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Protests Push for Immigration Reform; Leader of al Qaeda in Iraq Reported Dead; Ailing Fidel Castro Misses May Day Festivities; National Guard Helping Border Patrol Agents

Aired May 01, 2007 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CO-HOST: Happening right now: hundreds of thousands of people turning out across the U.S. to push for immigration reform. These pictures now from Chicago, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles. This is a live look at a rally happening now in Los Angeles.
With legislation stalled, troops on the border, and political and physical walls going up, demonstrators are out in force again this year.

We are uncovering America in the CNN NEWSROOM, taking you around the nation and the world with special live coverage of the May Day rallies.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CO-HOST: And I'm Susan Roesgen again, filling in for Kyra Phillips. You are live in the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Let's get you straight to Chicago, the scene there of a huge rally and a long march. You can see our Soledad O'Brien is on the scene there.

Soledad, had a huge crowd last year unexpectedly. What are the crowds looking like today?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's hard to say at this point. But I'll tell you, we're still 90 minutes away from this march actually starting. You can hear over my shoulder the sounds of a rally, and people have been coming up giving testimonials.

Last year, the numbers were 400,000. Some people said 700,000. This year, some organizers have told me that they expect twice that number. Some people have said that actually they expect it to be a lot lower.

But you know what? You see good weather. You see a day where there's a half day of school. Coincidentally, we're told. And so I think that actually there may be a decent turnout in the eyes of the organizers.

Part of the reason why would also be these raids that have taken place over the last year, but even in the last week, criminal raids, immigration raids, some people thought, well, that might scare some immigrants, legal or illegal, into actually attending a rally like this. Others said, no, it's really going to motivate people to turn out for a show of support.

And you can see -- what we're looking at right now is sort of the only patch that's open left in Union Park. They're going to be making the march to Grant Park, which is about two miles, 2 1/2 miles straight due east. And it should take them about an hour or so to do that.

But you still got 90 minutes, and you've got people flowing in. And we've seen, of course, lots of buses, as well, bringing people in. You can see them behind me, those school buses that are bringing in people from the suburbs.

So, you have a big grassroots effort. Everybody with a lot of different agendas. But there are a couple of areas on which they do see eye-to-eye. Here's Shaun Harkin. He's one of the organizers. Here's what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAUN HARKIN, IRISH IMMIGRANT: We're here to say that the raids with deportations that have been escalated over the last year are wrong and unjust and that immigrants are here to work. And they're not criminals.

And we think that the best solution to this problem is legalization with full rights for all the undocumented.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: The overwhelming number -- the overwhelming number represented here would be Mexicans, illegal and some legal, as well. But we've also have seen, Shaun, obviously, Irish; Puerto Ricans, Muslims, Koreans, Ecuadorians, Filipinos, as well all out.

They're trying to expand the march from just being a Mexican immigration issue to being an issue that affects a lot of people across the board, anybody who's an immigrant. That's been one of the goals this year.

Another goal -- look out behind me -- and see the number of American flags? You might remember, last year, Don, we saw a lot of Mexican flags. And that sent a message that was distasteful, frankly, to a lot of Americans across the country and out of the country, as well.

And so this year, organizers were paying very close attention to the visual message that is being sent, as well. So it is no surprise that you're seeing -- I've literally seen five Mexican flags in this sea of flags today.

It will be interesting to see how this march is read across the globe today -- Don.

LEMON: And you know what, Soledad? I was actually in Chicago last year when this rally took place. And as I said at the beginning of your live shot, no one expected those huge crowds last year. And the reality of it is when this happened, a lot of businesses had to close down because people weren't at work. They couldn't open many restaurants; they couldn't open many places of businesses -- business. You've been there all week covering this. Have you found that at all today, or is it too early to tell?

O'BRIEN: I think it's a little too early to tell. I mean, a lot of people had to close because workers didn't show up. Some people had to close because traffic was such a mess that people just couldn't get to and fro where they had to go.

I think that's one of those unanswered questions that was going to feed into the question of how many people actually showed up at the end of the day, which is going to be critical for the march organizers.

