Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

2,000 People on the Ground Dealing with Oil Spill; Oil Spill Threatens the Livelihood of Many; Judge Inspires the Incarcerated to Keep Them Out of Jail Later; Arizona Lawmakers Try to Address Immigration Law Concerns

Aired May 01, 2010 - 17:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: This hour on CNN, all the manpower, equipment and promises in the world can't do much, if anything, to stop the disaster playing out on the gulf coast. A tragedy affecting water, land and livelihoods. Tonight, some are already calling this the Obama administration's Katrina. The president visits Louisiana tomorrow but tonight, he is the headliner along with comedian Jay Leno at the tongue-in-cheek White House correspondents' dinner. How will this play along the coast? The best political team on television will weigh in for you.

The outrage over a controversial new immigration law reaches a boiling point beyond Arizona. Protesters marched all over the country today. We are live for you.

Hello, everyone. We want to tell you right now that the governor of Louisiana is holding a press conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Governor Bobby Jindal, you see it live. We'll going to monitor that for you and if it makes news, we'll bring you the comments. We're checking on that for you.

In the meantime, an unprecedented ecological disaster is unfolding in slow motion right now in the Gulf of Mexico. Over the next hour of this program, listen to this, nearly 9,000 gallons of crude oil will gush from a man made hole in the ocean floor, more than 1.5 million gallons has spilled so far. And no one is quite sure how to stop it right now. U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen has been appointed as the incident commander, the most immediate risk is a massive toxic oil slick moving towards the Louisiana coast line right now. And again, as we said, the governor is holding a press conference. He is expected to call up to 6,000 national guardsmen to assist with those cleanup efforts.

As always, CNN has reporters and camera crews deployed across the region to bring you the live up to the minute coverage on this developing story. President Barack Obama is heading to the gulf tomorrow as we said to get a firsthand look at what is going on. And CNN's Brian Todd joins us now from Venice, Louisiana, Brian, good evening. Where is the slick now in relation to where you are?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're told Don, that it is not too far away from here and that this is going to one of the areas first hit by this oil slick. And we're right now at one of the key staging areas for the effort to fight it from getting this far. Local officials here in Plaquemines Parish are recruiting fishermen and boats like this goes all around here to lay booms in this area to protect it from getting hit by this oil slick as it moves closer. Now, again, we're told the Venice where we are, this going to be one of the first hit areas. You can see the surf down here, no traces of oil, no significant amounts have hit this yet.

They have hit primarily in the barrier islands, the barrier patches and are comes snaking toward this little by little. But look out here, you could see these white caps out here. The effort to lay boom is being complicated by this. You've got tumultuous seas out here, it's even worse further out on the gulf. And that is complicating, the effort to lay boom along this areas. The wildlife preserves that they're trying to protect, they're laying boom around those. But again, the surf is really complicating matters. They're also using underwater dispersants to try to catch the oil as it comes out of that well had down below. And essentially, lots of the oil getting to sink and disperse it. So, that effort is ongoing. They're preparing the dispersants. Bp officials tell me that they'll going to hopefully deploy that chemical underwater in the coming hours en masse to try to head some of this off right at the wellhead -- Don.

LEMON: Listen, you mentioned just a moment ago, the government is wanting some answers from Halliburton we understand on capping this leak. What can we expect there, Brian?

TODD: The Chairman of the House, Energy and Commerce Committee, Henry Waxman has asked Halliburton for all of these documents relating what it was doing in the cementing operation. That's the key operation of this oil leaks. The cementing operation essentially encloses the casing and prevents leaks, prevents -- it fastens the casing on to the hole at the bottom of the ocean to prevent, you know, gas and fuel from spewing upward and causing an explosion like this.

Halliburton, they had personnel on the rig at the time, they were doing cementing operations, Halliburton has said that everything they were doing was up to snuff as far as safety standards. But the House Energy and Commerce Committee wants to know exactly what they were doing and if anything went wrong because these cementing operations have often been cited as part of the problem when accidents like this occur.

LEMON: Brian Todd, stand by, with your information because we may be getting back to you. Brian Todd along the Louisiana coast. Appreciate it.

