El Paso, TX Customs and Border Patrol chief: We're seeing an unprecedented number of family-unit aliens

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El Paso, TX Customs and Border Patrol chief: We're seeing an unprecedented number of family-unit aliens

Aaron Hull says Border Patrol resources are strained because of the humanitarian needs that family-unit aliens require.

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," April 25, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Well, it's a go for Joe. The former vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, becoming the 20th democrat to enter the 2020 presidential race. President Trump wasting no time marking the occasion, tweeting out, "Welcome to race, Sleepy Joe." And so, it begins. Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto.

Well, Joe Biden becoming an instant frontrunner at a race, alongside Bernie Sanders, but the frontrunner status can giveth and taketh away. Remember Jeb Bush? He had it against Donald Trump in 2015 before he didn't. And Hilary Clinton certainly led the pack against Barrack Obama and others in 2008, before she was forced to pack it in. Then there's Howard Dean, who emerged as a quick frontrunner against John Kerry in 2004, before a certain scream (ph) might have done him in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, FORMER UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: We're going to California and Texas and New York, and we're to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're going to Washington D.C. to take back the White House. Yes!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: And no! You weren't the nominee.

(LAUGHTER)

Then there's Henry "Scoop" Jackson. He looked like a certain shoo-in early on, when Jimmy Carter, unknown, was suddenly replacing him. So being the frontrunner obviously doesn't guarantee you end up in front. More on that in a moment. First, to Peter Doocy in Wilmington, Delaware, who caught up with Joe Biden earlier today. Peter?

PETER DOOCY, CORRESPONDENT: Neil, today, Joe Biden enjoys an advantage previously enjoyed by Hillary Clinton and Rudi Giuliani and Jeb Bush. He is the party's frontrunner on the day he announced. But now, he's got to figure out a way forward, without primary help from the ex- president who was very population that he is very good friends with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: If you are the best choice for the democrats in 2020, why didn't President Obama endorse you?

JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I asked President Obama not to endorse. And he doesn't want to - this - we should - whoever wins this nomination should win it on their own merits. Guys, thanks. Welcome to Delaware.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: From welcome to Delaware to welcome to the race, that's what President Trump says. Quote "Welcome to the race, Sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty. You will be dealing with people who truly have some sick and demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the starting gate."

But progressive groups are not pleased at the thought of a potential democratic nominee, Joe Biden. A group called Justice Democrats, allied with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, tweeted this today, "The old guard of the Democratic Party filed to stop Trump. And they can't be counted on to lead the fight against his divide and conquer politics today. The party needs new leadership with a bold vision capable of energizing voters in the democratic base who stayed home in 2016."

That group also posted something where they think the future of the Democratic Party includes things like Medicare for all, the Green New Deal and free college. They do not think Biden's long voting record in the Senate or his record with President Obama reflect that. And we are going to try to ask him about that again if he comes back to the train station named after him. Neil?

CAVUTO: I look forward to that. Peter, thank you very, very much. Well, a lot of people said that Joe Biden's opening debut was a little bit dark, rebuking President Trump, for example, over Charlottesville, while announcing his run for president, striking a somewhat ominous tone. Let's see what you think.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: That's when we heard the words of the president of the United States that stunted the world and shocked the conscience of this nation. He said there were, quote, "Some very fine people on both sides." Very fine people on both sides? With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it. And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I'd ever seen in my lifetime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, a bit ominous, a bit dark, maybe justified to some people, maybe for a presidential campaign announcement and coming out the gate a little too dark, when you compare it to past presidents, including John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, even Barrack Obama, who all had a, well, much more upbeat approach. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN F. KENNEDY, 1960 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am today, announcing my candidacy for the presidency of the United States. The presidency is the most powerful office in the free world. Through its leadership can come a more vital life for all of our people.

RONALD REAGAN, 1980 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm here because it is the home of Democrats, because I believe today that in this country there are millions of Democrats who are just as unhappy with the way things are, as all the rest of us are.

BARACK OBAMA, 2008 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That is why in the shadow of the old state capital, where Lincoln once called on a house divided, to stand together -- where common hopes, and common dreams still live. I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: Boy, those are the good old days, right? When we had only three or four, maybe tops five people running for president from the same party - - that was then. It's a very crowded field now.

Did Joe Biden, with 19 others in the race, muddy the waters? Or distinguish himself with some of those comments? Let's get the read (ph) from former Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes, Democratic Strategist Nathan Rubin, and our own Kat Timpf -- Kat, what do you think?

KAT TIMPF, CONTRIBUTOR: Well first of all, I could not agree with you more than it was a very dark, and ominous message. He's connected with Obama because he was his vice president, but Obama was saying "hope and change," and this is more fear and dread.

