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American Morning

Captain Tried to Escape Pirates; Fires Devastate Towns in Oklahoma and Texas; Killer Tornado Slams Midwest; White House Millionaires Club; Immigration Debate Reigniting; White House Family Might Soon Include First Dog

Aired April 10, 2009 - 08:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CO-ANCHOR: And good morning to you all. At the top of the hour here on this Friday, April 10th, I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in for John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We have a lot going on this morning. In fact, a look at the stories that we will be breaking down in the next 15 minutes.

HOLMES: In the next few minutes, we will certainly be talking about the developing story and it has been breaking for us this morning, confirming that the American captain who is being held hostage by pirates, he tried to escape. However, he did not get far. We'll take you live to Bahrain for those breaking details.

Also, right now, authorities going door to door after a deadly tornado ripped through an Arkansas town. Emergency officials say at least three people were killed. More National Guard troops are on the way right now to help with that recovery effort. CNN's Rob Marciano is standing by at the CNN weather center with details. This storm system might not be done just yet.

Also, wildfires burning out of control in drought-stricken areas of Oklahoma and Texas. The flames, just look at that, devouring some homes. Wind gusts more than 50 miles an hour spreading. The flames faster than firefighters can put them out. We will go live to the fire zone.

But back to that breaking story this morning. CNN has confirmed that the Captain Richard Phillips who is being held by four pirates at gunpoint trying to make a run for it. He is on the water. I should be saying he made a swim for it.

U.S. officials say Phillips jumped into the ocean trying to swim to the USS Bainbridge. That's the U.S. Navy destroyer that's been standing by there. The pirates quickly jumped into the water. They recaptured him. This brazen attempt to escape coming as two more U.S. warships are heading his way.

Now, earlier, I spoke to Chris Voss. He's a former FBI hostage negotiator. I asked him if Phillips attempt to make a break for it will complicate the negotiations now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTOPHER VOSS, FORMER FBI HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: The hostage takers really don't blame a hostage for trying to get away. They would do the same thing if they were in his place. Captain Phillips is, obviously, shown himself to be a resilient and courageous man. So they probably respect him a little bit for trying this.

As far as the negotiators go, they'll continue to talk to the hostage taker, the pirates in this case, and they will be able to deal with this. They will work their way through this and it will be fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. Let's go live now to Bahrain. Our Barbara Starr is standing by live there now. Barbara, how are U.S. officials there, I guess, viewing this escape attempt? Do they think this will complicate things?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's really hard for people to sort it all out at this point, T.J., because the situation is so sensitive, of course, very delicate, and changing all the time. But the source of this confirming this information to us says, at the moment, they are pretty optimistic. They take it as a good sign that Captain Phillips was not harmed by all accounts by the pirates when they captured him once again after he tried to make that swim for freedom.

He probably would not have made it to the Bainbridge. I don't think that the Bainbridge is probably close enough for anyone to swim to it. But one of the interesting question we may only know the answer to later once this is all concluded, is whether the Navy tried to launch a helicopter off the deck of the Bainbridge, make it put swimmers in the water themselves, do anything to very quickly react to the situation, or if there was even time for the Navy to react, if the captain, you know, jumped in the water, tried to swim and was almost immediately recaptured.

All of this, T.J., comes as the U.S. Navy here in Bahrain is assembling a show of force off the Coast of Somalia. Two more warships on the way. Vice Admiral William Gortney, the commander here in Bahrain, told us he had already planned to send ships to this area because of the rise in pirate activity in this immediate vicinity. But make no mistake, they are also watching very carefully to make sure no other pirate ships try to come out to this region and interfere.

The Bainbridge is on station, and there will be no attempts they say by any other pirates, no successful attempts for them to interfere with U.S. Navy operations -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Barbara Starr for us in Bahrain. Barbara, thank you so much.

CHETRY: Also developing right now, fire crews in Oklahoma and Texas are trying desperately to get a handle on wildfires raging across the two states. The fires being fueled by gusty winds and tinder dry conditions. More than a hundred homes in Midwest City, Oklahoma have been destroyed. Two small Texas towns also devastated by the fires. Hundreds of people have been forced out of their homes. Several dozen injuries are reported. And officials in Midwest City say that it's really been an uphill battle for them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY LOJKA, MIDWEST CITY, OKLA. FIRE MARSHALL: We may be able to knock a fire down. And then with the wind shift or it blows sparks over into another area and it just shoots back up. Again, an area that we may thought may have think it have thought was out prior to that time, catches the wind, catch more fuel and it comes right back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: And even as you're seeing him speak, you can see that wind just blowing through his hair. CNN's Ed Lavandera is on the ground for us in Midwest City, Oklahoma. We have Rob Marciano at the CNN weather center watching the forecast in the fire zone, as well as a tornado that made a direct hit on a town in Arkansas.

