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Impact of Operation Jump Start; Thousands Expected to Rally for Immigration Reform; Iraq Without the U.S.?
Aired May 01, 2007 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.
Developments keep coming in to the NEWSROOM on this Tuesday, May 1st.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Dead or alive? Nobody knows for sure, but reports say the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has been killed. We're following those developments.
HARRIS: Immigration rallies launched this hour. Thousands taking it to the streets across the country today. Day-long coverage of "Immigration Nation" on CNN.
COLLINS: And we'll go to the Wild West, a hard-boiled sheriff with little patience for illegal immigrants. And he's a master at making his point.
Meet Sheriff Joe in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The frontlines of the immigration battle, the U.S.-Mexico border. One year ago, President Bush called for more National Guard troops to be deployed. So how do those efforts measure up?
CNN's Chris Lawrence is in the California border town of San Ysidro.
Chris, what impact is the effort having so far?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you look at the numbers, there seems to be some evidence that fewer people are getting across. Here at San Ysidro, it is a legal port of entry, meaning more than well over 400,000 people cross through this border every single hour, making it possibly the busiest land crossing in the world. And here there's a constant cat and mouse game going on between border agents on the American side and spotters on the Mexican side who observe where the drivers are going, through which lanes, trying to help the smugglers get through the checkpoints with either drugs or sometimes even people. We have seen some simply heartbreaking photographs and pictures of men and women crammed into the dashboard of a car, sometimes children stuffed into seat covers and then covered up. Even into gas tanks, all desperately trying to get into the United States any way they can. But coming through a legal port of entry and sneaking through is just one way to get into the country illegally.
Last year, President Bush announced an initiative called Operation Jump Start, which was designed to secure the border in between these legal ports of entry. What he did was deploy 6,000 National Guard troops to the border, 40 percent of which would go to Arizona alone, which had been a very, very difficult point for the Border Patrol to secure.
We looked at what impact that may have had, and it seems in certain areas it has had some. Take Yuma, Arizona, a border town, for example. Before Operation Jump Start, they were apprehending about 400 people a day for crossing into the country illegally. After Jump Start, that number is just a fraction, 140 imported people now. And when we look at those numbers, that doesn't necessarily mean that fewer people are getting through, but it does suggest that it is a possibility, depending on how you look at the numbers.
Also, a number that has gone up is violent attacks. Violent attacks on Border Patrol agents have gone up in the last year. But officials are telling us that they look at that as a good sign, because as they look at that number, they say that means it's getting tougher getting across the border and the smugglers are having to use more protection and are getting more frustrated by the Border Patrol's efforts -- Heidi.
COLLINS: OK. All right.
CNN's Chris Lawrence reporting from San Ysidro, California, this morning.
Chris, thank you.
HARRIS: Fighting to become Americans. Will numbers speak louder from words? From New York to Los Angeles, tens of thousands are expected to rally today for immigration reform. One rally set to get under way right now in Chicago.
CNN's Soledad O'Brien will be there in the thick of it. There she is. She joins us from Union Park.
Soledad, what are you hearing? What are organizers expecting today?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey. You know, what organizers are saying is that they could have something like hundreds of thousands of marchers today. The numbers last year were around 400,000. Some people said there were more like 700,000.
It remains to be seen how it's going to work out this year. So far, some good weather. And, of course, that always helps a march, as you well know, Tony.
The actual march itself begins at 1:30 local team, which is 2:30 your time, of course. But there are rallies. And that's what you're seeing behind me now. People have kind of come for the rallies.
You can probably hear the sound of the radio stations and some of the rallies as they get under way. People are beginning to just stream in.
One think you'll notice, the number of Mexican flags that we're seeing this year few and far between. Mostly American flags, mostly what they're selling here now. All these feeder marches will then come here, and then at 1:30 local time everybody will march due east right into Grant Park. It's about a two, three-mile hike.
What's been interesting to see is the change this year in the focus. Last year it was the Sensenbrenner bill. This year, people have been really concerned about the immigration raids and criminal raids.
And I asked one woman whether this was the kind of thing that was -- was scaring her to the point where it was keeping her up at night and not allowing her to sleep, because she has got two small children who are U.S. citizens. Here's what she told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Worrying about your daughters? (SPEAKING IN SPANISH)
So why stay? (SPEAKING IN SPANISH)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (SPEAKING IN SPANISH)
O'BRIEN: No school for the children. No work for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: And so I asked her, you know, why not go back? And she said, well -- you know, there's nothing there. There's no opportunity. All the opportunity is in the United States.
