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How Arizona Officers Enforce Immigration Law; Oil Spill in Gulf Worse than Believed; Securing Iraq's Oil; Battling Gulf Coast Oil Spill; Senate Debates Wall Street Reform; U.S.-Russian Adoption Talks

Aired April 29, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You've done a terrific job. Thank you so much. Good to see you, Kyra. Have a great day.

Here are some of the big stories in the CNN NEWSROOM for Thursday, April 29th.

A major oil spill moving closer to land, threatening the Gulf Coast. And now officials say the spill is spewing five times more oil than we thought.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We check passports, and after all of the passports are checked, we go through the entire ship and check all man-size spaces, looking for stowaways, bombs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: U.S. troops helping protect an oil platform off the Iraqi Coast. The pipelines are the lifeline of Iraq's economy.

And honoring a civil rights icon. President Obama called Dr. Dorothy Height the godmother of the movement and, man, could she wear a hat.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I got to tell you, we thought it would happen, and it has. The first lawsuit challenging Arizona's tough new immigration law is being filed today. A Latino clergy group taking the action in federal court in Phoenix. Some religious leaders in Tucson say the law is a sin. Clergy members are coordinating a resistance plan including day labor pick-up points on church property. A push to boycott Arizona is growing, especially in California.

Leaders in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and California's state Senate are calling for a halt to all contracts, and the cost to Arizona would be well into the millions.

A state representative in Oklahoma wants to crack down further on illegal immigrants. Here is the latest lawmaker to say babies born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants should be deported. Critics of Arizona's immigration law insists it gives police the license for racial profiling. A big concern, is officers being allowed to demand a proof of residency based on reasonable suspicion. But many officers say they already rely on reasonable suspicion to enforce immigration law.

Our Casey Wian shows us how it works.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sheriff's deputy Mark Miller approaches a pickup abandoned near a Pinal County road.

DEP. MARK MILLER, PINAL COUNTY SHERIFF: This would be a typical vehicle. Stolen truck, 4 by 4, heavy-duty.

WIAN: It's clearly been used by illegal immigrants, smugglers, backpacks, flashlights, food.

MILLER: I've seen upwards of 30 to 40 people in a vehicle this size.

WIAN: The bed is rigged so dozens can hold on for a wild ride. We take one as well, joining a pursuit of two vehicles spotted entering a highway from a desert road frequented by smugglers. A clue that makes the deputies suspicious. A dark pickup closely matches one description we followed.

MILLER: This vehicle is OK. I've actually come in contact with them before.

WIAN: The cloud of dust in the desert turns out to be a tractor. As the sun sets on Pinal County, which has become a gateway to Phoenix for smugglers, deputies have made several busts. But for Miller, no such luck. A pickup with no license plate light is cleared, another, driving without lights, also checks out.

But, twice a day on average, Pinal County sheriff's deputies are involved in high-speed pursuits with smugglers more than 100 miles North of the border, and they rely on reasonable suspicion to determine who they stop. The same legal standard opponents of Arizona's new law cracking down on illegal immigrants say could lead to racial profiling, a charge that infuriates Miller's boss.

SHERIFF PAUL BABEU, PINAL COUNTY, ARIZONA: This whole issue got turned now onto law enforcement where it's already a very difficult job, very dangerous. Arizona is -- is always one of the top states in America with assaults against police officers and officer-involved shootings.

And -- and now, that -- it's put on us. It's presumed that we're racially profiling, and that's the last thing that our deputies, our officers here in Arizona would do.

WIAN: Instead, he says it's actions and circumstances, like this one we encounter later, that raised suspicion. MILLER: One of our deputies observed a vehicle that was speeding in this residential area. The deputy observed that there were numerous subjects inside that small sedan, at which point the driver fled on foot. We're able to apprehend what looks to be nine or 10 illegal immigrants.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN SPANISH).

MILLER: They were packed inside the vehicle, two in the front seat, four in the back seat, and then three in the trunk. This is pretty indicative of what we see on a day-to-day basis in regards to human smuggling.

