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Turkish Prime Minister Likely to Call Early Elections; Crackdown on Illegals Can Split Up Families; Tribesmen Say Al Qaeda in Iraq Leader Killed; Immigration Marches In U.S.; Ehud Olmert Unpopular; Presidential Candidates On Immigration; California Primary; U.S. Citizenship Test

Aired May 01, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: From the hundreds, to the hundreds of thousands. We're watching as rallies across the world are held observing May Day, the traditional day of worker solidarity. But as you can see, not all of the rallies are peaceful.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: May Day in Venezuela means an oil grab for President Hugo Chavez.

CLANCY: And is the al Qaeda leader in Iraq dead? If confirmed, it could signal a major shift inside the insurgency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Who is the Senate majority leader now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that's a good question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The girl -- the lady.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pelosi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Diane...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy Pelosi, from California.

ROTH: That's the House, not the Senate, smarty pants.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: If New Yorkers didn't know it, then what about prospective U.S. citizens? Immigrants hoping to take the oath better hit the books. The citizenship test just got a whole lot harder.

It's 8:00 p.m. in Moscow, noon in Caracas and in New York.

Hello and welcome to our report broadcast all around the globe.

I'm Rosemary Church.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. From Moscow to Caracas, to New York, wherever you are watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CHURCH: We're going to bring you those stories in just a moment, but first to a developing story out of Turkey.

CLANCY: Now, that is where the country's top constitutional court annulling last Friday's presidential vote in the parliament, and this is extremely critical.

CHURCH: Now, the opposition boycotted the vote and challenged the outcome on the basis there was no quorum to validate the vote. Now the government will likely have to call early parliamentary elections.

CLANCY: Now, the vote in parliament could have handed the presidency to the ruling party candidate, foreign minister Abdullah Gul. That was problematic for some.

CHURCH: Now, that didn't sit well with traditional secularists, of course, who turned out by the hundreds of thousands Sunday in Istanbul to protest against Gul.

CLANCY: And even the military issuing a statement that warned against turning away from secularism within the government.

CHURCH: Now, secularists fear Gul has a hidden Muslim agenda which goes against the grain of Turkish politics.

CLANCY: Yes. Worries over the political crisis sending the Turkish stock market into a nose dive, losing 8 percent of its value at some times on the board. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will now have to reconsider moving the November elections forward. Still, the ruling party thinks that it can win a majority in that once more.

All of the political turmoil, meantime, comes as the country is hoping to enter the European Union. How does all of that play out in Turkey?

Let's get some perspective on this and go to our Cal Perry in London.

Cal, why is all of this critical, these decisions that are being made here?

CAL PERRY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's critical for Turkey because they are really a country caught between their historical past and what they want the world to perceive them as. This is a country, as you mentioned, that's desperate to join the European Union for both political and economic reasons. And as we saw last week, there was the potential for a military coup over this political reasons, which is in Turkey's history not unusual.

Four times the military has taken control of the government, has put tanks in the streets, and actually taken the government off its seat of power and replaced them with somebody else. This is a country that wants to show the European Union it can handle democracy. They want to become a part of the European Union, obviously, for economic and political reasons.

They are a member of NATO, they are important to the U.S., they are important to Europe. So, they are really trying to show the world that they can handle democracy at the same time their balancing this history of secularism against what is now an Islamist majority in parliament -- Jim.

CLANCY: Well, obviously, Europe is concerned and others concerned about any kind of a military intervention here into the political affairs of the country.

Is that less likely now?

PERRY: I think it is. I think we've taken a step back from a potential military coup with the court decision just an hour ago.

What the court has said is that the quorum that was necessary was not there for that first vote for Abdullah Gul. So, what they have now said is that first vote is as if it never happened.

They kicked it back now to the parties. We had a press conference just a few moments ago by the ruling AK party that said, we welcome new parliamentary elections, we are in the strongest position for new elections.

So, really, we're back where we started. But the military, as far as the military is concerned, they are hoping for a secular government to take control of the presidency. That is still possible now with this court decision. Four days ago, Jim, that was not possible. Abdullah Gul was the only candidate.

CLANCY: All right. Cal Perry, reporting to us there from London.

CHURCH: Well, demonstrating for greater rights and celebrating solidarity, workers all around the world are marking this May Day.

