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Immigration Battle; The Fight For Iraq; Katrina Burials On Hold; Nifong Trial; Teen Sex Ruling

Aired June 12, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

MICHAEL RAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): By a single bulb, he helps send forth a message about the light of the world.
In Dallas, Michael Ray, CW33, News at 9:00.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Heidi Collins.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay informed all day. Here's what's on the rundown.

Rallying Republicans on immigration reform. Can President Bush persuade his own party to back a key bill?

COLLINS: He prosecuted the Duke lacrosse case, now two of those players will watch as Mike Nifong faces his own charges.

HARRIS: And stopping modern slavery. A report out this hour details efforts against human trafficking.

It is Tuesday, June the 12th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

President Bush breaking bread and twisting arms. A short time from now, he heads to Capitol Hill for lunch with Republican senators. On the menu, lobbying support for his immigration reform. So who will be there and what can they expect? The answers from CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash on Capitol Hill.

Dana, good morning to you.

OK. So who will be there and what can they expect?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's going to be the regular Tuesday Republican lunch. Senate Republicans gather every Tuesday. Of course, this week it's going to be quite a rare visit from President Bush inside that meeting. And what they expect is the president to try to pressure Republicans and talk about the fact that he really wants immigration reform, which stalled, perhaps indefinitely, last week, to be revived.

So the reality is, though, Tony, is that, you know, it's a hard, cold fact that the president just doesn't have the same kind of influence that he used to here on Capitol Hill, especially with members of his own party. You know, it wasn't that long ago when the president used to be able to walk into a room, just like he's going to do today, and say, look, guys, I need you on this. Even maybe the country needs you to try to get together and figure out how to fix immigration. That probably going to be a lot harder for him to do right now because, again, the political reality is that the president is going to walk into a very different kind of Republican caucus meeting. He's going to walk into a meeting where more and more Republicans think it's actually beneficial to vote against the president, to buck the president, especially on an issue like this, like immigration, where so much of the conservative base just thinks the president is flat wrong.

Tony.

HARRIS: So, Dana, we heard from Senator Jeff Sessions this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, "frankly I think the president is wrong to push this piece of legislation so hard." What is it that they want, these senators, want to hear from the president? And maybe, more importantly, what they don't want to hear?

BASH: We'll, let's start with what they don't want to hear. You know, the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, told reporters yesterday that he doesn't actually have very high expectations that the president is going to be able to do much to persuade Republicans. That's actually pretty amazing when you think about it. This is the top Republican saying that he doesn't necessarily think the president, you know, will have the ability to change very many minds.

I talked to one Republican senator this morning, who's pretty much in favor of this compromise. He said that this is the day that really will make or break whether or not this immigration bill will be resurrected. And the president really has a lot riding on his shoulders, whether or not he can do this.

What that Republican I was talking to said is, you know, the president, if he comes in, if he tries toss twist arms, it's not going to do much good at all because of the political reality he's facing here. And that what the president may have to do behind those closed doors is offer some kind of olive branch. Some kind of idea of how to assuage the most ardent opponents of this, particularly in his own party, who say, look, if you give legal status to illegal immigrants, that is amnesty. So maybe some kind of way to make it harder for illegal immigrants to reach legal status. We'll see if he does that. We'll try to get that information for sure after this meeting.

HARRIS: What could he offer? OK. Our congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, for us this morning.

Dana, thank you.

BASH: Thank you.

COLLINS: The D.A. moves to the other side of the courtroom in North Carolina. He is the defendant now, not the prosecutor. Live pictures now as the trial gets underway this hour from Mike Nifong, the Durham County district attorney. He is the man who prosecuted members of the Duke University lacrosse team on rape charges. Those charges later dropped. The North Carolina Bar has charged Nifong with ethics violation. Now if convicted, he could be disbarred. Two of the three players once charged are expected to attend today's session.

And as we said, the tables are turned, so we're going to be talking with Jeffrey Toobin as we move forward here and get a little perspective on what this all could mean, from our senior legal analyst. That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Well, it is called modern-day slavery and so often the victims are women and children. Live pictures now. Let's take a look. The State Department releasing its annual report on human trafficking. The government says each year hundreds of thousands of people are trafficked across national borders. They often end up in forced labor or are sexually exploited. Millions are trafficked within their own countries. A live report from the State Department coming up in our next hour.