Obama had the more -- message of imagine what could happen, and the future we could have if I were president. And this is him saying, there won't be a future if me, or a Democrat is not president.

And that's interesting to me because in 2016 the Democrats -- Hillary Clinton, her campaign made things about attacking Trump. And the doom and gloom situation if Trump were to be elected, and they didn't win. And it seems like Joe Biden's announcement at least was doing the same thing.

CAVUTO: We should stress that there were some uplifting pieces of video, and photographs in that piece -- but I think it starts coming out the gate, Nathan seeing as the vice president at the time was very critical of, let's say Donald Trump's inaugural address deemed it dark (ph) and a little bit too much so. It just seemed to be a clumsy way to get off, what do you think?

NATHAN RUBIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well I think you're absolutely right to point out that historically past presidential candidates have chosen optimism, and like you said they were successful.

But I also think Joe Biden has a point when he's trying to paint such a bleak picture of the current state of politics. When you look at what's actually going on in terms of judicial independence, Congressional checks and balances -- you know, the idea that Congress should have oversight over the Executive branch. This current administration doesn't necessarily believe in those items, so to say that --

CAVUTO: Oh no, no -- but it takes two to tango too, right? I mean, I guess Steve what I'm asking you is the message alone. Ronald Reagan of course went after Jimmy Carter, and the stewardship of the economy and the malaise thing.

But of course there in his Statue of Liberty announcement when the full (ph) campaign kicked off, he was trying to say I think we can return to higher angels -- better angels and all of that. Should that have been the theme here? Or does it differ depending on the times?

STEVE FORBES, FORBES MEDIA CHAIRMAN: No, I think Biden made a huge mistake. I think it's a classic case, Neil -- he's running four years too late, like Elizabeth Warren. If they'd run in 2016 I think both of them would have had a shot, not only winning the nomination but certainly Biden winning the general election. But people want to hope for the future, for they know things are bad now -- a lot of people they feel that the president isn't up to the office and all that kind of thing. But Biden is being the senior candidate, when the senior candidates there -- should say, "I've seen a lot, we're going to come out of it -- here's how."

TIMPF: He's trying to --

CAVUTO: You know, what he's also galvanizing your base -- galvanizing the base, I think to Nathan's point. You know, this hits home with them -- dissatisfaction with Donald Trump, and his stewardship, and that this is going to be a different guy in charge.

TIMPF: Right, absolutely and there are people out there -- you see articles all the time about people who are really stressed out, or struggling with anxiety when they think about the fact that Trump is President, and we haven't really seen that kind of thing with any other president before where it's -- people are saying they're going to therapists because of who the president is.

But I still think that it should have been a little more inspirational in trying to inspire people, than trying to just make people afraid -- which is clearly what he was going for. If Democrats don't win, the future of the country is fundamentally changed -- that's a pretty extreme thing to say.

CAVUTO: You know, it's interesting that we're also learning that Biden today had called Anita Hill, of course it ran (ph) the charges against Clarence Thomas -- to say that he regretted how she had to endure the Clarence Thomas hearings.

He's trying to make right from past incidents that are controversial, the MeToo movement and some members of the party. Is that going to work? Is this tone, for example -- let's say this guy, President Trump is a problem, I'm not going to be that problem. I will acknowledge a mistake, or are we getting too convoluted here?

RUBIN: Well I think one of the assets that the Obama campaign looked at in 2008 was his long history in Congress and the Senate, but now it's almost looking like a liability when you look at the 1991 Anita Hill hearings, or the 1994 Crime Bill, or even in 1996 when he voted against same-sex marriage. The progressives, the base to the Democratic party are looking at his history and saying, "wait a second, is that who I want to lead us in to the future?" And a lot of people are having second thoughts.

CAVUTO: Well does that rule out white males -- especially older white males in this party?

RUBIN: Well, I don't know if it rules out white males, I think Mayor Pete Buttigieg, to your point Steve, is really striking an optimistic tone in that kind of generational divide where he's saying, I can lead us in to a new, progressive era. That has a lot of clout, I think with a lot of people.

CAVUTO: But you know, Steve, you think about it it's not as if President Trump is a cockeyed optimist -- he spends a great deal of time grilling his opponents --

TIMPF: You don't say?

CAVUTO: And just saying what he did, even today about Joe Biden that's hardly positive, uplifting, or even presidential.

FORBES: He there was attacking an opponent, and I think when the campaign really gets underway you're going to see a very different tone. Do you want to go back to the sluggishness of the past 10 years, or the --

CAVUTO: But do you think the personal swipes have any point in a campaign?