CLANCY: And we've been watching it, from Russia to Cuba, to Germany, streets packed with parades and protests for the annual observations.

CHURCH: Now, here in the United States, though, May Day takes on a very different tone, highlighting the plight of immigrants, legal or not, who help make up the backbone of the labor force here.

CLANCY: Now, advocates of immigration reform are taking parts in marches, meetings, even voter registration drives in cities across the U.S. today. They are pressing Congress to pass a law that would pave the way to grant citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.

All right. Let's take a look at some of what's going on.

We're looking now at Phoenix. This is a live demonstration. You can see several thousands people, it would appear. Hard to tell, really, from the air. It would appear that have gathered there in some of these rallies.

It must be said that as much as you have people calling for leniency and changes in reforms in U.S. law, so, too, you have a lot of people that are saying, let's enforce the laws that we have. One of the calls, one of the T-shirts, if you will, that's been out there on the streets has been one that says, the United States was a nation of immigrants, founded by immigrants for immigrants.

The other side comes back and counters, yes, but they all were legal. And that's the difference here. There seems to be a push, in the view of some, a push in order to grant rights before people reach a legal status, and they are afraid that it's going to encourage more people and more cost.

This is Chicago.

Now, one thing we do notice, Rosemary, this year is that there's much fewer on the streets than there were a year ago. Some are saying, you know, a year ago, they were wearing T-shirts that said, "I'm illegal. So what?"

This year, all of this is coming amidst a crackdown, where we have seen parents sent back. The children remain in the United States, but the parents are illegal, so they have to leave.

CHURCH: That's right. And we're going to look at that, because U.S. federal agents have recently stepped up raids trying to net illegal workers. And when they catch them, as you say, it's not only the workers who pay the price.

CLANCY: Many times the families are split apart, children taken from mothers and fathers because they don't have the right papers.

CHURCH: That's right.

John Roberts investigates what happens to these children when their parents are put in to detention or even sent home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Five years ago, Juana Garcia De La Cruz left her home in Guatemala, her sights set on the United States and what she hoped would be a better life for her family. Her son, Jason (ph), now two and a half, was born here. Garcia is in the country illegally, but worked for this leather goods company in New Bedford, Massachusetts, making equipment for U.S. soldiers in Iraq. She never imagined that agents of the U.S. government could forcibly separate her from her son.

JUANA GARCIA DE LA CRUZ, MOTHER, (through translator): I told them I had a child here and asked if they could give me some time to make arrangements to get my son out of the country. But he said no. He tied my hands behind my back and pushed me towards the others.

ROBERTS: Garcia was one of 361 illegal immigrants arrested during a raid on the Michael Bianco factory in Massachusetts in March.

JOHN TORRES, DIRECTOR, ICE: This literally was our fifth largest work site enforcement.

ROBERTS: John Torres runs the detention and removal department for ICE, the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. He says every effort was made to identify and release detainees who had children they needed to care for.

TORRES: At every stop of the way, they were afforded their rights and seen by medical doctors and re-interviewed just to determine whether or not there were any humanitarian reasons why either they should be released or returned back to Boston.

ROBERTS: Jason (ph) stayed with his father in New Bedford. Garcia was flown to a detention center in Texas.

(on camera): Why were these people sent to Texas instead of being kept in Massachusetts, close to their children?

TORRES: We didn't have sufficient detention space in Massachusetts alone.

ROBERTS: Sixty of those arrested were released right away because they either had dependent children or health issues. But at least 12 people, including Garcia, spent nearly a week in Texas before it was finally determined their families needed them, then they too were released.

The fate of Garcia's family remains uncertain, complicated in part because Jason was born in the United States and therefore qualifies as a U.S. citizen.

This is a real dilemma there though, isn't it, the fact that you can have children who would, because of their birth, qualify as American citizens. Their parents are illegal immigrants. And so the laws of the United States would force you to separate these people.

TORRES: Those are the laws of the United States right now. And what we do recognize is that the actions of parents sometimes have an impact on their children. What ultimately may happen is that the parent may be forced to make a choice. Do they take their American citizen child back with them to their home country if they are ordered removed, or do they leave their United States citizen child behind while they're removed?

ROBERTS (voice over): John Roberts, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: And John brings out some of what is polarizing Americans this day as they look at these rallies.