COLLINS: A deadly strategy intensifies in Iraq. Insurgents blowing up bridges. Three U.S. soldiers died in this attack and today another explosion targets a bridge south of Baghdad. It is the third attack in as many days and it comes as the U.S. deputy secretary of state visits Baghdad. Our Paula Hancocks is on the phone now from the capital city.

Paula, tell us, what is John Negroponte's message now to the Iraqi prime minister?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, the reason he has come to Iraq, as many other officials from Washington have as well, is to try and push Nouri al-Maliki, and his government, to speed up the passage of laws. Now the thinking behind this is that if they can bring this affected Sunni minority politicians together and maybe they can persuade some of these insurgents to put down arms and take up politics.

Now there are three things that Negroponte would have been pushing for today is oil revenue-sharing laws. This is something that's been talked about for some time, but no resolution at this point. How will the revenues from all the oil in this country be divvied up. Also constitutional reforms and a law ending a ban on all that were part of Saddam Hussein's Baath regime. A ban on them being in office.

So really what he's trying to say is, that it's time now for accommodation between the fractious government elements. You've got Kurd, Shiite, Sunnis and none of them are agreeing at this point. And so Negroponte certainly here to try and push Maliki to get some kind of agreement between the sides.

Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, CNN's Paula Hancocks watching the story for us.

Paula, thank you. HARRIS: It's been a month now and two U.S. soldiers who were ambushed at a military post south of Baghdad are still missing. Specialist Alex Jimenez and Private Byron Fouty disappeared after the attack, along with Private First Class Joseph Anzack. Anzack's body was discovered in a river south of Baghdad late last month. Four other U.S. troops and an Iraqi soldier were killed in that ambush.

COLLINS: A tragedy unfolding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this hour. Authorities say five small children are dead following a house fire. The children ranged from two to seven years old. Two other kids were taken to the hospital. Authorities say as many as 12 people may have been living in the three-story home. No word yet on how the fire may have started.

HARRIS: So how are you feeling about another check of weather? Jacqui Jeras. We don't have to if -- oh, Jacqui -- oh, I'm sorry. I forgot for a moment we were on the air.

Good to see you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Well, NASA is extending the shuttle Atlantis mission. The astronauts get two extra days. They'll have more time to fix a thermal blanket loosened during liftoff. Another space walk was also added. The astronauts installed two solar panels on the International Space Station. That was yesterday. It will be unfolded today. Hope that goes well. The panels will power the next phase of construction on the space station, more laboratory modules.

COLLINS: Some of Katrina's victims still needing a resting place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please bury those bodies.

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COLLINS: Why dozens of burials have been put on hold, in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: A numbers game in the U.S. military. The Army looking for more recruits. That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Border agent out. The man who let the so-called TB traveler back into the U.S. no longer on the job. We'll tell you why, ahead in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Two women, 12 newborn babies, and how they may add up to a sign of the future. That is ahead, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The tables are turned. The D.A. in the Duke University lacrosse case goes on trial himself. Some insight from our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Warehousing bodies. Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina, dozens of victims remain unburied. CNN's Susan Roesgen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): In the first few days and weeks after Katrina, search teams recovered more than 1,000 bodies in the New Orleans area. And most of the dead were identified and buried. Most, but not all.

Every day, New Orleanians drive past this unmarked warehouse on Pointer Street near the Super Dome, never knowing that the bodies of 100 men and women lie in plastic-wrapped caskets inside. Thirty are still unidentified. DNA tests have found no matches. The rest are identified, but unclaimed by families who haven't been able to bury them.

DR. FRANK MINYARD, ORLEANS PARISH CORONER: I hate to go over there and I've always -- but what are we going to do? I mean, you know, we were lucky to find Pointer street.

ROESGEN: The New Orleans coroner, Dr. Frank Minyard, has a plan, but not yet enough money to pay for it. Minyard wants to put the bodies in mausoleum in a memorial designed to look like the shape of a hurricane. The memorial would be here in an old cemetery. But ground hasn't been broken yet because the memorial would cost about $1.5 million and the coroner has only been only able to collected about $250,000 in private donations. And he's unwilling to move any of the bodies that have been identified but unclaimed out of the warehouse.

MINYARD: I just think -- I mean, you can't spread these victims all over. This is a memorial to the hurricane.

ROESGEN: So this is where the bodies remain. But Terry Kent (ph), who believes one of her relatives may be among one of the unidentified bodies, says the city has waited long enough to give the dead a proper burial.

TERRY KENT: Please bury those bodies. Even if she's not there, those people need to be buried, too. Everybody needs a resting place.