WIAN: The Border Patrol picks up the suspects.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIAN: Now on that day in just one shift, in one of Pinal County's three sectors deputies there picked up more than 50 suspected illegal immigrants and seized more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana. Now back here in Phoenix at the Arizona State Capital, as you mentioned, Tony, opponents of this legislation are planning to sue today. Supporters of the bill say they are misrepresenting it, and it doesn't give law enforcement the authority to racially profile anyone.

Tony?

HARRIS: And Casey, that's a point I want to drill down on just a bit more with you here. From your reporting, from the people you're talking to on the ground there in Arizona on this story, set aside for a moment a debate going on about the law outside of Arizona.

What's the sense there as to whether reasonable suspicion will lead to racial profiling?

WIAN: Law enforcement officers here say absolutely not. The example that we reported in that piece --

HARRIS: Yes.

WIAN: You've got a Ford Taurus driving through a residential neighborhood. You've got a driver. You've got two people in the passenger seat. You've got four people in the backseat, and the back of the car is sagging down. Turns out there are three people in the trunk. Yes, they were all Latino males, but they weren't stopped because they were Latino males. They were stopped because there were reasonable suspicion based on the officer's experience that those folks were being smuggled into the country.

Opponents of this bill also raised the issue of, well, maybe Latinos are going to be stopped when they have a taillight out. Well, they probably will be because that's one of the tactics that illegal immigrant smugglers use.

They have kill switches in the vehicles that shuts off the taillights, that shuts off the license plate lights. So when officers see that, they are going to stop them. They say they will not stop people simply because of the color of their skin, only because of the actions and circumstances that lead them to developing reasonable suspicion.

HARRIS: Got you. So the idea, Casey, and let me take another moment with this. The idea that you hear that you're in a mall, and you're walking in one direction, and police officer's walking in another direction and you're going to be stopped because you are brown, you are Hispanic, you are Latino, is the sense there that that example is an exaggeration?

WIAN: It's an absolute exaggeration according to the law. That's what supporters say. And I've read the law. That's the way I read it. It specifically says law enforcement officers may not use race, color or national origin as the sole reason to stop someone and check their immigration status. Tony, it's in the law.

HARRIS: All right. Yes, let's leave it there for now. Good stuff.

All right, Casey Wian for us.

Casey, thank you.

Many of you are voicing strong opinions on this issue. Here are a couple of CNN iReporters on opposite sides of the immigration divide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANNY DORADO, OXNARD, CALIFORNIA: Regardless of how you stand on immigration, whether you're for it or against it, for immigration reform or not, we can stand on one block. We can agree on one thing. This is racial profiling. And if we look back at the United States, there has never been a moment in history in which being targeted for your color of your race, your gender, whatever it may be has come out successful. It's always come out disastrous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON ASSELIN, IRON MOUNTAIN, MICHIGAN: The big issue seems to be with Mexico, and their constant, constant crossing our border illegally. Now what they're doing in this country is coming and getting money, and taking it back to their families. That's fine. Get a Green Card, and do it responsibly, do it legally. That's what this is about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Can't thank you enough for your contributions on this. So let's keep the conversation going.

Checking other big stories for you now. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is far worse than anyone thought. A third leak has been discovered after last week's oil rig explosion, and about 5,000 barrels of oil a day -- boy -- are believed to be spewing into the Gulf. Those who make their living from the sea are bracing for a potential nightmare scenario.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLIE ROBIN, SHRIMPER: We just started to get back on our feet again. That's all we need is an oil spill to come in right now and devastate our grounds to kill our shrimp and fish and oysters.

RICKY ROBIN, SHIMPER: It's all going to get kick with oil. It's a disaster. It's a crying shame, what's happening.

GEORGE BARISICH, PRESIDENT, UNITED COMMERCIAL FISHERMAN'S ASSOCIATION: It's another beating that you -- that I can't take. I can't take one worse year. We're tough people, don't get me wrong. But there's only one straw that bakes the camel's back, you know? So one oil spill can break our backs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: We are working up something pretty special for you in just a couple of minutes with our Rob Marciano.