CHURCH: Look at these pictures we're seeing up here, Jim. We have got it on the top left there, Orlando. Not a lot of activity, very nice swimming pool there. On the right there, a bit of activity, quite a bit, actually, in fact. It's certainly increasing in Detroit.

CLANCY: Yes. Then we have Chicago and Phoenix there in the lower left and right. So we're going to follow all of these. We have got more to come on what's going on down on the ground and the debate over immigration in the United States.

Meantime, let's shift our focus to Iraq, where Sunni tribal fighters have increasingly been taking on al Qaeda militants in recent months. If reports that tribesmen have now killed the current leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq are confirmed, terrorism expert Peter Bergen says that would be a sign of significant split among the Sunnis.

Arwa Damon live from Baghdad now with details of this latest report on Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

What do we know?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, he also goes by the name Abu Hamza al-Muhajir. Now, according to the Islamic State of Iraq, where he is also the minister of war, they just issued a statement on the Internet denying that he had been killed.

But earlier today, members of Iraq's government had come out and said that they believed, according to intelligence reports that they received from tribal leaders, that al-Masri had been killed in a fight between tribal leaders and elements of al Qaeda in an area north of Baghdad known as al-Niba'ie. This is a known al Qaeda stronghold where they do have training camps.

They did, however, say that they could not be 100 percent certain that he had been killed. But as you did point out, what is interesting about this is the fact that this was an act carried out by tribes mainly from the predominantly Sunni area of Al Anbar and Abu Ghraib, also a predominantly Sunni area -- Jim.

CLANCY: You know, Arwa, as we -- you know, you talk about, OK, the debate, no confirmation coming in, not really unexpected. But the significance, really, of this fight, why is it that suddenly al Qaeda and other insurgents are disagreeing?

DAMON: Well, Jim, it's for a number of reasons. Now, the Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella group largely headed by al Qaeda, and it has laid claim to large swaths of Iraq. But what we have seen is that within this alliance, some of the Sunni groups and some of the Sunni tribes are trying to pull back from al Qaeda and from any association with al Qaeda.

First and foremost, because their long-term aim is not to establish an Islamic state in Iraq. They have a nationalistic goal to achieve.

They had formed an alliance with al Qaeda that was more of an alliance of convenience, because they had a common enemy, that being the United States. But in recent times, with al Qaeda trying to exert more authority, more influence throughout Iraq, with the increase in devastating attacks against the Iraqi population, it does appear that right now, some of these Sunni insurgent groups and some of the Sunni tribes are choosing to align themselves with a former enemy -- that being the United States -- because they do not want al Qaeda to remain in power in Iraq, and they most certainly do not want to see Iraq turned into an Islamic state -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Significant points, all.

Arwa Damon, as always, thank you.

CHURCH: Well, the head of British Petroleum, John Browne, says he is resigning his position effective immediately. Now, the move comes after a British court lifted a legal injunction preventing a newspaper group from publishing details of Browne's private life. Now, Browne had already announced plans to step down this summer.

And we will have more on this developing story in our business update in just a few minutes from now.

CLANCY: A lot more coming up ahead.

Also...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it seems to be ignored by everyone involved.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: USA! USA!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: An issue that divides dozens of U.S. cities. Bracing for rallies on the hot button topic of illegal immigrations, what are the presidential candidates saying?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

CHURCH: Well, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez took advantage of May Day festivities to make some startling announcements of his own. Mr. Chavez said his country will pull out of the World Bank and the IMF. He also made some changes that are not sitting well with major oil companies.

Jim Boulden explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is using May Day to celebrate grabbing control of his nation's oil, taking from western oil companies their majority stakes in what might be the biggest oil reserves outside of the Middle East, the key Orinoco region. But Venezuela still needs oil giants like ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil.

CARLOS CAICEDO, EXCLUSIVE ANALYSIS: They have the expertise, they have the know-how. And Venezuela needs them. So it's a question of give and take, it's a question of brinkmanship between these two sides.

BOULDEN: The oil companies have one more thing -- money. The two sides are talking about how to compensate the oil companies and how to splint revenues going forward.

AXEL BUSCH, ENERGY INTELLIGENCE: There's going to be a lot of negotiating going on here. And it depends a little bit just how much Chavez is taking in capital letters when he talks to the media and how quietly he will go about it in the real negotiations. That we don't know yet, and the oil companies are not saying.

