Transcripts For KGO This Week With George Stephanopoulos 201

Two big developing stories. Overseas where overnight israel launched air strikes against targets in gaza amid fallout from a series of killings of israeli and palestinian teenagers. Many fears this morning that the region could be plunged into war. Well get to that in a moment but first to the southern border where that Immigration Crisis is deepening, and this weekend, more arrests in marietta, california, where protesters from both sides of the debate continue to clash over buses carrying undocumented migrants to new detention facilities. And this week, a special congressional hearing held near the texas mexico border on that surge of immigrants streaming in from Central America. Well speak with two of the witnesses who testified there including Texas Governor rick perry, but first heres abcs jim avila. Turn around and go back. Reporter the humanitarian crisis on the border now ripping at the fabric of american society. Flash point, marietta, southern california, where the demonstrators stopped Homeland Security buses trying to process Central American moms and kids who crossed into the u. S. Illegally. Why cant we just transport them on the bus to tijuana and send them back across the border . Reporter because mexico shares a border with the United States, mexican citizens can be deported almost immediately. Thats different from children from south america. Theyre treated as refugees and processed through immigration courts. The Obama Administration wants to give the department of Homeland Security more discretion to fast track deportations for all Central Americans. But residents of these border towns are angry that the migrants are crossing over at all. This is an invasion. Why is the National Guard not out there stopping them from coming in . [ cheers and applause ] reporter but in an exclusive interview with abc news this week, his first since the crisis began, customs and Border Protection commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said these immigrants should not be feared. These are family members. These are not gang members. These are not dangerous individuals. Reporter kerlikowske says the young immigrants and mothers from el salvador, guatemala and honduras often run towards his agents wanting to be detained. These agents have gone well beyond the call of duty taking care of these kids, treating them with true compassion, with true heartfelt sympathy. And you believe you have enough agents to do the job right now . Well, as you know, secretary johnson has just deployed an additional 150 agents to the Rio Grande Valley and that is on top of the 115 that are already moving in. So im confident that we have the resources. Reporter they are detaining thousands each week, a projected 80,000 this year alone. Now Homeland Security is struggling to find a place to keep all of them. For this week, jim avila, abc news, washington. Im joined now by Bishop Mark Seitz of the Catholic Diocese of el paso, texas, who has been on the front lines aiding those children and families entering the country. Thanks for joining us, bishop seitz. The part of the story we havent really heard about is why is there this huge influx of these refugees now . What is happening in Central America to make them all come here . Did something suddenly change down there . Youve been down there with them. Right. I think thats something that has been missed by many people hearing the story. We just take it up at the point when they arrive at the border and what we need to begin to understand better is why would they leave . What would it take for you or me to leave our home, to leave it all behind, just to leave it as it is and to make that journey that they do know is very risky . They do know theyre risking their life and so and what stories have you heard, bishop . Well, ive talked with so many people who said that their life was directly threatened down in tapachula on the southern border of mexico. I spoke with a 15yearold and a 17yearold who told me that they had been recruited by the gang, that they would not join the gang, that their only option was to leave and even though they were being deported from mexico to back to honduras to san pedro sula, the most dangerous city in the world, they would not stay. They would make another attempt because they felt that to remain would mean their death. Well, do you believe that they are coming here because they believe they can get in and that things are different and that they will be welcomed here . I think a helpful analogy for me is of a house thats burning and people at the windows ready to jump, we can say as many times as we want, dont jump, help is coming. But if the flames begin licking at their backs, then theyre going to jump, and theyll look for the safest place to land. And that i think is whats happening. Many of them do know that in the United States there are people who would receive them and thats where they go. Now, at the same time we should point out that bishop, tell me what you would say tell me what you would say to governor perry. You know his feelings on this. Well, id say to governor perry, i know that he is a compassionate man, and i think we need to tune in to that side of our personhood. We know that there is great concern about people coming to our borders. We just need to find a way, first of all, to receive them according to existing laws that say we must receive people who are seeking asylum. In fact, they