But let's start now with Ed. Are they making any headway and have the conditions improved?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they feel like they've made some headway, but really now that the sunlight, the sun has come up, they are going to be able to get helicopters up in the air to start surveying that ground. But the problem here this morning is that the wind is still blowing. In some cases, 30 -- a gust of 30 to 40 miles per hour. And as the sun rises, you can see the damage that has been left behind in many of these neighbors. We're in Midwest City, a suburb just southeast of Oklahoma City.

This pile right here is a car. And we can show you right now, just the situation that's going on. But look back over here through this door in this home. As we've been standing here the last couple of minutes, waiting to do this live report, the winds have been kicking up. And you can see it's kind of hidden behind the brick there, but the fire kind of starting to kick up on this home once again.

We've seen flames and smoke starting to billow out here. So we've actually stopped and we've called the firefighters around in this area to kind of alert them to this. But this is exactly what they're worried about this morning as these fires can quickly, with these kinds of winds, can really kick up quite intensely and quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Across Texas and Oklahoma, crews raced from fire-to-fire, kept on their toes by winds that at times reached hurricane force.

LOJKA: We can't get ahead of it. When you have gusts to 40 miles an hour, and there is brush involved, it picks those embers up, it creates a fireball that lifts it over the top of us and carries it a quarter of a mile past us. LAVANDERA: At least five towns in Oklahoma were ordered evacuated as the flames swept across the driveway flatlands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. It happened too fast.

LAVANDERA: The massive fire, some stretching through six miles also forced parts of Interstate 35 to be shutdown. Firefighters from dozens of agencies tapped into pools and creeks to keep the water flowing, and worked alongside bulldozers to create fire lines. And despite warnings to clear out, some residents stayed behind to join the fight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just started running buckets to the place behind us. Trying to help the firefighters.

LAVANDERA: The struggle and the size and speed of devastation taking a toll.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been a long day.

LAVANDERA: By nightfall, more than a hundred homes had been lost, many more damaged. But the fires were so widespread and moving so fast that firefighters were struggling to get a grip on the extent of the damage.

In some areas, where the fire had moved on, residents got a firsthand look at what the flames left behind. And the work that lies ahead for them and their neighbors, some of whom don't yet know what awaits.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's deployed. He's out serving our country right now and he's got to come home to this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And Kiran, a quick -- tight shot there of that situation we're looking at at this home, which is already burned out. This might seem like a small, kind of insignificant thing, but Kiran, this is exactly what they are worried about. This home is already destroyed, but just across the street, a row of completely intact homes. The last thing they want is these embers to jump over to these other homes and burn down more of them here -- Kiran.

CHETRY: What a site of devastation in that area. All right. Ed Lavandera for us this morning. Thanks.

HOLMES: All right. We turn from that to fire devastation to the devastation left by a tornado. A killer tornado tore through the small town of Mina, Arkansas. This is near that Oklahoma City Line. Killing at least three people, damaging more than a hundred homes, and for emergency officials in that area.

Our Rob Marciano, the latest now for us from the CNN weather center.

Rob, I guess, I don't know if it's too early to tell how strong this thing was, but it seemed like it did a whole lot of damage there?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it happened right around sunset so the video that we've been getting in is from nightfall. So once the sun comes up, we'll get a better handle of it.

But just the number of homes that were destroyed and, obviously, the number of people injured tells you that it was a significant tornado for sure. We had 24 reports of tornadoes last night. So a significant severe weather event last night and we expect similar action later on today. Although it's all moving to the east. You see that video.

I mean, that's definitely a tornado. It's just a matter of how strong it was and how long it was on the ground for. It definitely went from Oklahoma across the border towards Arkansas.

All right, Oklahoma and Texas, that's where not only severe weather, but big winds. The winds are a little bit lighter this morning, but they'll still be gusty for the next several hours, diminishing somewhat later on, this afternoon and tonight.

So the next few hours will be difficult for firefighters for sure. Yesterday, we had winds in Oklahoma, a number of places gusting to over 70 miles an hour. That is just hard to compete against. Now as this thing moves off to the east, a thunderstorm potential here in this pink area for probably some more isolated tornadoes, certainly some large hail and damaging winds as we go through later on this afternoon and tonight across the more populated southeast.

Kiran and T.J., back up to you.

HOLMES: All right. Rob, appreciate you this morning.

MARCIANO: All right, man.

CHETRY: Ten minutes past the hour now. We fast forward to some of the stories that will be making news later today.

At 10:00 a.m. Eastern, a court hearing for the pilot who stole a small plane from a flight school in Canada, then flew it for seven hours across three states here in the United States. Police say the man had a death wish. Right now he is being held in St. Louis, where he is facing two federal charges.

Also this morning, at 11:00 Eastern, President Obama sitting down with his money team at the White House, including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. They're expected to discuss new aggressive efforts to ease credit market and to put more money into borrowers' hands.