And that's really the story you hear over and over again, whether you're on the Mexican side of the border or talking to illegals who are on this side of the border, that the reason they're here is there are opportunities. And their children, who in many cases are American citizens -- three to four million kids here are American citizens with parents who are illegals -- that their opportunities for their kids, that's sort of just the fact of it as it stands right now -- Tony.
HARRIS: Hey, Soledad, we know how important the kind of fuel young people provided for the civil rights movement of the '60s. I'm wondering about young people today. Will they be taking a part in any of these rallies, these marches? And what about school-aged children? What are they being encouraged to do?
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, it's interesting. They did not, like other marches, encourage children to ditch school and come take place -- take part in the march, as we've seen in other cities. And yet, as you're asking that question, Tony, I'm kind of looking around, and it's, like, hmm, I see a lot of young people, I see a lot of people who are high school age and even younger, who clearly are here and going to be taking part in the march.
But it's not something that's been endorsed. That's been a pretty controversial thing. A lot of people are bringing their small children as well.
Again, I think, if you've got the weather, if you've got the kids, you might get the numbers that some people are expecting, which are in the high hundreds of thousands. Other numbers that we've heard about are in the low thousands.
HARRIS: wow.
O'BRIEN: Seven thousand was one number we were hearing yesterday. And I've got to tell you, I believe in that range.
I could be convinced that it's going to be low, and I can be equally convinced that it's going to be very, very high. We're going to just kind of wait and see.
HARRIS: Yes. CNN's Soledad O'Brien for us, Union Park there in Chicago.
Great to see you, Soledad. Thanks.
COLLINS: We are following reports of a death of a reputed terror leader in Iraq. Abu Ayyub al-Masri, head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, said to have been killed in fighting with Sunni tribes. This has not been confirmed by the U.S. military or the Iraqi government. Iraqi security forces are trying to retrieve the body and perform DNA tests.
Born in Egypt, al-Masri followed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the head of the terrorist organization. Al Qaeda in Iraq has been blamed for much of that country's insurgent activity.
HARRIS: Dire predictions. Some U.S. troops and Iraqi officials warn an early American exit could leave the country in worse shape than it's now.
CNN's Hugh Riminton reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Jesse Mohammed (ph) has no doubt what his country would be like without U.S. forces. "It would be like this," he says. He's seen the sectarian violence first hand. He's one of just two security guards left protecting a power station on a Sunni-Shia dividing line in northwestern Baghdad.
The work so dangerous, 40 other guards have fled. He welcomes the temporary security of a passing U.S. patrol. These Iraqi soldiers are on the last day of their training. The U.S. military says the Iraqi army, despite growing in numbers and proficiency, is not yet ready to take over the fight against the insurgents.
American commanders like General Dana Pittard believe that withdrawing U.S. troops too soon would leave the whole country vulnerable.
GEN. DANA PITTARD, U.S. ARMY: I think that it would cause a huge vacuum that enemies of the government and enemies of Iraq could take advantage of. Now's not the time.
RIMINTON: Among those enemies the Americans include Iran, already accused by Washington of supporting both sides of the insurgency, but especially their sectarian brothers in Iraq's Shia militias.
PITTARD: We cannot leave Iraq in disarray. I mean, we came here in 2003. We cannot leave here, leave this nation as a failed state.
RIMINTON: Iraq's oil minister, Husayn al-Shahrastani, agrees now is too early for the Americans to talk of leaving.
HUSAYN AL-SHAHRASTANI, IRAQI OIL MINISTER: Iraq is making good progress in building its armed forces. And by the end of this year, we should have sufficient, trained forces to be able to handle the security on our own.
RIMINTON (on camera): By the end of this year?
AL-SHAHRASTANI: Yes.
RIMINTON (voice over): So what might happen if U.S. troops withdraw before securing stability in Iraq?
JON ALTERMAN, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: What I would expect to have is lots of warlords popping up with more and more control around the country, and the central government becoming more and more of a shell that doesn't really represent anything.
RIMINTON: Without U.S. support, he fears Iraq could become an established center for both local and international terrorism. Its territory, a proxy battlefield for regional powers like Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. And all of that for years to come.
ALTERMAN: When you have a civil war or an insurgency with lots and lots of external resources coming into it, it can go on for a very, very, very long time.