And despite the lives that were lost in this oil rig accident, fishing along the Gulf Coast is a multibillion dollar industry. So, there are other lives affected here. Each moment means no money and no work for the men and women who make their living in the gulf waters. More than 100 miles of booms have been or will be deployed to try to contain the oil. The irony is right now, those booms are making matters worse.

CNN's David Mattingly is in Bayou La Batre, Alabama where a lot of fishermen could be facing the end of their livelihoods right now. Hello David. DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. That's exactly right. They don't know how bad this is going to be in the future. For right now, they know that their season is over, their livelihoods are stopped as of this moment. Right now, we're looking at entire towns who depend on fishing for their economy, wondering what tomorrow is going to hold.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: (voice-over) In Bayou La Batre, Alabama, time has run out. Boats that should be fishing are tied to shore. We found crews deploying the town's last line of defense, a floating yellow boom.

(on camera) At this point, the job is actually pretty simple. This boom is anchored to this barrier island over here to my right. Now, the barge has to back out to deploy all of this boom material. But this is a massive, massive undertaking. What you see here is just the beginning.

(voice-over) Hundreds of miles of boom will be deployed to protect oyster beds and fish spawning grounds, but these lines that are designed to stop oil also stop fishing boats.

(on camera) Does this mean that the season is over, as long as this boom is out here?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: As the boom goes up, the boats won't have access to the fishing grounds. And so their season is over.

MATTINGLY: Signs are all over town.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: This is where we process the meat out of the shell.

Mattingly (voice-over): This should be the peak of the oyster season. But when I went to Stan Wright's oyster processing business, I found out these are the last of the oysters.

WAYNE ELDRIDGE, BOAT CAPTAIN: You are looking at probably the last product until this oil stuff is cleaned up.

MATTINGLY (on camera): How long is that going to be?

ELDRIDGE: I don't know. It could be weeks, months, a year, I don't know. We don't know how much damage it is going to cause.

Mattingly (voice-over): By the end of business Saturday, Wright is shutting down. And he's worried he could be out of business permanently. I hear the same thing from Raymond Barbour. His processing business ran out of crabs in the morning. When these crawfish are done, that's it.

Raymond Barbour, Jr. Barbour Seafood Owner: We're sunk. That's what I'm saying, we're out of business. We're at the mercy of the banks. MATTINGLY: The oil spill could do more damage to Bayou La Batre than any hurricane. The town's seafood economy runs on catch from Louisiana waters, now fouled by oil.

(on camera) You're the mayor of Bayou La Batre?

STAN WRIGHT, Bayou La Batre mayor: That's correct.

MATTINGLY: What's going to happen to this town?

WRIGHT: Our income is going to be nothing.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): There aren't many economic options. Workers here get paid by the pound. Most seafood workers are immigrants from Southeast Asia.

VINXAYSANA WESSON, SEAFOOD WORKER: Everyone is really scared but they don't know exactly how it is going to turn out yet. But they're not making plans yet. But this town is a seafood town. You take that away from them, it won't be a town anymore.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (on camera): And so many fishermen right now wondering just how they're going to make their next payment to the bank since they can't get out there in that water right now. Who knows what is going to happen months or even years from now as you heard the mayor of Bayou La Batre say -- Don.

LEMON: Hey, David. It's important what these fishermen think. Do they feel that they have any options in all of this, David?

MATTINGLY: They have two options right now. Bp has already approached them saying, giving them phone numbers to call, to talk about compensation. They were looking at possible compensation for their losses, for what they're not being able to go out and get right now. They also have the opportunity to join the efforts out in the gulf by deploying the boom, the government and BP and some of the other contractors are going to be hiring these boats to actually join in with what is going on, putting the booms out there to try to prevent the oil from getting into those sensitive areas. Those are just the two immediate options. But, again, we're looking at something that could be long-term. Years, possibly even a decade, that we're looking at, where there could be an impact on these fishermen.

LEMON: David Mattingly, part of the CNN team along the gulf coast for us tonight. Thank you very much for that, David Mattingly.