The Senate kicks off debate on changing the way Wall Street operates. Republicans ended their effort to block debate after Democrats clenched the 60 votes needed to move forward. Both sides report progress in negotiations. Among the remaining stick points, the scope of consumer protection provisions Republicans say they just go too far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHINSON (R), TEXAS: They're very concerned about this new consumer agency that really is going to ad a lot of regulatory burden to the community banks that already are regulated. We don't need another agency with another big government bureaucracy for the community banks. We do need that for the non-bank institutions. That's where the real problem is. That's where all these derivatives, and the reverse swaps, and all of the fancy stuff that causes whole meltdown happen. That's where we need to focus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK, live pictures from Washington National Cathedral now, where hundreds are gathered to remember civil rights icon Dorothy Height. Height died last week at the age of 98. She marched alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., and spent a lifetime fighting for equal rights. President Obama calls Height the godmother of the movement, and the only woman to serve at the highest levels.

Just moments ago, he talked about her influence on his political career.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But we did come to know her in the early days of my campaign, and we came to love her as so many loved her. We came to love her stories, and we loved her smile, and we loved those hats that she wore like a crown, regal. In the White House, she was a regular. She came by not once, not twice, 21 times, she stopped by the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Keeping the oil spill off the Gulf Coast from reaching land. Reynolds Wolf explores a number of options, and Rob Marciano is tracking the wind and why it is so important in the fight to protect the coastline and the wildlife.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: More than 200,000 gallons of oil a day. That's how much the Coast Guard believes is coming from a well in the Gulf of Mexico near that sunken oil platform.

Can anything be done to stop it from coming ashore?

Our Reynolds Wolf is on the coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on camera): I'm coming to you from Venice, Louisiana, where we've seen lots of boats loaded with supplies and then sent off, all carrying crucial weapons to battle the spread of oil.

WOLF (voice-over): At first glance, you would never know this warehouse contains vital weapons to combat the spreading oil slick.

CHIEF PETTY OFFICER ROBERT BIRDWELL, U.S. COAST GUARD: They're staging areas set up from Venice, Louisiana, all the way to Pensacola, Florida. So what's going on here in this staging area is going on likewise in different locations all around the gulf coast.

WOLF (on camera): Now, Robert, what is this stuff we're seeing right here?

BIRDWELL: Reynolds, what we're looking at here, these are -- these are oil skimmers so these will be deployed into the water, into the pockets of oil. Oil sticks to the surface of this roller.

WOLF (voice-over): Skimmers, barriers, oil-absorbing booms stacked ceiling high for the effort. It's the traditional way to fight the spill. But with an estimated total of 5,000 barrels leaking from three different areas each day, other methods are being tested.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We successfully completed our first in situ test burn. WOLF: Officials experimented with burning off the thicker areas of crude in the controlled fire Wednesday. And engineers are fabricating a new idea. Building this dome, they hope will capture the leaking oil under water. Every effort an attempt to protect the Gulf Coast.

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: We think it's best to hope for the best while we prepare for the worse. And I think that's the best way to approach this oil spill and the potential impact on our state's coast.

WOLF: And as this barrier is loaded up to spread along parts of the Louisiana shoreline, still, one sobering fact remains, not every inch can be protected.

CHIEF PETTY OFFICER ROBERT BIRDWELL, U.S. COAST GUARD: There is just simply not enough boom to cover the amount of miles of coastline that southern Louisiana has. So what we're doing is trying to cover specific areas, key areas that will help minimize the overall impact if there is any kind of shoreline impact of the oil.

WOLF (on camera): Earlier today, we learned that the military is going to help out the Coast Guard by lending the use of ships, planes and bases, all crucial to help preventing the spread of this oil.

