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Bank of America cuts ties with businesses operating migrant detention centers, private prisons

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan says America needs to get immigration 'right.'

This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," July 21, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARIA BARTIROMO, ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Maria Bartiromo.

Joining me exclusively right here straight ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures," two influential lawmakers from each side of the aisle.

The ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee this morning, Doug Collins, on what to expect when he questions former special counsel Robert Mueller about the Russia probe this week on Capitol Hill.

Also with me, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin is here, just back from touring facilities at the southern border. Democrats have had some tough words with the Trump administration about the crisis there. We will check in with Senator Cardin and see what he found out.

We will also get reaction from acting head of Customs and Border Protection. Mark Morgan is here this morning.

And the HUD secretary, Ben Carson, on the showdown between President Trump and the so-called Squad, four female Democratic lawmakers of color. One of them just posted a damning tweet about the president this morning.

And I will be speaking with the Bank of America chairman and CEO, Brian Moynihan, after strong earnings, his thoughts on the housing market and what's shaping up to be the longest economic expansion on record.

All that and a lot more this morning on "Sunday Morning Futures."

And lawmakers in the House this morning preparing for Wednesday's highly anticipated hearing, when former special counsel Robert Mueller answers questions before the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees.

Democrats say that they will focus their questioning on possible obstruction of justice by the president, while Republicans plan to grill Mueller on the origins of his investigation and misconduct by the investigators during the 2016 election.

My first guest this morning will be the second lawmaker to question Mueller on Wednesday.

Joining me right now exclusively this morning is Georgia Congressman Doug Collins. He's the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

And, Congressman, it's always a pleasure to see you. Thanks so much for joining me.

REP. DOUG COLLINS, R-GA: I'm glad to be with you this morning, Maria.

BARTIROMO: So, what are you expecting from the Mueller testimony on Wednesday?

COLLINS: Well, what we're expecting is another round of what we already know.

I have told some people before it's like going back and finding a book on the shelf that looks new, and then all of a sudden you begin to read it and you find out, wait, I already read this before.

And I think that's what the American people are going to find. But really what's happening is it's the Democrats' time to make the case that they have not been wasting our time and millions of dollars in our committee hearings, the clown and farce hearings going on, where they're just harassing the president, going after things that we have already known, and just trying to make press release headlines, instead of legislating and trying to govern our country.

This is really what this sums up for them this week.

BARTIROMO: So the Democrats want to have the narrative of obstruction of justice. What else are the Democrats trying to get out of Robert Mueller, and what's the strategy on the Republican side?

COLLINS: Well, I think the Democrats, what they're trying to do is revive this and make something of it that, after being three months out in the public, everybody that has wanted to know about the Mueller report has looked in the Mueller report.

We see that people are beginning to tire of this. They also see that any thought of impeachment is waning, and they know that because the report said that there was no collusion definitively and there was no charge of obstruction.

Remember what was just interesting you just said. The Democrats wanted to focus on obstruction. The whole investigation started from the discussion of Russian interference in our 2016 election. It's almost like they forgot about that completely.

But let me tell you, the Republicans have not forgotten about where this investigation started, and there's going to be a lot of questions for what he did say, what he didn't say, and how this thing started.

And the people are going to find out, hopefully, some answers this week on that.

BARTIROMO: And, of course, we have been covering this for two-and-a-half years, and you and your colleagues have been exposing the truth in terms of what was the origin of the Russia investigation.

Are you going to be asking specifically if he looked at the origin of that investigation, why they started to investigate Donald Trump in the first place?

COLLINS: I think that's going to be part of our complete strategy.

And, remember, what we're doing here is, we're wanting to show this for what it is, and that is the final episode of the Mueller report and a final episode to hopefully put this behind, so that the president, who has been leading on so many fronts with the economy and everything that we have seen so far, actually can get to governing.

But what we're also going to have is a comprehensive decision to say, are you going to say anything new, are you going to stick to your report, do you find that report truthful, laying that foundation. And then throughout our questioners -- and we have got some great guys on our side and gals that are going to ask some really pointed questions to make sure that the American people understand this is not a vacuum that the Democrats have completely to say the president was doing something wrong.

We're also going to go back to that corrupt cabal and others, I think, as you look at it in general, that need to be part of this picture. Remember, the Mueller report is a one-sided report that has not been questioned from the other side. This is our chance to do that.

BARTIROMO: So lay out how it goes tomorrow. Obviously, Jerry Nadler is the chairman of the committee. He will speak first?

COLLINS: Yes. There will be opening statements from Mr. Nadler, the chairman, and myself.