If you see a lot of businesses shut down, that's going to actually count in those numbers of people who just didn't go to work because they were here. A lot of students, as well, because as I mentioned, a half day of school for the public schools. So I think we're going to have to wait to the end of the day to really get a realistic count on that -- Don.

LEMON: Soledad, it really is interesting to see all those American flags, as opposed to other flags last time about. Soledad, we'll be checking with you throughout the afternoon here in the NEWSROOM. Thank you so much. We'll check back.

ROESGEN: And as we mentioned, there are rallies all across the country. Two demonstrations are planned today in Los Angeles County, which is home to about a million illegal immigrants.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is there -- Thelma.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here, Susan I can tell you that things are a little quiet right now. The day is just beginning. But this is where it's all expected to take place. Thousands of people are expected to converge here on city hall in a few hours.

Now, we are getting word that about 20 students from one of the local high schools, Dorsey High School, did walk out of class today. Of course, things have been quiet so far, and city leaders have asked the students to stay in school.

Again, no one is sure exactly how large the crowds here in Los Angeles are going to be. But Los Angeles police are on tactical alert. Many of the streets in this area are prepared to -- prepared to close down, depending on how large those crowds do get.

Take a look here off to the side on Spring Street. You can see that Los Angeles paramedics are already lining the street in preparation for the crowds today. They will be walking a mile and a half route.

There are drinking fountains that have been hooked up to some of the fire hydrants along the route in the event that it actually does warm up and it becomes the problem for some of the marchers. Also, there are dozens of port-a-potties that have been stationed along this march route.

Again, we're not sure exactly how many people are expected to attend, but there are two marches planned today: one march here at city hall, another one a little later in the evening at MacArthur Park.

This particular march at city hall is being organized by the March 25 Coalition. Now, these are the people who put together the unprecedented historic march of last year. They were able to do so because they had the help of local radio announcers, the local Spanish language media, who called out all the people who come and to demonstrate.

There were about 650,000 people last year, people -- some of the groups are conceding that the crowds will be much less this year -- Susan.

ROESGEN: Yes, Thelma. We know it is early there. It looks pretty sparse where you are. But what's happened to the momentum since last year?

GUTIERREZ: Well, you know some of the groups have actually changed their tactic. They've splintered off.

Some of the groups are calling for a boycott today. They're asking people to stay out of school and to come and take to the streets to ask for immigration reform, while other groups that are led by Cardinal Mahoney, also by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and some of the local broadcasters are asking people to continue going to work, not to boycott. They're telling the kids to go to school.

And so things have kind of changed, and what they're saying is that "Last year we made our statement. We got people out to the streets. It was historic. We've been there; we've done that. Now it's time to change the tactic. It's time to affect change in a place that's measurable where you could actually do it on election day. So let's get people to register to vote. Let's help people to become citizens so that they can really make a statement on election day and change immigration laws" -- Susan.

ROESGEN: OK. With kind of a splintered message there, it will be interesting to see how these rallies go across the country today. Thank you, Thelma.

And once again, we are covering this story all across the nation. You see there live images from four different cities: Chicago, which we've mentioned. San Francisco, Milwaukee, and, again, there in Los Angeles County.

LEMON: Mixed signals today out of Iraq about the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. First reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri was dead, now reports that he is alive and he's doing well.

CNN's Hugh Riminton is in Baghdad with the very latest for us -- Hugh.

HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, a great deal of excitement and confusion in Iraq today with reports a few hours ago that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, had been killed in a firefight just north of Baghdad.

The reports being that some tribal militias that had turned against al Qaeda -- they were from Sunni areas. Previously they had supported al Qaeda in Iraq and nevertheless have become disenchanted with them. Had heard that Abu Ayyub al-Masri was in this area. They set off to engage him in battle.

The reports were that they did just that and shot and killed him in a fight near a bridge in a desert area north of Baghdad.

There was no U.S. military involvement in this, no Iraqi military involvement in this. All day long, it's been an effort to try to find out if this was true or not, get confirmation.