RIMINTON (on camera): One U.S. soldier I spoke to here says he does not believe any longer that the U.S. can win the war here, but he fears the consequences of withdrawal, it could be a catastrophe, he says, for America's friends here. STAFF. SGT. MATTHEW ST. PIERRE, U.S. ARMY: We are the buffer right now, and when you pull us out, the people that support us are going to feel a wrath, and the people that were against us -- and they're the majority -- they're going to, I believe, ultimately win.
RIMINTON (voice over): It's only one soldier's view, but he believes whenever U.S. troops withdraw, they will leave Iraq in a worst state than they found it.
Hugh Riminton, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And still to come this morning, a show of support for the top brass. The commander in chief heads to U.S. Central Command, may be landing in Tampa even as we speak.
Details coming up for you in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Don't ask, don't tell. A New Jersey mayor's policy makes a safe haven for immigrants. Many of them breaking the law -- in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Pet food fears, widening investigation. Will it affect what's on your dinner table?
That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live breaking news, unfolding developments. See for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: From the fight in Iraq to the fight over Iraq, this afternoon Congress finally sends that controversial $124 billion war spending bill to President Bush. First, Democratic leaders will make one last pitch for the president not to veto it. At issue, a provision requiring troops to begin leaving Iraq in October.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says Americans have lost patience with the war. The president says he won't abide by any "artificial timetables". Lawmakers are already said to be at work on a new spending bill.
COLLINS: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush's focus today. He's on a quick trip to U.S. Central Command in Florida.
CNN's Kathleen Koch is there. She's going to be joining us shortly from MacDill Air Force Base to tell us a little bit more about what is on the president's agenda.
HARRIS: Iraq getting the blame for a sharp rise in worldwide terror attacks. A new State Department report counts 14,000 terror attacks around the world last year, almost half of them in Iraq. The total is more than 25 percent higher than the year before. The report says more than 20,000 lost their lives in last year's attacks. Two-thirds of those deaths were in Iraq. The report also says al Qaeda and other Islamic militants have found safe haven in a border province in northwestern Pakistan.
COLLINS: President Bush on a quick trip to Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.
Our CNN's Kathleen Koch is there to give us a little bit more of an idea of what the president will be doing and what he'll be talking about today.
Hi, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.
Yes, President Bush has just landed here in Tampa, and first on his agenda, he'll be getting a briefing from the commander of Central Command, Admiral William Fallon. Also among others, the U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus. And the president will proceed to talk to the representatives of some 43 countries who are attending CENTCOM's annual coalition conference.
He'll be thanking them for their work, helping the U.S. fighting terrorism around the world. He'll be making points saying how the nations are pooling intelligence, how they're making progress in the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan. And he will maintain that by working together, that that is how the nations of the world will be able to prevail in fighting terrorism, just as they did prevail in World War II and in the Cold War.
Now, the White House says it is just simply a coincidence that this visit occurs on a relatively uncomfortable anniversary, and that is the anniversary of the president's declaration -- four-year anniversary of his declaration to an end of major combat operations in Iraq that was aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in front of that banner we'll all remember that says "Mission Accomplished".
Well, clearly, it wasn't. But it is no accident that Congress, as you mentioned earlier today, is going to be sending the president that emergency funding bill, war funding bill, some point this afternoon.
And again, as Tony mentioned, the president says he will veto it because it has timetables for withdrawal from Iraq, and also tells -- he says it tells generals how to do their jobs and contains extraneous spending, domestic spending. He says it's unrelated to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. We're already hearing Congress is working on drafting a new war spending bill.
KOCH: Quite so.
COLLINS: So I guess that gives us our answer.
All right. Kathleen Koch, thanks so much.
HARRIS: Immigration crackdown. Arizona the frontlines of the immigration battle. Now an already controversial sheriff gets even tougher.
That's ahead for you in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: And medical news, when a headache may be more than just a headache. A new study shows a possible link between teen migraines and suicide.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the story in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Concerns about a potential link between teen migraines and suicide. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, spoke about it a little bit earlier in the NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What sort of prompted all this was a study out of Taiwan specifically looking at teenagers and their propensity, if you will, to develop some sort of psychiatric problem, whether it was a chronic daily headache, or a migraine headache.
Now, first of all, a lot of people say, what is a migraine headache? A couple things happen during a migraine.
First of all, you have -- and I think we have an animation there to show this. You have these blood vessels that are going in the brain or around the brain that actually dilate and constrict. That happens back and forth a lot, and what happens is it actually sends these nerve fibers, activates these nerve fibers which causes the pain.
