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American Morning
A Day Without Immigrants; For First Time, a Senior Bush Official Calling Nation's Energy Problem a 'Crisis'
Aired May 01, 2006 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Business as usual, or the day the Earth stood still? We'll see today, as immigrants plan to skip work and rally in the streets.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Will the high rollers be able to continue to roll? We'll find out if the immigrants stay and fill their usual roll. That's coming up.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Keith Oppenheim in Chicago.
It's expected a massive immigration rally filled with workers taking the day off. I'll have the story of one employer, and what he's telling his employees to do.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Henry at the White House, where for the first time a senior Bush official is calling the nation's energy problem a crisis.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ryan Chilcote in Baghdad on the third anniversary of President Bush's "mission accomplished" speech. We'll take a look at what has been accomplished, and where the U.S. has to go here in Iraq.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And 75 years of a major American landmark. Happy birthday, Empire State Building. We're going to take all 1,860 steps to the top, ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Maybe we should use the elevator. What do you think?
S. O'BRIEN: No. Whole point is to climb. There's no elevator, is it?
M. O'BRIEN: To the top? Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Not a real elevator that anybody can take.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, you mean all the way up? I don't think so.
S. O'BRIEN: No, I think you can only get there by climbing.
Good morning. Welcome to Monday. What a beautiful day.
M. O'BRIEN: What a spectacular day for the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Empire State. As you look at the view from the top, and I don't know which bridge that is. Do you know?
S. O'BRIEN: I can't even see that bridge.
M. O'BRIEN: I don't know. It's not the Brooklyn Bridge. In any case, it's a beautiful day in Manhattan for that. Lots to tell you about this morning. Let's get right to it.
Across the nation today, a call to action. Immigrants and their supporters plan on rallying to flex their economic and cultural muscle. This is Un Dia Sin Immigrante, A Day Without Immigrants. A pro-immigrant effort. A recent study says there are about seven million undocumented workers in this country. You'll hear other numbers, though.
Today's protests and rallies will include boycotting jobs, refusing to shop. Thousands of students plan to boycotting schools as well. The numbers could be staggering. In Los Angeles and Chicago, police organizers estimate as many as a half-million people to take part.
Because of that, some businesses are reducing operations. Tyson Foods, the world's largest meat producers, closing nine of 15 plants, while Purdue Farms is closing six of its 14 operations.
We'll be going live across the country for our complete coverage of a day without immigrants.
Standing by right now, we have Keith Oppenheim in Chicago, CNN En Espanol's Ines Ferre in New York, and AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken in Las Vegas.
Bob, we're going to roll the dice and start with you.
FRANKEN: OK. And whether this is America's playground today will depend on the thousands who are too poor and too busy to play.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): When we think of Las Vegas, we think of lavish hotels, gourmet food. In a word, excess. But none of it would be possible without the armies of workers behind the scene, most of them immigrants. Some of them are here illegally.
Others, like Maria Cortez, legally. She works here in the Mirage Hotel restaurant kitchen, and is passionate about the immigration issue.
MARIA CORTEZ, MGM/MIRAGE COOK: We are humans like everybody. And like humans, we have to have respect, because we have respect for this country.
FRANKEN: Cortez is still trying to decide whether to skip work in support of the immigration protests here, or listen to hotel superiors and union leaders, is ask that she remain on the job until a special demonstration tonight.
D. TAYLOR, CULINARY UNION: They're vital. I think this city would have a hard time functioning without the immigrant work force.
FRANKEN: Cortez especially takes issue with legislation that would take illegals felons.
CORTEZ: The law that they (INAUDIBLE) is the criminal. Not us. We are not criminals, because we work.
FRANKEN: Republican John Porter of Las Vegas disagrees.
REP. JOHN PORTER (R), NEVADA: So we're spending billions trying to secure our country, but we still have about a thousand some people a day that are just really walking across the border.
FRANKEN: Many of the Vegas hotels and casinos are offering the workers who do show up a petition to send to Congress.
JOVITA THOMAS-WILLIAMS, LABOR RELATIONS, MGM MIRAGE: So while here working, they will be able to have their voices heard.
FRANKEN: But Cortez says it comes down to one simple fact.
CORTEZ: We are humans. We are persons. All the immigrants, we are, even we are legally or not legally in this country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: The saying is what goes in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas. And today, what goes in Las Vegas could really depend on what of the immigrant workers stay on the job -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken in Las Vegas, thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: CNN En Espanol Ines Ferre is live for us in New York this morning.
Hey, Ines, good morning.
INES FERRE, CNN EN ESPANOL: Good morning, Soledad.
