and that he won, he feels he has the mandate to carry out the policy that he sees fit. This is what he sees fit. So now what?

CONNOLLY: Well, I don't think he has such a mandate. He got a very narrow mandate in the election, he won and he won the popular vote, but he didn't get a majority.

And, you know, Democrats are still here and so are Independent Republicans and Independent Democrats who want a humane policy and want to see due process as well.

And I think that we are already seeing cracks in the system, and there is going to be more and more resistance because of the method, the way they're doing it, not just what they're doing.

And I think the American people didn't ratify an inhumane, undignified, disrespectful approach to due process in to how we treat families.

WHITFIELD: What do you see as potentially happening next? I don't know the status, we haven't heard any reporting about the status of these U.S. Military planes that either had to turn around or are enroute back to the U.S. with migrants on board, because Colombia did not give them the okay to land.

If there are other planes that are being utilized today, U.S. Military planes that might be taking off to go to any number of other countries and get the same kind of treatment, what is happening back in the U.S. when these planes land with all of these people on board who have been labeled, you know, have been told that they were illegal immigrants that are being returned to their countries. What is it going to look like on these U.S. tarmacs when these planes make their way back with a lot of people, where are you going to put them?

CONNOLLY: Well, I am not going to put them anywhere. I mean, this was a decision made by the administration to use the military.

WHITFIELD: What do you envision will happen?

CONNOLLY: Well, presumably, there will have to be negotiations between the government of Colombia and the government of the United States. We are in a commanding position, because we are the 600-pound gorilla. But Colombia is a sovereign nation, and Trump slapping on a high tariff and threatening to double that tariff in a week or two can only hurt American consumers as well as the Colombian economy.

You know, you mentioned some items we import from Colombia, but remember two big ones, coffee and flowers. An awful lot of winter flowers coming into the United States, Valentine's Day, for example, come from Colombia. It is a huge industry. And so consumer costs are going to rise in the United States with those kinds of tariffs.

[15:15:10]

This shows the hastiness of the policy Trump and Homan are implementing have consequences. You've got to negotiate with the receiving nation, and you've got to make sure you've got a rationale for who is on what transport plane and why they are there and get consent from the receiving nation. You can't just bully your way onto a tarmac in a sovereign state and that is what is happening right now.

WHITFIELD: Let me shift gears, if I could here. Trump has also fired now, at least a dozen inspectors general. You released a statement on Trump's IG purge, calling it an attack on transparency and accountability.

I mean, that this is supposed to be an independent watchdog group, right, and they are protected that they would be given 30 days' notice if they were to be fired or removed with a new administration.

So can you expand on, you know, these firings and what happens next? I spoke with former white House Counsel John Dean earlier who said, you know, he sees that some potentially will just go to work tomorrow. Some of those IGs who may have been fired unjustly, that they will show up at work, but then what will happen potentially?

CONNOLLY: So, I would echo that. I think every one of them should show up to work tomorrow, because this is not a legal action by the president of the United States.

The law requires two things: One, 30-day notice to Congress. And secondly, they've got to spell out the deficiencies that that caused this termination to occur, and President Trump has done neither of those two things. So they are legally, I think, required to go to work tomorrow and I hope they do.

But inspectors general are the hope for the American people. They are the ones that keep everything else honest, and they are supposed to have an unblemished record, and they are the ones looking at waste, fraud and abuse and inefficiency and bad management and programs that need to be terminated because they're not working.

We count on them for unblemished analysis. When you start to politicize these jobs, which is supposed to be explicitly nonpolitical, nonpartisan, you're going to change the whole complexion of federal agencies. And ironically, you're going to actually jeopardize the DOGE mission elsewhere in your administration, where you purport to want to ferret out waste, fraud, and abuse.

Well, the people who do that are the inspectors general, and those are the very people that are under attack. And by the way, we were looking at the numbers today. We think that number is now 19.

WHITFIELD: Okay, 19 inspectors generals who were fired and DOGE, just for those who are still trying to get accustomed to what that is, the Department of Government Efficiency, this is a new agency or department established by the Trump administration.