President Obama is also hosting a pizza party tonight, but it's not without some controversy at the White House. He is special ordering all the deep dish ingredients from a place in St. Louis, not Chicago. Well, the owner of Obama's hometown pizzeria says simply, Obama's pizza policy has to change. Every move you make, you know, when you're president, someone's watching. HOLMES: Is there anything that can just not be controversial? Can you make a move?

CHETRY: Not even the dog. Not even the White House dog cannot come without controversy, right?

HOLMES: Yes, we got on pretty bad about the dog. He was supposed to have a dog there by now, though. He has that on tape.

All right. It's got to be -- back to some business, though, in Washington for the president after his jam-packed trip that had him in six countries in eight days. There was a whole lot of fanfare on that trip, but was anything actually accomplished? We'll be breaking it down with Republican strategist Ed Rollins.

Also, the White House looking to move ahead on immigration reform. Can they actually get anything done this year? A debate right here. It's 11 after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Is that ask and you shall receive. The deejay is taking requests this morning. Welcome back. It's 14 minutes after the hour.

President Obama took the world stage by storm during his eight- day trip overseas. The images were certainly positive. He got rave reviews for most from talking nukes with Russia to mending ties with the Muslim world, but did the president accomplish anything tangible? Joining me now right now is Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ed Rollins. His column on whether the world respects our president is getting huge buzz on CNN.com.

ED ROLLINS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.

CHETRY: Good morning and it's good to see you. Because you always give a fair perspective, not a terribly partisan perspective. And one of the things that you're talking about in this column, as we said, is the number two story right now on CNN.com, is that -- is that even though there was respect and he didn't even get a lot of pushback really from Republicans, what -- did he command respect and is he going to get anything that helps further Americans' interest abroad?

ROLLINS: He had a great introductory international event and we can't underestimate that. And respect comes over time. You have to remember when you're sitting on the stage with 20 world leaders, each and every one is very important from where they come from. There was great curiosity about him. I think the bottom line is he went. He wanted a stimulus package. The Europeans obviously didn't go along with that, particularly France and Germany.

He wanted more troops, combat troops, to go in Afghanistan because we're now taking over the responsibility that NATO has had for the last several years. Several countries offered more people for backup, but not on the front line, so he didn't accomplish that.

I don't trying to diminish the trip. I've just trying to -- I've got four decades of historical perspective, having worked for three presidents and having worked in a White House, it takes time. And this president, this was a great introduction, but over time you've got to win the substantive battles. You can't talk about a nuclear freeze in one sense, and then the North Koreans fire off a rocket preparing their nuclear weapons for the future and sort of get dismissed on the world stage.

CHETRY: Right. You talk about respect meaning to come over time, but that is interesting what you just mentioned because the situation with North Korea was this. They launched this satellite, this rocket, and we can't get a consensus on the Security Council to even issue a condemnation of this.

(CROSSTALK)

ROLLINS: Especially where the Security Council in the past has said you shouldn't do these kinds of things. So, it's a...

CHETRY: A resolution, right.

ROLLINS: And two people who wanted to sit down with us, the Russians and, obviously, the Chinese, were the two who basically pushed it aside. So I think, to a certain extent, that takes time, those relationships that develop over time.

Right now, great curiosity in Europe and around the world for this president, as there is here. And no way, shape or form am I saying he didn't have a good summit. I'm just simply saying the substance didn't come home with the style.

CHETRY: He also said that actions have to have consequences and that words must mean something. So if you were advising the president right now on this issue, what type of message you need to send? What's the next move in terms of making sure that countries that defy international rules?

ROLLINS: I think the critical thing here is, you know, there's always a consequence. You got to sit down, continually make your argument, build allies. You know, America has to rebuild its allies and, certainly, Great Britain has been our ally. But, you know, Germany, France, those countries have been important allies in the past. Today, they're pretty independent.

CHETRY: Has he made incredible strides over what his predecessor brought to the table when it comes to being able to build consensus?

ROLLINS: It's always wonderful that -- it's all about contrast. When Ronald Reagan came in office, who I worked for, he was following Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter at this point of his presidency had a 75 percent approval rating. By the end, he was driven from office. All I'm simply saying is that when you look at historical perspective. It's not about polls. It's not about -- it's who rises to the occasion, who does the job.

I think this president is off to a tremendous start, but a very ambitious start. And there are so many things he has on his plate today. And he's now talking about a very aggressive international agenda in addition to probably the most aggressive domestic agenda anybody has ever had. When you don't have time to basically make sure the economy gets moving again, which is really what Americans care about, then you get distracted.

CHETRY: All right. Well, you can check out Ed Rollins' commentary on this on CNN.com. Great to see you this morning. Thanks for being with us.

ROLLINS: Thank you very much. Happy Easter.