BOULDEN: Chavez has diverted money intended for investment in oil to social programs, like raising wages. He's also using the money and oil as a political tool, making friends and deals around the world with countries like China and Iran. Grabbing control of his country's oil is not all Chavez is doing.

HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I want to formalize the exit of Venezuela from the World Bank, from the IMF, and all of that. We don't need anymore to have a governor or a representative there. No. Let's get out.

BOULDEN: What's all this mean to the world's oil markets? Probably not much if the oil continues to flow. But if Venezuela struggles to find the money and expertise it needs, if the oil companies aren't happy with a deal and walk away, that could become a whole different matter.

Jim Boulden, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, blue chips try to inch higher this trading day.

CLANCY: That's right. We're going to go to Wall Street next after a short break and get a little bit of an update on this market, as it's chugging along, or trying to.

CHURCH: Indeed.

Also ahead, for many immigrants, the ultimate moment, taking the oath for citizenship. But getting to that point isn't as easy as it used to be.

We'll explain. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

CHURCH: We are going to take a short break now. But we'll be back with more May Day coverage, of course.

CLANCY: Throughout most of the world, this is a day for workers and for other causes. But here in the United States, it is a day for immigrants and those for and against making it easier to become a U.S. citizen.

We're going to have a live report straight ahead. Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want illegal immigrants out of my country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And later, immigration has become a political hot button in the race for the White House, with candidates finding to their panic there is no middle ground.

We'll take a look. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers joining us from more than 200 countries all around the globe, as well as the United States.

JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: And that's why we call this YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Jim Clancy.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. And here are some of the top stories we've been following.

A spokesman for Turkey's constitutional court said the panel has accepted the cancellation of the first round of voting in presidential elections. The court upheld an appeal from the secularist opposition, which has been protesting in the streets. They want to stop the ruling Islamist party's presidential candidate from becoming head of state.

CLANCY: People around the world are marking May Day, the annual observance of workers rights and solidarity. Most demonstrations have been peaceful, although some, like this one in Germany, did turn violent, if only for a few minutes.

And musical May Day. It remains the biggest celebration on the Cuban calendar. Hundreds of thousands marched through Havana's Revolution Plaza. But a notable no-show, Fidel Castro.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led his country's observances. He used May Day to announce he was taking over the last privately run oil fields in the country, from some of the world's biggest oil companies.

CHURCH: And in the United States, May Day has become immigration day. Some marches are in support of making it easier for illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens. Some are against it, of course. Last year, the marches brought out a million people into the street. But organizers say they doubt they'll see those kinds of numbers today.

CLANCY: Well, let's check in and see how things are going. Let's go to Chicago, where one of the day's largest immigration marches has been planned. I don't know what the turnout's like, but I know that Soledad O'Brien is standing by live there.

Soledad, what are they really expecting to see there today?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's interesting, you're talking about some numbers there. And there are organizers here who have told us that they expect they could see twice the number of marchers that they saw last year. Now on the other side of that spectrum, we've also heard people say that you could just see under 10,000.

But I'll tell you, in the last hour, here behind me, this is Union Park and people have come here as part of the feeder march, into the one big march that will be taking off in two hours or so. And, of course, probably you can hear over my shoulder the music and the testimonials. That's kind of standard in a march like this. What's interesting to me is to see how quickly it has really filled up in the last hour or so.

What they're going to be doing in two hours is marching two miles, two to three mimes, due east and all these other feeder marches and feeder rallies will be joining in as they take that hike. Now, because it's a grass roots organization, lots of people with lots of different agendas taking part in the march. Also lots of different groups. We see Muslim and Puerto Ricans. We've seen Filipinos. We've seen Koreans. You know, you name it, we've seen it. In addition, of course, to the large Mexican, illegal and legal by the way, turning out.

When you ask people why they march, there are a couple of things in which they all see eye to eye. Here's Shaun Harkin. He is one of the organizers with the march tent movement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAUN HARKIN, MARCH 10TH MOVEMENT: There's a united message today. We're here to say that the raids and the 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 that we think that the best solution to this problem is legalization with full rights for all the undocumented.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: He talked a little bit about the raids, immigrant raids, criminal raids that have been taking place over the last year. Some people were concerned about the most one. A criminal raid. And they were concerned that that might scare people, clamp down on people turning out for this march. Other people predicted exactly the opposite, that the furor over that raid would actually make more people turn out. Of course, all that remains to be seen.