And I'm going to lay out basically what we're looking at. And then Mr. Mueller will have an opening statement as well. And then it will start with our lines of questioning with Mr. Nadler, then myself, and then we will go down the line from there.

BARTIROMO: And, of course, this is happening Wednesday, first to the Judiciary, and then the Intel Committee.

Let me ask you about the issue of collusion. When did he actually know that there was no collusion? He took over after Jim Comey was fired, what was it, April of 2017, and he ended after the midterm elections just a few weeks ago -- couple months ago, rather.

COLLINS: Yes.

I think he was appointed -- actually, I think it was in May that year when he was actually appointed, after Comey was let go.

What we have seen and looking back at the reports, looking at their timeline of investigations, I think they were looking into this whole issue of Russian interference for most of the time.

I think what I want to focus on is, how did we get there to start with? What evidence were they using. These are questions, Maria, that you and I have talked about before. How did the corrupt cabal of Strzok, Page, McCabe, these folks who we know had a problem coming through the midyear investigation of Clinton, who then, all of a sudden, began to appear themselves in the Russia investigation in July of 2016 -- and then actually, Strzok, we know, had to be removed from the Mueller team because of what him and Page were doing.

So, these are the kinds of questions that need to lay a framework for the entire investigation as it goes forward.

BARTIROMO: Sure.

And you have been continuing your investigation, investigating the investigators, and there are three major investigations happening right now, John Durham obviously looking at the same thing, the attorney general, Bill Barr, in the Senate, Lindsey Graham.

You are looking for Nellie Ohr's research, the wife of Bruce Ohr. Tell me what you're looking for, Congressman.

COLLINS: Well, remember, Nellie Ohr, part of the Fusion GPS team, looking at that opposition research, a lot of which we see were shared with the FBI, but also with the Fusion GPS. And that's the infamous dossier.

When she came before the committee last year, before the Democrats took over, she gave indication that she was willing to share that information. Well, we're now going into, you know, almost nine months since then, and she's not shared. Her attorneys have been very vague about sharing this information.

What she did wasn't only investigate the president. She looked at her -- his family, Melania, the first lady. These are -- you know, there's been too much secrecy among this whole corrupt cabal. They have had their time of being in the background. It's time for their information to come out and for the American people to realize that there was a problem at the FBI.

There was a problem that we see going forward, and it's going to go forward, not only in the Durham investigation, but also the Horowitz investigation into FISA abuse, which we expect that report later this fall as well.

BARTIROMO: So you're saying she investigated the entire family when Donald Trump was just a candidate. Did this happen at the end of '15?

COLLINS: No, I think it was in her time with Fusion GPS, so it would have been in that 2016 time frame.

I know she left in September, I believe it was, of 2016 from there. So, this is that time frame of the election cycle. This was when all this was going forward. We had -- the Democratic Party was looking for things on the president, now president, then candidate.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

COLLINS: These are just ideas. And we have got the latest groundwork to let this say this is not Mueller in a capsule by himself. There are things that we have to look for and there are things that people just need to understand the entire story.

It's almost like trying to -- if you just took the Mueller report by itself, then you're not understanding also what underpinned the actual start of this. And I think there's both sides that will be asking questions, but this is a chance for -- I think I can't go back to this enough.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

COLLINS: This is the time that the Democrats have got to show on their end how much time they have been wasting of our committee and how we have not been getting things done because they simply don't like this president, who was elected by the people in 2016, and they're just trying to derail him for 2020.

BARTIROMO: Yes, I want to talk about this. I want to really take a zero - - zeroing in on what has gotten done this first seven months of the year.

Congressman, stay with us. Congressman Collins, we want to get your take on your challenge to Speaker Nancy Pelosi this past week after she invoked the word racist on the House floor when referring to President Trump's tweets.

Also ahead, Secretary Ben Carson on the president's feud with the Squad. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin is here on his trip to the southern border and the tensions with Iran, Customs and Border Protection acting Chief Mark Morgan, as well as the CEO and chairman of Bank of America.

We will be right back.

Tell us what you would like to hear from our guests. Follow me on Twitter @MariaBartiromo and on Instagram, @SundayFutures on Instagram.

Stay with us. We're taking a look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE SPEAKER: Every single member of this institution, Democratic and Republican, to join us in condemning the president's racist tweets.

COLLINS: I was just going to give the gentlespeaker of the House, if she would like to rephrase that comment.

PELOSI: I have cleared my remarks through a parliamentarian before I read them.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: ... be taken now.

I make a point of order the gentlewoman's words are unparliamentary and be taken down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: That was Congressman Doug Collins calling out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an explosive showdown this last Tuesday.