The latest is on an al Qaeda-linked web site coming out of Dubai saying, in fact, that al-Masri is alive and well. Reports of his death are lies. Bearing in mind that al Qaeda in Iraq has in the past confirmed the death of their leaders when they have occurred, that would seem to say that, unless a body is found, this would appear to be just another one of those rumors -- Don.

LEMON: OK. Another rumor, and so they're saying that he is still alive. Let's just say hypothetically, what happens in the event of his death? What might change, if anything, with this?

RIMINTON: Sure. Well, the U.S. ambassador here in Iraq, Ryan Crocker, says that they understand that al Qaeda is, if you like, a decentralized organization. They killed Abu Musab al Zawahiri -- you might remember him -- last year. The most feared terrorist in Iraq at the time.

However, Al Qaeda simply regrouped, kept on going, has been responsible for a range of atrocities since then, increasingly sophisticated in many ways in their armaments. So both the Americans and the Iraqis say that the death of one man doesn't change things.

Perhaps the most significant thing, though, the excitement of these tribal groups saying that they had killed him, even if they didn't, the fact that they count that as being a great success, had they done so, shows that the tables are turning in subtle ways against al Qaeda here in Iraq -- Don.

LEMON: Hugh Riminton in Baghdad. Thank you so much for your report.

ROESGEN: Well, it feels four years ago today, under a banner reading "Mission Accomplished", that President Bush announced the end of major combat in Iraq.

Of course, the combat continues, and the political fight is hot and heavy. Congress is sending the president a $124 billion war funding bill that includes a timetable for U.S. troops to pull out. The president is promising to send that bill back.

Democratic lawmakers concede that they don't have the two-thirds majority needed to override the president's veto. So they're already at work on a new bill that would strip the pullout timetable and replace it with certain benchmarks for Iraqi leaders.

The Democrats and the White House are far apart on what would happen, what should happen if the Iraqis fall short on those benchmarks.

LEMON: And our coverage of immigration day and May Day continues. Workers unite in Cuba, and an ailing Fidel Castro doesn't make the May Day scene. Details straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll take you to live rallies across the country. You're looking at them now.

ROESGEN: Severe headaches: that may have serious repercussions. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, teenagers and migraines. What are the added risks?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It is 16 past the hour. And here are three of the stories we're working on for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Did they get him or not? We don't know for sure. Iraqi tribal leaders claim the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was killed in fighting with al Qaeda rivals. But jihadists say Abu Ayyub al-Masri is alive and still fighting, quote, "the enemies of God."

A Los Angeles jury has found former pizza deliveryman Chester Turner guilty of murdering ten women and one victim's unborn fetus in the '80s and '90s. Prosecutors say Turner might be L.A.'s worst serial killer.

Traffic is a bit heavy in San Francisco' Bay area today, but it's not as bad as people expected after Sunday's overpass collapse near the Bay bridge. Crews have now removed most of that debris.

ROESGEN: Fidel Castro has been in power for more than four decades. And for all that time, he's been a fixture at May Day festivities in Havana. But the ailing Cuban leader was a no-show today.

In Havana now is CNN's Morgan Neill -- Morgan.

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Susan, that's right. For the first time in some 40 years, President Fidel Castro has missed out on the biggest festivities of the communist calendar. That is May Day.

Now, he hasn't been seen in public for some nine months, but expectations had arisen after, over the weekend, Bolivian President Evo Morales said he was sure that Castro would appear.

But while his brother, Raul Castro, the acting president, did make it and we did see thousands of Cubans marching through the Plaza of the Revolution, President Fidel Castro wasn't among them.

Now recently, we have seen signs of his long, drawn-out recovery, as accelerating on pictures that came out just a short while ago. We see President Castro greeting a Chinese dignitary. He looks to have put on some weight. He generally looks better than he had previously.

We've also seen several articles come out in the state-run newspaper here by Castro saying he's very much on top of world events. But in the end, photos and articles in the paper aren't the same thing as seeing the president himself live. And anyone who was hoping to see just that today came away disappointed -- Susan.