CHETRY: You, too -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. The president, he's got a heck of a gathering around him. His closest advisers, some of them, the inner circles, make up a bit of a millionaire's club. But how exactly do that square with the president's image of being a man of the people? We're taking a closer look. It's 18 after the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: I did not choose the tune, Alina. I did not. They have a deejay here on staff at AMERICAN MORNING. We're going to get one of those on our weekend show, I'm sure.

Well, President Obama, he made the move from Chicago to Washington. He brought a lot of his best friends with him. Some of the best, the brightest, and turns out they are some of the richest. The White House inner circle, a bit of a millionaire's club here. What does that say about the Obama administration, and how it does business? Does this say anything? It's just some accomplished people. Maybe accomplished (INAUDIBLE) the country.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly accomplished and rewarded handsomely for it.

HOLMES: Yes.

CHO: You know, a lot of people are saying, T.J., that you really can't put a price tag on comfort, and the president does feel comfortable around these people. And that's for sure.

Good morning, everybody.

You know, every year, the White House releases financial disclosure statements about those people in the administration. The Obama White House is no different. Releasing new documents that show many of the president's top aides are millionaires.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHO (voice-over): Chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel, senior advisers Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod, social secretary Desiree Rogers, President Obama's inner circle with big bucks in the bank.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Being a millionaire is almost the price of admission.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Please have a seat.

CHO: In a Democratic administration? The party of the middle class? Republicans have long been known for having wealthy aides in the White House, but President Obama is famous for being a man of the people.

SABATO: It's a conundrum. You want really successful people to be in the White House, but if you have all extremely successful people, successful financially, they're no longer representative of the broad body of Americans.

CHO: And no longer in touch with average American concerns, or are they?

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Anybody can say, well, how are they going to relate to me? I'll tell you why. If you've been broke, you remember what it means to be broke.

CHO: Thirty years ago, according to "Newsweek," most of the 56 aides in the Carter White House lived on little more than their salaries, about $45,000 a year.

At the beginning of their tenure during the Clinton administration, top aides George Stephanopoulos and Dee Dee Myers according to "The Washington Post" reported five-figure salaries. Once they left the White House, they went on to make much more in the private sector.

Then there's chief of staff Emmanuel, who also served as a Clinton senior adviser. Emmanuel left the first time to work in finance, made more than $16 million in two and a half years, and is now back at the White House with assets totaling between $4 million and $11 million. Like almost everything in politics, whether that's good or bad depends on the spin.

SABATO: Money is not just the mother's milk of politics, it's the currency of employment today in the White House.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Money often flows to talented people in our society. And rather than being surprised by it or knocking it, I think we should celebrate when a president has the -- I think is smart enough to bring people along with him who had some success in life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: David Gergen goes on to say these are people who know how hard it is to breakthrough. They've also dealt with heavy hitters, and frankly, they're not intimated by them. Exactly the kind of people, Gergen says, who are badly needed in the White House. He adds that the real headline out of all of this is that these people gave up a lot of money, T.J., to work at the White House.

HOLMES: OK. And you've been...

CHO: For a man they believe in.

I mean, listen, the real question is money or not, can you relate to the concerns that the average American -- unemployment, health care and the like? David Gergen argues, listen, you know, if you came from nothing, if you came from modest means, you never forget it.

HOLMES: You can't. No matter what. No matter how long it's been, you won't forget that.

All right. Alina Cho -- Alina Cho for us, thank you so much.

Kiran, I'll hand things back over to you.

CHETRY: All right. Well, the president's plate seems to be overflowing, but he may be on the verge of adding another political hot potato -- comprehensive immigration reform. It has reignited the debate. We're going to hear both sides, still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is "CNN Heroes."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I broke a vertebrae.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got hit by the blast. Blew up about 20 feet in the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My teeth were just shredded up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lost my right eye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My mouth was blasted out.

NAVY CAPT. ED NICHOLSON, CNN HERO: The demons of war, you just don't set them aside. But once you get out on the river, the serenity is incredibly healing.

My name is Ed Nicholson, and I founded a program that helps wounded servicemen and veterans to fly fishing. I spent 30 years in the Navy. More recently, I was down at Walter Reed. It was impossible not to see the service men and women of missing limbs and serious wounds, and I thought many of them probably would love to get out of the hospital and go fishing.

Instead of cranking it in, you strip, strip. You become more independent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My injuries are to my right arm. It really helped me to start using that right hand and adapt to skills of everyday living. NICHOLSON: I've heard from other participants when I'm out there fishing, I don't think about the pain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The doctors can't heal the heart and soul. Being out in nature does that. What it shows you is that life is not over. It's only beginning.

NICHOLSON: OK. Here we go.

I'm not a psychologist. I'm just an old naval officer, but I can tell you this that the individuals that work with our program, they get a great deal out of it. That's what keeps me going.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHETRY: Coming up on 29 minutes past the hour now. Here's what's on this morning's agenda. Stories we'll be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.