Reporting from Venice, Louisiana, Reynolds Wolf, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: You know, scientists say more than 400 species of wildlife could be in danger from this oil spill. The chief veterinary officer of the Georgia Aquarium joins Rob Marciano in about 20 minutes right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Iraq's prosperity depends on a three-letter word -- oil. We will visit the country's biggest oil terminal where Iraqi forces are learning how to secure the flow of oil once international forces pull out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: As you know, oil is Iraq's economic lifeline. Right now Iraqi forces are learning how to protect the Al Basrah Oil Terminal, the country's biggest, before they take over security from international forces. Here's CNN's Leone Lakhani.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEONE LAKHANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All hands on deck to avert an attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Small boat approaching a U.S. Navy vessel.

LAKHANI: This is the military drill at the Al Basrah Oil Terminal known as ABOT, just off the Iraqi Coast. It's part of an international effort involving U.S., British and Iraqi forces. The troops here are charged with protecting Iraq's most precious resource.

ANDREW EATON, TACTICAL SUPERVISOR, U.S. NAVY: When we have a vessel that's unknown to us coming inbound to the platform, we go into ready condition to protect the oil platform. The vessels out in the water that are protecting the oil platform will conduct certain procedures to verify that that vessel has hostile attempt that's coming in at us. Once that's established, we go to certain procedures on the oil platform with the weapon. If it turns out to be an enemy vessel we have orders to fire on that vessel.

LAKHANI: They're all working to secure not just Iraq's oil, but the stability of its entire economy.

(on camera): This is perhaps the lifeline into Iraq's economy. The 95 percent of the country's oil wells flows through pipelines on this platform into waiting tankers. It's an operation that takes 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Any disruption to this task could devastate the economy.

(voice-over): Oil produced in the Kurdish north goes directly to Turkey, and only some of the revenues are channelled to Baghdad. So 75 percent to 80 percent of the country's GDP is dependent on the oil exported from this platform. The crude belongs to Iraq's south oil company or SALK.

ABDULZAHRA ALMAYYAH, TERMINAL MANAGER, AL BASRA OIL TERMINAL (through translator): Whatever comes to the platform is for export purposes. There are four oil tankers, loading two tankers at a time. Their export is 75,000 barrels per hour. That's the capacity.

LAKHANI: This is the petrol station on a mass scale. Oil tankers from around the world dock here, load up on about 2 million barrels of oil each, and then had their separate ways. Every vessel that approaches the platform is pre-checked by a team of Iraqi and coalition marshalls.

CHRISTOPHER TULL, MACHINERY TECHNICIAN, U.S. NAVY: We'll be onboard and we'll check passports, and after all of the passports are checked, we go through the entire ship and check all man-size bases looking for stowaways, bombs, weapon, you name it.

LAKHANI: Coalition troops here live and work alongside Iraqi oil company workers, as well as Iraqi sailors. The troops pass on their know how and help to train the Iraqi Navy. The intent to hand over ABOT to the Iraqis next year.

Leone Lakhani, CNN, Al Basrah Oil Terminal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: OK. Let's get you caught up on top stories now. Another sign the job market is slowly improving. First-time claims for unemployment benefits fell to 448,000 last week. That's a drop of 11,000 from the week before, and it is the lowest level in four weeks. Continuing claims dropped by 18,000, but stand to more than 4.6 million. In Juarez Mexico, the killing goes on. At least 15 people lost their lives yesterday. Among the victims a man on a wheelchair in a sidewalk. Battles between rival drug gangs have made the city on the U.S. border one of the world's deadliest.

It is no longer a man's world under the sea. The U.S. military's ban on women serving on submarines is now lifted. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the move last month, and the deadline for Congress to object expired at midnight Eastern.

More top stories for you in 20 minutes.

Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr joins me in just a couple of minutes. It seems the U.S. Coast Guard might be getting some help from the military in cleaning up that huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And the markets have been open for just about a couple of hours now.

Let's get the latest. The Dow is up -- wow! What's going on here? We are trading positively. Triple digit territory. The Dow up 111 points. We'll find out what's going on here in just a couple of minutes.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Wait for the picture. Wait for the picture, and, yes! Snow. Yes, a lot of it.

Heavy snow on the sierras in California from a big snowstorm there.