ROESGEN: Yes. What are you hearing behind the scenes, Morgan? I mean, is he ever going to get out of the hospital? Are we going to see him? All these people chanting on the streets here, chanting his name? What are you hearing, you know, behind the scenes?

NEILL: Well, Susan, they do a really good job of sealing up specific details about the president's condition. The last time we had any sort of insights into that was a couple of months ago when a doctor from Spain who had apparently examined the president, information leaked out of the hospital, where he works in Spain, saying that it seemed to point to diverticular disease.

I'll tell you, when you talk to Cubans now, they don't really expect to see the president at these events anymore. And if you catch them in an unguarded moment, what they'll tell you is it doesn't really make a whole lot of difference in their day-to-day lives whether the president returns or not -- Susan.

ROESGEN: OK. Morgan Neill reporting live for us in Havana, thank you.

You know, May Day is also called International Workers Day, and it's an official holiday in Germany. Today, in nationwide rallies there, union workers called for a minimum wage.

Then riots in already wild Turkey. An uproar there over the direction of a secular government. Hundreds of people were detained in May Day clashes with the police.

And across Pakistan, crowds called for better working conditions. In Karachi, marchers held a candlelight vigil and carried signs saying, "Long Live Labor Unity."

LEMON: We continue our coverage of these immigration rallies across the country, and we'll talk to the man behind one of the largest gatherings.

But as we go to break here, see if you know the answer to the question from the citizenship test. This is what they ask you on a citizenship test. What do you call changes to the Constitution? Again, what do you call changes to the Constitution? The answer after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: We're covering immigration rallies all day today here in the CNN NEWSROOM, in fact, on our network today all day and also in primetime. You're looking at two rallies. This is live pictures now on your left.

You see Union Park in Chicago, which is downtown Chicago. They're going to march from there to Grant Park about two miles away.

And then on the right, you see a picture. The city of Denver, looks like downtown Denver. A march is expected there, as well.

In Chicago, they're expecting over 100,000 people. And as you can see on the right there, they're already starting to march down the street in Denver. A huge crowd of folks there.

Before the break, Susan, we asked what do you call the changes made to the Constitution?

ROESGEN: Too easy, Don.

LEMON: Do you think it's too easy?

ROESGEN: Yes, I do.

LEMON: OK. Well, then...

ROESGEN: I hope it's too easy for just about everybody.

LEMON: Do we have a drum roll? What do you call changes made to the Constitution?

ROESGEN: Amendments.

LEMON: This is on the citizenship test. The naturalization test. And there's the answer.

ROESGEN: Yes. Who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance? We learned that earlier.

LEMON: I forgot his name.

ROESGEN: Somebody named Bellamy.

LEMON: Bellamy. Is it Ralph Bellamy?

ROESGEN: Yes, I think you're right. That's on the test, too. We'll get that later.

LEMON: That came up in our meeting today.

Lots more questions today.

ROESGEN: Lots more questions.

Somebody who would like to have immigrants, legal or otherwise, reading his newspapers. Rupert Murdoch, he is looking to make his media empire even bigger, the big media mogul.

Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange to tell us about Newscorp's move to take over one of the most popular newspapers in the country -- Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Susan, this is an amendment to our news digest. This story broke about an hour ago.

Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp has made an unsolicited offer for Dow Jones. The crown jewel of Dow Jones is "The Wall Street Journal", the second most popular newspaper in the country. The bid valuing Dow Jones at $5 billion. And some analysts say that's an offer that may be too good to pass up.

But there's already speculation that Newscorp may not be alone and that there may be a bidding war. Possible suitors include "The Washington Post", "The New York Times", or even Bloomberg News. So the plot could thicken -- Susan.

ROESGEN: Yes. We understand that Murdoch also wants to launch a business channel this year. So scooping up the "Wall Street Journal" would be a coup for him, right?