You can get this pulsating pain. Oftentimes it's just located on one side of the head. That's one of the cardinal symptoms, just one side of the head. You become sensitive to light, you may become nauseated. It's awful if you get it.
And now the study actually looking specifically at psychiatric illness and these migraine headaches, saying about 47 percent of the time, almost half the time, people will actually develop some sort of psychiatric problem. About 20 percent of the time it was suicidal thoughts.
Now, this was based on a questionnaire. It's not a perfect study.
COLLINS: Yes.
GUPTA: They started with 7,900 teenagers, and they whittled it down to about 120 teenagers that actually fit the pattern. So small numbers overall -- Heidi. COLLINS: Yes, some pretty small samples.
I used to get migraines with the visual aura where you can't see anything.
GUPTA: Yes.
COLLINS: And they were prescribing Imitrex.
What is the best way to treat a migraine now?
GUPTA: Well, you know, and they may have told you about this as well, Heidi, with your migraines. First of all, you try and think about what triggers there might be.
People have various triggers. Some of them can be the same in teenagers and adults. Things like stress, which there's no shortage of. Hormonal changes as well, especially going through puberty. Certain foods, sleep disruptions can also be a problem.
But Heidi, you and I also talked about a new combination of medications in the past. Imitrex, which actually stabilizes those blood vessels...
COLLINS: Right.
GUPTA: But also Aleve, which is an anti-inflammatory. Doctors have used those separately for a long time as actually a combination medication that seems to have significant benefit.
COLLINS: Yes. Well, that's interesting. And most teenagers, though, end up with headaches at one point or another. Probably cause a few more for their parents, right?
GUPTA: I'm learning that myself.
COLLINS: How do parents know, though? Yes. And they're just little.
GUPTA: Right.
COLLINS: How do parents know, though, when it has become more serious?
GUPTA: Yes, that's a good question. And, you know, again, we preface the whole thing by saying I don't want people to really get worried about this small study. But something to keep in mind with regards to chronic daily headaches, here's a little tidbit.
Fifteen days a month for three months, 15 days out of the month for three months, lasting more than two hours. That's a lot of headaches. That's a lot of concern.
Certainly if they have a migraine pattern as well, get it checked out. There's good medication out there for it.
COLLINS: Yes. Wow. All right. We'll be watching this one, for sure.
GUPTA: Thanks, Heidi.
COLLINS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.
GUPTA: Yes. Thank you.
COLLINS: Sanjay suggests people with chronic headaches 15 days out of a month for three months check with their doctor.
Great advice. That's a lot of headaches.
To get your "Daily Dose" of health news on online, log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library, and information on diet and fitness. The address, cnn.com/health.
HARRIS: OK. Beginning this week and continuing through the rest of the year, CNN will be shining the spotlight on some very special people. Each one has a remarkable story, and each is an example of how of a single person can turn their personal vision for a better world into action.
We call them CNN Heroes.
Our very first CNN hero lives in Brooklyn, New York, and his name is Thabiti Boone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHELLE DEJESUS, STUDENT: "Dear Mr. Boone, my name is Michelle Dejesus, and I'm in the fourth grade. This neighborhood that I live in is not a good scene to me. I see a lot of crime and dangerous things in this neighborhood."
THABITI BOONE: I am from east New York, Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York. Like many people who come from this community, you have to chance. There is no hope, no joy to go to school. My name is Thabiti Boone, and I chose a different path.
My father didn't want to be a father. My mom was too young at that time to take me out of the hospital. So I was stuck in the middle with no direction.
My life could have been, I'm angry, I want to fight the world, I have an attitude, but something said, you know what? I'm going to make a difference. I'm going to make it out of here, and I'm going to be one of the ones to come back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Mr. Boone, you make learning fun for us. And by you coming back, it shows my classmates and me that you care about us and our education."
BOONE: Our young people are in such a crisis of lack of love, lack of interest, lack of hope, lack of heroes. The Read to Succeed program is a unique program that connects sports, entertainment and hip-hop to self-development and success through the importance of reading. Bam. That's it.
So students have to read on a continuing basis, they have to learn how to do oral presentations, stand in front of the classrooms, develop confidence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "This program taught me and my classmates that we can be anything in life if we just work hard."
BOONE: You may want to dream to be an athlete or entertainer, but at the end of the day that may not be what you're supposed to be. But let's have a program that teaches you how to self-discover many gifts and talents.
DEJESUS: "Thank you so much. You are like a father to us. We love you so much. Sincerely, Michelle Dejesus."
BOONE: Never...
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP Never...