So, Rob, we've got slick roads -- right -- is an issue here. Rain recently mixing with the snow, and that's no fun for anyone.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Can't wait. Cannot it. All right, Rob, appreciate it. Looking forward to it.

You know, we've been talking about the oil spill heading for the Gulf Coast. Here's the question. Will the military join the effort to head off a potential environmental disaster? We will explore that question with Barbara Starr right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All kinds of terror-filled moments when the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded. Workers were running and screaming as the flames spread. One of them, a Texas man whose wife tells his chilling story. Here's reporter, Courtney Zubowski with our affiliate KHOU.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COURTNEY ZUBOWSKI, AFFILIATE, KHOU (voice-over): Smiles are hard to come by right now for the man you see in this picture. Just last week, Carlos Ramos, a husband and father was on the main deck of the oil rig deep water horizon. During all of this, he was on his knees praying to God he wouldn't suffer.

VOICE OF ADRIANA RAMOS, VICTIM'S WIFE: He said that he saw people running around, and he saw some people on fire jumping overboard.

ZUBOWSKI: Adriana Ramos is the offshore worker's wife. We talked to her on the phone in their home near Corpus Christi. Carlos was too shaken to talk.

RAMOS: He's at home right now with our baby, and if there's a loud noise and she drops like a heavy toy, he gets startled and he's just not the same person at all.

ZUBOWSKI: The 25-year-old has orthopedic injury. The wife says he can't return to work. He's thinking about filing a lawsuit. Meanwhile, his attorney says there a provision in maritime law that could protect companies like Transocean which owns the rig.

MATT SHAFFER, ATTORNEY: I don't think it's fair at all.

ZUBOWSKI: Matt Shaffer says they're waiting to see if Transocean asks the court to limit the amount anyone could get from the company, and not to what the oil rig was worth before the accident, but what it's worth right now.

SHAFFER: You're talking about a rig that has a difference in value of perhaps half a billion dollars to after it burns and sinks to having scrap value.

ZUBOWSKI: But that's something the Ramos family is going to let their attorney handle.

RAMOS: I'm hoping that all these men can eventually all get some help.

ZUBOWSKI: Right now, they're just focusing on recovering.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: I'm not sure we're comfortable with a basic question in this whole story. How do you stop the oil spill? A major task, obviously, for British petroleum which owns the drilling site in question in the Gulf of Mexico. An oil platform there operated by another company exploded in sunk last week, as you know, BP's chief executive talked with CNN's Brian Todd about the accident and what's being done to plug the leaks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY HAYWARD, CEO, BP GROUP: It's far too early in the investigative process to speculate on the events and what transpired. It's clearly been a tragic accident and I feel great grief and sorrow, actually, because of the people who have lost their lives, and we clearly have tremendous sympathy for the families and friends they left behind, but it's too early to speculate on the course of the accident. What is clear is that the ultimate failsafe mechanism in a drilling operation, there are many checks before you get to activating the blow out preventer.

That is the ultimate failsafe mechanism and for whatever reason and we don't understand that yet, but we clearly will as a consequence of both our investigation and federal investigation, it failed outright. The big efforts are around the skimming and the disbursement, and we are doing everything we can to contain it in the offshore. We have also been very proactive in ensuring that more than a million feet of boom is on location and ready to be deployed. Responsibility for safety on the drilling rig is with Transocean. It is their rig, their equipment, their people, their systems, and their safety processes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: That's interesting. The military may be called in to help battle the oil spill threatening the gulf coast. Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr joining us now with more on that. Barbara, good to see you. What kind of assistance could the military actually provide here?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Tony, at this hour, that's exactly what they're looking at. Overnight, the military began looking, we are told, at options and began planning what it could do to help if the coast guard finally, you know, raises its hand and says yes, absolutely, we need help. Agencies have been talking. The coast guard's been talking to the military and the military talking to the coast guard.

What they're looking at is potentially a variety of options now. The military does have some of that oil cleanup equipment itself. The U.S. navy that it could offer, it could put a ship we are told into the gulf coast to help with all of this. Possibly, the most near-term option is to establish a military base area along the Gulf Coast for supplies, equipment, and personnel. What this is really underscoring, Tony, is the U.S. military and federal agencies now really looking at this as an effort that is going to last for some time.