The American ship captain held by Somali pirates tried to make a break for it. But his escape attempt failed. U.S. official telling us that Captain Richard Phillips jumped overboard off of that lifeboat. He tried to swim away from his captors, but then the pirates jumped in after him and took him back. He is still being held by four Somali pirates. And according to our information now, he has not been harmed.

World markets surged overnight following stronger than expected U.S. earnings reports. Asian markets closing higher. European markets opening on a positive note. U.S. stock change and other American markets are closed today for Good Friday.

And it was a dud on April Fool's Day, but now the Conficker computer virus is making noise again. Some security experts say the virus is actually updating itself, and that the new version is getting ready to spam and steal information. Windows users who have not updated their computer with the latest version are most at risk according to the report -- T.J.

HOLMES: And more on our breaking story this morning about the failed escape attempt by Captain Richard Phillips. He's that cargo ship captain being held by four pirates in a lifeboat off the Coast of Somalia.

Or Jason Carroll joins us now live from Buzzard Bay, Massachusetts. Now, he's with Captain James Staples, a friend of Captain Phillips who sailed the dangerous waters in the Gulf of Aden as well.

Jason, a lot of people are itching to hear from people who know this captain, and see what they think about his escape attempt now.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Captain Staples knows Captain Phillips very, very well. They went to school here together. They graduated in the same class here at the Maritime Academy back in 1979. Obviously, you have been watching the situation very closely, watching to see what's been happening with your friend. Tell us what you can tell us, anything you can at all, about him and about his character.

CAPT. JAMES STAPLES, FRIEND OF CARGO SHIP CAPT. PHILLIPS: Like you said, Richard and I graduated in 1979 together. Richie was always a fun-loving guy. He always had a smile on his face. He's a strong personality. He's very resilient and I believe that Richie will fare through this very well.

CARROLL: You were also telling me that this was someone who people knew that they could rely on and in a tough situation.

STAPLES: Richie will be the captain, absolutely. Richie was -- he's known through the industry as a very good captain, a top-shelf captain and he has been out there for a long time and just by the length of time he's been out there proves that he is a consummate professional.

COSTELLO: You are familiar with the region. You are familiar with these pirates. And you know the type of training that men like yourself receive. Give us an assessment, if you will, in terms of what might be going through Captain Phillips mind as he is going through this ordeal.

STAPLES: Well, I'm sure his first instinct is to keep a positive and know that he is going to get out of the situation and with this strong bearing and in his mind that I'm sure that Richie is staying positive and he knows he'll get out of this situation. He is resilient, a very resilient man.

CARROLL: I keep asking you some questions here. I also want to show our audience something that's right above us. That is one of those lifeboats. Very similar to the kind that Captain Phillips is being held by those pirates. Give us an assessment of what the conditions are like inside a boat like that.

STAPLES: Well, it's a very, very small boat. It's a covered boat so during the day, I'm sure it's getting very, very hot in there. There's not a lot of ventilation. There is no sanitation inside that boat. The boat is basically made for survival if you have to leave the ship in any type of emergency. It's something that you really don't want - you're not planning to be in for any length of time, even though you do have provisions for approximately 10 days. It's uncomfortable, it's a hard ride. It's not a very comfortable ride. And you'll have the fumes of the diesel inside there. It could be claustrophobic.

CARROLL: Now, I know you've been watching the developments closely and you know about Captain Phillips' escape attempt. Is that the type of thing, when you heard about that, were you surprised by that? Not surprised? What was your assessment?

STAPLES: No, I wasn't surprised by that. That just shows you Richie's character. He's not going to give up. He is going to be thinking all the time of what he can do to get out of the situation safely. He's not going to lay down. He is going to stay and fight until this is over and resolve. He is back home safely.

CARROLL: I know your prayers are with him and his family prayers are with him as well. Captain James Staples, thank you so very, very much for joining us. Back to you.

HOLMES: All right. Jason, we appreciate you tracking him down for us this morning. Thank you so much -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, just when thought maybe not he did have enough on his plate, there's another job for the president. Next on the list, comprehensive immigration reform. We'll have both sides.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

President Obama certainly has a lot on his plate. He is dealing with the economy right now. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he is not letting the immigration issue fall off of his radar. You remember, here is what he said about immigration reform on the campaign trail last summer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I fought with you in the Senate for comprehensive immigration reform. I stood in debates during the democratic primary when it wasn't comfortable and spoke out fiercely on behalf of this issue. And I will make it a top priority in my first year as president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: And the White House says it is still planning to take this politically explosive issue of immigration reform on, but it is also shooting down reports, including "The New York Times" report from yesterday, that anything may get through Congress this year. So, this has certainly reignited the debate.