LISOVICZ: I think it's safe to say, Susan, with Rupert Murdoch's smarts, that this is no coincidence, that Dow Jones is the publisher of "The Wall Street Journal". It would give Rupert Murdoch's company, his new channel which is supposed to launch in the fall, a jump start in building network. Having a strong foothold in financial news could also make Newscorp a formidable rival to CNBC, which pretty much owns the turf right now.

Newscorp currently owns several cable channels, a film studio, MySpace, but only one newspaper in the U.S., "The New York Post".

Like other newspaper publishers, Dow Jones industrials shares have been beaten down over the past few years because circulation is stagnant or declining, and more advertisers are moving their money to the Internet.

(STOCK REPORT)

LISOVICZ: And coming up next hour, new plan to expand domestic drilling for oil raising environmental concerns. I'm sure that's of interest to you, Susan, where you live, right?

ROESGEN: Oil-rich Louisiana, yes. Hey, as long as the Dow stays above 13,000, I don't care if it goes down eight points.

LISOVICZ: It's above that. But only by seven points right now.

ROESGEN: OK. Thanks, Susan.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

LEMON: And you know what? It was Francis Bellamy, not Ralph Bellamy. Ralph Bellamy is the actor. Francis Bellamy. ROESGEN: I was going to say Ralph. I was with you on that.

LEMON: I know, I know.

We're going to be covering these rallies all day. We're talking about who wrote the original Pledge of Allegiance.

They're working for change, but are they supported by the workers they're trying to help? We'll talk with one of the organizers behind today's march in Los Angeles. That is straight ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Hello. I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: And I'm Susan Roesgen filling in for Kyra Phillips. He has gone to the mat for illegal immigrants. So why aren't more joining him on the picket lines? Javier Rodriguez joins us live from one of the rallies in Los Angeles. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Of course the bottom of the hour. We're covering the rallies happening across the nation today. You're looking at live pictures from Chicago, Los Angeles and also Denver. Hundreds of thousands of people expected to take place -- take part in these May Day rallies across the country and we're covering all of them live for you all day right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

ROESGEN: So right now, let's make a run for the border where more National Guard troops might mean more tension. CNN's Chris Lawrence is in the California border town of San Ysidro

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're here in San Ysidro, well 4,000 people legally cross this border every hour, making this quite possibly the busiest land crossing in the world. There's a constant game of cat and mouse that goes on here between American border agents on one side and spotters on the Mexican side who are trying to direct drivers and help them get through these check points with either drugs or perhaps even human cargo. We have seen some heart-breaking photographs and pictures of men and women crammed into the dashboard of a car, sometimes children stuffed into a seat cover or even into the gas tank of a car all desperately trying to get into the United States.

But, getting smuggled through a legal border crossing is just one way to get into this country illegally. Last year, President Bush announced operation jump start, which was designed to secure the border in between these legal points of entry. It deployed 6,000 National Guardsmen to help with the border. The idea being that it would buy time for the border patrol to train 6,000 new border patrol agents so that when the guardsmen left next year, the equal number of border patrol agents, new border patrol agents would simply take their place. We did a check to see how it was working. Looked at Arizona, for example, where 40 percent of those National Guardsmen have been deployed. We took a look at Yuma where it does seem to have made a difference. Before operation jump start, they were apprehending about 400 people a day for trying to cross into the country illegally. Now, just a fraction of that, down to 120 a day. In fact, across the board -- across the entire southern border from Texas here to California, apprehensions are down from this point a year ago.

Some say looking at those numbers, that means that the plan is working. Others aren't so sure. One number that is up -- violent attacks on border patrol officers. But officials here are telling us that number is a good thing -- because they say it means that it's getting tougher to cross the border and that the smugglers are getting more desperate. Chris Lawrence, CNN, on the California-Mexico border.

ROESGEN: And now we'll go live to Los Angeles, the city that's been at the center of the immigration debate for decades. As we've mentioned, the march gets under way there soon and Javier Rodriguez is one of the organizers. Javier, we have been saying all morning and early afternoon here on CNN that we expect the rallies to be much smaller than last year. Why is that?