The speaker, in a speech on the House floor, labeled as racist the president's tweet telling the progressive Democratic congresswomen known as the Squad to -- quote -- "Go back and fix the crime-infested places from which they came."

The speaker's move declared a violation of the chamber's rules of decorum.

I'm back with Congressman Doug Collins, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, gearing up to question Bob Mueller on Wednesday.

And, Congressman, explain what just went down there. There is a certain decorum that is required on the House floor.

COLLINS: There certainly is.

And as the leader of the House, the speaker is the one in charge actually of our rules. And for someone who very much values the debate and the decorum of the institution, we can have vehement debates. We can disagree violently even in our language, but we can -- there are certain things that we cannot say.

And drawing on the personalities of the president and using that, it just shows how, frankly, degraded the Democratic Party has -- the speaker ought to be the embarrassed right now. She shouldn't look back on this as a victory.

It was a moment of -- frankly, that brought dishonor to House, because we - - the body never voted to say she that didn't break the rule. In fact, she was told she broke the rule. But what she forced her to do was take away her punishment.

So, she basically says, yes, I broke the rules, but I will use my folks to say that I don't have to be punished for that, which meant that the words will be stricken and she couldn't speak anymore on the floor.

This shows you how dysfunctional this Democratic majority has been. They have done nothing, except just run roughshod over the institutional processes in the House.

BARTIROMO: So let's take a look at what they have done.

Here we are in July, seven months into their leadership of the House of Representatives. Give us your priorities. What are the priorities of this -- of this Congress, and what has gotten done so far?

COLLINS: Well, this -- if you're -- my wife of is getting ready for her last year of teaching, and she -- if she was grading this, she would give it an F, because they have absolutely done at this point.

They have done nothing on immigration. They have done nothing on the economic conditions, except try to roll back the gains that we made many times through our tax cuts, through our deregulation plan.

What I'm seeing is, simply, they're playing to a base. We're seeing bills come to floor that have inherent flaws in them that make them unworkable, even if they were signed into law.

They are rushing stuff to floor to feed a press release frenzy that their base wants to see. And really at the end of the day, they're not getting anything done.

And a classic example of this is immigration. They're ready to yell. And earlier this year, they said there was no crisis on the border. Now they say there's a crisis on the border, but yet almost a hundred of them just a couple weeks ago refused to send money to actually help on the border.

That's hypocrisy in its highest. And that's what we have seen in the first seven-and-a-half months. All they want to do is bash the president. All they want to do is talk about how bad he is and what the economy -- but they don't want to focus on the fact that they have got a good -- there's a great economy, businesses are starting, people are moving forward, and our standing in the world has improved.

They have simply failed when it comes to governing in the House.

(CROSSTALK)

BARTIROMO: And, in fact, you have got two major priorities, and the clock is ticking on USMCA, and the clock is ticking on the debt ceiling. What are you going to do? Are you going to raise the debt ceiling?

COLLINS: Good question that Madam Speaker needs to answer, because she runs the majority in the House.

And USMCA needs to pass now. This is a -- and this is something that the president's worked on, that both sides have. There's issues just in any major trade deal. There was stuff I would like to see maybe done a little bit better. There's stuff that I'm sure that the speaker would like to have seen done better.

But Mexico and Canada have went out and been a part of this. The president's been a part of this. They could put it on the floor today and it would pass.

The problem is, they're playing politics because they simply don't like to give this president what they would perceive as a win. And the debt ceiling is something she's going to have to deal with on her Progressive Caucus and others and also the budget caps deal.

The question is, do they want to destroy our military, as they had done previously, or do they want to actually build it up? We have got money in there. But they have got to find a budget caps deal, so we don't shut down the government come September.

BARTIROMO: Exactly. So is that going to happen?

I mean, so far, the markets really haven't reacted, but as we see interest rates coming down in the next two weeks by the Federal Reserve, as we see this deadline, getting closer, I suspect people and markets will react.

I spoke with Senator Mitch McConnell this past week, actually, on USMCA. There are some people who do not think Nancy Pelosi is going to bring this to the floor at all.

I asked Mitch McConnell about that. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY: I can't bring it up first in the Senate. If I could under the procedure, I would. And it would be ratified here in the Senate.

It has to start in the House. I don't think we ought to walk away from NAFTA if we can't get this done. But we ought to get this done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: That's -- that was a break from the president, Congressman, because when I interviewed the president a couple of weeks ago, he said, look, if she doesn't bring it to the floor, and we don't get USMCA passed, we're going to go pre-NAFTA. We're going to get rid of NAFTA. And it will be pre-NAFTA.

You just heard Mitch McConnell break with the president on that point and say, we can't do away with NAFTA right now. That will hit the economy.

