Former agent fires back at calls to abolish ICE
Growing number of Democrats call to abolish ICE.
This is a rush transcript from "Your World," June 29, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: All right,, not exactly game, set, match. Will you settle for month, quarter, half-year?
Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto. And you're watching "Your World."
And we're putting a month of stock trading to rest, a quarter of stock trading to rest, and the first half-year to rest. On the month, we saw the Dow surrender a little bit of ground. But the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 did more than OK.
Look at how we have been doing so far this year, with the Dow down about 1.7 percent. Look at the Nasdaq, up about 9 percent, S&P 500 1.8 percent.
And in the second quarter, the quarter we're just wrapping up, a similar story, with technology stocks leading the way for the Nasdaq, up about 6.5 percent, the Dow advancing and the S&P 500 advancing as well.
The quarter was the only period that registered sort of the hat trick gains in all the major market averages. This is a convenient time to step back and look at where we stand right now six months into the year, trading year, economic year, and six months into those tax cuts that the president claims really got all of this going.
To Kevin Corke at the White House with more on that.
Hey, Kevin.
KEVIN CORKE, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: An economic miracle, Neil, that's how the president described what happened with those famous now tax cuts.
And keep this in mind. He would like to see more where that came from if they can somehow manage a proposed second round of tax cuts once again, maybe inching ever closer to 20 percent.
Let's talk about what happened here today, a very important day for the president. Clearly, that's looking ahead, as we talk about what may happen. Today certainly was a chance to look back at what many are crediting, Neil, for a roaring economy that could top 4 percent GDP in Q2.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's my great honor to welcome you back to the White House to celebrate six months of new jobs, bigger paychecks and keeping more of your hard-earned money where it belongs, in your pocket.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORKE: And that's the idea, keeping the money in your pocket.
You know what to do with your money better than the government knows to do with your money. That's the idea. Meanwhile, the White House, Neil, is also facing another big battle as the president is looking to solidify support for his pending Supreme Court nominee.
He actually talked about that today with our colleague Maria Bartiromo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Are you going to ask your nominees beforehand how they might vote on Roe v. Wade?
TRUMP: Well, that's a big one. And probably not. They're all saying, don't do that, you don't do that, you shouldn't do that. But I'm putting conservative people on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORKE: Don't do it. That's what his advisers are telling him. Just get the best people for the job.
Meanwhile, the fate of Roe v. Wade continues to be the linchpin of discussion for many Democrats and some Republicans, many of whom are, by the way, listening to a bevy of 2020 presidential hopefuls who helped to organize that big rally yesterday against the president's pick, a pick, Neil, as you know, he has yet to make, although we're told by our sources here that pick could come perhaps in as soon as 10 days.
Very interesting if that actually happens between now and our trip to Europe. Also today, I want to share this with you. The IRS rolled out that postcard-sized 1040 form. You know you heard Steve Mnuchin talking about it. You have heard Wilbur Ross talk about it.
As a White House source told me this afternoon, a great example of promises made, promises kept, Neil.
CAVUTO: And they're saying, from that, that, what is it, seven out of 10 taxpayers could use that form and get their taxes done?
CORKE: Yes. Simple, simple, simple.
Listen, if you're not making a bunch of itemized deductions and you don't have like property and businesses, this is the thing. This is the ticket, man. And I have got to tell you, when you look at it, and it's so simple, you can really change the game in terms of what people do in terms of tax preparation.
I love it. I can't probably use it myself, but I think for the people who can, good for you.
CAVUTO: You have all of those investments all over the world and those real estate deals.
CORKE: Oh, what can I tell you?
(LAUGHTER)
CORKE: Yes.
CAVUTO: Yes. All right, thank you very, very much, my friend.
By the way, we did get a comment from the Accountants Foundation on all of this, what this will mean to their business as a result of taxes you could fill out on a card. It goes something like this. Ahh!
They didn't like it.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: All right.
Let's get the read on all this from financial analyst Heather Zumarraga. We got Fox News contributor John Layfield and FBN's Deirdre Bolton.
Deirdre, we're getting indications the president wants to follow up on what he's done on the tax cut front with more tax cuts to come. Here's what he told Maria Bartiromo earlier about revisiting the corporate tax cut.
I want you to react to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Because we have seen the impact to the economy. What do you want to see happen now? Does the economy need even more stimulus? Are you looking for phase two tax cuts?
TRUMP: We're doing a phase two. We will be doing it probably in October, maybe a little sooner than that.