JAVIER RODRIGUEZ, MARCH 25TH COALITION: They're not smaller. They're going to be big, Los Angeles is swelling up. Chicago is already on several hundred thousand. The police has already shifted the route there. San Antonio is calling us and it is great. Let me tell you, the impact of the boycott is in many more cities than last year. So, the message - we have already given it. In the process of organizing this, today itself, the message even before we start, we have already injected ourselves into the national debate on immigration reform. And the kind of immigration reform that we want is not the one that's on the table at this time. And with our pressure -- with our political pressure just like the border -- the harbor commission here in Los Angeles, has already decreed the closing of the most important ports in the world -- the LA and Long Beach - they've closed them. They've succumbed to our pressure, then that's the way we think it's going to happen in Congress and also with President Bush.

ROESGEN: OK, Javier, we won't have the actual numbers until later today, but, let's say that these rallies are strong and if you have a big number of people, your goal then, the immigration reform that you're looking for, what exactly do you want from a Congress that you know has backed off of a lot of favoritism towards immigration reform just in the last year?

RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, of course, of course they're backing off. But, the message that we sent last year definitely -- definitely was there and the message that we're starting today -- this is not over today -- it's only the beginning of the upsurge of the mass movement and we want legalization for 13 million - it's not 12 million anymore, 13 million immigrants in this country, 600,000 women in danger of deportation with 3.3 million children. We want those people united. We do not want the family separated through raids and deportation. In addition -- let me also say, in addition, we do not want immigrants in Iraq anymore because that war was fabricated and we are also adding our call to the impeachment calls for Bush and Cheney. Let me tell you, we're very clear on that. We know that we set the tone for the voting out of the extreme right last year. We did it. We set the tone for that. And we were totally successful in joining the anti-war sentiment and the anti-corruption sentiment in the country.

ROESGEN: Javier, I want to get back to something you said earlier about shutting down the Los Angeles port there. What exactly are you saying has happened today?

RODRIGUEZ: I'm saying that last Thursday, the LA harbor commission decreed the closing of the ports and also decreed that it was going to be a holiday for any of the workers tied to the harbor. Of course, that had to do with the fact that a month and a half ago, the international longshoreman's workers in the west coast decided, resolved, to not work on May 1, on May 1. They decided a month and a half ago. Not only in LA, all of the -- all of the ports in the west coast. In addition, the -- the truck drivers that hauled the cargo here in Los Angeles last year closed it down. They were going to close it down anyway.

ROESGEN: OK, Javier Rodriguez. Thank you for joining us today from Los Angeles.

LEMON: Look at those live pictures there. You see people are starting to turn out more and more in Los Angeles. You see them walking the streets. Again, also in Denver and again in Grant Park and Union Park in Chicago. So we're going to be following this all day today throughout the day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Some big rallies under way all across the country.

Severe headaches may have serious repercussions. Ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, teens and frequent migraines. What are the added risks, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: You are looking now live at some of the immigration reform rallies all across the nation. We have our reporters fanned out across the country. You're looking at live pictures from Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles as some of the big immigration reform rallies get under way. First, Don Lemon though has our news for medicine.

LEMON: Yes, some medical news Susan. If you suffer from migraines, you know the signs all too well, nausea, sensitivity to light, throbbing pain. If your teenager also gets them and frequently, it may signal another, more serious problem. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with more on a new study. What do you have for us?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is very disturbing. If your teen has migraines or any kind of headaches, you really want to listen up. This is a study that shows that there could be a link between migraine suffering in teenagers and depression. Here's what the study found. This is a new study and it found that 47 percent of the teenagers in the studies who had migraines also had psychiatric disorders and 20 percent were at a high risk of suicide. What they found, and this is really important, the worst the migraines were, the higher the risk of suicide.

Now when we say psychiatric disorders, what exactly do they mean? Well what they found was that 21 percent of the kids in this study had major depression. So these are kids with migraines, 21 percent had major depression and 19 percent had a panic disorder. Now, there are two caveats that we should say about this study. One, it was conducted in Taiwan. The doctors we talked to said teens in Taiwan and teens in the U.S., probably, a lot of similarities. Also, it's very small. We're talking about 120 kids. Doctors want to see this repeated in larger studies. But they say that intuitively, it makes sense. Doctors we talk to who see teens with migraines say they see a lot of psychiatric problems in addition to those migraines.