All right, Congressman Gerry Connolly, appreciate your time. Thank you.

CONNOLLY: My pleasure. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, new weather threats in Southern California as crews try to protect homes in the burn zones from mudslides now as heavy rain moves into the region.

CNN gets a firsthand look at how the National Guard is protecting homes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, new details on the Southern California wildfires. Communities in the burn scar area are bracing for mudslides now as heavy rain hits the region.

All major wildfires that have been burning in the Los Angeles area are nearly contained, and while the rain is giving firefighters a much needed boost in their efforts to contain the flames, people in fire- scorched areas face a new threat, mudslides.

CNN' Julia Vargas Jones took a ride with the U.S. National Guard as they worked to shore up areas most at risk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARRETT SAWTELLE, CAPTAIN, CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD: We're in Altadena California and we're entering the Sierra Madre Villa debris basin.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The National Guard deployed to assist first responders just hours after the deadly fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena began in the first week of January.

This unit part of the Guards Task Force 49 is charged with digging trenches at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California, a race against the rain to protect neighborhoods in and around the burn zone.

SAWTELLE: The fire basically causes it to be a lot more susceptible to erosion.

JONES: Oh wow. Oh, I see this now. So, this is where the water is going to flow.

SAWTELLE: Yes. So, the water will come through there.

JONES: Oh, that is deep.

JONES (voice-over): Their aim to divert water that could trigger dangerous mudslides once rain begins to fall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have two means of loading. We have our excavators and then behind us we have our loader or front wheel loader.

JONES (voice-over): Crews digging pits into hillsides to create dams.

SAWTELLE: So, this portion will capture the sediment rocks vegetation, and then where it opens up the water would flow out.

JONES (voice over): The whirr and buzz of bulldozers excavators and other heavy machinery a welcome cacophony to a community still reeling from fatal wildfires.

[15:25:09]

SAWTELLE: So, this was a part of the burn scar. So, the fire did come through here.

JONES (voice over): Burn scars are among the most vulnerable areas for potential mudslides and even flash flooding.

This has been the driest start to the rainfall season in Southern California in over four decades. The ground is so dry that if the rain falls too fast, soil won't be able to absorb it.

Lieutenant Colonel James Smith is the commander of this operation.

LT. COL. JAMES SMITH, CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD: If we do get significant rainfall, you're going to see a lot of that material behind us here. It's going to move down into this basin.

JONES (voice over): His mission, he says, is to do whatever is necessary to avoid even further devastation.

SMITH: You can't imagine the tragedy they've all suffered through. We'll be here however long we need to be in order to help this community recover.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: And Victor and Amara, there will be a flood watch in place starting this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. and going until 4:00 p.m. on Monday. And that's for all of the areas in and around Los Angeles that have these vulnerable burn scars. That goes both for the Palisades and Eaton Fire as well as Franklin, Hughes and Bridge Fires.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (on camera): And, Fred, we are starting to see some rainfall here in Altadena. Businesses and homes that have made it through those fires prepped with sandbags on their doors and tarps on their windows. This, as this whole area is under a flood warning from 4:00 PM today until 4:00 PM on Monday, and it is not just for here, the Eaton Fire area, also for that Palisades area, as well as the Franklin, Hughes, and Bridge Fires area.

WHITFIELD: Oh my. Oh my goodness. Now flood warning now rattling nerves even more.

All right, Julia Vargas Jones thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Trump is suggesting there might have been a different outcome for the war in Ukraine if he had been president at the time. Here is what Trump said yesterday on Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Mr. President, can I you about Ukraine? Do you have any update on when you are going to talk to Russian President Putin?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He wants to speak and we will be speaking soon. And I've spoken to President Zelenskyy numerous times and they'd like to see peace. They would like to see an end to the war.

And I think President Putin would like to see an end to the war, too. So we will see if we can help it along. I think it is a shame. It's a war that would have never happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, Vladimir Putin also saying publicly last week that he actually agrees with Trump's sentiment.