are not illegal if they are coming under those circumstances, and we need to look at the root causes also and see what we can do as a country to help the situation in Central America. Okay, thanks very much for joining us, bishop. Now we turn to Texas Governor rick perry, who also testified at that special hearing this week. You heard what the bishop said. He talks about compassion. Youre a religious man. What do you do about this . Well, for over two years weve drawn the attention of this issue to this administration. As a matter of fact, in may of 2012 we sent a letter, laid out what was happening with the unaccompanied minors that were showing up at the border, and we told them, we said, if you do not address this, here is whats going to happen, and were seeing that become reality today. This is a failure of diplomacy. It is a failure of leadership from the administration in washington, d. C. , and it was the messages have been sent now for multiple years. In 2010 i asked for the president to put a thousand National Guard troops in place along the border to secure the border so that we could train up 3,000 Border Patrol agents to augment and to permanently secure that border. You just heard the that has been the real issue. You have heard the commissioner of the customs and Border Patrol say they are confident they have enough resources on the border. He is absolutely and totally wrong. For one thing, there is a Border Patrol agent i should say 15 Border Patrol agents per mile from el paso to california. In texas that number is seven Border Patrol agents totally per mile. So the idea that theres equity and theres enough Border Patrol agents is totally and absolutely incorrect. But, governor, this is about a law. This isnt necessarily about Border Patrol. This is about a law. You heard in jim avilas piece, they have to let these people into the country when theyre from noncontiguous nations, when theyre from Central America or south america. Should that law be changed . The rule of law is that the constitution requires the United States to secure the border, and were not doing that. We havent done it for years. And we are paying a huge price. When you have catch and release policies that send a message to people but, governor, please, go back to the law. The 2008 law that was signed into law by george bush, isnt this a backlog in the courts . Doesnt that have to be addressed first . What has to be addressed is the security of the border. You know that. I know that. The president of the United States knows that. I dont believe he particularly cares whether or not the border of the United States is secure. And thats the reason theres been this lack of effort, this lack of focus, this lack of resources. Hes telling people not to come. Hes telling them in ads not to come into the United States, not to leave their homes. About five years too late would be my response to that. The president has sent powerful messages time after time governor by his policies, by nuances that it is okay to come to the United States and you can come across and youll be accepted in open arms. That is governor, youve made i want to go back to an interview you did on fox news. You recently made some pretty serious allegations against the federal government much lets listen to what you said to fox news. That the federal government is just absolutely failing. You either have an incredibly inept administration, or theyre in on this somehow. I mean i hate to be conspiratorial, but i mean how do you move that many people from Central America across mexico and then into the United States without there being a fairly coordinated effort . Governor, do you really believe theres some sort of conspiracy to get people into the United States by the federal government, by the Obama Administration . When i have when i have written a letter that is dated may of 2012, and i have yet to have a response from this administration, i will tell you they either are inept or dont care, and that is my position. We have been bringing to the attention of president obama and his Administration Since 2010, he received a letter from me on the tarmac. He sends i have to believe that when you do not respond in any way, that you are either inept, or you have some ulterior motive of which you are functioning from. So the issue is, this president understands now that we have a huge problem on our southern border. We have to deal with it, and i dont think youre going to be able to address it until you put the resources there, and thats boots on the ground. Were asking for the faa to allow for drones to be used unless we secure our southern border, this is going to continue to be a massive amount of individuals that are coming to the United States and, frankly, we dont have a place to house them as it is and if we have a major event, a hurricane that comes in to the gulf coast, i dont have a place to be housing people who are displaced. Okay, governor, im going to have to stop you there. This administration is housing them. Im going to have to stop you there, but thank you very much for joins us. Martha, thank you. Yes, maam. We now turn overseas to that escalating crisis in the middle east. Dramatic clashes all week over the deaths of one palestinian and three israeli teenagers. And now the brutal beating and detention of a palestinianamerican teen is sparking new outrage. Abcs Alex Marquardt brings us the latest. Reporter this is one of the many scenes raising fears this morning that this