BOONE: ... accept...
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: ... accept...
BOONE: ... underachievement.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: ... underachievement.
BOONE: There's a piece of who you are that's connected to where you came from. So if you go and don't come back, you're walking around half dead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: If you know someone in your community who is championing children like Thabiti Boone, you can nominate them for an CNN Hero award. Here's the address: cnn.com/heroes.
COLLINS: All right.
HARRIS: Have some great pictures to show you.
COLLINS: Yes, we do have some good pictures to show.
HARRIS: The action starting to heat up, huh?
COLLINS: Immigration day, if you will, May 1st.
Want to go ahead and take a look at some of these rallies both in Detroit and Orlando. Detroit is on your left, Orlando on your right.
People gathering, as you can see. Not sure how many. But we have reporters on the ground. We're going to find out more information as we move forward here.
HARRIS: Don't ask and don't tell. A New Jersey mayor's policy makes a safe haven for immigrants, many of them breaking the law. That story coming up for you in the NEWSROOM.
Also, so you want to be a citizen? The new test for immigrants who want to be Americans. Could you pass? Pop quiz in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: And arson investigators called to the scene of a record Georgia wildfire. That's coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Bottom of the hour. Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. Hi, everybody.
Where the border meets the Beltway. Today, marchers want Congress to get their message loud and clear. Want to show you these live pictures now, coming to you from Chicago. These are people gathering for the rally there. I want to also go to our CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash to talk more about this.
Dana, where do things stand in Congress on immigration legislation? Has it slowed down a bit?
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's actually interesting, Heidi. As we've been talking about and reporting on the very deep partisan fights over the war in Iraq, behind the scenes, especially over the past month or so, there has been an intense movement, negotiations actually at very high levels from the administration, the secretaries of commerce and homeland security, senior Democrats in the Senate and senior Republican conservatives actually in the Senate as well, are trying to work out some kind of bipartisan agreement on a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
The Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has given these negotiators a deadline of May 14th. That is the time he actually wants to have immigration reform on the Senate floor, and he's going to have about two weeks of debate then.
Now, the idea behind this and the flashpoints are really pretty much the same as they were last year. There are a lot of issues, especially when you get down to the basics of how to deal with the 12 million or so illegal immigrants who are in this country, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. Talk a little bit more, if you could, Dana, about the flashpoints in these negotiations.
BASH: Well, you know, this has obviously become such a political hot potato, this issue of immigration, particularly the issue of what to do with the illegal immigrants who are in this country.
Again, you know, the president and many Democrats here in Congress say it is critical for them to come out of the shadows and have a place in society and actually a path to citizenship. And conservatives still say, you know, if they do that, they are going to have to get to the back of the line, they're going to have to leave the country in some way temporarily before they come back to the United States.
One thing that they're talking about, we're told, is some kind of middle ground there, Heidi. Maybe a trigger, which would say that, yes, there could be a path to citizenship, yes, there could be a guest worker program, but that would only kick in if the secretary of homeland security could certify that the borders are secure first. Because that is what many Republicans -- in fact, all Republicans say is absolutely critical. They say border security must come before any discussion, real discussion of giving illegal immigrants and even legal immigrants who want to come here for guest worker programs a way to do so.
COLLINS: And a massive undertaking it is, as we look at those live pictures now from one of the rallies, coming our way. Detroit, Michigan. All right, Dana Bash, thanks so much.
BASH: Thank you.
HARRIS: Sanctuary cities, places in the U.S. where the welcome mat is out for immigrants, whether here legally or not. CNN's Alina Cho reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Hightstown, New Jersey, population 5,200, Mayor Bob Patten brags about how one-third of the residents are Latino. Many are here illegally, but that's OK with the mayor. His policy -- don't ask, don't tell.
MAYOR BOB PATTEN, HIGHTSTOWN, NEW JERSEY: There's 12 million of them in the United States. What are you going to do, send them all back? You've got to be crazy.
CHO: Here, Latino businesses are central to the local economy. One in four students is Latino, which is why all of the schools here teach English as a second language.
In the center of town, the church holds services in Spanish, and 60 percent of the weddings Mayor Patten officiates are Latino marriages. The mayor is becoming bilingual.
PATTEN: Hola. How you doing?
CHO: Hightstown, like San Francisco in the West, is what some have called a sanctuary city, a place where illegal immigrants can walk without fear, even call police if there's a problem.
Paula Rancancio (ph) lives and works here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We feel like somebody's not going to come and take us away and put us back where we came from.