COLLINS: Well, I think what the majority leader is talking about, and I think what we all are, is, it's time for Congress to do its job.

It's time for the House of Representatives and the Senate to do its job. I have been part of big bills in the past, in the past few Congresses. They were both bipartisan and actually got signed under President Obama and President Trump.

What he's saying is, he said, let's do our job. Let's do this the way it's supposed to be done. And he's really telling the speaker of the House, instead of worrying about all of the things that you think are grand and press releases to feed a progressive base that is pushing socialist policies all across the agenda, let's work on things that actually make the real difference in Americans' lives.

And if you do that, that is why I say that they have failed in their mission, because we're not seeing the things that actually would help people. Mitch McConnell said, we will pass it.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

COLLINS: Madam Pelosi, Speaker, where are you?

BARTIROMO: Yes.

COLLINS: Why have we not put this on the floor?

BARTIROMO: All right, we will be watching these important developments.

Thanks very much, Congressman. Great to see you this morning. Thank you, sir, Congressman Doug Collins.

President Trump's showdown with the Squad intensifies. Meanwhile, both the president and one of those female Democratic lawmakers, Ilhan Omar, are feuding this morning.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson is here to react to the claims that the president is racist.

Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

There is a new escalation in President Trump's showdown with the four progressive congresswoman know as the Squad, as their Twitter battle continues to blow up social media.

Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeted this last night: "You all should end this charade and accept that this racist president wants every black, brown person deported and Muslims banned. His immigration policies say this much."

The president tweeted this morning: "I don't believe the four congresswomen are capable of loving our country. They should apologize to America and Israel for their horrible, hateful things that they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak and insecure people who can never destroy our great nation."

Ben Carson is the secretary of housing and urban development. And he joins me now.

And, Mr. Secretary, it's good to have you on the program this morning.

BEN CARSON, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY: Thank you. Good to be with you, Maria.

BARTIROMO: What a fight, oh, my goodness.

So, look, you're an African-American, successful businessperson. You're the secretary of HUD. You work for President Trump. Is he racist?

CARSON: He is not racist at all.

The first time I met him, it was before we got into politics, was down at Mar-a-Lago. And he and I were talking. And someone came up to him and said: "Mr. Trump, Rod Stewart is here."

And he said, "Yes, but this is Ben Carson."

(LAUGHTER)

CARSON: You know, that's the kind of person he is.

And you may remember, when we were running for president at one of the debates, and I couldn't hear my name announced, so I was standing there. Everybody else gleefully walked past me, but Trump stood right next to me until they straightened it out.

You know, that's the kind of person that he is. You know, he lived in New York. Jesse Jackson gave him an award for the gave him an award for the incredible things that he had done in the African-American community.

I have never seen anything that even resembles racism. And look at the policies that have been done, and look at the people who have been helped, you know, black unemployment at the lowest level ever, same thing for Hispanics.

You look at the fact that he has engaged so much in second chance for people, you know, things that other people talked about, but he has done. You know, opportunity zones, where people who have made enormous amounts of money have the opportunity to take unrealized capital gains and to plow them into the areas of the country that have traditionally been neglected.

You know, it's what's been done. It's not what's been said or how it's been interpreted and hashed over and over in the media.

BARTIROMO: But, Secretary, look at this tweet that Ilhan Omar has put out.

I mean, this is an elected congresswoman, an elected position that says that, you know, the president wants every black and brown person deported, every Muslim banned.

How is this possible that an elected official can get away with saying this as if this is fact?

CARSON: Well, you know, there is a radical element. I don't want to talk about a specific congressperson because of the Hatch Act.

But, you know, there is a radical element that has been introduced into our legislative body that seems to be intent on pushing their ideology. And they have an accomplice in the media in doing so.

And this is very detrimental to our country. I think, you know, we should be having a conversation with the media, and they should be having a conversation themselves, asking themselves, why is it that the press is the only business that has been protected by our Constitution?

And the reason is because they were supposed to disseminate objectively to people of America real information upon which they could make decisions. They were not supposed to try to manipulate people.

So, you know, there are the radical element this is taking advantage of the ideological bent of the media.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

CARSON: And it's unfair to people.

But, as Thomas Jefferson said, the people will come through. The people will be smart enough to figure this out.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

CARSON: And I hope that's true.

BARTIROMO: Well, I mean, I agree with that sentiment. This dysfunction is certainly not serving the people. That's for sure.

Secretary, before you go, a word on housing. We just saw housing numbers which showed that homeownership in the black community is now at an all- time low, while Hispanics are actually driving the housing market, increasing numbers in terms of homeownership.