Let's bring in now Simon Shuster. He covers Russia and Ukraine as a correspondent for "Time" Magazine. He is also the author of the book, "The Showman" about Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and the Russian invasion.

All right, great to see you, Simon. So, yes, we know that Ukraine would like this war to end, but is there a feeling that it would have made a difference whether Russia would have invaded Ukraine had there been a different administration?

SIMON SHUSTER, COVERS RUSSIA AND UKRAINE AS A CORRESPONDENT, "TIME" MAGAZINE: It's hard to say. I mean, these kinds of hypotheticals, of course, are political statements that Trump makes to criticize his predecessor and play himself up. I don't think, fundamentally, the war could have been avoided because it was just Russia -- Putin had made the decision to invade. It is hard to see what the United States could have done to avoid that, you know, without handing Putin Ukraine on a platter.

Now, the fear is that that is roughly what Trump is preparing to do in these upcoming talks and Ukraine and President Zelenskyy, first and foremost, are trying to get into Trump's circle and influence his views on Ukraine so that he doesn't, in his talks with Putin, offer anything like a capitulation.

WHITFIELD: In fact, I am wondering, are you learning anything more about President Zelenskyy's point of view? Because we have heard Trump say before that a deal can be made and that implies that Zelenskyy would be potentially willing to consider giving up portions of Ukraine so as to stop the war. But then that only helps support what the goal of Putin was all along was to take land, right?

So is there a new point of view that is being expressed or any more that is being expressed from Zelenskyy about what a deal would mean?

SHUSTER: Yes. I think President Zelenskyy's rhetoric and his position on what a possible peace deal would look like has evolved quite a lot in recent months. He is no longer so firm in demanding that a victory means the restoration of all of Ukraine's territory. He does talk quite openly about the possibility of leaving that to a later date, essentially allowing, the occupation of some Ukrainian territory to continue.

But there is a key caveat there. He insists that if Russia remains in control of any Ukrainian territory as part of a peace deal, that Ukraine needs to get security guarantees from the United States and other allies that will ensure Russia does not invade again, that it does not use those occupied territories as a platform to prepare for and launch another invasion. That's now really what Zelenskyy is single mindedly focused on.

Not so much the restoration of territory, even though that's still very important to him, but the security guarantees to ensure that Russia wont invade again.

WHITFIELD: This is sound from President Zelenskyy recently. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): He wants to manipulate the desire of the president of the United States of America to achieve peace. I am confident that no Russian manipulations will succeed any more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:35:06]

WHITFIELD: Is he at all concerned about what Trump says will be a meeting with Putin soon?

SHUSTER: Yes. Zelenskyy is very concerned about that. The Ukrainians are maneuvering every way they can to try to influence people within Trump's orbit and Trump himself. There are high hopes in Kyiv for a high-level meeting, possibly including a meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump in the coming couple of weeks.

So those are all attempts on the part of the Ukrainians to get in there and influence Trump's thinking before he sits down or has any kind of conversation with Putin about the war.

I don't know how successful that will be. There is a big concern that essentially the old Cold War nuclear superpowers will sit down and negotiate with each other above Ukraine's head, turning Ukraine once again into a kind of peace on the geopolitical chessboard.

Ukraine doesn't want to be in that position. It spent much of its history in that position. So what Zelenskyy is trying to do is to have a voice to have agency in these talks and to make sure that Trump has Ukraine's point of view, at least well in mind when he does talk to Putin face-to-face or otherwise.

WHITFIELD: All right, Simon Shuster, thank you so much.

SHUSTER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Donald Trump's aggressive push against illegal immigration is also raising questions about what it could mean for some migrants who are in the U.S. legally, especially for those who arrive to work in the country's critical agriculture industry.

CNN's David Culver has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Calling out to us from the back of the bus, Juan Manuel Cisneros shows us what he describes as his American Dream come true.