And joining us to talk about it from Denver is Tom Tancredo, former Colorado congressman, 2008 presidential candidate. He has been critical of comprehensive immigration reform. Welcome. And also from Washington, Maria Teresa Peterson. She is executive director of Voto Latino. Thanks to you for being with us as well, Maria Teresa.

Let me start with you about what administration officials are telling CNN. The White House is planning to start some work on this issue maybe as early as May, but it's not going to get the same attention as other issues like health care and they probably won't be any vote or passage of this legislation this year. Is that disappointing?

MARIA TERESA PETERSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR VOTO LATINO: Well, I think what the president is doing is that he is keeping his campaign promise and he is allowing the lines of communication to be open among the American people. Very similar to what he has been doing with health care traveling around the country, discussing, holding town hall meetings. He is starting to do the exact same thing with the American people and do not be surprised if next week, when he is in Mexico, he starts really playing up the issue of security.

Because in order to have comprehensive immigration reform, you need strong security measures which right now I think everyone on all sides of the aisle can agree that immigration is broken and it needs to be fixed and we have to address again security issues and we have to address comprehensive immigration reform for the folks living here.

CHETRY: OK. Let me bring you in, congressman. CNN is learning also that the Obama administration is looking for a way to allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the country legally but also trying to cut down on more illegal immigrants entering by beefing up border security and removing incentives for people to come into the country. Is that a good compromise solution to deal with this problem?

REP. TOM TANCREDO, FMR. COLORADO CONGRESSMAN: The task of securing the border is one we can all agree on. There are no problems there with me. Now, the whole problem with this topic is it is almost always framed in words that are really not terribly descriptive or easily understood. For instance, the Obama administration and open borders crowd keep saying they want comprehensive immigration reform. Sounds nice. Good words. Comprehensive reform.

What it simply means is open borders. Amnesty. So you can use words to try to describe your position that sound the best, but they are not in any way reforms, that they are proposing. These things are not reforms. When they say they are strengthening the border, going to secure the border, they mean sending a few more people down there. That doesn't secure the border, but doing these things, they will claim, that they have accomplished that goal and, therefore, can provide amnesty. It's simply a roost. It's not going to work that way.

CHETRY: What do you think tackling this is and I'm going to let Maria Teresa respond to that. What is your solution?

TANCREDO: Enforce the law. It's not really all that difficult to do. Right now, we have something called e-verify. The democrats are going to let it die because it works too well. E-verify is simply a process by which employers can go online and within a few seconds determine whether the social security number given to them by the potential employee is a good number. And so many of course of these folks do not have good social security numbers. They will not be able to get a job and they will self-deport.

All you have to do is enforce the law in the United States and secure your borders and I mean really secure your borders with the military. To stop all of the drugs, to stop all of the illegal immigration and you can do this, it does not take, you know, an army arm-to-arm across the border. You need to have the technology that the military can provide with UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicles, along with a fence, along with human resources. You can secure the border. Do that, go after the employers who are using these laborers, oftentimes, abusing the laborers, go after them and you will have this problem solved.

CHETRY: All right. And Maria Teresa, let me ask you about this because the former congressman Tancredo said the advocates of open borders. That's not where you're coming from on this situation, right?

PETERSON: No.

CHETRY: But you do believe that something has to happen for the people who are already here and who have lived here for a very long time that it can't be black and white?

PETERSON: Kiran, you're absolutely right. What Tom is preaching is the politics of the past. And I think what we found last November was that people -- the American people were tired of politics of the past. Everyone can agree that immigration is broken. But what people aren't talking about is trying to get these individuals out of the shadows. 30 percent of them are children. How are we going to basically criminalize children and basically say, look, we have to bring -- from out of the shadows for too long politics has been -- Washington has been the politics of manana, you know, manana, we're going to talk about health care, manana we're going to talk about immigration. And manana, we're going to talk about fixing our roads and our infrastructure.

And Obama is saying you know what, today is manana. We have to get comprehensive immigration reform. Because at the end of the day five percent of our labor force is undocumented. Of course, we have to get these people out of the shadows. We have to tax them appropriately. We have to make sure that we know who is in our country to make sure that there are security checks and, finally, but not least, we have to also protect the children.

CHETRY: All right. I just need to ask...

TANCREDTO: Let's try this. You want to protect people? Let's try this. There are, today, a little over 12 million -- best of anybody's guess, 12 million people who are here illegally. There are also about eight percent to 10 percent of the population in the United States who are unemployed.

PETERSON: Exactly!

TANCREDO: American citizens.

Brown American citizens, white American citizens, citizens of every color who are unemployed. Yet, there are, in fact, 12 million people and 138,000 people every month coming in to the United States legally for a job.

PETERSON: That number has gone down.

TANCREDO: Do you know of any jobs -- do you know of any jobs that are in excess of the jobs that Americans need? Do you know how many are out there?

PETERSON: But that's why we need to make sure these individuals are...