Can you characterize what you're seeing? We're about to speak with Brian Moynihan, the chairman and CEO of Bank of America, largest mortgage originator. I would like to get your take in terms of housing right now, before we speak with Mr. Moynihan coming up on the program.

CARSON: Yes. Well, interestingly enough, black homeownership has declined significantly particularly because of the housing crisis.

People took advantage of a lot of people who didn't have a lot of wherewithal in terms of financial knowledge about housing. And, you know, by manipulating debt-to-income ratios and the various types of manipulations for credit that were done, they put people into houses that they couldn't afford...

BARTIROMO: I see.

CARSON: ... which is not doing anybody any favor. You lose your house, you lose your credit, you lose your future opportunities.

We're still recovering from that. And it is very important that we do what we can to get people back into housing, because the average net worth of a renter is $5,000. The average net worth of a homeowner is $200,000, 40- fold difference.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

CARSON: That accounts for a lot of the income gap that we are seeing, and we're working very hard to correct that.

BARTIROMO: All right, we will talk more about that.

I just found it interesting that Hispanics are doing so well, and you're seeing such a difference in terms of the black community.

Secretary, it's always a pleasure to see you. Thanks very much for joining us this morning.

CARSON: You too. Thank you, Maria.

BARTIROMO: We will see you soon, Ben Carson.

Meanwhile, a group of Senate Democrats visited a Texas border facility last week to witness the migrant crisis firsthand. I will be speaking to a member of that delegation. Maryland Senator Ben Cardin is here.

We will also hear from one of the top officials overseeing the southern border, acting head of Customs and Border Protection. Mark Morgan is here, as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: What I see?

Fifty-two thousand people have been released into the interior of the United States from this one Border Patrol area alone. What did I see? A system about to break.

What I saw is a bunch of people who have been here before, broke the law before, and we're not going to let them go. I don't care if they have to stay in these facilities for 400 days. We're not going to let those men go that I saw. It would be dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: And that, of course, was Senator Lindsey Graham right here last week on my program detailing what he and Vice President Mike Pence saw at a migrant holding facility on the southern border.

Senate Democrats following suit on Friday, this past Friday, heading to the same facility in McAllen, Texas. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer slamming the Border Patrol and President Trump for how migrants are being treated.

Now, this morning, the president pointing blame at the Democrats, tweeting this: "Big progress at the border," writes the present, "but Dems in Congress must change immigration laws for all to be good. End the loopholes and much more."

Joining me right now in an exclusive interview is Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee. He was part of that Democratic delegation visiting the border center this past Friday.

And, Senator, it's good to see you again. Thanks so much for joining me this morning.

SEN. BEN CARDIN, D-MD: It's good to be with you. Thanks for having me.

BARTIROMO: So you're just back from the border. Can you tell us about your experience? What did you see?

CARDIN: Well, first of all, most of the people we saw at the border, same place that Senator Graham was at, are families. These not individuals. These are families that are very desperate. They are escaping danger in their host countries.

In many cases, they were young children whose parents are concerned of their children's safety. So, what we saw were families that are desperate, that are trying to find a better life for themselves. And they are running against an administration who has changed the rules on asylum.

Asylum is a process that the United States has been a leader on, that people that are in genuine fear of their lives should find a welcome mat for safety. Instead, the president has held these individuals under circumstances that shouldn't exist.

So, we were disappointed. And we saw people who just want to get on with their lives. It takes less than a day for the immigration people to process, from the point of view to make sure they are who they say they are, that they haven't violated laws.

They should be released at that point, pending their asylum hearings. And that is not happening.

BARTIROMO: But, Senator, we know that those asylum hearings are years after they are apprehended. And we know that our border is completely busted, overwhelmed.

We are talking about perhaps a million apprehensions this year alone. So what do you want to do in terms of slowing the flow of people coming here? Can the Congress change the asylum laws, the Flores agreement, that is actually encouraging all these people, whether it is families or individuals, coming to this border?

CARDIN: I think there are things Democrats and Republicans can agree to do that could ease the circumstances on our border.

First, we need to double down on helping the Central American countries with the problems in their own country. We need to deal with their safety for their citizens, their economic future.

We started that process. The Trump administration has cut back. There is bipartisan support for us to improve America's participation in the economies of those countries.

Secondly, we need to start an immigration policy in the Central American countries itself, so that individuals know whether they qualify for asylum in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, rather than making the dangerous trek to our southern border.

There are two things that we could do that could ease the circumstances pretty dramatically. And I can assure you there is bipartisan support to do that.

BARTIROMO: But, sir, why isn't this getting done?