FORBES: I think anything can be overdone. And in terms of Biden though, given his age -- he's got to turn that in to an asset, and that's where he's got to make the case. Why am I better than all of these others? Young people, optimistic people -- what do I bring to the table other than I've been around a while, that should make you trust me?

CAVUTO: Real quickly guys, it is Biden's nomination to lose, what do you think?

TIMPF: I think it's really hard to tell at the beginning. He does have a larger share of the votes in polls, but that share shrinks when there's an undecided option added. A lot of the polls where he has the largest lead there's no undecided option. So it could just be name recognition for a lot of people.

CAVUTO: Nathan what do you think?

RUBIN: I do not think it's his to lose, I think he needs to prove himself to at least the Democratic party. This is a primary, not a general.

CAVUTO: You're right. Steve?

FORBES: And because of the proportion of representation (ph) they're now having on delegates, everyone's going to be a factor in that convention. Unless he wins (ph) decisively at the beginning, he's going to get crushed at the Convention. He'll never survive a second (inaudible).

CAVUTO: And (Inaudible) says it could be multiple votes, it won't be first ballot, right?

FORBES: Yes.

CAVUTO: That'll be kind of cool, right? For journalists.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: All right, in the meantime, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is not the only one saying it's time to move on from the Mueller report, now some prominent Democrats are saying the exact same thing, stick around.

(COMMERCIAL)

CAVUTO: All right. Amazon's a biggie, one of the earnings we look for very close (ph). I think we're a little bit more than a quarter away through the process here. Amazon's sort of like a proxy, if you will, on the economy, how much folks like, well, you and me are buying.

And apparently, we're buying quite a bit, at least when it comes to Amazon. How you interpret those numbers is anyone's guess. I know Charles Payne is the immediate go-to guy, here at Fox News and Fox Business, for that. The numbers look good but we have a high bar for these guys.

CHARLES PAYNE, CORRESPONDENT: A very high bar. You know, not many companies considered they'd get (ph) almost $60 billion of revenues in three months.

CAVUTO: Incredible.

PAYNE: It's mind-boggling. And you know, the earnings came in substantially better than Wall Street anticipated. But you know, I got to tell you, Neil, the company has been - it's been a little tougher for them.

The last two times they reported, the stock was hammered. So the good news is that for anyone watching and owning Amazon stock, it always typically comes back. Wall Street's trying to figure this thing out. As soon as the numbers came out, the stock popped 50 points, then it was down 11. Now, it's sort of unchanged.

CAVUTO: It's sort of seen as a proxy on the consumer as well, right? I mean - and what he or she is (inaudible). If that were the case, because I think there're so many other players, like auto companies and the rest, what is your reading of the economy and anything else that underpins this?

PAYNE: You know, I think the consumer's extraordinary strong and confident, but there's an asterisk next to the modern day consumer, and I think it's the aftermath of the great recession, not unlike the great depression. I think consumers are not going to get over their skis (ph). You know, every month, I look at Visa's numbers. I look at Mastercard's numbers. And still, to this day, our debit card spending is greater than our credit card spending.

CAVUTO: Is that right?

PAYNE: And that's something - that's a phenomenon that occurred in 2009, 2010.

CAVUTO: Which indicates more conservative -

PAYNE: More conservative. So even though wages are extraordinarily high and going up, even though people know that they're going to have their job tomorrow, because there's 7.5 million out there, you know, and things are - you know, and their debt to monthly bills, their debt to - you know, their income to bill is extraordinary.

I mean, there's a lot of room for consumers that they really wanted to go nuts. They could go nuts. But they are spending. They're spending smartly, and that's why, I think, we see some inconsistency in retail sales. But that retail sales report was amazing, so I think we've got a full head of steam (ph) right now.

CAVUTO: All right. Now, a lot of the democrats are challenging the president, as you know. We had about 280, as of Joe Biden. But it - their message has been, this is not a great recovery. It's an uneven recovery, and a lot of folks are upset about that. That's a tough sell, when we have the unemployment rate we do, the overall GDP and other numbers that we do. What do you think?

PAYNE: It is a real tough sell. It's a - they've gone to a template that they use every election cycle. And somebody's got to tell them, "Hey, it may not work this time." You know, wage is growing at 3 percent or better, year over year, on a given month. It has always been the magic number.

Now, for the headline number that we've been at, we've had six months in a row. For blue-collar workers, eight months in a row. In fact, blue-collar workers, not supervisory workers, wages are growing faster than their bosses. What does that mean? That's shared prosperity.