But I'll tell you, while yesterday we were getting reports of thunderstorms, heavy showers today, that those reports have cleared out and they're going to happen now in Milwaukee. We're told that Chicago's going to be a beautiful, clear day. And that will be good news for the organizers. Because, of course, as you know, Jim, that adds to the numbers.

Back to you.

CLANCY: Soledad, what could really rains on these people's parades is very strong, very vocal opposition to any kind of amnesty, opposition that seems to be growing in a lot of corridors (ph). This is really quite a debate in the U.S., isn't it?

O'BRIEN: No question about it. That is going to, you know, as you say, metaphorically rain on the parade. Also what's interesting to me is the visual, and concern to the visual message as well. Last year you had a lot of people marching with Mexican flags and that visual made a lot of people around the country concerned about illegal immigration. They felt that they couldn't support it because of the visual message. And now you're seeing here today, I mean look out behind me, the number of American flags. I've seen maybe four Mexican flags in the whole time we've been here.

But there's no question about it. There is -- people here feel like the time is now. They lose momentum. You can't march year after year after year and have nothing accomplished and expect your marches to turn out. Many people here, you know, miss work. Children have a half day. So some of them will be coming in after school. Some of them skipped school all together.

But you're right, there's got to be a momentum and a movement towards something. Whether that's going to happen politically is kind of the $64,000 question.

Jim.

CLANCY: All right. And watching that question for us, Soledad O'Brien live from Chicago.

Soledad, thanks.

CHURCH: And we will continue to cover May Day celebrations across the globe. But to the Middle East now. And you'd be hard pressed to find many voters in Israel right now who would have anything good to say about Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. As Ben Wedeman reports, that's especially true since Monday's scathing report on last year's military offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The first protests were modest. A small group that formed after the announcement of the preliminary findings of the inquiry into the Israeli government's conduct of last summer's Lebanon war. JAQUES KUPFER, BETAR PROTESTER: We protest against the fact that the government (ph) is prime minister of the state of Israel. We want him to leave, he and all his group.

WEDEMAN: Inquiry blasted Olmert's cabinet for rushing into a war sparked by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers. Israel's response caused massive destruction in Lebanon and killed around 1,200 Lebanese. One hundred and sixty-one Israelis were killed. The war ended inconclusively.

The two soldiers remain in captivity. Hezbollah is still intact. And according to Israeli intelligence reports, gaining in strength. Eliad Shragar served as a paratrooper in the war.

ELIAD SHRAGAR, ISRAELI RESERVIST: This is a democratic country and this is what we do expect from our leaders to do. Once you fail, you need to pay the price. And the price means that you need to resign and you need to go home.

WEDEMAN: The first minister, the labor party's Ekan Kabel (ph), has jumped off Olmert's sinking ship. The press is full of scathing commentary and calls for heads to roll. In Jerusalem's Majhana Yahuda (ph) market, not a kind word for the prime minister and his colleagues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's bad leadership.

WEDEMAN: Just a blunt demand.

BELLA FREUND, JERUSALEM RESIDENT: To go home. Go home to (INAUDIBLE).

NISSIM YAISH, JERUSALEM RESIDENT: (INAUDIBLE) the leaders. It's included all of them. It's not only Olmert. They must go home.

WEDEMAN: The inquiry is Olmert's latest headache. He's currently under investigation for misconduct while finance minister. Several of his ministers have resigned under a cloud. Other close associates are mired in scandal.

The prime minister's popularity has hit rock bottom. One Israeli television station conducted a poll and found that if there were elections, zero percent of the population, and I did say zero, would vote for Ehud Olmert.

Against all odds, he's hanging in, vowing not to resign. Tuesday morning he attended a ceremony for the new Israeli chief of police. But he's a leader who appears to be losing sleep over his latest troubles.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: All right. Still ahead, the emotional issue of illegal immigration. CLANCY: Now some U.S. presidential candidates are finding themselves at odds with the more conservative wings of their own political parties.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If the U.S. president can no longer serve, who becomes president?