I'm here in Union Square Park, where there's a rally expected here at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. That will last a couple of hours, and then the protesters will march downtown to the main federal building.
Now also some organizers are calling for a boycott of school, work and shopping. But for those people that can't take the day off, they have planned a human chain at 12:16 p.m., symbolizing December 16th, the day the Sensenbrenner bill was passed in the House, and that should last anywhere between 15 and 20 must wants and take place in nine locations in the city -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ines Ferre for us this morning.
Half a million people expected to demonstrate in Chicago. Let's get right to correspondent Keith Oppenheim.
Hey, Keith. Good morning.
OPPENHEIM: Hi, Soledad.
This could be one of the largest demonstrations in the city of Chicago ever, with many workers taking the day off. In some cases, with a blessing of their employers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Salvador Pedroza has climbed the ladder of success. He's now a U.S. citizen who owns a small roofing company. He has five employees, all immigrants from Mexico. Pedroza plans to march today, and he's giving his workers the day off so they can march, too.
SALVADOR PEDROZA, BUSINESS OWNER: I talk to my employees. And they say, you know what, We're going to go march, and then when we come back tomorrow, we can put in two extra hours during the week, or the next week, and we're going to make it up.
OPPENHEIM: That kind of determination has been emerging in Chicago's Hispanic community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Latinos united. We'll never be defeated!
OPPENHEIM: On March 10th, an estimated 100,000 people took to streets to protest legislation that would crackdown on illegal immigration. Today's rally is expected to be significantly bigger.
MONIQUE BOND, CHICAGO POLICE SPOKESWOMAN: We're anticipating at least estimates are indicating that it could double the size of 100,000, maybe even triple.
OPPENHEIM: So on this Monday, Salvador Pedroza and his employees will lose a day of labor.
PEDROZA: This is for our immigrants, the 12 million people; they need to be heard.
OPPENHEIM: To fight for, what he believes, is the right of all Mexican immigrants to keep working and living in the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM: Soledad, Chicago police tell us that they are expecting a peaceful event today, that their officers will not be dressed in riot gear, and that they have worked with organizers to hope everything goes successfully and smoothly today. Let's hope so.
Back to you.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, Keith Oppenheim for us this morning. Keith, thanks. We'll be there to watch it no matter what happens.
Protesters against illegal immigration are sending a message of their own, building a six-foot high barbed wire fence along a short stretch of the California-Mexico border. The Minutemen Civil Defense Corps is against amnesty, they say, for undocumented workers.
CNN has a day without immigrants covered coast to coast, border to border. We've got a team of CNN reporters standing by across Mexico, and into Mexico, too, from L.A. to Chicago to New York City, and you'll see live reports on our Spanish-language news network, CNN En Espanol. And when you're away from your TV, you can go online, check out the very latest with CNN Pipeline, all there at CNN.com, all day long -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Gas price check time. Listen and weep, folks. According to the fuelgaugereport.com, the current national average is -- bongos, please -- $2.92. That's for regular unleaded, up from $2.55 last month, up 68 cents from last year's tally $2.23.
There is a gas boycott starting today in Bee County, Texas. That's somewhere between San Antonio and Corpus Christi. County commissioners there would like residents to stop buying gas at three area Exxon Mobil stations until gas drops to $1.30. They like to set the bar low there. They chose ExxonMobil because high-profile, probably high profits, too.
S. O'BRIEN: That could be a long wait.
M. O'BRIEN: I think they'll be -- don't hold your breath there in Bee County. Adding insult to injury. While we pay through the nose, the government of the largest oil-producing nation in the world is lowering gasoline prices for its citizens. The Saudi king is slashing prices in Saudi Arabia by 25 percent. That means Saudis will now pay -- any bongos for this -- 65 cents a gallon, 65 cents. More cuts expected.
No quick fix here for gas prices though, in the U.S. In fact, we are hearing this could be the norm for years to come.
CNN's Ed Henry in Washington with more on that.
Good morning, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
That's right, three years, in fact. That's how long it could take for gas prices to come down substantially according to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. Bodman yesterday became the first senior Bush officials to come out and declare that the nation's energy problem is a crisis, only raising the political stakes for this White House. Secretary Bodman said that gas suppliers have lost control of the market. He blamed in part increased demand from China and India, also Hurricane Katrina here in the United States.
Take a listen to what Secretary Bodman had to say yesterday, appearing on NBC's "Mean the Press."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SAMUEL BODMAN, U.S. ENERGY SECY.: There is apparently some evidence that we have a crisis. There's a lot of concern about this, and so the president is looking at everything, every tool at his disposal, to get to work on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now Democrat Barbara Boxer appearing on CNN's "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER," pounced on Bodman's comments, showing that this shows that President Bush's four-point energy plan, unveiled last week, really will not put a substantial dent in gas prices -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Ed Henry at the White House. Thank you very much, sobering news -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: It has been three years since President Bush stood under a banner reading mission accomplished, and told Americans major combat was over. Listen.