That they have to put manpower and muscle power behind, and the military looking at it. One indication, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff has now had a full briefing on the possibility of an environmental disaster here and what the military can do to help, Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Barbara, keep us posted as those plans start to firm up a little bit. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us. Thank you.

You know, we've been talking about efforts to stop and mop up that oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. What is being done to save all of the wild life at risk? We have one of the top people in the field here. A real expert up next in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Time now for top stories. The Senate officially kicked off debate on Wall Street reform last night after Republicans ended their three-day unanimous opposition to debating the bill. Republicans say there are still major points that need to be worked out.

In Kentucky, rescue workers are trying to make contact with two miners trapped after a roof collapsed last night. It happened at the Dotiki mine. That's in Hopkins County more than three weeks after an explosion at the West Virginia mine left 29 dead.

The U.S. delegation is in Moscow right now discussing how to restart adoptions between the two countries. Russia stopped all U.S. adoptions this month after a young boy was sent back to Moscow alone rejected by his U.S. family.

President Obama and immigration, just what did candidate Obama promise from the campaign trail?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Got to tell you that oil spill threatening the Gulf Coast is expanding and moving closer to land. Officials now say the leak is spewing as much as 210,000 gallons of oil a day. That's five times more than we thought. People who make their living from the coastal waters are worried.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUZETTE TILLOTSON, SEAFOOD SHOP OWNER: It could be devastating to all of the commercial fishermen, you know, that whole industry. All of the chucking houses as well as oysters, and all of the, you know, factories that peel the shrimp. It could put a lot of people out of work. A lot of people and the economy is bad enough as it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: All right. Let's do this. Let's get you to Rob Marciano. He is standing by with a special guest to talk more about the threat to the fishing industry and all of the wildlife there in the gulf. Rob, take it away.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Tony, I want to introduce you to our friend and neighbor, Dr. Gregory Bossart. He's a chief vet at the Georgia Aquarium. So glad to have you next toward to us, and boy, as a veterinarian and as a lover of marine animals or wildlife, this kind of situation has to make you sick.

DR. GREG BOSSART, CHIEF VETERINARY OFFICER, GEORGIA AQUARIUM: It's really very disturbing, yes.

MARCIANO: Let's try to break things down and see what are the plan of attack may be. This is the slick itself, and you know, rough estimates are about the square mileage of Rhode Island. The forecast is for it to get, well, closer to shore, more specifically, closer to the delta of the Mississippi. Not a whole lot of people live there, there are some river otters (ph) that live there. There are obviously some fishermen that live there, but there's a ton of wildlife that lives there. What kind of wildlife and ecosystem are we dealing with?

BOSSART: This is a very unique ecosystem. It's very complex. It consists of barrier islands. It consists of estuaries, but the bottom line is that this estuary provides the necessary environment and food for all these animals as to indicate to survive, from the plankton up to the economically important crabs, mussels, clams, oysters. Plankton is the backbone of the food chain here and the plankton oil smothers the plankton and the plankton die. Other animals can't eat and they're interrupted through the whole food chain. Certainly, shrimp are part of the ecosystem here, and the shrimp provide food for the animals further up.

MARCIANO: And for people.

BOSSART: And for people, too. It's huge. The fish, the estuaries here are a nursery ground, literally, a nursery ground for the entire fish population in this area. So, the babies are hatched here and they grow to be live fish. Probably, the most impacted animals are birds and did the bird work in the Persian Gulf after the first war. The birds are impacted most. They're right at the surface. They get covered with this oil. They ingest the oil which causes liver and kidney problems.

They lose their ability to be insulated. So, the birds need to be rescued and need to be cleaned of the oil. Certainly, in the estuaries, we have river otters, and they're impacted.

MARCIANO: What do they eat?

BOSSART: They totally eat mussels and the other animals that are impacted on a lower scale. So the otters, the river otters are impacted. We know in this area right now that there are sperm whales.