And it will be more of a middle class. We did a lot for the middle class, but this will be even more aimed at the middle class.
One of the things we're thinking about is bringing the 21 percent down to 20. And then, for the most part, the rest of it would go right to the middle class. It's a great stimulus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: That's surprised me. What did you think of that?
DEIRDRE BOLTON, FOX BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It does surprise me.
But on the flip side, Neil, as you know, the president and the administration has taken a lot of criticism. Maybe that's why he's moving forward. Maybe it's not. But this last round of tax cuts, a lot of people said really favored corporations more than people, although we heard firsthand from some of his guests at the White House today, business owners, who said for the first time they got significant bonuses.
They talked about educating their children. They talked about taking in one family's case the first family vacation in five years. So, I think anything for the middle class is, of course, wonderful news. The question that we always come back to is, where does this money come from, how do we pay for it?
There's many economists of course who say, listen, if you give American consumers more money, that ultimately helps our economy. Consumer spending two-thirds of our GDP. It's the engine of our economy, for sure.
One thing to note as well, even with the tax cut plan that was passed in December, just as far as the markets, if you use stocks as a report card, I mean, we're closing up the first half, and that is even with all the volatility, the added uncertainty or trade tiffs, if you like, Neil.
CAVUTO: Absolutely. No, absolutely.
With the exception of the Dow, the Nasdaq up better than 9 percent. The S&P up better than 2 percent here.
So, John Layfield, not a bad follow-up to last year's sizzling markets. I'm just wondering what you're looking at then for the next half of the year.
JOHN LAYFIELD, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I think the markets are going to be up.
You look at a consensus of analysts out there, they expect the market to be around 7 to 8 percent, barring something like this trade tariffs or a trade war that could potentially happen
The earnings expected to be up around 20 percent, and talk about though -- Deirdre was talking about those tax cuts -- 35 to 40 percent of that is attributed to those tax cuts for these corporations. It really has added a huge boost to this economy. The economy is doing fantastic right now. If we could just keep the trade talks and the geopolitics out if this, the market will do really well.
CAVUTO: And, Heather, there's the rub, right?
You already have GM saying we're worried that this could hurt us. And GM could be odd man out in a trade war here. It echoes concerns of Harley- Davidson maybe for entirely different reasons. But there's concern growing among some that it could sort of rain on this market party. What do you think?
HEATHER ZUMARRAGA, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Right.
Well, I do think a lot of second-quarter profits, companies did better on their bottom line, to the tune of $30 billion because of tax cuts. But my concern is that companies are hesitating on reinvesting in plant, property and equipment or buying back shares and increasing dividends because of uncertainty over the tariffs.
So, the economy is booming. And I think the one thing that could derail it is if this trade debate escalates. And I don't think we're in a trade war yet. And I certainly hope we don't get there.
CAVUTO: Deirdre, when we talk to traders, who, of course, very few of whom saw the huge gains we had last year, let alone the relative follow-up we continue to have this year, is there a worry that trade is that wild card development? What do you think?
BOLTON: I think so, Neil.
And we have seen the market can adjust and can absorb what we know is coming as of July 6 between the U.S. and China, $34 billion worth in tariffs, a 25 percent rate on goods on either side.
We have seen as of July 1 this plan for Canadian tariffs between the U.S. and Canada worth roughly about $13 billion. I think investors, they can adjust to that. But when we see in the headlines talking about $200 billion worth, we do see investors sell off.
So I think the markets can support rather trade tiffs, trade spats. I think a trade war is a different category. I'd very much like to see us avoid that, for sure -- Neil.
CAVUTO: John, I'm just curious. Without the tax cuts, where do you think this market would be?
LAYFIELD: I think it would be down. It would down from where it's at right now, obviously. Like I said, 35 to 40 percent of these earnings increase were attributed to these tax cuts.
So, I think the market has been on a fantastic run since the president first got elected. This year, it's been tax cuts. I think the market in the stage of a bull market that it's been in right now, this market would just be stagnant and going sideways.
We have low unemployment, which would have probably been there no matter what. But still the economy, the big boost to it in this late stage of the bull market is attributed to these tax cuts.
CAVUTO: What do you think, Heather?
ZUMARRAGA: Yes. So, I agree.
And the question it comes down to, will these tariffs eat into the benefit that the stock market, that the economy has seen from tax cuts? And my take on it is that it absolutely would.
Tariffs act a tax when you are buying goods from abroad. And that is going to ultimately increase in prices -- increase prices for the consumer. In the end, that's who is going to bear the real cost. And I think that will have an impact in terms of losing more jobs than we gain out of this.