Well, you remember the sound bite. It was a big deal at the time. That was three years ago today.
Well just out this morning a new CNN poll done by Opinion Research Corporation, asking this: Has the U.S. accomplished its mission in Iraq? Nine percent say, yes; 84 percent, though, say, no. Asked if the U.S. will eventually accomplish its mission in Iraq, 49 percent say, yes; 44 percent say, no.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, much more on the immigration battle, including a look at how the government is getting into the music business, weirdly enough, as it tries to stop illegal border crossing. We'll explain just ahead.
M. O'BRIEN: Also, huge brush fires destroy several homes in Florida, and now folks down there are stunned by who's accused of starting them.
S. O'BRIEN: Then later, the Empire State Building's diamond anniversary. The Big Apple landmark turning 75 years young today. We're going to take you there live, just ahead on American morning.
We're back after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Well, you'll never guess who is the new star of Mexican radio, the U.S. Border Patrol. That's right. And it's all thanks to a sad song with a good beat and a missed message.
AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian has a story you can see only here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The warning isn't on the label, but in the music. And the message is serious. Songs aimed at Mexicans thinking about sneaking into the U.S., a gritty, but little known media campaign produced by the U.S. Border Patrol, which says they're airing on some 30 radio stations across Mexico.
SALVADOR ZAMORA, U.S. BORDER PATROL: They sing the very hard- hitting message: If you come across the border area, especially through the desert, you will die.
LOTHIAN: In "En La Raya," a man fleeing poverty in Mexico runs across another man barely alive in the hot desert.
(SINGING)
LOTHIAN (on camera): The U.S. government is targeting so-called key feeder states, like Zakatekas (ph) and Chapas (ph). At first, buying the airtime for five different songs, but then, listeners began requesting the tunes, most unaware of the messenger.
ZAMORA: They don't understand, nor do they know that it is a U.S.-based government, law enforcement entity, providing this message.
LOTHIAN: This sort of anonymous strategy is also part of the television and print effort. The campaign No Mas Cruces, or No More Crossings and Crosses, using video and disturbing images as a deterrent, aimed deep inside Mexico, on the border, and now for the first time, inside the U.S. with this TV spot set to hit the air this week.
ZAMORA: Friends, family, distant relatives encouraging the illegal immigration, encouraging the illegal crossing, they, too, will have blood on their hands.
LOTHIAN: Ali Noorani, an immigrant advocate in Boston, says this media campaign is in the wrong hands.
ALI NOORANI, IMMIGRANT ADVOCACY COALITION: To educate the public south of the border is an important role to play. However, that role should be played by the Mexican government, by organizations, and businesses and individuals in Mexico.
LOTHIAN: Spending time and money on this message, he says, could be a distraction from finding the real solution to illegal immigration.
NOORANI: President Bush should be passing public policy that serves all immigrants. President Bush should be running public service announcements in Mexico.
LOTHIAN: But the border patrol says early reports show this unique effort is getting the attention of the Mexican people.
ZAMORA: The ultimate goal is to plant the seed of doubt.
LOTHIAN: And perhaps, like the character in the song "En La Raya," who encountered a dying man, learned an important lesson.
Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Stay tuned to CNN for complete coverage of the Day Without Immigrants. We have reporters standing by on all the locations you see on that map, New York, Los Angeles, into Mexico and beyond. You can see the latest on those demonstrations all day, including special coverage on CNN En Espanol. On your desktop or laptop, we invite you to check CNN Pipeline.
(NEWSBREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: And as we've been telling you all morning, we are monitoring the day as millions of immigrants, legal and illegal, could walk off the job today to protest the immigration debate.
Coming up, Andy's going to take a look at the potential economic impact.
And later, we're going to meet a teenager whose success in school could lead to his deportation. We'll explain ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: From that height, those little metal barriers don't look very sturdy, do they ? Happy birthday, Empire State Building. Isn't that a beautiful shot. What a beautiful building. Well, that downtown landmark, or sort of lower midtown landmark in New York City, turning 75 years young. Carol Costello has been there all morning. We're going to check in with her in just a little bit.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
M. O'BRIEN: As the immigration battle heats up, we'll meet an immigrant teen who could pay a very high price for his success. We'll tell you he could be deported.
And three years ago today, President Bush declared "mission accomplished" in Iraq. Of courser the war in Iraq is far from over. We'll have an Iraq reality check for you, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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