(JUAN MANUEL CISNEROS speaking in foreign language.)

CULVER: I said, do you always carry that document with you? And he goes, yes, because if anything happens, he can pull it out and say, I'm here legally in this country.

CULVER (voice over): Everyone on this bus can say the same. Their farm workers here on H-2A visas, which allow foreign workers to fill temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs.

CULVER (on camera): They come here for about eight months. All the folks on this bus who are on their lunch break are from Mexico. He says they're able to work the field. And as he sees it, it's a good solution to be able to make money and yet, at the same time, be here legally.

CULVER (voice over): But with that visa comes grueling work.

RICK ROTH, PRESIDENT OF ROTH FARMS: Nobody local wants to work in agriculture, harvesting crop. Nobody. These are hardworking, able- bodied men, and that's what they're doing. They're doing manual labor.

CULVER (voice over): And they're doing it in a place that might surprise you.

CULVER: That's easy.

ROTH: Yes.

CULVER: If I go far enough, I'll hit Mar-a-Lago.

ROTH: Yes, you will.

CULVER (voice over): You need only travel about 40 miles from here, as Roth Farms sits just on the western edge of Palm Beach County, Florida.

CULVER: Certainly, doesn't feel like the beaches of Palm Beach.

ROTH: But it has the weather.

CULVER (voice over): Which can be brutally hot and humid for those working these fields. Yet despite his need for a reliable and cost- efficient work force, Roth says he supports President Trump's stance on immigration.

CULVER: Is it going to get more difficult to get workers you think under President Trump and the crackdown on immigration?

ROTH: No, I think it actually will get easier. We just want people to be vetted, and we want good workers that come out here.

CULVER: So, the H-2A visa program may seem like a perfect solution to keep predominantly migrant workers employed on farms like this one here in Florida. But critics point out that it doesn't cover every person or every situation. Say, for example, those migrants who are fleeing violent and dangerous situations and don't have a home to go back to once the season is over, or those who simply want to live and work with their families year-round in the U.S.

Then you've got small farmers who say that the program is just way too costly and way too complicated.

CULVER (voice over): For now, though, Roth sees H-2A visas as the best way to keep U.S. farms running. He hires a third-party company to handle the logistics. They recruit the workers from abroad and then place them at several different farms, including Roth's.

ROTH: You hire them in Mexico, and you transport them over here. You pay all the transportation costs.

CULVER: You are paying for that?

ROTH: I pay all the transportation costs. We put them up in housing. We pay all the housing costs. Only thing we're allowed to charge them for is the cost of the food when we feed them.

CULVER (voice over): So, what is it like for these workers?

CULVER (on camera): So here it is about five o'clock in the evening, and these workers have just finished their shift at Roth Farms and arriving back at their housing complex.

CULVER (voice over): Juan Manuel and the others invite us to meet them after their work day is over.

(DAVID CULVER AND JUAN MANUEL CISNEROS speaking in foreign language.)

CULVER: What do you do you do this time of the day? Yes, when you get here from work?

(JUAN MANUEL CISNEROS speaking in foreign language.)

CULVER: Dinner is at six.

We can go with him. He's inviting us up --

(DAVID CULVER speaking in foreign language.)

CULVER: They've been working 10 hours today. They work six, sometimes seven days a week. They have just a few things that they need, few changes of clothes, some snacks and not much privacy.

CULVER (voice over): Juan Manuel shows us his set up.

CULVER: He says, what he makes is about $16.00 an hour. So here, what you make in an hour, as he puts it, is an entire day's work in Mexico.

[15:45:10]

CULVER (voice over): This is his third year on the visa work program.

CULVER (on camera): He said the money that he makes here, he is able to support his family in Mexico as well and help his mom and dad and brother and sister.

(JUAN MANUEL CISNEROS speaking in foreign language.)

CULVER And he said, that's what you need to do to survive.

You can see all the workers now are gathering from all the different buildings, most of them all work at different sites, but they come together to eat and then sleep, and then they will be back at it on the fields in about ten to eleven hours from now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:25]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back.