I understand he is trying to level the playing field and have fair and reciprocal trade across the board, specifically targeting China, but I'm not sure all these blanket tariffs across the board are the best way to do it.
CAVUTO: All right, thank you very, very much.
We will see what happens, guys.
In the meantime, here, we want to let you know we will be looking at this from a quarter and a month and a half-year perspective, a special edition of "Cavuto Live" tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time on this channel, among the many issues we're following, crunching these numbers and where we might go now for the rest of the year.
In the meantime, that Maryland shooting suspect was in court today. Turns out five years ago there was a criminal investigation into that shooter over threats against, yes, The Capital Gazette.
What happened? And who dropped the ball?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIMOTHY ALTOMARE, ANNE ARUNDEL POLICE CHIEF: In May of '13, we did have a situation where, online, threatening comments were made. We had a detective assigned to investigate it. The detective spoke with legal counsel for The Capital Gazette.
It was discussed that The Capital Gazette didn't wish to pursue criminal charges. There was a fear that doing so would exacerbate an already flammable situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: And yet, five years later, we learned that the man who made those threats against The Capital Gazette is now suspected in the killing of five journalists there.
Fox News Channel's Lea Gabrielle has more now in Annapolis, Maryland, with the very latest -- Lea.
LEA GABRIELLE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Neil.
A judge today ordered 38-year-old Jarrod Ramos to stay in jail on five counts of first-degree murder in one of the deadliest attacks on American journalists.
Police say that the suspect used a pump-action shotgun to blast through a glass entrance, before killing four journalists and a sales assistant.
Earlier today, the state's district attorney describing the scene inside the newsroom. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WES ADAMS, ANNE ARUNDEL STATE'S ATTORNEY: We brought to the judge's attention the evidence that suggested a coordinated attack, the barricading of a backdoor and the use of a tactical approach in hunting and shooting down the innocent victims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIELLE: Police searched his apartment for evidence, but say that he's not been cooperating.
The 38-year-old had a longstanding dispute with The Capital Gazette. It started back in 2011. That's when a columnist wrote about a criminal harassment case against Ramos. Well, he later sued the columnist and the editor and publisher for defamation.
But the case was dismissed. Since then, Ramos made threats on social media, those threats realized yesterday. Police arriving one minute after the first shot was fired.
An employee at another business inside the same building describes the moment that it all started. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEITH CYPHERS, WITNESS: I was on the phone with a client and heard a loud noise, like an incredibly loud bang. And I poked my head around the corner of my desk, so I could see out our front door into the front door of The Capital Gazette. And I saw a guy. I saw a guy holding a gun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIELLE: That guy's victims, 59-year-old Rob Hiaasen, the paper's assistant editor, 61-year-old Gerald Fischman, the editorial page editor, features reporter 65-year-old Wendi Winters, 56-year-old reporter John McNamara, and 34-year-old sales assistant Rebecca Smith.
And a memorial has been growing here at the site, the community coming together to remember these victims and their loved ones. The Capital Gazette also showing their resilience today, Neil. They put out a paper reporting on their own story.
And we're also learning that Ramos will be prosecuted by a grand jury -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Lea, thank you very, very much.
Would have, should have, could have then.
Former New York City Police Commissioner Howard Safir on all these revelations.
Commissioner, what do you think?
HOWARD SAFIR, FORMER NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, this is a terrible tragedy.
Annapolis is a very tight-knit, safe city. But this just shows what the new normal is becoming. I have been in that Capital office a number of times. It's an open building, open doors into a reception desk at The Capital. Anybody could just walk in.
And what we're going to have to do is, we're going to have to look at potential targets, unfortunately, like the media, and we're going to have to harden these targets.
CAVUTO: In fact, that's what they were recommending yesterday, in a heightened sense of urgency and caution, beefing up protection around a lot of news operations.
And there you find out, Howard, that some are well-battened-down and others are not. I guess there's now a new way of looking at even that.
SAFIR: That's true.
And I would say the majority of communities in this country are just like The Capital Gazette. They expect people to come in and go out, and they don't expect something like what Ramos did to happen.
And it's interesting. Everybody is now doing the Monday-morning quarterback of this -- of the situation. But Maryland in April passed a red flag law. And basically the red flag law says if you think that somebody is a danger and has weapons, you can basically go to the police, they can immediately confiscate the weapons, and you have seven days to convince a judge that they shouldn't have confiscated them.
