CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Cory Booker
Interview
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[10:45:39] SCIUTTO: This morning, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Cory Booker is out with a brand-new plan to overhaul immigration and fix the humanitarian crisis at the southern border, if elected president. Joining me now is presidential candidate Cory Booker.
Senator, thank you for taking the time this morning.
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm really grateful you're having me on, Jim. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: All right. So in brief so our viewers are aware, your plan will do a number of things. Proposes to end family separations, expand DACA protections -- of course the president repealed those -- decriminalize border crossings, accept more refugees.
TEXT: Sen. Cory Booker's Immigration Reform Plan: Restores and expands DACA, DAPA & TPS protections; Eliminates requirements for detaining refugees & asylum seekers; Shuts down DHS detention facilities that don't meet high standards; Plan carried out by executive actions
SCIUTTO: I wonder, just briefly here, how would this address the rising influx of asylum-seekers at the border?
BOOKER: Well, part of the plan is actually to focus on those Northern Triangle countries, appoint a special envoy, work with our regional partners to start doing the opposite of what Donald Trump is doing. He is literally pulling back resources from those countries. We need to not only lean in, but we need to work with our area partners to stop the root cause that's pulling -- pushing people to come to the northern border.
Remember, this is a crisis that Donald Trump has created through executive action, not through the things that Congress has done. He started and created a crisis with executive action. I will end it with executive action, doing things that reflect our values.
Right now, as we speak, there are expecting mothers, nursing moms, elderly folks, vulnerable populations being held in detention unnecessarily, doing permanent damage to children -- literally, Donald Trump's own administration reports are talking about the permanent damage they're doing to kids.
And this is not about our safety. We have had lots of examples of lower-cost things that we can do that have more effective means with which dealing with immigration, and that don't violate our values and permanently harm vulnerable populations. We can do this. We have the capacity.
SCIUTTO: Fair enough. We have the deputy commissioner of the CBP on last hour, and he said that, you know, if these accounts are true, that they will -- that there will be consequences.
Let's drill down some, now, more deeply on some of your proposals here. You, for instance, support decriminalizing border crossings. I wonder -- and just for folks at home, why shouldn't it be a crime for people to enter the country, or attempt to, illegally?
BOOKER: Well, let's assume (ph) -- do it from a very selfish perspective. This is -- that's a far more expensive way to deal with it. It actually sucks up a tremendous amount of law enforcement resources, where we need our law enforcement to be targeting and focusing on the real threats to our nation, high-priority cases.
By dealing with it in the civil courts, like the American Bar Association and others -- American Pediatrics Academy, others -- show that we can do this in a way that still keeps us safe, that actually has a higher rate -- when you provide, like my plan does, legal representation -- has a higher rate, nearly a hundred percent rate of people staying within the system, showing up for their court dates.
I mean, this is the -- Donald Trump's tough bluster, trying to criminalize people, sucking our resources, taking away law enforcement from doing the things that they should do, focusing on people that are really no threat to us.
And if we create a really supportive system, they will stay there. They'll go through their court cases, they'll be evaluated on whether they need asylum or qualify to stay in our nation.
SCIUTTO: OK. Another proposal, your plan would effectively virtually eliminate the detention centers. And we're well aware of the sometimes horrible conditions that are being reported by some of your fellow lawmakers who have gone down to witness, but also others, outsiders.
I'm curious, as the numbers jump, of asylum-seekers -- it was up some 30,000 from this time last year -- where will those asylum-seekers go if those -- if those holding facilities are gone?
BOOKER: No, I appreciate that. And as somebody who's gone down to the border, met with asylum-seekers, visited these awful private prisons that should not exist, where there's a profit motive -- literally, these are folks that often lobby the federal government for these policies that help them to create profit off of the imprisonment of others.
Again, so many of these people that are coming through the system, they need an effective evaluation. Do they pose immediate threat. But we do not need to be doing what the Trump administration has done, a 40 percent increase in these detentions, of people that pose no threat and that we have evidence-based measures to ensure that they continue to work through the process of asylum.
[10:50:04] We are a nation based upon this ideal. We literally have asylum laws that are being violated by this administration because --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
BOOKER: -- people are not being able to present themselves for asylum. They're violating the Flores decision. That's the thing. I don't understand why we don't see more of a sense of urgency to address these inhumane conditions, to end the profiting off of people's incarceration, and to treat people with human rights that are not surrendered when they come to --
SCIUTTO: OK.
BOOKER: -- our border.
SCIUTTO: OK. Let's talk about another issue because this kind of combines two of the biggest issues in the 2020 cycle, both immigration and health care. You, as several of your fellow competitors for the Democratic nomination, support government-funded health care for undocumented immigrants.
Now, if we look at the polling, that is supported by a majority of Democratic voters. But independent voters, by a two to one margin -- 63 percent -- they say no. Of course, most Republicans, against it.
TEXT: Govt. Health Care for Undocumented Immigrants? Democrats: Yes, 66 percent; No, 31 percent. Independents: Yes, 34 percent; No, 63 percent. Republicans: Yes, 10 percent; No, 88 percent.
SCIUTTO: I -- one, why should people who enter the country illegally get taxpayer-funded, supported health care? And are you concerned that as a candidate here in the primaries, you're staking out such a progressive position that will damage you or another Democratic candidate in the general election?
BOOKER: First of all, this is not a progressive decision. It's a common-sense thing. I was the chief executive of a city. Do I want someone who gets sick with a potential communicable illness, to not be able to go to a hospital and get treated, to potentially threaten to infect others? Do I want kids not to get vaccinated, that are in my country?
We've got to have some common sense here because we may think that shutting off people having access to any kind of health care, is some kind of tough stance. But really, what it does is it endangers our own populations, if we don't have some pathway for people getting some kind of support.
That's why when I was mayor of the city of Newark, I just said when it comes to emergency services, policing services, hospital services, undocumented immigrants here are part of our community. They have access to those things.
We have a president right now that is --
SCIUTTO: Right.
BOOKER: -- enforcing things that make us less safe, not only in a health care way but in a criminal capacity. Because now we have a climate in which immigrant populations are afraid to even report crimes --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
BOOKER: -- because they feel like if they come forward, because of a program called 287(g), they will be -- risk deportation. It makes us all less safe.
Let's not make this a partisan issue --
SCIUTTO: OK.
BOOKER: -- let's make it a common-sense issue.
SCIUTTO: Before I let you go, two of your competitors have recently released numbers. Pete Buttigieg, nearly 25 million bucks in this most recent quarter. Bernie Sanders, $18 million. Can you give us a sense of where your fundraising will be in that crucial second quarter? You're locked in a very competitive race here.
BOOKER: Yes. I'm very excited that we're still in that top six of the people for the nomination from our party. And we released yesterday. We had -- since the debate, and people got to see me, you know, 20 million Americans-plus, we've just been enjoying our best fundraising week we've had in a long time. So we're --
SCIUTTO: How about for the quarter?
BOOKER: -- really -- we're excited. Well, we'll announce the quarter numbers very soon. But I'll tell you, so many people have been going to CoryBooker.com, people who believe in my campaign. And since that debate and people saw my performance, standing out on that debate stage, we're seeing a lot of momentum. And I hope it continues, and I hope more people will consider supporting our efforts, keeping my voice in this very important primary.
SCIUTTO: Well, Senator, we wish you good luck. Good to have you on the program. We look forward to the next time.
BOOKER: Thank you.
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