ROESGEN: Susan Roesgen, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Prosecutor Mike Nifong's ethics trial now underway. He is the man who went after members of the Duke University lacrosse team on rape charges. Some live pictures now from inside that trial. Those charges later dropped and Nifong now facing possible disbarment. Here to talk about it is CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

Good morning to you, Jeff. JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Heidi.

COLLINS: Hey, I know you have followed this case very extensively and I wonder, how strong do you think this case is against Mike Nifong now?

TOOBIN: Well, I think you have to look at the charges against him in two ways because there are two very separate kinds of charges. The first charges relate to his statements to the press, his statements to the public about whether the defendants were guilty. And I think those charges are actually pretty weak.

You know, we in the press, we stick microphones in people's faces, we expect them to talk, and they do talk sometimes. And I don't think it's really very seemly for us to be all outraged when they answer our questions.

COLLINS: But he is district attorney. He should know better, shouldn't he?

TOOBIN: Well, he should know better, but he's also a public official. He's also running for office. The line between permissible and impermissible statements, I think, is actually hard to discern in some cases. So, personally, I am less outraged by that part of the case.

However, the other part of the case goes to the very heart of a prosecutor's responsibilities, because it involves what information was disclosed to the defendants in the case.

COLLINS: Right. Due process.

TOOBIN: And was there -- right, and was there some effort to keep exculpatory evidence -- that is evidence favorable to the defense -- away from the defense. And that is horrendous if it's true. That is a violation of the prosecutor's most sacred duty. And I think that's really the heart of this case. And if he's found guilty of that kind of misconduct, I think a suspension or even disbarment is very likely.

COLLINS: Yes, we'll talk about that and what that could mean in just a minute. But as we look at this picture now of Mike Nifong in the courtroom, he is expected -- or at least we've heard a little bit about him possibly taking the stand in his own defense. What do you think he'll say, Jeff?

TOOBIN: Well, I think he'll say that this was a different case, a complicated case, with a tremendous amount of public interest, and he was trying to balance his responsibilities as a public official who is answerable to the voters against his obligations as a lawyer, which is mostly a private responsibility. I think he will say that he engaged in no intentional misconduct. And if something wasn't disclosed to the defense properly, that was a mistake. That wasn't intentional.

And, you know, that may be true. I think that's why we're having a trial here. I don't know what happened. But that certainly will be the nature of his defense. I think, as a public official, he's going to have to take a stand because he's got to answer these himself.

COLLINS: Yes. Let's talk a little bit quickly, though, about disbarment and the possibility that this could happen to Mike Nifong. If it does, is there any way to sort of rejuvenate a legal career after you've been disbarred?

TOOBIN: Well, you can reapply -- you can apply for reinstatement later on after a certain period. It varies by state. But just in terms of public humiliation, in terms of a high-profile disaster, this is something that Mike Nifong can never recover from, even if he is not, in fact, disbarred. So, you know, he has lost. The only question now is how much he has lost.

COLLINS: All right. Let's switch topics, if we could, while we have you here. Certainly a lot going on with the Genarlow Wilson case we talked about yesterday. Saw the actual decision come down from the judge live on our air. In fact, to recap just for a moment, yesterday the judge said that Wilson "should be released from jail," where, as you know, he is serving a 10-year sentence for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17 years old. In his order, the judge, Thomas H. Wilson, wrote this. "The fact that Genarlow Wilson has spent two years in prison for what is now classified as a misdemeanor and will spend eight more years in prison is a grave miscarriage of justice. If any case fits into the definitive limits of a miscarriage of justice, surely this case does."

Do you agree with that? Is it a miscarriage of justice? Or a little bit more complicated?

TOOBIN: It sure seems that way. You know, Heidi, what interests me about this case is what it illustrates about the place of race in the south, in the modern south. Because, you know, so much of this case is resonant of the old south, where you have a black kid, 17- year-old, accused of sexual misconduct, which has so often been the cause of discrimination against black folks in the south. And you have a largely white legislature that has refused to change the law to benefit him, even though it's benefited other people.

But there's also a new south element of this. The attorney general of Georgia, who is the person who was keeping Wilson in jail to this day, is a black man. It a black elected official.

COLLINS: Right. Yes.

TOOBIN: So it's not as simple as things used to be in the old south. And that's what makes this case -- or one of the many things that makes this case so interesting.

COLLINS: Yes. And certainly, you know, after the judge's ruling, the state attorney general did appeal that decision. Does it seem like a bit of a power struggle now at this point?