First, the skeptics were saying it was a manufactured crisis. Now I think all agree this is a crisis, that the borders are overwhelmed with people, that people figure out that, OK, if I get to America, I will get apprehended, but then they will give me a hearing. And that's not going to happen for five or six years or even 10 years. And by that time, I won't even go back.

Why aren't any of these steps being taken?

CARDIN: Well, the administration has made it more difficult for Congress.

We appropriated money for Central America. The administration cut off those funds. We have a process for asylum where...

BARTIROMO: Actually, Senator, Senator Graham -- Senator Lindsey Graham last week said he is willing to add aid to Central America in the bill that he is bringing down. He says that he wants to get a vote by the August recess.

Now, in a few minutes, I'm going to be talking with Mark Morgan, Senator. And he's the acting head of Customs and Border Protection. What do you want the CBP to be doing right now? What do you want me to say to Mark Morgan, who is coming up on the program?

CARDIN: I have a lot -- I had a chance to talk with him.

Clearly, we want the funds to go into Central America. We want to stop the metering process on our border, which is preventing people from seeking safety that are at our southern border. Right now, they are in a Mexican town that is controlled by gangs and drug dealers. And they are at great risk. So we want to protect that population.

We want people that have been cleared from the point of view of not committing any crimes and are seeking asylum to be released, so they do not have to stay in detention longer than one or two days.

That is what we would like to see at this stage. And, yes, we do want to work together to improve our immigration laws. We do need bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform.

BARTIROMO: Yes, and the public is waiting for it.

They are also wondering what's happening in terms of Iran and these new provocations.

Let me switch gears and ask you about that, Senator, because it doesn't appear that Europe stands with the USA when it comes to Iran. They still want their oil and gas from Iran. How serious is this threat?

CARDIN: Is very serious.

The tensions couldn't be higher. What the Iranians did these past few days in stopping vessels in international waters, the downing of our drone, these are -- extremely dangerous situation that could explode. There could be a miscalculation, which could lead to a military conflict.

I can tell you that, from the point of view of the United States national security, we don't want to see open war with Iran. That's not in our national security interests. So, we need to work with our European allies to find ways to calm down the situation.

Obviously, we want to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state. That is a top priority, but we want to do it in a way that doesn't lead to a military conflict.

BARTIROMO: All right, we will leave it there.

Senator, we will be watching all of these important issues on your plate. Thanks very much for joining us, Senator Cardin joining us there.

Coming up next, reaction to the Trump administration's handling of the crisis at our southern border from acting head of Customs and Border Patrol Mark Morgan.

Also ahead, Bank of America chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan on what is soon to become America's longest economic expansion on record.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We just heard from Democratic Senator Ben Cardin on what he and his colleagues witnessed during their visit to a migrant facility in Texas last week.

Meanwhile, another Democrat, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is calling for a new investigation into the Trump administration's family separation policy, saying that we need a -- quote -- "9/11-style commission" to do it.

Joining me right now to react is the acting head of Customs and Border Protection, Mark Morgan.

Sir, it's good to have you on the program this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.

MARK MORGAN, ACTING IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT DIRECTOR: You bet. Thank you.

BARTIROMO: Your reaction to the 9/11 Commission proposal?

MORGAN: Maria, look, we have had an incredible amount of oversight.

We have had over 60 CODELs this year alone along the southwest border. The acting secretary and a host of leadership from CBP have testified countless times in front of Congress about the zero tolerance policy.

And, again, whatever Congress wants to do for additional oversight, we welcome that.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

You just said you had all of these CODELs -- that, of course, is a congressional delegation -- going to the border. And we heard two different accounts. We had Senator Lindsey Graham on last Friday -- last Sunday. He went the Friday before and said, look, there are individuals, they are young men behind bars because they broke the law to get here and then some of them actually committed crimes afterwards.

But we heard Senator Ben Cardin -- he was just there Friday -- saying it is largely families.

So, which is it, sir? Can you give us the facts?

MORGAN: Well, it's both. And that's a good question, Maria.

Right now, that's why I have been at it for a long time saying this is the worst crisis we have seen in modern history. The demographics have changed. So, overall, on the southwest border, 65 to 70 percent of those we apprehended that come across illegally our families and children.

And because of our broken asylum laws that Congress could fix, we're forced to let those individuals into our country. So, if you grab a child, that's a U.S. passport into the country. We're mandated to let you go into the interior United States. If you're an unaccompanied minor, we're mandated to let you in the interior United States.

And that's the demographics that we have right now. But we still do apprehend quite a few single adults that are trying to illegally enter this country as well. So it's both.

BARTIROMO: So, what has changed in terms of the separation process?