Who is the Senate majority leader now?

One hundred and twenty five. What country's on the northern border of the United States?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Canada.

ROTH: Number 126. Where is the Grand Canyon?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miami (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, do you have what it takes to become a U.S. citizen? Better play close attention to some of these questions, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: And a warm welcome back to you all. Well, as we focus on May Day and the struggles of the world's labor force, we want to return to the immigration issue in the U.S.

CLANCY: And it's really true. Americans completely divided on this subject. As are, of course, the presidential candidates.

CHURCH: They are. Candy Crowley has a sampling of their positions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): John McCain seem as little taken aback.

JOHN MCCAIN, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Immigration, as have found in a few town hall meetings here in this great state of Iowa, is a very important issue. And a very emotional issue.

CROWLEY: And a very difficult issue for McCain, who authored a Senate bill which allows undocumented workers to stay in the U.S. and work toward citizenship.

MCCAIN: If you think that you can round up 12 million people and put them in jail, that's fine. I'd be curious where you're going to build all those institutions to hold them.

CROWLEY: It's not the sort of thing they like to hear on conservative talk radio.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want only legal citizens in my country. I want illegal immigrants out of my country.

CROWLEY: After recent trips to Iowa, McCain said he was not against a proposal called Touchback, which requires illegals to return home before applying for citizenship. In truth, even the name of McCain's bill, Kennedy-McCain, is enough to drive conservatives up the wall, which is why Mitt Romney uses it whenever he can.

MITT ROMNEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: McCain-Kennedy isn't the answer. As governor, I took a very different approach. I authorized our state police to enforce federal immigration laws. I vetoed a tuition break for illegals and said no to driver's licenses. McCain-Kennedy gives benefits to illegals that would cost taxpayers millions.

CROWLEY: It's not exactly what Romney said in 2005 when "The Boston Globe" reports he called McCain's proposals "reasonable." Did we mention Iowa conservatives are not happy with the idea of a pathway to citizenship, a.k.a. amnesty?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The basic problem is that we are a land of laws. We have an immigration law. But it seems to be ignored by everyone involved.

CROWLEY: Rudy Giuliani also finds himself at odds with his party's conservative wing. The former New York mayor believes there should be a pathway to citizenship for those illegals in the U.S. Recent polling suggests that immigration is one of those issues that is not front burner for most Americans. But those who do see it as a priority are passionate about it. And those who are passionate tend to vote in the primary season.

JAN MICKELSON, HOST, "MICKELSON IN THE MORNING": Is there a candidate that represents your view better than anybody else?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't answer that honestly.

MICKELSON: OK. You're still shopping?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I'm still shopping, yes.

CROWLEY: Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Now, in the past, presidential candidates flocked to California for cash. But in the early stages, they weren't that concerned about California voters. That's because the state's presidential primary was held long after the nominees were chosen. But this year, the state's primary has been moved up to February 5th. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider has more on how that will change things.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): For decades, California has been unhappy.

DARRY SRAGOW, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's infuriated us for a long time that we don't get to have a bigger say in who our choice is for president.

SCHNEIDER: Now the state's moved its primary up. And look, six Democrats showed up to address the California Democratic convention. Ten candidates plan to show up at the first Republican debate on Thursday at the Reagan Library. California has been called a political ATM machine. Candidates raise money here, but they don't spend it here. Democrats will need the right message for California.

SRAGOW: We're the people who want change. We're the ones who are very dissatisfied. This state has never been a Bush state. Not even close to a Bush state.

SCHNEIDER: Change?

BARACK OBAMA, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: California, if you want a new kind of politics, it's time to turn the page.

SCHNEIDER: But Bill Clinton carried California twice.

SRAGOW: There's a real fondness for the Clintons in California, long-standing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: All right. We are just breaking in here to go to central command headquarters in Florida we're George W. Bush is talking. Let's just listen to what he has so say.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I appreciate General Doug Brown, commander of the U.S. special operations command. I'm proud to be here with General David Petraeus, commander of multinational force Iraq.

I thank the coalition members here. I welcome the ambassadors who have joined us. I thank Dr. Rubi (ph), nation security advisor to the prime minister of a free Iraq.

It's good to see you, sir. Please give my very best to the prime minister.