TOOBIN: It does. And the attorney general's position is understandable to a lawyer, but perhaps only to lawyers. What he's saying is that Judge Wilson had the right to overturn the conviction if he wanted. That's what habeas corpus means in Georgia. But he didn't have the right to reduce the sentence. That's a pretty technical distinction. And in a case of this magnitude, an the injustice of this magnitude, you might think that an attorney general would let this thing slide and let this kid try to resume his life after more than two years in prison for something that most people, I think, believe he shouldn't have gone to prison at all for.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we will continue to follow that one certainly. CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, thank you.

TOOBIN: So long, Heidi.

HARRIS: The battle over immigration reform. Republicans at odds with the White House. Democratic leaders backing the president. A chief architect of the bill joins us in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's say we take you back to Raleigh, North Carolina, right now. Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, as you know, facing several ethics charges tied to his handling of the debunked Duke lacrosse rape case. Jean Casares joins us now from Court TV.

Jean, can you hear me OK? Good morning.

JEAN CASARES, COURT TV: I sure can. Good morning. How are you?

HARRIS: Yes, great to see you. Great to see you. Great to talk with you.

I don't know if you've had an opportunity to peek your head in to the proceedings, but give us a sense of what's going on there and how the day has gotten underway.

CASARES: You better believe I've been in that courtroom. It is a packed courtroom. This is the court of appeals in Raleigh, North Carolina. Opening statements are still going on by the state bar. It is packed wall to wall. I see family members of the Duke defendants that were found innocent by the attorney general's office just a few minutes ago.

Now following opening statements, the state bar will start to put on witnesses. And we do understand even Reade Seligmann will actually take the stand, in what is to be a four-day proceeding, to talk about what happened to him personally through death threats and just damaging reputation evidence that was said by Mike Nifong during the duration of this investigation.

HARRIS: Yes. So, Jean, in the opening statements, boy, it's an opportunity for the state bar and those attorneys to lay out the case as they see it against Mike Nifong. What are you hearing? What are the charges? What are the claims?

CASARES: They are ethics violation of the state bar of North Carolina. And basically four different areas. First of all, that Mike Nifong made public statements to the community about the guilt of the accused, about the crime itself, about evidence, things he should not have commented on. Secondly, potentially exculpatory DNA evidence. That no DNA from the accuser, Crystal Mangum, matched any lacrosse player. That that was hidden from the defense. Number three, that he had made misstatements to the judge, the superior court judge, in Durham, North Carolina. And finally, misrepresentations or lying, the state bar would say, to the disciplinary commission of the state bar itself.

HARRIS: So who sits as judge and jury? They're kind of rolled into one here on this one, aren't they?

CASARES: That's exactly right. It's a three-member hearing committee. They are the judge, they are the jury. Once they determine if ethics violation have occurred in this case, then there will be part two. It will actually be a type of penalty phase where Mike Nifong can put character witnesses on the stand to testify in his behalf because what can happen here is he can be disbarred.

HARRIS: Yes.

CASARES: He can no longer be a practicing lawyer in North Carolina.

HARRIS: Jean Casares, Court TV, watching the trial today in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Jean, great to see you. Thank you.

CASARES: Thank you, Tony.

COLLINS: They arrive by luck. They advanced by skill. South African kids get a chance to chase soccer dreams, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HARRIS: As if they didn't have enough to deal with, Hurricane Katrina victims in serious sleep issues long after the storm. What's the link? That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Now the pulse of the American people, where does the public stand on the immigration-reform issue? We get the numbers from new polls.

Bill Schneider, CNN's senior political analyst is with us.

Bill, great to see you. I guess the first question this morning, let's go to the first poll from the Pew Center poll. The question is the immigration bill currently before Congress, what do you think of it, 27 percent favor it, 34 percent oppose it, and this is a big number here, 26 percent undecided. Help us understand those numbers there, Bill. WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can see on the screen now that half the public says it's essentially to revise the immigration law, but only 27 percent, you know see, favor the specific bill that's before Congress. That's the problem. Everyone agrees this is an important issue, but only -- or at least half the public agrees that something has to be done with it, but only a little over a quarter of the public supports the bill that's currently before Congress. A lot of people don't know much about it. It's very complicated. There are a lot of moving parts.

The support for this bill has tepid all along. The opposition has bee red-hot, and that's why the bill ran into so much trouble when it was proposed before the Senate.

HARRIS: If you go back to that first poll, you know, whether you agree with it or whether you oppose it, this number of 16 percent, people who don't know enough about it, it speaks to people not really feeling they really understand this bill, correct?