MORGAN: In terms of the separation process is, nothing has changed as far as the separation process.

If you're specifically talking about when we separate families, it's very specific. Ever since the zero tolerance policy, the new executive order that came out, and some -- some judicial rulings that came out, is that we have a very strict guidance with respect to those situations that a mother or father could be separated from a child, if that child is in danger, if that mother or father has a criminal record, they're a murderer, a rapist, et cetera, things like that.

That's the very small area and time that we would do that.

BARTIROMO: OK.

So, you know, I went to the border. We took the whole show there a couple of months ago. And I was just stunned at the number of children either traveling alone or the renting program that has gone on.

There's one story. Apparently, a Honduran man crossed the border with an infant that he actually paid $84 for. Can you tell us about that story and about this renting program going on?

MORGAN: That's exactly right.

And so ICE is really spearheading a great effort on that. To date right now, CBP, Border Patrol, has identified approximately 5,800 fake families, because, again, they know, if you get a kid, you rent a kid, that's your passport into the United States.

On that case specifically, it was a 51-year-old Honduras man who actually bought a young child for a little over $80, went across the Rio Grande, actually drugged the baby to keep it quiet, and then tried to enter the country, again, because they are educated and told, you get a kid, that's your passport.

That individual was caught. HSI, part of ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, they have detailed a lot of individuals down to the southwest border to do just that, to identify fake families and fraudulent documents. They have identified hundreds and hundreds of fake families.

And the United States, the Department Justice is actively prosecuting those cases.

BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.

MORGAN: It's horrendous, Maria. It's horrendous.

BARTIROMO: It is horrendous, you're right.

All right, well, we will keep watching it. And, of course, I know that you need those asylum laws and the Flores agreement changed, in order to slow this flow of people overwhelming our border.

Sir, good to have you on the program this morning. Thanks very much.

MORGAN: You bet. Thank you.

BARTIROMO: We will see you soon, Mark Morgan.

Keeping an eye on your bottom line. Do you own a home or plan to? You won't want to miss our next guest, he -- and what he has to say about that.

The chairman and CEO of Bank of America is here, Brian Moynihan, straight ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We have talked often on this program about the crisis at the southern border. We heard from lawmakers and policy-makers all morning, but the issue is also working its way into the private sector.

Bank of America announced last month that it will no longer be doing business with companies that operate migrant detention centers and private prisons, the decision coming amid a public outcry over conditions at several border facilities.

Brian Moynihan is the chairman and CEO of Bank of America. And he joins me right now.

And, Brian, it's great to see you.

BRIAN MOYNIHAN, CEO, BANK OF AMERICA: Good to -- good to be here.

BARTIROMO: Thanks so much for joining us.

I want to talk about your earnings, which were very good last week, and what it showed about the economy.

But what was behind that decision to exit ties of those companies working with detention centers?

MOYNIHAN: Well, to focus on the decision first, I think you have to think about how we make this.

We have a group that -- of senior businesspeople that think about the decision. We make it reluctantly. But we really drive it based on what our teammates tell us.

And so we had teammates, because of their backgrounds and their thoughts, that were very upset about the broader issues of prison reform and sentencing reform, some of which went through in the last few weeks on a bipartisan basis, and the border.

And they basically said that we need -- we should make a statement here. And it rolled through the system. We made it.

Now, the thing I would focus people on -- and you heard some of it in your early dialogue -- is, we need to get immigration right. We need people in this country. We're not creating people fast enough. The population is growing at about half the rate it was before the -- before the financial crisis.

And so we will grow faster if we have more people. And so it's got to be organized and efficient. It's got to be well-documented and everything. And that's -- that's the crisis we're facing is, we're -- just when we need more people, we're in a crisis of trying to figure out how to do it.

And if you go back 20 years ago or so, there was immigration reform, bipartisan basis. At some point, we got to make that happen.

BARTIROMO: Yes, I mean, especially since we know that this country lets in a million people on a legal basis. They get their green cards. They get their citizenship.

But now we're facing a million illegals.

MOYNIHAN: Yes. It's -- to get it all right is difficult, but it's needed, because, at the end of day, we need lots of people, because we have the greatest country and people want to come here to work.

BARTIROMO: Let me ask you about working and the broader economy.

Net income of $7.3 billion, you reported just last week. What could you say about the economy right now? Characterize things for us.

MOYNIHAN: Well, if you look at what we think, we think the United States ought to grow 2.4 percent GDP growth this year.

And if you look at the world, we think it's in the low 3's. Both of those have come down a little bit from '18 to '19's predicted outcome, which last year was 3 percent. So you expect it to tip down. But it's not going south. It's not a recession.