CHO: Rancancio (ph) won't reveal her immigration status, but admits she and her mother have been trying to become U.S. citizens for more than a decade. Her 17-month-old daughter, Emma (ph), was born here, so she's already a citizen. A familiar story: a family with mixed immigration status, the focus of today's rallies.
STUART SACKOWITZ, BUSINESS OWNER: At the rate we're going, I don't want to be here anymore.
CHO: Stuart Sackowitz owns a shoe store in Hightstown, has been in business here for 37 years. He says the Latino community has overrun the town and that some business owners are leaving because they can't compete.
SACKOWITZ: These people are all hard-working, good people. They just don't support local businesses.
CHO: Mayor Patten insists the changing face of Hightstown is good for business. He calls it one square mile of paradise, where immigrants don't have to look over their shoulder...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How's business today?
CHO: ... as they pursue the American dream.
Alina Cho, CNN, Highstown, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: A string of questions for you at home this morning. When was the Constitution drafted? 178-- ? What's an inalienable right? Or how about this one: What did Susan B. Anthony do?
COLLINS: You need to know if you want to become a U.S. citizens. CNN senior United Nations correspondent Richard Roth takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brush around them, but just don't floss.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: By day, Rose Marie Lopez (ph) is an orthodontic assistant. At night, the Guatemalan native is brushing up to become an American citizen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What country sold the Louisiana territory to the United States?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: France.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Correct.
ROTH: Lopez and her class in Boston are prepping for a new test for immigrants applying to become U.S. citizens.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So the answer for the colors of the flag -- red, white and blue. So please make sure to make the changes, because I saw some answers with yellow, and that's not right.
ROTH: The government says the added questions focus on the ideas of democracy and make it more meaningful. Questions like "what does freedom of religion mean?"
ALPHONSO AGUILAR, U.S. OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP: We want to use the exam as a tool to encourage civic learning and patriotism.
ROTH: But most of the pilot test still reads like a quiz show.
I put some of the same questions to American citizens on the streets of New York.
If the U.S. president can no longer serve, who becomes president?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice president. That's a tough question.
ROTH: Who is the Senate majority leader now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a good question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The girl, it's the lady.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pelosi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Diane Pelosi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy Pelosi from California.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy Pelosi.
ROTH: That's the House, not the Senate, smarty pants.
#125, what country is on the northern border of the United States?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Canada.
ROTH: #126, where is the Grand Canyon?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Arizona.
ANDREW STENGEL, PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY: The redesigned test is better suited for "Jeopardy" than for fitness to serve as a citizen. They ask when are your taxes due, but having nothing to do -- no question about how to register to vote.
ROTH: What did Susan B. Anthony do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Susan B. Anthony is a suffragette.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, she wrote the -- she wrote...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's on a dollar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was a suffragette for women's rights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, she wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, she didn't.
ROTH: In order to join these new American citizens, you need to answer six out of 10 right, plus a basic English test.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of the United States of America.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll be able to, you know, call this my country now.
ROTH: Richard Roth, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: I love to see that.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: Studying and trying to learn about the country, wanting to be part of the country.
HARRIS: Absolutely. And the fabric, absolutely.
Look at these pictures, Heidi. Chicago. What's the other city? Is it Detroit?
COLLINS: Yes.
HARRIS: So, all right, we're in the Midwest right now. Immigration rallies and marches under way right now. Union Park there in Chicago for sure. We will be watching these pictures throughout the afternoon as the numbers build right here in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Meanwhile, the U.S. says he calls the shots for al Qaeda in Iraq. Now, is he on the receiving end of the shots? Al Masri, dead or alive, in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Pet food fears, a widening investigation. Will it affect what's on your dinner table? That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(MARKET REPORT)
HARRIS: OK. He is talk show royalty, and for 50 years now, Larry King has reigned over the airwaves. On Thursday, a CNN primetime event as Anderson Cooper takes us through 50 years of pop culture as seen through Larry's trademark glasses. After 50 years, no secret, Larry is king of the lively art of conversation and he's also king of the cameos. Here's Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, I'm Larry King. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see a movie, and Larry King makes that appearance as Larry King interviewing a fictional character.
SAMUEL L. JACKSON, ACTOR: I'm always frank and earnest with women. In New York, I'm Frank. In Chicago, I'm Earnest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's always a certain kick out of that, because you're like, OK, this is a movie that has sense of humor about itself.
KING: OK, let's go to phone calls now on LARRY KING LIVE. White Plains, you're on the air with Glenn Harrison.