I thank the other Iraqis who are here with us. Thank you for your courage, thank you for your determination and thank you for making history.

CENTCOM has built an impressive record of achievement in a short period of time. This command was established by President Ronald Reagan to deter a Soviet invasion of the Middle East in the latter days of the Cold War. That era is receding in the memory, but it was a long struggle. One of constant dangers and one of fierce debates. Victory often seemed illusive, yet victory did come because America and our allies stood firm against an empire and an ideology that vowed to destroy us.

Once again, history has called on great nations to assume great responsibilities. And, once again, it is vital that allies, despite occasional disagreements, hold firm against vicious and determined enemies.

We saw the action of those vicious and determined enemies here in America on September 11, 2001. Terrorists murdered citizens from more than 80 countries. Since that September morning, acts of terror have appeared in places like Mombasa, in Casablanca, in Riyadh, in Jakarta, in Istanbul, in London, in Amman, in Madrid, in Baslan (ph), in Bali, in Algiers and elsewhere.

September 11th was not an isolated incident. These terrorists bring death to innocents all across the globe. They bring death to commuters on subway trains and guests who have checked into the wrong hotel and children attending their first week of school.

Our main enemy is al Qaeda and its affiliates. Their allies choose their victims indiscriminately. They murder the innocent to advance a focused and clear ideology. They seek to establish a radical Islamic califate so they can impose a brutal, new order on unwilling people. Must as Nazis and communists sought to do in the last century.

This enemy will accept no compromise with the civilized world. Here's what al Qaeda charter says about those who oppose their plans. "We will not meet them halfway and there will be no room for dialogue with them." These enemies have embraced a cult of death. They are determined to bring days of even greater destruction on our people. They seek the world's most dangerous weapons. Against this kind of enemy, there is only one effective response. We must go on the offense, stay on the offense, and take the fight to them.

America's joined in this fight by more than . . .

CHURCH: All right, George W. Bush, U.S. president, speaking there, calling on the allies to hold firm against what he call as vicious and determined enemy, talking there, of course, too, of the horrors of 9/11. It's worth mentioning that this is the fourth anniversary where the U.S. president stood on that aircraft carrier beneath the banner exclaiming and claiming mission accomplished.

All right. We want to take a short break now. Stay with us here on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

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CHURCH: Welcome back. Well immigrants who apply to become U.S. citizens must take an oral history test.

CLANCY: Actually some critics say that it really doesn't teach the immigrants much except a random, a lot of random facts about America's past.

CHURCH: Now they even compare a new version of the test to a television quiz show. Richard Roth reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSE MARIE LOPEZ: Brush around them but just don't floss.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Buy day, Rose Marie Lopez is an orthodontist assistant. At night, the Guatemala native is brushing up to become an American citizen.

LOPEZ: What country sold the Louisiana territory to the United States? 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 and the ideas of democracy, and make it more meaningful. Questions like, what does freedom of religious mean?

ALPHONSO AGUILAR, U.S. OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP: We want to use the examine 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 could 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. The lady.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pelosi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Diane . . .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy Pelosi from California.

ROTH: That's the House, not the Senate, smarty pants.

One hundred and twenty five. What country is on the northern border of the United States?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Canada.

ROTH: Number 126. Where is the Grand Canyon?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Arizona.

ANDREW STENGEL, PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY FOUNDATION: 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 suffrage (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, she wrote the . . .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a sufferage (ph) for woman'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.

CROWD: Of the United States of America.

LOPEZ: I'll be able to, you know, call this my country now.

ROTH: Richard Roth, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: There were a lot of May Day celebrations this day. A lot of demonstrations. But none perhaps more poignant than in Argentina where a group of mothers gathered in Buenos Aires, demanding information about their missing children. Children who went missing during the so-called dirty war crackdown.

These mothers have been coming to the Plaza de Mayo, there in front of the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, for 30 years today. The memories of their children still alive and well. They came holding their pictures, as always. The mothers of the Plaza de Mayo still looking for some answers from the government in the deaths and disappearances of as many as 30,000 people who were killed during a seven-year dictatorship.

Really poignant. Perhaps the most significant demonstration today, showing the determination of people to stand up for their families.

CHURCH: And all parents across the globe understand that, too.

That's it for this hour. I'm Rosemary Church.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. And this is CNN.

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