Interestingly enough, in February of this year, The Capital did an editorial, an op-ed supporting the red flag law. And in April of this year, it was signed by Governor Hogan into law. And in March, one of the victims, John McNamara, actually did an article about the red flag law.
CAVUTO: Incredible.
You knew another one of the victims, didn't you?
SAFIR: I did. I knew Wendi Winters. She was a wonderful person.
We have a house in Annapolis. Our house was home of the week, which is an article that they do weekly on houses in Annapolis. She spent a number of hours with my wife and I. It was a great time.
She was a New Yorker prior to coming to Annapolis, like ourselves, and a very professional journalist. She did a great article. And it's very, very tragic that we lost such good people in this town.
CAVUTO: Howard, I was thinking about how this guy came in and, you know, shot his way in.
And you have heard of multiple examples in the past where that has been the way, even in much more protected, you know, environment, schools and the like. Assailants have come. And I'm wondering how you protect against something like that.
If someone comes in gun a blazing, what do you do?
SAFIR: Well, you can't protect everything.
But you certainly could protect by having cameras on the exterior, by being -- having to buzz people in. It's not something that you really like.
But when you have a potential target like that, this is what you have to do. And then you have to pick -- this all happened in seconds. So, it's a question of flight or fight. The recommendation of people in this industry and my recommendation as well is, if there's a place to go and hide, that's where you should go immediately and be as quiet as possible.
But if you're confronted, pick up whatever you have, do whatever you can, because you're in a situation where you're -- you have to fight for your life.
CAVUTO: What do you make, Howard, of the fact that police on the scene within 60 seconds? Five people were killed, a number injured. But I would imagine them getting there in less than a minute kept that from getting much worse.
SAFIR: The Annapolis police and the Anne Arundel County Police were there in a minute. They had the subject in custody in two minutes.
It was a magnificent response. I'm very familiar with the Annapolis police. I know Chief Baker very well. And the fact is, they did an outstanding job, and probably saved a good number of lives.
CAVUTO: Commissioner, thank you very, very much.
Howard Safir, the former New York City police commissioner.
We will have more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, we're told the FBI had been cleaning house, trying to get rid of the nefarious characters or those that might have biases, whatever you want to call it. Not everyone is buying it, though.
Former Justice Department official J. Christian Adams here to sort all this out.
What can we believe? I have a tough time understanding how difficult it is to fire someone, period. But what do you think is going on?
J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS, PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION: Well, at the FBI, they seem to move them to human resources.
Neil, it doesn't make any sense to say they're cleaning house, because look who they have gotten rid of? Andrew McCabe. He was found by the inspector general to have repeatedly lied under oath. OK, so he's gone.
Peter Strzok, who appears to have been trying to sabotage a presidential election, OK, he's gone. Look, that's a good start. But the problem is bigger than that.
If you read the inspector general report, there's unnamed FBI agents who are engaging in this behavior. We haven't heard anything about them. And that barely even touches the surface, scratches the surface at this point.
CAVUTO: I mentioned it before, but I did mean it in this regard.
Like, about the bias that was clearly evident in the inspector general's report, and whether that had an influence or not or triggered an investigation or not.
What I have not seen is a bias towards the president, whether you like the guy or not.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: I haven't seen any agent texting back or forth -- it might be out there -- praising then candidate Donald Trump, not a lot of that, in fact, not any of that.
J. ADAMS: Well, there's a couple reasons for that.
Number one, the FBI agents who might have been in favor of Donald Trump know how to do their job. And they don't use government cell phones to text those things.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: No, that makes a lot of sense. All right.
J. ADAMS: Yes.
The other possibility is, Neil, that it's like a jackalope. It just doesn't exist. It's one of the two. Either they behave properly, unlike all the other anti-Trump FBI agents, or those people just don't exist.
CAVUTO: What I also don't understand is the idea of context for some of the remarks that Strzok made. Now, of course, there was 11 hours of testimony. So I don't know what came of that testimony.
But is it your understanding that there might have been context for this, that there might have been revelations we don't know about that some of these -- again, giving every benefit of the doubt here -- might have been privy information on the Russians, if there was such a thing, that was coloring their view?
J. ADAMS: Well, look, Neil, there might be, of course.
But even if they knew about the Russia investigation, that doesn't excuse what they did. If they knew that there was this parallel Russia investigation taking place, that doesn't mean that you should rush out the closure memo on the Hillary investigation, like Peter Strzok said he was going to do after watching the Republican Convention and being nervous about Trump winning.