LEMON: So then Elizabeth, what explains this link? Why are kids with migraines, why are they more prone to psychiatric problems?

COHEN: That's an excellent question and really there are two answers. First of all, it's depressing to have migraines. It's depressing to be in pain. It's also depressing to have to stay at home and lie in bed because you feel so sick and not be able to go out with your friends. For teens, that social interaction is especially important but there's something else going on here. The doctors who we talked to said, you know what, there seems to be a common biological cause, perhaps, for both depression and for migraines. Maybe there's one thing, one gene, that sort of governs both of those things. So they're doing research now to see if you're prone to migraines and prone to depression, what's the gene that makes that happen?

LEMON: So every parent, oh, my kid gets headaches or whatever. How do you know when it gets serious enough to see a physician about it?

COHEN: Every child has said to their parent at one point or another, mommy, my head hurts and so you have to figure out, when do I take them to the doctor and when don't I? Some here's some rules that some neurologists have come up with, guidelines about what to do when your child says that they have a headache. See a doctor if the headaches last more than two hours and occur 15 days out of the month for three months. So if for three months you've been seeing that about half the time your child says they have a headache and it lasts more than two hours, that's a chronic headache and you need to go see a doctor. It might be migraines, it might not be migraines. You want to talk to a doctor. That doctor can help you distinguish between the two and help you decide if your child needs psychological help.

LEMON: Anytime you're getting a prolonged headache, it's probably time to see the doctor, better safe than sorry.

COHEN: If it doesn't go away.

LEMON: Absolutely, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

COHEN: Thanks.

ROESGEN: Four years after declaring the end of major combat in Iraq, President Bush is at the headquarters now of the U.S. central command, the military headquarters overseeing American forces in the world's hot spot, including Afghanistan and Iraq. CNN's Kathleen Koch traveled with the president to Florida covering his meeting with the coalition commanders. Kathleen?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Susan, yes, President Bush here today making his fourth visit to central demand at McDeal (ph) Air Force base here in Tampa and here he thanked allies for more than 40 countries meeting here today for their commitment to fighting terrorism around the world. Mr. Bush said that just as during World War II and the cold war that, quote, history has called on great nations to assume great responsibilities. While admitting that there are still what he called difficult times in Iraq, the president said there are quote, signs that give us hope. And Mr. Bush insisted that by standing together, that the coalition would prevail against vicious and determined enemies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've taken the fight to the enemy where they live so we don't have to face them where we live. It's a record that all our countries can be proud of. The United States of America is proud to stand with you.

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KOCH: Now, this meeting here at McDeal Air Force base, central command comes on what is admittedly a difficult and uncomfortable anniversary for the White House. It was four years ago that President Bush appeared on the aircraft carrier, the "U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln" in front of the banner that they say members of the ship had put up there, saying "mission accomplished" and the president was declaring the end to major combat operations. The White House says it's just a coincidence that he's here today on this anniversary. But the date certainly works very well for Democrats who plan to send to the president the emergency war funding bill that he has promised that he will veto because it holds those hard and fast timetables for withdrawal, Susan?

ROESGEN: Kathleen, what about the timing of this promised veto? Do we know when it will take place?

KOCH: At this point, the president is returning to the White House this afternoon. Congress is expected to be getting him that bill sometime this afternoon. And what we're told by senior administration official is that the president gets it in what is called a reasonable time of day that he will, indeed, veto it today.

ROESGEN: And then Democrats go back to work on a different war funding bill.

KOCH: That, they do and they meet with the president at the White House tomorrow on that. ROESGEN: OK Kathleen Koch reporting live for us from Tampa, Florida, thank you.

KOCH: You bet.