MARCIANO: No kidding?

BOSSART: There are dolphins right in the oil slick. We know this data as we speak. So, most of the time, if the oil spill's small enough, the marine mammals, the large marine mammals leave, but if they're in this area for prolonged periods, the oil has a toxic effect on the skin. More importantly, they're breathing right at the air and water interface where this oil gets volatilize and they breathe this toxic substance in and it can damage the lungs and cause death.

MARCIANO: So, unlike, you know, a fish that can maybe swim deeper under water, the mammals have to come to the surface to breathe so they're directly affected by this slick of it being so big, they can't get away from it.

BOSSART: Well, some of them can, but it's totally dependent on the size of the slick and this is huge. It's 100 by 60 miles wide. You said the size of Rhode Island.

MARCIANO: I mean, oysters are a huge business there, obviously. What kind of damage does it do to the oyster beds?

BOSSART: Well, when the oil starts to settle it smothers, it will smother the oyster beds and it will kill the oysters.

MARCIANO: Let's go back to Google Earth. And I want you to speak a little bit specifically about some of the specific wildlife that may be -- not only at the delta of the Mississippi, but some of these barrier islands that are just east of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. What kind of wildlife exists in here? What kind of (INAUDIBLE)?

BOSSART: Well, the barrier islands are very unique ecosystem. Probably, the most important thing here is that these islands were affected by hurricane Katrina. They have not recovered yet at all. So, to take another hit, an environmental hit like this is going to be devastating to the recovery and that's something that's very, very concerning. The environmental effects are very insidious here. They're very long term. Certainly, the initial effects we'll see are fish kills and bird injuries, but the more serious changes are long term environmental things.

MARCIANO: It's been six years since Katrina, they haven't recovered yet. With your experience with the Valdes and the Persian Gulf, what is your gut feeling on this? How bad could it possibly get and how damaging could it be?

BOSSART: Well, I think at this point, you know, it would be wrong to say it's catastrophic because it hasn't really hit any area except out in the gulf proper, but it's certainly a very serious thing that needs to be addressed from all different angles. You know, not only oil containment, but, you know, addressing and mitigating environmental damage and helping these animals that are going to be impacted.

MARCIANO: How confident are you that they can stop most of this from coming ashore?

BOSSART: I just don't know. It's very concerning when you see something this size moving toward such an environmentally fragile area.

MARCIANO: I can see the hurt in your face thinking of what's to come. Dr. Gregory Bossart, thanks so much for your insights. We hope you can stick around for some more insights throughout the day.

Tony, this could easily be a very bad environmental deal as we just heard.

HARRIS: That's right.

MARCIANO: Hopefully, the actions they're taking now will, at least, alleviate some of that.

HARRIS: The controlled burns leading to more controlled burns and burning off some of the heavier crude, but boy, you're right. You can see in his face that there's great concern there. All right. Rob, appreciate it. Thank you, sir, gentlemen. >

Saying goodbye to a civil rights heroine at Washington's National Cathedral. Dr. Dorothy Height is being eulogized by our president and remembered by the woman who created her many beautiful hats.

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HARRIS: I need you to reach out to the program. I need you to talk to me directly. A couple of ways that you can do that. First of all, CNN.com/Tony takes you directly to this, bam, our blog page. If you'd like to send us your thoughts on Facebook, here's what you do, TonyHarrisCNN. Here's my Twitter address, TonyHarris, CNN. Call us. Pick up the phone, 1-877-742-5760. Let's have more of your thoughts on the program. CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris.

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HARRIS: So, as the administration turns to immigration reform here's a key question. What exactly did President Obama promise he would do about that issue when he was a candidate? As always, our Josh Levs is keeping an eye on the president's promises. So, Josh, what did candidate Obama, nominee Obama, say on this issue on the campaign trail ?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Tony, he made a bunch of promises about immigration, and he summed up three of them, lucky, for us, in one sound bite. Right here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll work with Bill Richardson to secure our border. We'll crack down on employers who exploit undocumented workers and undercut American workers, and we will put those 12 million people living in the shadows on a path to earn citizenship. Get them out of the shadows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: All right. The website politofact.com tracks all the president's promises and something they call the Obameter. It will affect nonpartisan (INAUDIBLE) to read big promises he made about immigration. Here they are for you, secure the border, crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants and provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. And then you can see right next to it where they say how well he is doing so far in each one.