So, even if you know there's a Russia investigation, that doesn't excuse the bad behavior that was manifest.
CAVUTO: Yes. I'm looking at the backdrop for all of this.
No matter what revelations come to mind, some of these comments were so tawdry and almost childish. They go beyond worries about the safety of our nation state. So you're right about that.
But where does all this go now? We have had this back and forth about bias at the FBI, how difficult it is, fired people there, revelations that come to mind only well after the fact. If not for these texts, for example, they still would have been getting information -- or at least Strzok would have been getting information.
Andy McCabe would have still been helping out with it's investigation for Bob Mueller, and we would have never been wiser.
J. ADAMS: Right.
And if Trump hadn't won, we wouldn't know. That's the other frightening prospect here. Look, where does this go? The American public now knows that the top levels of the FBI were biased about a Republican candidate for president.
Then, after he won, that bias seems to have continued. So, at least we have more information. Are people going to go to jail? Well, Andrew McCabe repeatedly lied under oath, according to the inspector report.
Will Jessie Liu, who is the U.S. attorney in D.C., prosecute Andrew McCabe? Let's see if justice applies for everybody, or if it just applies to people like Mike Flynn and Martha Stewart. We will see whether that takes place.
CAVUTO: Another thing I just wanted to step back and see is, if nothing is done on this and any of these accusations about bias, what have you, and the Mueller report eventually comes out, and let's say it's damaging to the president, doesn't necessarily get too personal to him, but to those around him, isn't the report risking being damaged goods, period, no matter who it fingers?
J. ADAMS: Yes.
It already, I think, is. I think, if you look at the polling numbers, it's just astounding how little trust the America now has in the FBI and the Justice Department, because of their bad behavior. It's not for any other reason, Neil. It's because people behaved badly.
And so it's deserved. You had Rod Rosenstein testifying yesterday. He seemed to have very thin skin. He talked about -- he scolded Jim Jordan for attacking him personally.
CAVUTO: Right.
J. ADAMS: Well, he's making personal decisions.
These are decisions of Rod Rosenstein, not some autotron or robot. It's him who is not giving Congress the information they're asking for.
So Rod Rosenstein deserves personal attacks for not behaving personally like he should.
CAVUTO: It's a mess.
J. Christian Adams, thank you very, very much, my friend.
J. ADAMS: All right.
CAVUTO: Try to stay cool this weekend. It's going to be hot where you are. It's going to be hot everywhere here.
J. ADAMS: Thanks, Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, in the meantime, we're live tomorrow, nevertheless, as we are every Saturday.
Not only we're taking a look at this economy and these markets, you know, as we're a month wrapped up, a quarter wrapped up, a half-year wrapped up. We're looking at all that, the pros and the cons, the tax cut anniversary, all that.
But we're also looking into this stuff that J. Christian Adams and I were discussing, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, my special guest tomorrow.
It all kicks off at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Why go outside? Stay cool. Watch me. You're set.
More after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, you see all this stuff showing you here? Take a look at it real close. Whose hands would these weapons be in right now if it wasn't for the folks who got those weapons, apprehended them? ICE.
After this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: All right, a big theme this week, abolish ICE.
Ever since the separation of these kids from their parents, and now the progress about getting them back with their parents, that's the new clarion call. Get rid of ICE.
Then what happens? What happens when you get rid of this agency that supposedly protects us from a lot of bad things? Then what?
Right now, we have got New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand -- Gillibrand -- coming out against ICE as well. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, D-N.Y.: We should protect families that need our help. And that's not what ICE is doing today.
And that's what I believe you should get rid of it, start over, reimagine it, and build something that actually works.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: All right, former ICE agent David Ward with us.
David, what do you make of this? Now, all of a sudden, this has become the cause celebre of the left.
DAVID WARD, FORMER ICE AGENT: Anarchy is alive and well in the United States, and now it's gone into the Senate and the Congress.
Lookit, ICE has been doing a bang-up job ever since 2003, when it was created from the old INS.
Over 981,000 pounds of narcotics have been seized by ICE. Over 4,800 criminal gang members were arrested last year alone. This past year, 143,000 illegal alien criminals were arrested; 92 percent of those were criminal aliens.
So ICE is doing its job out there. And I'm not sure what Gillibrand and the rest of them have in their thought process as who they're going to replace ICE with.
CAVUTO: Well, who -- if it was done before 2003 by other folks, who were those folks? In other words, this was something that happened under George Bush's watch, President Bush.