MARIAH CAREY, SINGER: When Catherine Zeta-Jones goes...
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES, ACTRESS: I love Larry.
CAREY: Right after...
ZETA-JONES: I just want to reach over and choke him to death with those stupid suspenders.
CAREY: This is one of my most favorite moments in a movie, ever.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Indeed, with more than 20 credits to his name...
KING: Professional paranormal eliminators in New York are the cause of it all.
COOPER: Larry proved himself cameo king throughout the years. He even got to do drag in an animated land far, far away.
KING: Hey, buddy, let me clue you in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My dad was a woman.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: That's good, isn't it? "CNN PRESENTS: "Larry King, 50 Years of Pop Culture" this Thursday, May 3rd. Don't miss it. 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
COLLINS: Another year, another record for the rich. The number of millionaire households in America keeps growing. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange to tell where the wealthy are living. Hi there, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we know that a lot of them are investing as well, no question about it.
There are more millionaires in this country than ever before. The number of millionaire households hitting an all-time high, topping 9 million in all. We're talking about households with a net worth of at least $1 million.
Taking a look at the list, no surprise that Los Angeles County has the most millionaires. It's followed by the counties surrounding Chicago, Phoenix, San Diego and Houston. Four of the counties, by the way, are in California. Research firm T&F says the average millionaire household has a net worth of $2.5 million. And for many, that's enough to stop working. Almost half of those people are already retired. The average age is 59 years old.
Heidi, 15 percent of them own their own business. And I found this really interesting. More than a third of them don't use a financial planner.
COLLINS: See, they're taking their money, taking ownership.
LISOVICZ: Yes, right.
COLLINS: In every which way.
I know, though, that even though you may be a millionaire, you're still subject to many different dangers out there, identity theft being one of them. I hear there's another case of lost personal information?
LISOVICZ: This is an interesting one. I mean, we, you know, Tony, I know, he gets all fired up on these stories, these data breaches. This one is...
HARRIS: There you go.
LISOVICZ: ... J.P. Morgan Chase. The "Wall Street Journal" says Chase has lost computer tapes that contains clients' and employee account information and Social Security numbers. 47,000 Chicago area accounts were affected. Most of the victims are Chase clients that have a net worth of between $1 million and $25 million. The bank assures us that the data on the tapes is encrypted. So maybe not that easy.
COLLINS: OK. That is exactly Tony, though. That's who he uses, that's his net worth. That's the whole deal.
HARRIS: Thank you, Heidi. Thank you.
LISOVICZ: Why don't we just give the rest of the numbers...
COLLINS: OK.
HARRIS: There you go.
LISOVICZ: Make it really even easier.
On Wall Street, we have some nice numbers again for the Dow Industrials, despite some mixed economic reports. The blue chip average, of course, coming off a terrific month of April. The Dow jumping nearly 6 percent in April, the biggest percentage gain for one month in 3.5 years. Right now, the blue chips starting off May on the right foot too. Up 38 points, or better than a quarter of a percent. The Nasdaq is under a little bit of pressure. Today, shares of Dow Jones are surging nearly 60 percent on speculations this newspaper company could be the subject of a takeover by News Corps. So we will be following that for you. News Corp is one of the giants in the media business, as we all know.
COLLINS: I've never heard of them. HARRIS: Not much.
COLLINS: Have you?
HARRIS: Not much.
COLLINS: I don't know.
LISOVICZ: My lips are sealed.
HARRIS: There you go.
COLLINS: All right, Susan, thank you.
HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" coming up in just a couple of minutes, 13 minutes to be exact, at the top of the hour. Jim Clancy standing by with a preview. Good morning, Jim.
JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Tony and to Heidi there. Well, not many millionaires out on the streets today, but there are a lot of protesters on the streets of the U.S. Big immigration protests. Asians, Hispanics and others taking to the streets calling for reform, but their calls for leniency are being countered by demands that the laws be enforced. We're going to have live coverage for you on that.
Plus, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez orders his followers to seize operational control of key oil fields. This means a lot for big oil companies like BP and ConocoPhillips. The nationalization move is met with celebrations. We're going to have a report on what that really means.
Plus, the Mayday demonstrations. Will they turn into melees in some countries? There may not be a common theme, but this is a day when crowds and causes share the streets, one of the strategies to try to make their voices heard.
Big developments legally in Turkey on this, with the secularists winning. We're going to have more on that as well. And much more, coming up at the top of the hour on "YOUR WORLD TODAY."