We turn now to our Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras who has been monitoring the waters and the weather pattern. Jacqui, we'll going to be talking about this for quite some time.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we certainly are. And unfortunately, the weather is causing problems for spreading that oil spill. We have been tracking the wind and the water currents to get a better idea which way this thing is going. And this is a map of forecast animation, we're going to show you from rightweather.com. And there, you can see the coastline and here is the Gulf of Mexico and these are the wind areas, the direction that the wind has been blowing and it has been bringing all of this wind south-southeasterly.

So, pushing that oil spill towards the north. You can see those as we progress through time, we're going to start to see a change in the direction. But that's not going to happen until Tuesday. So, we're looking at least through Monday where we're going to be seeing these winds, very strong, about 35 miles per hour. That creates the choppy seas. So, seas today now nine to 11 feet. So, that churns up the water and makes it difficult for these booms to help contain it as well.

Now, let's flip over and show you the forecast of where we expect this to be spreading. And this is an official forecast from NOAA of what they're predicting. And you can see, it's going to start sewing in this area towards Mississippi by later in the day today, spreading over towards mobile by Sunday, and potentially could make its way all the way over to the panhandle of Florida, including Pensacola by Monday. So, the weather not cooperating, spreading this much closer towards the shore.

LEMON: Jacqui Jeras, thank you. We'll going to check back with you as well. We'll be following this continuing story throughout the evening here on CNN. And as we mentioned at the top of this broadcast, the Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal holding a press conference right now in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. If any news comes of that, we will bring it to you live right here on CNN.

In the meantime, in Arizona, and around the country, demonstrators vent their anger over a new Arizona immigration law. Protesters hit the streets, despite new changes to the law to try to prevent racial profiling, they say.

Severe weather alert, Jacqui will be checking on for you. Tornado watches and even warnings across the mid south this evening. Jacqui rejoins with us with that information in just a bit. And that same storm through Arkansas early this morning, one person has died, many more are hurt. We're surveying the damage for you. And don't just sit there. We want you to be part of the conversation, tonight. Logon to the social media, I'm reading your comments now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Putting the pressure on Washington, tens of thousands of people are joining immigration rallies around the country today. A protest in front of the riot house saw several arrests including one congressman. Illinois Representative Luis Gutierrez, a democrat, was arrested with protesters wearing shirt that said, arrest me, not my family.

More than 100,000 protesters turned out in Los Angeles today, much of their anger was directed at neighboring Arizona and the new law requiring police to ask a person's immigration status. President Obama called the law misguided. Arizona lawmakers said, they had no choice but to act since reform has stalled at the federal level.

Lawmakers hoped changes made to the law will deflect some of that criticism. Governor Jan Brewer signed the changes on the last day of Arizona's legislative session. The amended law now says, police can only ask about immigration status for people they stop, detain or arrest. Critics call these cosmetic changes that do nothing to address their concerns. The law already faces lawsuits from the very same people expected to carry it out.

Thelma Gutierrez joins us now from Tucson with the latest from there. What do you mean by that, Thelma?

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, I spent some time with a police officer, a 15-year veteran of the Tucson Police Department. His name is Officer Martin Escobar. Now, Officer Escobar says that there is absolutely no way that he would ever be able to tell the difference between a person who is here legally and a person who is here illegally. So, he says, he would have to resort to what other police officers would resort to, which is a person's speech pattern, the way they look, and the car that they drive. He says that amounts to racial profiling. He believes it is unconstitutional, and so he filed a federal lawsuit against the governor, the state, even his own employer, the City of Tucson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

When this law was passed, did you take it personally?

MARTIN ESCOBAR, TUCSON POLICE OFFICER: It is personal. It is personal because, like I said, the experience that I have gone through. And, like I said, not only applies for the people here illegally, but for any other Mexican citizen that is here. And that's what I think this law targets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTIERREZ: Now, Officer Escobar is a naturalized citizen of the United States, he came here to the United States from Mexico as a child. Now he says, he has lots of problems with this law. He says, it is not fair, and in addition to that, he says that under this law, he could be open to a lawsuit. So, if a citizen were to determine that he is not adequately investigating undocumented suspects, he could actually face a lawsuit and he says, that's just simply too much for an officer to bear -- Don.