WARD: It's the same folks.
CAVUTO: So, who was doing it?
WARD: INS, Immigration Naturalization Service, the same people that are doing it today. They changed the acronym. They went from INS to ICE.
CAVUTO: OK.
So these protesters claiming that ICE has to go, they would just be giving it to other people who would not have the ICE label on them, right?
WARD: Well, they're going to give -- they think they're going to give it to other people that don't have the training or the background in Title 8, which is a very extensive criminal law course you have to go through to be an ICE agent or a Border Patrol agent.
These folks here are -- want open borders. They don't want immigration enforcement. They want sanctuary cities throughout the country.
And the people of the United States aren't going to stand for it. What should be abolished is Congress to get their done and get some new people in there.
CAVUTO: You know, it's interesting, too, David.
ICE follows whatever the directive is under the administration of the time, right? So if the directive was at the time, a few weeks back, if enforce this article of the law that separates kids from their parents, not exercised as aggressively in the past, but exercised, then they have to follow that, don't they?
WARD: Of course they do.
Under the Bush administration and also the Obama administration, the children were in fact separated on different occasions and different programs to test the waters as far as prosecuting everybody that comes into the United States illegally.
The Trump administration has done the same thing that the other prior administrations have done, in addition to all these family members being separated was done under the Obama administration as well.
CAVUTO: So, what are we looking at?
If ICE were to go away tomorrow, I can't fathom that, but if ICE were to go away tomorrow, just the adjustment process to get along with an alternative, we would be living ourselves pretty vulnerable to stuff, wouldn't we?
WARD: The entire country is going to be vulnerable.
We deal with international crime. It's just not illegal aliens that come into the United States, but it's international crime, both import and export violations, child crimes, child pornography, child -- white slavery, human trafficking.
All these comes under ICE. And they have been doing such a great job in a very austere condition as far as these crimes that are committed.
CAVUTO: David, thank you very much. I don't know. I don't get it.
David Ward, the former ICE agent.
We have got to think things through, to David's point, folks. Step back. Let's not let emotions run ahead of just facts and common sense here.
And look at the alternative and what we're left with if we move too aggressively to deal with something that has already now been addressed.
All right, the holiday rush is on. The heat is on. And I bet you are going to be traveling in the middle of it, Will join about 47 million other Americans who have the same exact idea.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, if you're looking to travel this Fourth of July holiday, which, you know, on a Wednesday, it's kind of weird. What do you do and all?
Well, a lot of people are already doing it. A lot of people are already heading off, and in record numbers, we're told.
Mike Tobin is live at O'Hare International Airport with the very, very latest.
Hey, Mike.
MIKE TOBIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And it certainly is a big travel day.
And, usually, on these big travel days, if there's going to be a hang-up, it's security. So, let me step out of the way and show you the TSA lines here at O'Hare International Airport Terminal 3.
The TSA says they communicate with the airlines and they know how many seats have been sold, they know when the big crush is coming. So, their best solution is any backups is just to add staff.
They can even get the airport and airline staff to bolster their forces at doing random jobs like marshaling the lines, so they can dedicate more TSA agents to screening of passengers.
However, they do get limited by the numbers of lanes at the security checkpoints. They get limited by real estate. So, ultimately, as you see right now, sometimes in the crush hours, things just back up and there's nothing you can do other than arrive early.
AAA says air travel is going to be in record territory this weekend. Just under four million people are expected to travel by air. The busiest day is today. That's an increase of 8 percent from last year. And this marks the ninth year in a row that air travel has been increasing.
But, so far, air travelers tell us it's a drag. You got to spend a long time in line. But TSA is keeping things moving.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not too bad. I have seen worse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it could be worse. There's potential that it could be worse. But I think it's kind of horrible for now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TOBIN: Auto travel is different, but the same. Gas prices are down about 12 cents a gallon. Therefore, auto travel is up about 5 percent.
A little shy of 40 million drivers are expected to hit the road this weekend. The worst day for driving is expected to be Tuesday. Your commute, especially if you live around some of the populated area -- populated areas, could take twice as long on Tuesday.
So plan for that. If you're going over to Hill & Dale and taking the family to the beach or whatever, you can practice your show tunes -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Practice your show tunes. Pretty good.
Mike, thank you very, very much, Mike Tobin.
Meanwhile, in the middle of this, some heat. In fact, they're calling this a heat dome. Part of the U.S. is expected to get real hot this weekend, with some areas hitting triple digits.