Now, the first one is to secure the borders and PolitiFact on this is giving him in the worse. They're saying the administration has announced steps to be beef up security on the border and to help Mexico fight drug cartel. This was a general promise he made as a candidate. Now, when it comes to cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, PolitiFact rates his work so far a compromise, Tony. I want to show here, I don't know if you remember this about e- verify.

President Bush had signed an executive order making mandatory for government contractors to use the e-verify as a database to ensure they're new hires were legal. President Obama has that rule as well, but President Bush had also created the thing called a no match rule that required companies to fire employees with suspects of the social security numbers or face fines. President Obama is not holding up to that one. So, PolitiFact at this point calling the president's position there a compromise.

And the last one we saw is what's kind of in the news now with the push for immigration reform. It's the idea of path of citizenship. Obviously, that hasn't happened so far. President Obama clearly wants it to. So, PolitFact calling that one stall, Tony.

HARRIS: So, how is the president -- how is he doing overall with his promises?

LEVS: Yes, you know, it's the subjective thing. They call this the Obameter with they list of how he is doing. We got the numbers for you here. This thing has kept more than 100 promises, 110 overall. Listen to the other one, the one I always look at, though, is promise broken which is 19 because the president shouldn't get lollipops for keeping their promises. They should be called out when they don't. So, I always encourage everyone to keep an eye on the Obameter at PolitiFact.com. We also got this portion (ph) for you at the blog and Facebook and Twitter. I'm encouraging you to check it out if yourself. Let us know what you think.

HARRIS: Always amazed when my kids said, dad, I'm going to school, I'm getting good grades. No, that's what you're supposed to do.

LEVS: That's kind of the point, yes.

HARRIS: That's the point. All right. Josh, appreciate it. See you next hour.

LEVS: See you, guys.

HARRIS: Here's what we're working on for the next hour in CNN NEWSROOM, details were emerging from a new memoir by former first lady Laura Bush that suggests she, her husband, and several aides were poisoned during a trip to Germany in 2007. CNN's Ed Henry and Suzanne Malveaux join us live to talk about that.

And tucking kids into bed with a stories of childhood ritual that helps bond families together, right? So, what happens when that bond is broken for youngsters with parents in a war zone?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY LUNN, NAVY CHIEF: I know it's helping me out a lot, especially knowing the response that that's coming from it. Just mentally calming me down and enabling me to stay focused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I love this. Glad we're getting this on the air. CNN's Sandra Endo reports on a new program that allows parents to read to their kids from far away locations.

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HARRIS: Got some good news to report on the home front. The foreclosures are slowing down in some of the country's hardest hit spots. Felicia Taylor is at the New York Stock Exchange with more of the improving picture housing. Can't wait for these details. Good morning, Felicia.

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know, Tony. It's a little unexpected, but thank goodness we've got it, right? So, you know, naturally as you well know, it was the housing sector that pretty much started this sort of spiral down into a recession. So, naturally, that's the one area where we do look for signs of improvement as well as the job market in order for the economy to firmly be back on its feet. And today, there are some signs of hope.

Foreclosure filings in more than half of the country's hardest hit spots fell in the first three months of the year. Filings declined in 14 of the nation's top 20 cities compared to the same time last year. That of course is coming to us from online marketer realty track. Now, most of those things are concentrated in the Sun Belt. That was, of course, the area that was really badly hit during the crisis, Tony. So, there's some good news.

HARRIS: Yes, it is. But, you know, here's the reality of the world we live in, like so many of these other reports we get there's a big -- pretty big caveat on this one, too, isn't there?

TAYLOR: Absolutely. I mean, you know, there's always two sides to a story.