TANCREDO: Zero, and yet we are bringing in illegal immigrants...

CHETRY: All right.

TANCREDO: And we are bringing in -- we are bringing in illegal immigrants to take jobs that Americans certainly should have the first right to.

CHETRY: All right. We are going to have to leave it there. We are going to have to leave it there. We're going to talk a little bit about this dream act next time more because you mentioned the 30 percent children who would fall under this category and the dream act. It looks like it has bipartisan support right now.

We were not able to get to it but I will definitely put this on CNN.com/amfix and talk more about that issue as well. I want to thank both of your for being with us. Maria Teresa Peterson, and former congressman Tom Tancredo. Thanks.

PETERSON: Thank you, Kiran.

HOLMES: Well, the American captain held hostage jumped overboard and tried to escape Somali pirates. We'll have the latest from outside the captain's home in Vermont.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

HOLMES: And the breaking story we are following this morning is off the coast of Africa. An American cargo ship captain tries to escape Somali pirates. Captain Richard Phillips is his name. He apparently jumped off the lifeboat where he is being held trying to swim away. The pirates however quickly recaptured him. But he reportedly was not hurt in that incident.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is live outside Captain Richard Phillips's home in Underhill, Vermont, where the family is closely following those developments. And we understand his wife, she actually wanted to come out and speak yesterday, but it was just too much for her?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly what had happened yesterday, T.J. We were waiting to hear from Andrea Phillips, the wife of Captain Richard Phillips yesterday. And then after some time passed, then a spokesperson came out, Michael Willard, who is a close friend of the captain. He came out to shed some light on exactly what Andrea Phillips is going through right now. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL WILLARD, NEIGHBOR: I think right now, she's just overwhelmed and she feels that she just can't deal with this right now. I mean, she's upset enough about her husband and his situation and just needs her privacy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has there been a change...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: Now one thing we have learned since we've been here is that Captain Phillips is very much a family man when he is here. Very much a part of his family. But when he is out on the water, when is he commanding a ship he is very much a different person there and he would always make sure, for one thing, that his crew was safe. And so they are saying what they've heard of him so far is in line what they know the man to be. So that's what we're hearing right now from outside here in Underhill, Vermont.

HOLMES: All right. Stephanie Elam for us there in Vermont. Stephanie, we appreciate you this morning. Thank you so much. Kiran?

CHETRY: All right. Right now, we want to go out to Jason Carroll. He is following this -- we're going to take a quick break. When we come back we're going to talk to Jason Carroll. He is actually inside a lifeboat very similar to the one that Captain Phillips is in at this very moment. He's going to tell us and show us firsthand what it is like. It's 48 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: All right. Let's go out to Jason Carroll right now. He is inside a lifeboat similar to the one that Captain Richard Phillips is. Jason, you're able to give us just a little bit of a look and feel for what it's like to be in that boat where he is now off the coast of Somalia?

CARROLL: Absolutely. I wanted to give up-close look at some of the conditions he might be dealing with. It's a boat very much like this one, about 30 feet long. There is a sliding door on the front of it to keep the water out. When you step down inside, you can get a sense of sort of how tight it is here on the inside. There are seat belts here for passengers in an emergency situation so they can strap themselves in. You know the ceiling height inside of here about, I don't know, five feet or so, maybe four and a half feet, something like that.

Captain James Staples joining me now to give some more information about the conditions inside lifeboats such as this one. And again, this is very much like the boat that Captain Phillips finds himself in with these pirates, correct?

STAPLES: That is correct. Very, very similar. It's a covered boat. And as you can see, you have the different orders on board. You can smell the fiberglass. You can't smell the fuel. But it's also very cold in here right now. So at nighttime I'm sure the temperature is cold and at day time it's going to be very hot.

CARROLL: And again, so the conditions could be cold, it could be hot, depending upon what the weather conditions are like out at sea. And again, in terms of the provisions that are left on board vessels like this?

STAPLES: That's correct. Right now, you're in a stable platform because you're still on this platform but you got to figure that he's in the ocean and this boat is moving around so you also have got movement involved in here so that makes it even more difficult to walk inside.

CARROLL: And again, it's hard to sort of move around in here but to you, Bob is our photographer. Bob, if you can take a look near the front of the small life boat again. You can see again get a sense of just how tight, Kiran, the conditions are in here.

So, imagine, if you will -- again, you stay right here, but imagine if you're inside a vessel like this one and you're also -- it's not just two people in here, but several people as the condition with the captain and you're trying to escape, it might be somewhat difficult, might it not? Especially if this front door here is closed and it's very quiet and you're trying to make your way out of here?

STAPLES: Oh, absolutely. Some of these doors slide and some of them open up like a wing so it can be very, very difficult to get out of a boat like this trying to get away.