AccuWeather meteorologist Julia Weiden joining us live with the very latest.
What are we looking at?
JULIA WEIDEN, ACCUWEATHER METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Neil.
Well, we're looking at a ton of heat across the North Central region, And that is Already in place for today. But it's moving its way due eastward. So, the Northeast is really going to be feeling that heat on Saturday and into Sunday as well.
We already have heat advisories, excessive heat watches and warnings in place. For the Midwest, this goes through Sunday. For the Northeast, that continues on into Monday evening.
And that's what we're talking about, temperatures that are going to be in the 90s and even in the triple digits.
Current temps right now in the Northeast, we have got Philly already at 90, Washington, D.C., at 92. You add on the humidity, it feels even hotter.
Now, for a lot of the Northeast, we will see the temperatures rising through the weekend. Saturday is going to be plenty hot, Sunday going to be even hotter, except for into New England. Into New England, we will have a backdoor cold front working through. And that should cool things off a little bit for Sunday.
But, for tomorrow, we're looking at high temps in the mid-90s in Philly, 94 in New York City, 95 in Albany, New York. That is going to challenge some records. Your record high temperatures mostly in the mid and upper 90s throughout the Northeast. And then we're going to do that all again on Sunday.
Now, want to talk about the real feel a little bit. This is what happens when you factor in the humidity and the sunshine to the temperature that is on the thermometer. This is what it feels like outside.
Washington, D.C., down to Richmond, Virginia, over towards Virginia Beach, we're looking at real feel temps of 105 to 110.
Your urban areas are really going to be the hottest. On top of that, the air quality is not going to be ideal. So if anyone is sensitive to poor air quality, it's a good idea to keep it indoors in the A.C.
Mentioned on Sunday that we had that backdoor cold front coming through in the Northeast. That is going to cool things off just a touch for parts of New England. We will also get a little more onshore flow Sunday as well. So, that should help to alleviate things. I think we will continue that into Monday.
But, again, finishing off the weekend, we're looking at another day of possible record highs, Newark challenging the record of 100 degrees.
CAVUTO: Wow. Why are you doing this to us, Julia?
WEIDEN: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Thank you very, very much.
Man, oh, man, so this doesn't end any time soon.
Julia Weiden, thank you very, very much on that.
All right, and from the real heat to the political heat, Barack Obama at a big old fund-raiser telling Democrats, we have to start applying the heat. We have to start doing something about this president. And if we don't, he was telling fellow Democrats, I will.
After this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, I don't know if it's like, be afraid, be very afraid, but former President Obama telling some very well-heeled Democrats at a fund-raiser last night that they're right to be concerned about President Trump, and it's time you do something and help them do something about it.
And he is. Apparently, they're going to marshal his resources to help Democrats in the midterm elections. We will see how that goes.
Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell joining us, The Wall Street Journal's Shelby Holliday, and Democratic strategist Robin Biro.
Well, Robin, to you.
At the end here is this notion of using Barack Obama, who is probably the most popular Democrat right now in the country, is that a wise idea? Because when it's a race that doesn't involve himself, he doesn't help much. So, what do you think?
ROBIN BIRO, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: He doesn't help much in swing states specifically, but he helps raise money.
And, right now, the DNC and DCCC have got to raise money to be competitive. Especially in this era when we have got Citizens United and all of this corporate PAC money, it's hard to stay competitive. So, he's doing a good job at raising money. And we need that desperately.
CAVUTO: I'm wondering, given some of the apoplectic reactions we have seen of many on the left, Gianno, that, is it at risk, that is, the Democratic Party at risk, of botching it again, of just getting so infuriated that they lose sight of the forest for the trees, and Republicans hang on to everything?
GIANNO CALDWELL, FOX NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's beginning to look like that more and more every day, especially considering the fact that the Democrats have not had a message that will galvanize people to the polls during the midterms.
And when we think about President Obama, of course, we realize that he lost over 900 electoral seats in state legislatures across the country, In addition to, as you said, when it comes to races that isn't his own, he usually doesn't do that well.
So what Democrats have is a true problem on their hands. Not only do they -- are not raising much money, but thanks to him, of course, it was $237,000 per couple at this event, this luncheon, but they're having problems really attracting people to a message that is going to resonate, because raising your taxes and saying, hey, we're OK with MS-13 isn't a good strategy, I believe.
CAVUTO: You know, Shelby, where does this go, though?
Obviously, I think midterm elections are all about if you can get the other side, the party that is not in power, angry enough to go walking over broken glass to go to the polls.