Heidi, Tony, back to you.
HARRIS: We'll be there.
COLLINS: All right, Jim, thanks.
HARRIS: Pet food fears, a widening investigation. Will it affect what's on your dinner table? That story ahead for you in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: We are following reports of the death of a reputed terror leader in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, head of al Qaeda in Iraq, said to have been killed in fighting with Sunni tribes. This has not -- we have to tell you -- has not been confirmed by the U.S. military or the Iraqi government, and a militant group has posted a statement online denying the report. Iraqi security forces are trying to retrieve the body in question and perform DNA tests.
COLLINS: Tainted food for animals not just a problem for household pets, now getting closer to what we eat. CNN's Joe Johns has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The FDA says 38 poultry farms in Indiana received contaminated feed from China in early February, and fed it to poultry within days of receiving it. Thirty of the farms raise broiler chickens for people to eat. Eight farms raise chickens for breeding.
The FDA says all of the broilers, which are believed to have eaten feed contaminated with melamine, have since been processed into human food.
The agency adds, the likelihood of illness after eating those chickens is quote, "very low."
When melamine first showed up in tainted pet food, it appeared that this might have been an isolated incident. But Chinese business officials have told the "New York Times" that melamine has been routinely added to various types of animal feed there for years. Why? To make buyers think that the protein levels were higher than they actually were, increasing market value.
So why did melamine suddenly start killing pets? Scientists now say it was combined with another chemical.
ALAN WILDEMAN, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH: Well, I think we've identified what we feel is an important and likely underlying causative agent of why the animals are getting sick.
JOHNS: Scientists from Canada and the U.S. believe they may have unlocked a mystery. They've learned that melamine, combined with another contaminant found in the pet food, cyanuric acid, forms crystals in the kidneys.
WILDEMAN: What we've done is experiments that show, if you take cat urine and you add melamine to it, and cyanuric acid, the crystals will form in the cat urine in a test tube as you're watching them. So it happens within a matter of hours.
JOHNS: It's the crystals that are suspected of killing the pets. The ASPCA has seen a case that suggests that's exactly what happened.
DR. LOUISE MURRAY, ASPCA BERGH MEMORIAL ANIMAL HOSPITAL: We actually had a case recently where the cat's kidneys were completely obstructed. And when we went to surgery, to try to relieve the obstruction, there was no normal stone. Instead, the aortas were completely full of these melamine-type crystal.
JOHNS: And now the pet food investigation has turned into scrutiny of the human food supply.
CAROLINE SMITH DEWAAL, CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST: We see the pet food recall as a warning sign for the government that they need to do more to protect the food supply. It could easily happen to an ingredient used in human food as well.
JOHNS: The FDA has already announced that 6,000 hogs in several states may have eaten tainted pet food and should be destroyed and not put into the human food chain.
Meanwhile, the FDA investigation into China continues. A lawyer for one of the U.S. companies that received tainted wheat gluten from China confirms that his client received a search warrant for documents and computer files that was served last week. And FDA inspectors are expected to head to China to continue the probe.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: On this day, we are taking a look at the idea of immigration. These people are rallying, as you can see on the left- hand side of your screen there, folks gathering in Orlando, Florida. And on the right-hand side of your screen, Chicago. Following these stories all day long right here on CNN.
HARRIS: Taking on a gator in Texas. Police bring in a big one. Gator wranglers in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: One last quick check of the Big Board. Look at it. It is big, isn't it?
HARRIS: Sure.
(MARKET REPORT)
HARRIS: A traffic tie-up on a San Antonio freeway, not from any vehicle but a seven-foot reptile we're talking about here. Eric Runge (ph)?
COLLINS: I think it may be Runge (ph).
HARRIS: OK. Of affiliate WOAI has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cornered in a drainage ditch and prodded by police, a seven-foot gator strikes a pose.
This gator's early morning errands took him out of the water and onto 410.
OFC ALBERT SILVA, SAN ANTONIO POLICE: We all responded to the area, to try to get him off the highway. Pretty hard task, but we finally got him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But not before the gator got to bite a bumper.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alligators are very docile creatures.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Though they tend to be a little stubborn when popped on the head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just tried to get it back to its natural habitat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It took a true Texas tradition to finally get the gator going in the right direction. And with a quick belly roll for the camera and a winked goodbye, the gator got the hint he'd overstayed his welcome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Git-r-done.
COLLINS: Git-r-done. CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now.
HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home. I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. Have a great day, everybody.
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