CARROLL: OK. All right. Thanks very much. So once again, Kiran, I wanted to give you a sort of sense of what it's like in one of these types of lifeboats like this. Again, about 30 feet long. You can see the door out here in front. It is covered on top. Bob, give them a shot up here, on top of the boat. So you can see it's basically very much like a floating bathtub. That's how Captain James Staples described it to me at one point. Wanted to give you an up- close look of what it might be like in one of these types of vessels. Kiran.

CHETRY: And Jason, the other thing as we're getting a chance to look at it, how are they able to keep an eye on what the pirates are doing and the condition of the captain as well because it is enclosed? It must make it more difficult to monitor the movement.

CARROLL: Yes. And let me show you something else. It's difficult for Bob to move around here. But Bob, very carefully, if you can show us the front here. Look. I'm going to try to move through here just a little bit more. Kiran, this is the very front of the vessel. I know it's difficult for you to see. You know, depending from where you are, so the back through here.

There is sort of like a perch point where you can look out at the top, which is simply we can't get in here enough to show you but you can get a sense of this sort of section of the vessel where there is a seat here that is somewhat raised where people can look out. There is a little window there at the front where you can see out at this end of the vessel, and you can look out at the top of the vessel as well. So even though the rest of it is enclosed, no windows on those sides, on this side of the vessel, there are some windows here for you to see out. HOLMES: And also, Jason, T.J. here. We heard it had 10 days' at least worth of rations on it. It seems like, again, a pretty spacious and -- pretty spacious, tight, but still you could put several people in there. Are there also large enough compartments where they can store a good amount of food and water and whatever you may need to survive for a few days?

CARROLL: There are compartments here. There are compartments for storage here for whatever you may need to store. On the other side of the vessel here, Bob will show you down there at the other end, there are sort of compartments down there as well where you can put something, so there are areas here where you could keep provisions, if needed.

HOLMES: All right. Jason Carroll for us, giving us an inside look at this boat. Jason, we appreciate you. I'm glad he described and he showed it to us like that because everybody is thinking lifeboat? What are you thinking? Something a little raft, just floating around out there but that is certainly not the case this time around.

All right. We turn it back to the president now. And he has certainly had a lot of criticism thrown his way for breaking campaign promises. Well, another big promise that has been broken, this one to the kids. Where is the family dog? What is the holdup here? He was supposed to have it, you know, at the White House by now when he got back from the G-20 summit. So what is the problem here, Mr. President? It's five till the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHETRY: Well, it is by far the biggest presidential appointment in weeks. Which breed will become the first dog? From what we know the choice is down to either a Portuguese water dog or a Labradoodle. And you'll remember that President Obama said that the family's new dog would be in place when he got back from the NATO summit. That was Tuesday. So where is the new puppy?

CNN's Alina Cho is following this story for us. We check in time and again. Because, you know, the White House dog, of course, is a big story! Historical significance. People love, you know, Barney's and Mrs. Beasley.

CHO: Well, we haven't hit 100 days yet, but we are keeping them honest.

CHETRY: Yes.

CHO: And you know, one of the president's first broken promises since taking office maybe one made to his own daughters, Sasha and Malia. How do we know this? Well, the president gave an official statement on the status of the presidential pup on Jay Leno. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, HOST, NBC'S "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Now, when is the dog coming? I keep hearing about the dog. It seems to me -- when was the dog supposed to be there by?

OBAMA: The dog will be there shortly. No, no.

LENO: What kind of dog?

OBAMA: We have actually sort of been laying the groundwork here. We've got a trip. I have to go to the NATO summit. When we get back, the dog will be in place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Well, guess what? Dad is back. First pup is still MIA. Now, we've been hearing about this since the campaign trail, of course, as Kiran mentioned, when then-candidate Obama said win or lose, the girls would get a dog. Well, fast forward to election night, his acceptance speech, the president announced to the girls, you've endured a long campaign, you have, indeed, earned the pup. So where is the dog, guys? Well, that is the big question, right?

The president mentioned on Jay Leno that he'd been laying the groundwork. Listen, this is all I have to say about this. Monday is the White House Easter egg roll. The girls have the day off from school. I'm just saying there could be an unveiling then.

CHETRY: You know, I mean, they have a lot of, of course, issues. It's not just they can't just grab one because there are allergy issues...

CHO: There are allergy issues.

CHETRY: And they wanted to get a rescue dog.

HOLMES: Portuguese. OK. I don't know my dogs. I'm working on it.

CHO: Neither do I. Let's put it that way.

HOLMES: Can you see him with a little teacup Pomeranian?

CHO: Oh, no!

HOLMES: I think it was an insult, and I know it.

CHETRY: Hey it was great having you with us today.

HOLMES: Good to be here. Thank you so much.

CHETRY: Thanks so much for being with us on this AMERICAN MORNING this Friday.

HOLMES: Right now, we'll hand it over to my dear friend and my regular co-anchor, Betty Nguyen.