So you know, essentially if this - if this keeps like this, you know, they're going have to voters and say, "Yes, you're kind of getting shared prosperity, but we can get it even more." So I don't know. It's going to be tough.

CAVUTO: All right, Charles, thank you very, very much. Charles Payne. I want to go to Jon Sale right now, responding to some development on the whole investigation - the Mueller investigation front. The former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, say we have to kind of move on from here. But Jon, if you think about it, that's a lot easier said than done.

JON SALE, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, Neil, with all due respect to the former attorney general, that's sort of like setting the sun's going to set and rise. The media is fixed upon the Mueller report. The reason I'm here today is because we're talking about the Mueller report.

I read it, from cover-to-cover - both volumes, the appendices, the footnotes. And my takeaway from it is it's a very well written brief. It - they have an agenda. Volume one, we should celebrate that there was no evidence to establish that the president or anyone in his campaign colluded, conspired with the Russians.

Volume two - and I'm trying to do this neat, with the confines of a short interview. Volume two, the regulation said that Mueller not may but shall - not shall but must make a judgment, one way or the other. Well, he didn't do that. Instead, they list a number of instances that might be obstruction, but then I think they did what Comey did. They don't give the president a chance to respond, and many of these things could be interpreted two different ways. The -

CAVUTO: Well, was that a mistake on his part, by not making a judgment, one way or the other?

SALE: I think it was an abdication of his mandate. The make Don McGhan like the sheriff in Dodge who's protecting everybody against the bad guys. He talks about firing the special counsel. And he says you didn't want to know the Saturday Night Massacre. Well, I was there for the real Saturday Night Massacre.

That was not obstruction. That was annihilation. I mean we were - I was fired, along with my colleagues, on national television. Here, nobody was fired. And I saw John Dowd interview a couple days ago, and he said he never heard the president talk about firing the special counsel.

There's nother instance in the report about dangling pardons. Well, Jay Sekulow, for whom I have a great deal of respect, said he's never seen that happen. So the point is none of it was challenged. So the point is -

CAVUTO: So there's enough for Congress to go on there, Jon? Or to investigate? And the president is opposing these subpoenas for his personnel, including McGhan, former personnel, to testify on Capitol Hill. Now, whatever the legality of that is and who wins in that fight, is it a bad idea? Or what do you think?

SALE: Neil, what I think is our system to needs to work. We have three co-equal branches of government. The president has a right to challenge the subpoenas. It's going to wind up in court, and the court's going to decide. But remember, Eric Holder was hel in contempt, both civil and criminal.

They called something the deliberative process privilege. That's sort of hybrid. And they withheld documents, fast and furious. And what happened when he held in contempt? Nothing. So - but it is up to the courts. And - but if (ph) the courts decide, then our system works.

CAVUTO: All right, we'll watch closely. Jon, thank you very much. Jon Sale, the former federal prosecutor.

SALE: Thanks, Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, you probably saw this, and we're wondering. You have Vladimir Putin. You have Kim Jong-un. You have all sorts of shaking hands and smiling and back and forth. What were they talking about? What did they agree to? And was this meant to stick it to us? After this

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, we're getting a new response from the White House on North Korea supposedly asking the United States for $2 million to pay for Otto Warmbier's medical bills when he was released, remember?

He was the American college student imprisoned in North Korea, eventually falling in to a coma, dying soon upon his return to the United States. Blake Burman has more on this, particularly that White House reaction to all of this. Blake?

BLAKE BURMAN, CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Neil. You'll remember back in June of 2017 that's when Otto Warmbier was handed back to the United States from North Korea, he was comatose at the time. He returned back home to Cincinnati, Ohio a hospital there in his hometown -- and died just a few days later at 22 years old.

Well now Fox is told that before Warmbier was released to the U.S. the North Koreas also gave the U.S. a $2 million medical bill. "The Washington Post," is reporting that Donald Trump approved of a U.S. envoy signing off on that medical bill, however sources also tell Fox that the U.S. has not given a penny of that $2 million to North Korea.

Officially over here at the White House, down the street as well as over at the State Department they are not talking about the specifics. But the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the following in a statement earlier today, "we do not comment on hostage negotiations," which is why they have been so successful during this administration.

The Ohio Senator, Rob Portman expressing his outrage at the North Korean demand saying today, "no, the United States owes them nothing -- they owe the Warmbier family everything."

As for President Trump we will see him on camera, Neil, for the first time here in just a few minutes time he's about to host an event for Take Your Son and Daughter to Work Day over here at the White House. So it is quite possible that we could either see the President talk about this on his own, or certainly field (ph) the question or two about this. Neil.