SCHNEIDER: Well, as I say, there are a lot of moving parts, 16 percent don't know, and 26 percent undecided, which is about the same thing. That's an awful lot of people who really haven't figured this out. It involves guest workers. It involves a program, a path to citizenship and a very complicated point system. It involves a new visa system called Z Visas for people who are here illegally; they can renew them forever. It includes border-security measures. It's so complicated with so many moving parts that most voters really haven't figured it out yet. And even though people do believe it's an urgent problem, something has to be done, this bill they haven't figured out, so the support was never really very strong.

HARRIS: So what would it take for opinion to sort of galvanize, intensify, to even shift dramatically on this.

SCHNEIDER: I think this bill has to be taken apart, that the various pieces of this, the guest-worker plan, the path to citizenship, the border-security proposals, all of it has to be taken apart, because the polling indicates that the various pieces of this do get a lot of support. Even the path to citizenship that's so controversial, most Americans do support it.

But when you put it all into one package, they say, geez, I don't know, they're a lot of things going on here, I'm not sure how I feel about it.

The only way this is going to pass is if it's taken apart and Congress votes on it one piece at a time. That disturbs a lot of people because they say, well, if you don't present it as a whole package, then it really won't solve the problem. But that's the only way it's going to get through.

HARRIS: Right. Boy.

CNN senior political Bill Schneider, thank you for being with us this morning. COLLINS: I want to go ahead and show you some of these pictures that have just come in to us here at CNN, coming out of Jefferson County, Colorado. KUSA has been shooting some of this video of a hiker needing to be rescued. Apparently there was an injury. There's three people hiking, and this area is Clear Creek Canyon, and apparently a gentleman tripped and then sprained his ankle, couldn't continue on the hike, so the other two gentlemen who were hiking with him went on, and tried to get help, so they have done that, and we are now looking at this video of a obviously very precarious situation where they are trying to rescue this man.

We want to go ahead and listen in to the helicopter reporter, Amelia Earhart (ph). Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The injured hiker along U.S. 6 through Clear Creek Canyon is now off the ground. He has been loaded onto the zip line that will carry him from the side of the mountain down to the fire truck that is parked along U.S. 6. He is still in contact with the rescue crews that are along the mountain itself, but his stretcher is now hanging from the zip line, and it looks he will be load down to the roadway here, and we will continue to monitor this situation.

Amelia Earhart, News Radio 850 KOA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: All right. So we will continue to watch that as this rescue is still under way. It looks like about halfway up there or down -- I'm not sure which direction they'll go, because there is a road down below. So it looks like they're move upward, though, doesn't it?

Anyway, We will continue to watch this as they try to make the situation much, much safer than it looks at this very moment.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: Still to come in the NEWSROOM this morning, the battle over immigration reforms, Republicans at odds with the White House, Democratic leaders backing the president. A chief architect of the bill, there he is, joins us next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We want to take a moment to update you a little bit on the situation we've been following here today, in Golden, Colorado, we are looking at video coming in from our affiliate there in Denver, KUSA. This is a gentleman that hurt himself on a hike. He was with two other men, apparently tripped and sprained his ankle, could not continue, so his buddies decided they needed to go on and get help, and they left him overnight with a lighter, a couple of sandwiches and a disposable camera. I'm trying to figure out the camera.

But anyway, mild temperatures there now, so this worked, and they have now gotten some help from him, looking at the Golden Fire Department and West Metro (ph) Fire, alpine rescue. all working together, to get this gentleman, as I understand it, down the canyon. Must have been only a little ways up, so they've got to get down. There's a road down below, where I believe they will get him out, so once again, these pictures coming to us from KUSA. Let's go ahead and listen into the helicopter reporter Amelia Earhart for just a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EARHART: Yes, and we have been watching this rescue operation just performed throughout the morning as they built the anchor system with three lengths of rope on the side of this mountain, and now the injured hiker is hanging from the zip line. Now he's still in contact with the rescue crews, who are along the side of the mountain.

His stretcher is hanging, but they have not yet begun to lower him down the mountain, as of yet.

A very treacherous scene, as Jamie described. In fact, one of the rescue crew seemed to have lost his footing there for a second. He didn't fall, but you can just tell how loose this rock is along the side of the road, and just a very, very dangerous situation for all parties involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So again, watching this video for you, we'll make sure we let you know how it all turns out as that rescue is under way.