region could soon be plunged into war. An Israeli Policeman pinning down a young teen while another repeatedly kicks and pummels the boy. The victim, his family says, is 15yearold american Tariq Abu Khdeir from tampa, florida, released this morning after four days in custody. His face still badly bruised and swollen telling me hes angry and just wants to go home. What would you say to the Israeli Police officers if you could speak to them now . I would say why would you attack me like that . At least try to tell me why would you do that to me if i didnt do anything to you . Reporter it was tariqs cousin, 16yearold mohammed abu khdeir, who was aducted and burned alive on wednesday. There have been violent clashes every day since, clashes the police tell abc news that tariq participated in, which he denies. These undercover soldiers came out from nowhere and attacked him and beat him. Reporter today, suspects were arrested for mohammeds murder. Israeli media reported believed to be israeli extremists looking to avenge the recent murders of three jewish teens, which has infuriated and saddened israel on full display at their funeral. I think many, many people feel what if it was my own child, what if it was my own son or what if it was my own daughter . Reporter the tension only growing as israel continues to carry out air strikes on the gaza strip. Israel accuses the Palestinian Militant Group hamas of being behind the abductions and for failing to stop the rocket fire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this morning they will do whatever they can to restore calm but so far efforts for a ceasefire have failed as public anger on both sides grows louder. Martha. Our thanks to alex. Were joined now by the israeli ambassador to the u. S. , ron dermer. First of all, profound condolences on the deaths of the three jewish teenagers whose bodies with found this week. You heard alex mention the tape that clearly appears to involve Excessive Force. Well, i saw that video, and obviously it was very disturbing. Excessive force is not something that we accept in israel, and theres an investigation by our Justice Ministry to look into exactly what happened. Its important to understand from what i understand about this particular incident, this boy was one of six boys who had attacked the police with petrol bombs, with molotov cocktails. Our police are under extreme threat in the jerusalem area. Theyre facing mobsters and rioters. It doesnt mean that Excessive Force is acceptable. Its never acceptable. And you would agree that looks like Excessive Force. Yeah, it looks that way, but i cant rush to judgment. This Young Americans cousin was also killed. The autopsy showed he was burned alive. I know some arrests have been made. Does this appear to be a revenge killing . Well, the suspicions are in that direction, and its important to understand our Prime Minister right when this happened condemned it, said that he would use all means available to bring the perpetrators to justice. We will find and prosecute to the full extent of the law anyone who perpetrated this action. A murder is a murder is a murder whether its a jew or an arab. And what happens next . We have Benjamin Netanyahu saying hamas will pay. Youve already started air strikes. Whats the next step here . Well, first of all, the responsibility of the government of israel led by Prime Minister netanyahu is to bring quiet and security to the citizens of the south. We have a million citizens who are facing rocket fire every single day. Weve got 150 rockets that have been fired from the time of those kidnappings. This is just going to be back and forth. Its not a back and forth. Its not a cycle of violence. What we have is a Terror Organization in gaza that has fired thousands of rockets at israels cities and is firing rockets at us today. No government around the world, no country around the world would tolerate the firing of rockets at their city. Israel is surgically striking at the terrorists in order to each Palestinian Civilians out of harms way. I want to move to iraq. We saw the release of a tape this weekend of the leader of isis there, al baghdadi, standing calmly in front of a congregation in mosul, the second largest city in iraq. This man has a 10 million price tag on his head. What does this tell you about the future of iraq and what will this mean for the middle east and israel . Well, its a big concern for israel, and its obviously for the United States of america. What you see happening in the middle east is a real fight between radical shias led by iran and their main proxy hezbollah and radical sunnis which include isis, which includes hamas as i talked about in gaza and al qaeda and includes all these groups. And its a religious conflict right now where both sides want to be the king of an islamic do you see an allout war . I hope not. We hope that we can take action against the most extreme elements. Theres a lot of moderates in the arab world, as well, and the moderates are your allies and its important to strengthen them and its important to encourage them. The ones who suffer the most from the likes of isis and the likes of hezbollah are actually the arabs in the region. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. Up next, Washington State legalizing Recreational Marijuana, and georgia allowing guns into churches, bars, even schools. Two new laws, two very big debates that could impact your family in our closer look. And later, the Supreme Court