It's just a slowing down of a growth rate that is faster than most the years in the last decade or so. And so we have got to keep in perspective what's going on.

As we look and what we see in our customer base, the consumers are spending money at a rate of about 5.5 percent for the first half of the year vs. last year. That's a trillion, trillion-and-a-half dollars of Bank of America customer spending, up 5.5. percent, up 8.5 percent last year, and up about 5 percent the year before.

So it's more consistent with a 2 to 2.5 percent growth. That is very good news for the economy.

BARTIROMO: It feels like things are really strong. You have got unemployment at a 51-year low. You just had growth of 3.1 percent in the first quarter.

And yet the Federal Reserve is going to lower interest rates in two weeks. Do you think the Fed cuts rates?

MOYNIHAN: The market says they do.

I thought that they wouldn't because the data was so strong.

BARTIROMO: Exactly.

MOYNIHAN: I'm going against city hall, so to speak, right now.

But I think what they're thinking about is -- and Jay Powell was clear about it, Chair Powell, about the external factors, as opposed to the U.S. itself. The U.S. is fine. The U.S. is relatively strong. The fundamentals are right.

It's outside the United States and then the reverberation of that impact back to United States. And so we will see what they do. But people ought to understand they're doing it. And we're -- for that reason, as they have said.

And the reality is, the U.S. economy is fine.

BARTIROMO: Because I know that Europeans are stimulating, Asians are stimulating.

So when you have got other central banks around the world cutting interest rates, the Fed feels that it needs to cut rates, even though the backdrop is quite strong, as you just said.

MOYNIHAN: Well, when you're the largest economy by about a third of any economy, if your economy is growing, that's good for the rest of the world because of the consumption nature, the consumers and the drivers of our economy, the entrepreneurship and things.

So, the fear, if the United States slows down, the rest of the world has a hard time making it without them. And so I think that's what's on the Fed's minds.

But let's back up. Underneath it, you see the U.S. growing. And you see it for the right reasons, the unemployment lowest, like you said, going back to 51 years. When we're all about the landing on the moon, well, that's when it was.

BARTIROMO: Exactly. Yes.

MOYNIHAN: And so twice as many people working as were working in our country in 1969, twice as many, plus.

BARTIROMO: That's incredible.

MOYNIHAN: And that shows the entrepreneurship of the United States and the capitalism and how it works driving twice as many workers across 50 years.

The population only went up by 100 million, and the workers went up by 80.

BARTIROMO: Tell me about -- right now about housing.

I was just referring to you when I was talking with Ben Carson, because black homeownership is at an all-time low, and yet Hispanic homeownership is soaring.

What can you tell us about housing, as the largest mortgage originator?

MOYNIHAN: So, if you -- well, if you back -- you back into the broader context, we did about twice as many mortgage loans this year, second quarter, vs. last year, which means the demand is out there.

As we look at it, we see this issue about helping people in homeownership. So we announced a few months ago a $5 billion program, low down payment. We're a prime lender. We're trying to be very conservative, because that's how we run the company.

And so we -- but that $5 billion program is to help the types of issues we're talking about, which is, the constraints are largely ability to accumulate the down payment of 20 percent, which is a standard program, and the constraints on sort of availability.

And both those, we got to solve. Frankly, availability is also good for the economy. In other words, there's a million housing units being built so much. The households are forming about a million. There's a lot of, I think, fundamental good run left in housing in our economy.

BARTIROMO: So mortgage rates had dropped quite a bit. Did that help the market? Did people come in when they saw rates going lower?

MOYNIHAN: Yes, we saw about twice as much, as I said.

And -- but we also saw the highest purchase content, which is a little bit Bank of America-specific ,that our team is doing a great job there.

But Steve Boland, who runs this area for us, is heavily focused on homeownership for all groups in society. And I think it's something we need to continue to work on.

BARTIROMO: You have been a leader in technology at BofA. I know that.

Real quick -- we have got just a couple of seconds left here -- digital money, how do things change in the future?

MOYNIHAN: Well, we have about $5 billion we spend to move cash and coin and currency and checks around our company.

So we're trying to digitize that activity. And you're seeing the volumes rise. Our Zelle volumes in the second quarter were up dramatically, 100 percent almost year over year, about eight million Zelle values sending P2P payments to people.

All that's going on, except there's still a half-billion dollars of cash go out of the ATMs and other tellers every day. And so the world has to keep adopting it.

BARTIROMO: That's not going anywhere, ATM machines. That's for sure.

Great to have you on the program, Brian.

MOYNIHAN: It's great to be here.

BARTIROMO: Thank you so much, Brian Moynihan.

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