And the camera -- smarter people than me -- are telling me in my ear that possibly they gave him that disposable camera so they could light the flash and they could find him. Didn't start this rescue until 6 AM. He was there overnight, so pretty dark out there, as you know.

HARRIS: Immigration reform, today President Bush will lobby Republican Senators, they're among the fiercest opponents of the measure. Joining us now is the chief architect of the bill, Senator Ken Salazar is a Democrat and he is from Colorado. Senator, great to see you. Thanks for your time this morning.

SEN. KEN SALAZAR (D),COLORADO: Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: Well, we know that in about an hour or so, you are going to be participating in a conference call on this immigration bill. I'm curious as to who is going to be on that call. Democrats, of course, I'm wondering if some Republicans will be on the call, and what you hope to accomplish?

SALAZAR: What we hope to accomplish in that call is to simply get out the word that in order for us to fix this disaster of a broken system of immigration and broken borders, we need to have Republicans on board to help us get that done. Last week on Thursday night, we only had seven Republicans on board.

We have a great group, a bipartisan group that's been working on this legislation. And, we'll continue to work on it with the President and with our Republican colleagues, so that at the end of the day we have bipartisan legislation that fixes this national problem.

HARRIS: Let's see if we can cut to the bottom of some of this. What concerns you most about the Republican opposition that you've heard so far?

SALAZAR: Well, frankly, let me say that on the one side, there have been some great and courageous Republicans that have been helping us push this along. I don't think we're that far apart from getting to a solution here. I think, that last week what ended up happening is that there were a number of Republicans who decided they didn't want to support the package, and there's some Republicans who simply want to kill any effort on immigration reform.

It's those senators that had killer amendments and that wanted to kill the bill that ultimately prevailed last week. For us, we were very fortunate that Senator Reid said we're going to continue to work on this issue, and hopefully within a week or two, we'll be able to get back on the Immigration Reform Bill and get it across the finish line.

HARRIS: So you really don't believe Democrats and Republicans are that far apart on the language?

SALAZAR: I do not, and that's because this is a product of many months, in fact many years of work that was actually presented to the Senate. Last year, we debated immigration reform for a month on the Senate floor. This year, Senator Reid gave us ample warning that we would be on immigration in May and June, and we have done that. So we've done a lot, and so we're getting close to the end. I think it's a matter of a slight nudge to get us past the finish line here.

HARRIS: You're going to have to do more than nudge Senator Sessions. Listen to him talking about the legislation this morning on American Morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: I think the President is wrong to push this piece of legislation so hard, after we've demonstrated the flaws that are in it. He needs to help us write a better bill and not push a bill that so many of us can't support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: It's going to take more than a nudge to get Senator Sessions. Do you need him? Can you get him? Can you win him?

SALAZAR: At the end of the day there are some members of the Senate that simply don't want a bill. This is a good bill. It's -- frankly been crafted by people like Jon Kyl, Ted Kennedy, and a whole host of other people that have worked on it very hard. So, we don't need to have everybody. What we need to do is, we need to have probably some 65, 70 senators of good faith that want to get this problem fixed. And, there are some senators who simply want to kill any kind of immigration reform. From my point of view, that's an abdication of responsibility. We need to fix our borders, we have a terrible system in place in the United States. We need solution finders -- we don't need people who are simply trying to blow up solutions that we've created.

HARRIS: Got you. It's not just Senator Sessions who is against this particular piece of legislation. There are people I talk to, I'm sure you hear from them as well, who look at the '86 immigration bill and they say, look, you didn't enforce that, why are we to believe you'll enforce a new bill, whatever language is in it?

SALAZAR: Tony, for two reasons, the first is that there are triggers in this amendment that says the significant portions of this law will not go into effect until we secure our borders, and we have the interior (ph) enforcement provisions in place. Second of all, it's a very different bill from '86, in that we require the registration. We require penalties.

At the end of the day, somebody that goes through this entire process will end up paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $8,500 in fines and penalties and processing fees. Very different bill than what we had before. We're going to add close to 20,000 additional new border patrol officers, 29,000 new detention beds to be able to detain those who are here illegally, strong employer sanctions. So this is a much different bill. It's a tough law and order bill, and it will secure our borders and will secure our country.

HARRIS: Senator Salazar, thanks for your time this morning. Good luck with this.

SALAZAR: Thank you , Tony.

HARRIS: Appreciate it. Thank you. And, still to come this morning in the NEWSROOM, paratroopers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division all off to war. What will it mean for the Army? A military viewpoint, coming up next in the NEWSROOM.

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