Americans are facing another year of record high egg prices. The costs are expected to jump 20 percent this year as inflation and the avian flu outbreak continue to devastate chicken flocks across the country. The virus has killed more than 17 million egg laying birds in November and December alone, and has already claimed another eight million this month, forcing some grocery stores to limit purchases as shoppers face average prices of just over $4.00 per dozen.

All right, a new CNN film chronicles the life of the late movie star, Christopher Reeve, "Superman." But his greatest role may have come after that as an advocate for the latest science to help spinal cord injury patients like himself.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LATE ACTOR CHRISTOPHER REEVE: These cells have the potential to cure diseases and conditions ranging from Parkinson's and MS, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's, even spinal cord injuries like my own.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Christopher Reeve wouldn't live to see stem cells possibly help with his own paralysis, but nearly 30 years after his accident, spinal cord injury patients like Jake Javier are now reaping the benefits.

JAKE JAVIER, SPINAL CORD INJURY PATIENT: So, it was actually my last day of high school, and was over at a friend's house, and we were swimming. I just jumped out a little too far and ended up hitting my head where it started to get a bit shallow, and made on the bottom and broke my neck.

GUPTA: Like Reeve, Jake was also left paralyzed. Instead of walking with San Ramon Valley High School's graduating class of 2016, Jake was weighing whether or not to try an experimental treatment based on stem cells.

JAVIER: Didn't know a whole lot about it, but I knew that it could potentially help me, or you know, potentially help others, and I didn't see a lot of risk in it, so I decided to do it.

BRIAN CULLEY, CEO OF LINEAGE CELL THERAPEUTICS: Stem cells can become, by definition, any of the cells of the human body. They just need the instructions and the information.

GUPTA: Brian Culley is the CEO of Lineage Cell Therapeutics.

CULLEY: We convert those stem cells into the actual cells that comprise and make up the spinal cord.

GUPTA: Think of the spinal cord as the nervous system's interstate with these electrical impulses sending messages from your brain to other parts of your body. Now, to send those messages more efficiently, a conductive sheath of fat and protein known as myelin, wraps around the nerves, but when the spinal cord is injured, the myelin can become damaged as well.

GUPTA (on camera): When you've actually injected these cells into the spinal cord and someone like Jake. What sort of results have you been saying?

CULLEY: To date 30 individuals have received these cells. The initial objective was to demonstrate the safety, but the data which we collected and the conversations that we had with the surgeons really encouraged us that there was some improvement that was somewhat unexpected.

GUPTA: Improvements for patients like Jake, that now allow him to live his life, drive and work.

JAVIER: I ended up getting some return here in my right hand, so I'm able to wiggle this index finger just a little bit, which doesn't look like much, and there's not a lot of strength behind it, but actually proves to be very functional for me, because it kind of gives me a little bit more dexterity and the ability to kind of open my hand here and grab even small objects like this.

GUPTA: How big a deal was the advocacy of Christopher Reeve and all this?

CULLEY: Christopher Reeve is synonymous with this condition, and that's really important. Having someone who is connected as an individual to a condition can really help attract attention and interest in the space.

JAVIER: I knew I would one day get to a point where I felt like I was living a very fulfilled lifestyle, traveling the world and going to school, move down to San Diego, and after getting my masters in North Carolina, and I'm engaged. I have a wonderful fiance who's very supportive.

GUPTA (voice over): Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

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WHITFIELD: "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story" airs Sunday, February 2nd at 8:00 PM Eastern, right here on CNN.

All right, straight ahead, more on our breaking news. President Trump issuing sizable tariffs on all goods from Colombia.

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WHITFIELD: Hello, again everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and we continue to follow our breaking news on Trump making good on his tariff threats.

Just a short time ago, the president announced he is issuing sizable tariffs on all goods from Colombia that would include coffees, vegetable oils, and fresh cut flowers. The retaliatory move came after two U.S. Military deportation flights were not allowed to land in Colombia.

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