But if more people are feeling satisfied, be the economy, the markets, what have you ,no matter what their political persuasion, what if there are not as many angry people? You're not going to potentially have as much of a chance of tipping the electoral tide, right?
SHELBY HOLLIDAY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Exactly.
And so I think, if you listen to what President Obama is saying at these fund-raisers, he's saying, get focused. Don't mope. It's all about turnout. If people go out to vote, if people show up to the polls, democracy -- he says democracy will work.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: But he's right about that.
HOLLIDAY: And he's right about that.
CAVUTO: It made a big difference in one New York district that toppled an institution with Joe Crowley, right?
HOLLIDAY: Yes. Exactly.
But he's also saying, get focused. Stop focusing on Trump. Stop focusing on the news of the day.
When you look at polls, Neil, Americans care more about health care and about the -- and about jobs and the economy than they do about the Mueller investigation, about a lot of the things you see on the news all day.
So I think, yes, in order to get turnout up, there needs to be some anger, but there also needs to be some inspiration. President Obama was very good at that for himself. He hasn't been able to translate that to other candidates.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Robin, one of the things, I was talking to a couple of Democratic luminaries on my FOX Business show.
And, Robin, if you don't get FOX Business, you really should demand it.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: But what came up in these discussions is this notion that they think the trade thing -- and they're -- it's not only Democrats who think the trade thing is going to backfire on the president, that he has overplayed his hand, that tariffs are going to get Americans angry, and they will at least be in effect for a while before we see some progress, if we see some progress.
And that's their sort of diamond in a rough here. What do you think?
BIRO: It's a tactic, maybe not the best tactic. It's a little too soon to tell how as far as trade is going to...
CALDWELL: Not at all.
BIRO: Yes, exactly, how this is going to pan out with trade.
I think we would be much smarter, as Shelby said, to point out health care. And, honestly, Barack Obama gave a -- some really good messages in that speech, as Shelby said, about moping, about participating, getting involved.
CAVUTO: No, he did. I thought he did. I thought he hit a lot of key points.
BIRO: Yes. So...
CAVUTO: And, Gianno, he hit on the points that you were mentioning there, that the message has got to be focused. And so far the Democrats are all over the map.
CALDWELL: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Gianno first. Go ahead.
CALDWELL: I believe to a large degree President -- former President Obama feels demoralized.
One, you have got a candidate that ran who said what people thought, but to the liberal elites, it wasn't what they should -- what he should have said. So, in that sense, people thought that President Trump said and did everything you could do to lose a presidential election, but yet and still he won, and he won by a decent margin.
So, President -- former President Obama must feel that this is upon him to at least try to make some tides in the midterm election. So this is where we are. But Democrats have a lot of work to do. And it still looks like they don't get it. And that's where the problem lies.
CAVUTO: Well, we will see what happens. We will see what happens. Still early. Anything can happen.
But they're bringing out the big guns.
All right, guys, thank you very, very much.
HOLLIDAY: Thanks.
(CROSSTALK)
CALDWELL: Thank you.
CAVUTO: California now is barring tech companies from collecting all that personal data. And it could be a brushfire. Others could follow -- after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: California now has the toughest Internet privacy laws on the books.
Hillary Vaughn is in Los Angeles, what it all means.
Hey, Hillary.
HILLARY VAUGHN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Neil.
Well, this landmark California data privacy law hitting the heart of Silicon Valley very hard. It's causing controversy and a little confusion among companies, as they scramble to figure out how this changes their platform for users.
Here's what new in the law. Large companies that collect data on more than 50,000 users have to let users see the data that's being collected. Users now can request to have that data deleted. And they can also opt out from having their data collected altogether.
Now, if users do opt out, these companies are required to offer the same level of service as they are offering to those users that are opting in.
The big worry here, that tech companies are going to be forced to implement these standards company-wide having a ripple effect on users across the country, even though this is only a state law. Google slamming this decision, saying that it imposes sweeping regulations on thousands of large businesses across the world.
The Internet Association that represents Uber, PayPal, Netflix and Amazon also slammed this decision.
But one interesting thing. Facebook is on the other side of this argument here. They are defending the decision and actually saying that they think that the law is a good move to protect users' privacy -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Wow. You got a lot in there, Hillary.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Hillary Vaughn in Los Angeles.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: We will explore that issue and a lot more, the markets, as we are halfway through the year as well, a special live edition, 10:00 a.m., "Cavuto Live."
See you then, tomorrow.
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