CAVUTO: Blake, thank you very, very much. Let's get a (inaudible) just as the Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean Leader in Vladivostok, Russia today. Former USS Cole Commander, Kirk Lippold.

Kirk, first of all on this $2 million bill that the North Koreas sent to cover the cost of medical treatment for this young man, leaving aside how outrageous it is, even the sum it is. And to take the administration at its word that such a bill was never paid -- it says a lot about, I think the regime, does it not?

KIRK LIPPOLD, FORMER USS COLE COMANDER: Absolutely. It shows just what a tortured regime they are, and the lengths that they'll go to because they have absolutely no moral compass. To even present a bill like that after doing what they did to that young man, is just inexcusable.

CAVUTO: Now if we had agreed ahead of time to do this, and to look at this bill and the White House says we never paid it -- is that the same to you as paying for a hostage?

LIPPOLD: I don't believe so, I think that in reality we'd want to know what the circumstances were, why he was hospitalized -- we don't know what went on in the back negotiations in order to get him returned. There may have been legitimate medical issues involved that were presented to us.

But upon further review, especially when he came back to the States and we saw the nature of the torture that he had undergone, what the North Koreans did to him -- it became very apparent that those medical bills were imposed through North Korean abuse of that young man, and should in no way ever be paid.

CAVUTO: You know, Commander over the years and through several presidents you've talked about how reliable the North Koreans are at keeping their word, or even telling the truth period.

This is yet, maybe another reminder of that and yet we see the North Korean leader, cozying up Vladimir Putin, he's set to do the same with the Chinese president. So he's kind of playing the field here, should we worry about that?

LIPPOLD: I wouldn't worry about that right now. I mean, Vladimir Putin while he may meet with him, is also going to be looking at North Korea with the same jaundiced eye that we do.

Let's not forget, if he allows North Korea to continue to build out a nuclear and ballistic missile program, he is looking to have those same weapons potentially pointed at him. Right now, some of his missile -- ICBM missile fields and bombers bases are under threat. If North Korea says that they can reach Guam, well they certainly can reach way in to the Russian interior as well.

The North Koreans cannot be trusted, Putin knows that. He knows that China is a threat, he knows that China while there may be mutual interest in trying to poke the United States in the eye, by the same token the only military ally that North Korea has is China. China has aided, and abetted, and allowed that nuclear program to even come in to existence. So it hold Russia a threat almost more than the United States.

CAVUTO: Commander, good seeing you again even under these circumstances -- thank you -- thank you more for your service to this country.

LIPPOLD: Thank you, Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, 1 million illegal immigrants expected to cross in to our country this year -- just this year. Now what?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: This is why they call it a crisis at the border, even an emergency. Homeland Security reporting up to a million border apprehensions expected this year -- people who shouldn't be or who get through here. And yet another care about on the way. It's anyone's guess as to how many are part of that caravan, just that another one is coming. And that million figure might be conservative.

The chief of the El Paso, Texas Border Patrol sector, Aaron Hull joins us right now. Aaron, good to have you. How bad is this?

AARON HULL, CBP CHIEF OF EL PASO, TEXAS SECTOR: We're telling you all, the numbers keep going up at a faster and faster rate. And we're seeing an unprecedented number of family unit aliens entering which is something new for us.

CAVUTO: So how do you handle that? I mean, obviously whole families come in, sometimes kids are a part of that process. How do you deal with that now that the rule is there's no separating them and all of that, what do you do?

HULL: Well, it's a huge draw on us logistically in terms of manpower. The family unit aliens require that they be kept together. Children in those groups have additional needs -- medical needs, additional care needs -- that adults don't tend to have. These family unit aliens are from countries other than Mexico, which makes it harder for us to return them because they're not from a contiguous country.

All of this pulls our manpower and our resources away from securing the border, placing even fewer of us on the line to protect from the threats coming in. So it's definitely a concern.

CAVUTO: And now you have to abide, I guess, by these rules that set ceilings at detention centers. What do you do when those ceilings are exceeded, Chief?

HULL: Well, these are human beings. So we have to while we're enforcing the law, we have to make sure that their humanitarian needs are met. So it is a challenge. Border Patrol is only the first step in the process, our role is to catch, process and turn over. When we can't turn over these aliens, because there's no room in detention centers, we have the situation that we're facing now where so many aliens have been released on their own recognizance. And that's not the intent of the law. And it creates further problems along the line.

CAVUTO: So what happens to these who board this train, you know, obviously, the Mexican government is trying to crack down as well those from South America, Latin America, Ecuador, and some of these other points. They escape or try to on these trains that make it to the border. That has got to complicate things, too, because that's sort of like a new wrinkle in this battle, right?