LEMON: Two words that lead to some heated arguments -- illegal immigration. As we look at these rallies happening around the country today, what about the immigrants in the U.S. legally? More news in a moment. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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LEMON: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM looking at live pictures now from the city of Chicago. It's downtown in Union and Grant Park. It's a pretty big area. If you look at the size of the crowd, you can see that it is a pretty big crowd. Knowing downtown Chicago and that area, in order to get those types of pictures, the crowd shots to look like that, you have to have a number of people there on the ground. It's not just -- you would think it's Hispanics that are marching in these marches. There's smaller numbers of people representing other nationalities, Irish people as well and then other nationalities from all over the U.S. We are, as they say, an immigration nation.

Let's move on now. We're going to continue to talk about this and talk about immigration here. With a battle raging on Capitol Hill and across the country over illegal immigrants, here's a look at immigrants who come to this country legally.

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LEMON (voice-over): The Immigration and Naturalization Service or INS, estimates there were 11.6 million legal permanent residents for immigrants in the U.S. in 2004. Mexico has sent the most legal immigrants to the U.S. since the latter half of the 20th century. More than 175,000 Mexicans were admitted in 2004. The number of legal immigrants arriving in the U.S. varies from year-to-year. In 2004, the total was just over 946,000. There are several ways to become what INS calls a legal permanent resident. A foreigner who marries a U.S. citizen may apply for a permanent residence visa, commonly called a green card. The green card allows an immigrant to live and work in the U.S. indefinitely. Other ways of obtaining a green card include being sponsored by an employer or a close family member living in the U.S. INS also conducts a lottery every year awarding 50,000 green cards to immigrants selected randomly from a computerized drawing.

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LEMON: And tomorrow night, a small town with a huge problem. Lou Dobbs is live in Hazelton, Pennsylvania where the fight heats up. This town draws the line. What they're doing to fight the broken borders. A Lou Dobbs primetime special right here on CNN. That's tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern.

ROESGEN: Right now we have severe weather including flooding in some parts of Texas. Rob Marciano is going up to the map to show us what we're going to see when you continue watching the CNN NEWSROOM. LEMON: First as we go to break, let's take a look at the big board. The stock market is up. The Dow at least 24 points, hovering at 13,000 this hour. More from the CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.

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LEMON: This just in to CNN. The reason you're looking at the White House, we have just learned that that war funding bill that's drawn so much criticism is on its way to the White House, should get there by 4:00 p.m. Of course, the president has said he's going to veto it. He will veto it privately. At 6:00 p.m., the president will respond to this. This is new information just in to CNN. But in this newscast, in the CNN NEWSROOM, we expect to hear from our Kathleen Koch in just a short while. And also, more folks from Capitol Hill will respond to this very shortly right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. But again, that war funding bill going to the White House, expected to arrive at 4:00 p.m. and we'll hear from our president at 6:00 p.m. and, of course, we'll bring it all to you live right here on CNN.

Hot and dry still in south Georgia where wild fires are raging for a 16th day. More than 800 firefighters are on the front lines, but they're struggling to keep up. And new fires are flaring up every day. The state forestry commission believes some may have been deliberately set. Can you believe that? Arson investigators are on the case here and Georgia's governor is getting a firsthand look this afternoon from the ground and also from the air. The smoke is so intense that people are noticing it as far away as Orlando, Florida. That's a long ways away.

ROESGEN: Kind of ruins the trip to Disney world.

A stormy day again across Texas. Flash flooding mainly in central and northern parts of the state. Heavy rain has closed roads and freeways around San Antonio and firefighters have been busy rescuing drivers who found themselves suddenly stranded by rising water. So once again, Rob Marciano, you see too much rain in some places and barely a drop in others.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's the way it's been for the past couple weeks, really the past couple of months, Susan and that's going to be the ongoing issue as we go through the next couple of days.

Here's where all the rain is, across the southern plain, including Texas where all the storms were yesterday and storms are firing up across eastern parts of Texas again today. You see how this is spinning right here and the spin, the circulation is not moving very much to the east. It's cut off from the flow. It's sitting. It's spinning. It's pretty much just going to rain itself out and not likely get any of that moisture where we need it badly and that is across the southeast.

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