HULL: Yes. Well, you're seeing more and more extensive smuggling arrangements. You have smugglers advertising their services down in Central America. These people, of course, the bulk of the aliens we're getting are from three countries -- Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador -- they're making arrangements way down there to be moved through Mexico and up here.

So in the middle of all this, in the middle of all these humanitarian challenges and border security challenges, smugglers are making a lot of money off these people.

CAVUTO: So those who come in in this train, I guess is nicknamed "The Beast" or whatever. They hop off that and then they're processed at any one of these border centers, maybe for all I know, yours included, then what?

HULL: Well, the people that we're seeing now, these family unit aliens that are making the news so much are basically being bussed north, at least here in El Paso sector, which includes New Mexico and part of West Texas. They're basically being bussed north to the international border and simply walking across. They know that there are forms of relief available to them, through the immigration process, through their asylum claims, through court decisions. They know that when we catch them, they're very likely to be released on their own recognizance, which is why you see their numbers increasing so quickly.

CAVUTO: We also hear the administration is pushing that Mexico deal with them in the interim, while all of these cases are being adjudicated, they wait it out in Mexico. Now obviously, many have appealed that and various courts are ruling on the legality of that because up until now, they could wait it out in the United States and escape, right? But if that is not allowed, they can't stay in Mexico, then another line of defense is down for you, right?

HULL: Well, we're actually doing that here in El Paso faster sector, it's called the Migrant Protection Protocols. And that's with the partnership with the government of Mexico. We are returning a slowly increasing number of these aliens to await their immigration proceedings in the United States, actually in Mexico and to be brought in at their hearing dates to appear for them.

So we're actually doing that now. The numbers are small right now, but they are slowly and steadily increasing.

CAVUTO: But if a court were to overrule that, I'd say I don't know we have to go to have them wait in the United States, all bets are off, I would imagine.

HULL: Yes, well, it makes it a challenge because the immigration law is already available to these aliens. There are so many options for relief from removal, that every additional court decision of that nature makes it more and more of a challenge for us to secure the border. Because while we're dealing with these family unit aliens, there's no shortage of drug smugglers, criminals, pedophiles, people with contagious health conditions trying to enter and entering the country illegally between the ports of entry.

CAVUTO: You have a pretty big job. I wish you well. Chief, thank you very, very much.

HULL: Thank you.

CAVUTO: All right, well, Joe Biden, as you know, making it official. He is number 20 for 2020, and he is already going after a lot of donors, and he wants more than just 20s from them, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Every time I see this picture, I think of the "Brady Bunch" thing. There's a story. All these candidates running for President -- no, it's not going to sing, don't worry. That's how many people are running for President right now, for those of you listening, we have 20 boxes here. And if one more person enters the race, that's going to destroy the whole box setup.

But the latest entrant is perhaps the most influential one for the time being. Just in terms of money raised or potential to be raised, Joe Biden, he wants within the first week of his announcement to beat everybody's record. He has a good shot at that. But they're already questioning how much he can raise from average folks in small denominations. Because it's not just a bet of how much, but who gives and how many?

"Washington Examiner's" Kelly Jane Torrance is with us; Republican strategist Nick Adams, Democratic strategist Christy Setzer. Christy, I'd like to begin with you? Is it your belief that -- if you doubt that Joe Biden is not going to have trouble raising money, but it's the mix that might raise questions because the passion isn't there among smaller donors, among those who would ever Barack Obama in the beginning or early on that led to bigger donations. What do you think?

CHRISTY SETZER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, we don't know that that's the case yet. He literally just announced this morning. So it could in fact, be the case that he will have a flood of small dollar donations. But let's also think about why we really care about whether these candidates can raise money or not.

CAVUTO: Because I led with it, like I led with it.

SETZER: We care because --

CAVUTO: That's a good reason.

SETZER: It's a really great reason.

CAVUTO: There we go.

SETZER: It's an amazing reason. But beyond that, we care because it shows that they have an ability to compete in this race, right? And we already know that Joe Biden is going to have the ability to compete. He is already very well known. He has already had the ability to get his message out there. He's not going to have to have some of these stumbling blocks that somebody who is an unknown candidate without money would have to face.

So in his particular instance, I'm not sure that whether or not he raises the most amount of money will be the most important thing about his canvassing.

CAVUTO: You know, one of the things, Kelly Jane Torrance, we learned from Donald Trump, billionaire though he is, I mean, many competing for the Republican nomination in 2016. We're certainly raising a lot more money from so-called party regulars and pros, and it didn't do them the wicked good, right? I mean, Jeb Bush raised over $100 million and didn't materialize into much. So what do you think?

KELLY JANE TORRANCE, JOURNALIST, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Exactly. You know, I keep hearing from Democrats for years now, that money buys politics, that's the most important factor. And I think we've seen especially in 2016 that that's just not the case. But even that --

CAVUTO: But it is a sign of passion, right?

TORRANCE: It is, yes.

CAVUTO: I mean, it is a sign and maybe Nick you can help me with is that if you're raising money among small donors, those will give 10 or 15 bucks at a time. That was an early sign for Barack Obama that he was onto something or hitting a chord. And before we knew it, you know, he wins Iowa, you know, he's on his way to the nomination. What do you think?

NICK ADAMS, GOP FUNDRAISER: It is a sign of enthusiasm.

TORRANCE: It's interesting though because --

CAVUTO: Go ahead, Nick. I will get back to you on that, Kelly. Go ahead.

ADAMS: Neil, it's a sign of enthusiasm. It's a sign of passion. It's a sign that you're making a connection with the everyday person, and of course, it's a sign that bodes well for an actual election campaign. If you're getting the support of everyday people in small quantities during a primary, then there's a very good chance that that's going to correlate to the general.

In Joe Biden's particular case, I don't think that we're going to see him raising a lot of money from everyday people and I don't think he's got any kind of chance whatsoever when it comes to the general election.

CAVUTO: Kelly Jane, obviously, the White House has been trying to dismiss him out the gate, maybe they're worried about him. But do you think the fact that he does have the name recognition, he does have a great broad base appeal here, now how that translates in a nomination though, I have no idea. But that's something the White House is worried about.

TORRANCE: I do think they're worried and I think Biden is their top worry. You know, talking about money, yes, a lot of small donors, it does indicate appeal. But you know, it's interesting, Bernie Sanders actually sent out an e-mail a few days ago to his supporters, saying that they weren't giving him enough basically.

He actually complained that the average donation to him was lower than that of most of the other candidates. So you've got some mixed messages there. You know, we heard today that Andrew Cuomo, New York Governor plans to open his fundraising apparatus to Joe Biden, and you know, about 80 percent of Andrew Cuomo supporters gave over $10,000.00.

So you know, it's mixed, you know, they want money to do the ads. They want money to show that they have a real campaign. But you're right, does it speak to passion? And I think Bernie Sanders certainly has that passion. He's got a lot of small donors, but it didn't help him enough in 2016.

CAVUTO: You know, you might be right, but Christy, I know that there are going to be a variety of fundraisers for the former Vice President including at the home of David Cohen, of course, the Senior VP of Comcast, the big cable entertainment concern, although, there are other well-heeled backers who are going to be there? I don't think Joe Biden needs to worry about financial support. But how do you see this sorting out given the proportional number of delegates in the Democratic primary system? Could you see a situation where you get to the convention, and no one has the delegates necessary? And we might have to go through multiple ballots to get there?

SETZER: I suppose so. But at this point, that's kind of what we'd call concern trolling. I mean, the convention is so far away. And while we obviously have an incredibly large field right now, you know that there's going to be a number of people who are going to have to drop out maybe even before Iowa, but the Iowa caucuses are, what? Eight months away. Then we have a very compressed primary schedule.

And so I think you're going to see this winnow out pretty quickly after that. 2019, by contrast, is going to be a really nice, strong, healthy debate among a lot of people who are bringing different issues to the table. You have somebody like Jay Inslee, who just wants to talk about climate change. You have others who brought, you know, different other issues that they're bringing to the fore.

So I think we can right now see it as sort of an embarrassment of riches and know that it is going to winnow out, and it will winnow pretty quickly.

CAVUTO: Nick Adams, an embarrassment of riches. That was kind of like the situation Republicans enjoyed with Donald Trump when they were 16 or 17 running. This is 20.

ADAMS: Yes, there are lots of options, Neil, but I don't know that any are any good. Look, when it comes to Vice President Joe Biden, what do we say? I think he's past it. I think he's had his time. I think he's antiquated. I think he's a relic. I think he belongs in a museum. I think he's super annulated to use --

CAVUTO: Hey, hey, you're going to be old someday yourself, young man.

SETZER: Some day you will.

ADAMS: Well, it's not that he's old. It's that he has all the wrong experience. He was the Vice President under President Obama. And I don't think that any American in their right mind wants to return to those days.

CAVUTO: You know, Christy, on that point, Barack Obama -- and this -- I don't know why this is deemed a news alert to a lot of folks. He is not endorsing anyone, including the Vice President. You know, it's still early on in the race, and he has to let everyone fight through. But can he count on some of the Barack Obama apparatus that elected him President? Some key figures have done a little work on the Biden campaign; and others, you know, have gone on to the O'Rourke and other campaigns. So they are spread around a little bit. What do you think of that?

SETZER: Yes, that's a great question. I mean, because obviously, the people who go to work on campaigns, and I was one of them for a dozen years or so tend to be really young, right? And obviously, not just younger than President Obama, but a lot younger than Joe Biden.

Right now, the energy in the party is for a lot of these candidates who are a generation younger than Joe Biden. And so of course, they've been no surprise attracted to some of those candidates. So sure, he's going to get some of those people who very much see themselves as you know, Obama-Biden, people, and a lot of them have already gone to other places.

You know, I don't know that that's that big of a deal. I think we've had so much speculation about Biden up to this point, like now the race starts and I will say that I am someone that was not really sure how this is going to end. And I guess I'm still not sure how it's going to go for him. But I do believe that his announcement video was pitch perfect and gave --

CAVUTO: Really?

SETZER: Absolutely, I believe that.

CAVUTO: It's kind of a Debbie Downer though, wasn't it? I mean, it's --

SETZER: No, I thought that it showed a ton of gravitas.

CAVUTO: Really?

SETZER: I mean, which we know he has.

CAVUTO: Okay.

SETZER: But yes, I really thought if that's the note that he's starting with ...

CAVUTO: As far as announcing --

ADAMS: It is also untruthful.

CAVUTO: It's just a little dark, a little dark. That's all.

SETZER: Well, as compared to Donald Trump? I mean, I don't know. But yes, so anyway, I think that if that is the note that he stays on, it will go very well for him.

ADAMS: It was definitely dark.

CAVUTO: Nick, you found it dark.

ADAMS: Yes, look, I think it was dark. I think it was definitely dark and it was untruthful, too, part of it. He said that the President the called neo Nazis fine people --

SETZER: He didn't say that.

ADAMS: And he definitely didn't do that.

SETZER: He definitely didn't do that, Nick.

ADAMS: Let's go back and have a look at the --

CAVUTO: He didn't say it quite like that. He did say that the President didn't do a great job with Charlottesville, but we'll see. The race is on as you all see. I want to thank you all.

We go from that to talking about measles and record numbers of issues that are not being addressed because a lot of people don't get vaccinations and now a legal battle is on our hands.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, this measles outbreak is now the worst since the government told us that the disease was supposedly eradicated back at the turn of the last century. Our David Lee Miller has much more on these stunning numbers. I cannot believe this, David Lee.

DAVID LEE MILLER, CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Neil. You know authorities say that there are now 695 reported cases of measles in 22 states and no one knows how many people have the measles and haven't sought help. In the near term, the CDC says it expects the number of people infected with the virus to continue to rise.

The overwhelming majority of cases are in Orthodox Jewish communities in the New York City area. There's also been a large outbreak of the disease in Washington State. According to the CDC, misleading information about the vaccine is preventing people from immunizing their families. Although for many children, a case of the measles can be a mild illness, authorities warn, it can also be deadly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY MESSONNIER, NCIRD DIRECTOR: Two out of a thousand kids with measles actually die, and if I can't tell you whether your child is going to have a mild or severe illness, why would you take the risk? You should go ahead and vaccinate them and protect them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: In California, hundreds of anti-vaccine demonstrators rallied to voice opposition to a bill requiring tougher restrictions on vaccine exemptions. The State Senate Health Committee after a contentious hearing approved a proposal that will let public health officials decide instead of a family doctor if a child can go without a vaccination before beginning school.

According to the World Health Organization, before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, 2.6 million people a year died from measles worldwide. There are still more than a hundred thousand measles deaths globally each year. And those cases, Neil, could be making the situation worse here in the U.S. The CDC stresses spread of the disease here can be stopped with a simple and safe vaccination -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Wow, David Lee. Thank you very much, David Lee Miller. We're going to take a quick break here. Just to let you know that Ford earnings are out as well. This is the earnings season. Better than expected, in fact, a lot better than expected. It made 44 cents a share versus the 27 expected. I mention that because that's an economic barometer. If people were hurting, they wouldn't be buying cars. Apparently, they were buying a lot of Ford cars. We'll have more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Busy earnings time, busy market times. I talked about Lyft, the online rideshare, and now Uber. The other shoe to drop in that field announcing an IPO -- Initial Public Offering -- priced anywhere between $44.00 and $50.00 a share. The formal debut will probably be early next month.

I don't know what the range was they considering. I think that's a little higher than they're initially considering. Lyft had a sort of a knock after its debut. We'll see what happens with Uber. Here's "The Five."

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