LEMON: Hey, Thelma, clarify this for me. He's not the officer. Hasn't one officer already sued over this thing? Is that the same person you spoke with?

GUTIERREZ: Yes, it is. In fact, Martin Escobar is the first officer to sue. A second officer, we understand, has also filed a lawsuit and he's from Phoenix.

LEMON: OK. Thelma Gutierrez, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thelma is going to stand by, we'll going continue to cover the story as well. GUTIERREZ: Meantime, 17 suspects have been arrested in the case of an Arizona police officer who was shot by an illegal -- an alleged illegal immigrant, I should say. The shooting sparked a manhunt in the desert south of Phoenix. The men who opened fire on the deputy are suspected of smuggling marijuana. The deputy was released from the hospital late Friday.

A dangerous afternoon for people in the mid south. Tornado watches and warnings in effect right now. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras tracking it all for you. And that same system causing flash flooding, particularly in Tennessee. Evacuations happening right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We want to check your top stories right now. President Barack Obama as we have been reporting here on CNN will get a firsthand look at the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He heads to the region tomorrow. The fast growing oil slick is closing in on fragile coastal wetlands and is already affecting the area's fishing industry. It is already the size of Puerto Rico. A state of emergency is in effect from Louisiana to Florida. And at this very moment, the Governor of Louisiana is holding a press conference in the state's capital, in Baton Rouge. Coming out of the press conference, the news, the governor says, he is concerned with BP's ability to respond to this tragedy. We'll update you on this.

Tornadoes tore through Arkansas this morning. Police say, one twister killed a woman and at least two dozen people are hurt. The twisters ripped homes apart, tossed cars in the air and toppled trees. The severe storms also swept a car off a bridge, presumably drowning the driver. More bad weather could hit the region tonight.

Heavy rains and flooding are soaking southwestern Tennessee right now. The floods have forced several hundred people to evacuate their homes near Memphis. And Memphis police say, many streets are impassable because of the high water. Tornado watches are in effect for parts of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. For the very latest on this storm, and weather around the country, we turn to our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. Busy day, Jacqui, for you.

JERAS: Yes, really is. You know, it was just exactly one week ago, Don, we were talking about the widespread risk of severe weather across parts of the Deep South. And here we go again. Shifted a little further to the west, though, at this hour. That watch you just mentioned, literally just expired. But I would not be surprised if we see an additional watch, particularly covering central parts of Tennessee and northern Alabama and northern Mississippi. Another new watch has been issued, though, over here into parts of Arkansas. This is what we call a PDS watch, or a particularly dangerous situation, which means the threat is extremely high for severe weather to break out here, meaning we could see 20 or more tornadoes. The type of tornadoes that stay on the ground for a very long period of time and do a lot of damage.

We're expecting development here in the next couple of hours. So, if you're looking out your window and you're saying to yourself, it is gorgeous, what do you mean, there is going to be tornadoes, there will be tornadoes in Arkansas later on this evening. So, be aware. Now, we do have one warning in place right now. And this is in Tennessee. There you can see the cell that we're talking about. This is Lawrence County. Possible tornado near Laredo. So, this is south of the Lawrenceburg area. And this is a Doppler radar indicated tornadoes. We don't have one on the ground now.

You saw the video of the flooding in Memphis. Look at all the heavy showers and thundershowers that are still rolling through that area. The bright green that you see on the map is where we have flash flood warnings. Which means, it is already occurring. So, this is very widespread. An additional two to four inches of rain can be expected on top of what you already have. And the numbers have just been phenomenal since 7:00 this morning, Don. Look at how much rain that you've seen across parts of the Tennessee Valley, Jackson, Tennessee, more than a foot. And that's been in less than 12 hours.

LEMON: Oh, boy. All right, Jacqui, thank you very much. We'll check back with our Jacqui Jeras.

It is the night politicos get posh. Look at that. A live look at the White House. And we show you that because the White House correspondents' dinner begins shortly and we'll have the view from the red carpet for you. And hear why this television judge, you know him? Why he wants to spend time behind bars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. There you see him right there. Our Mr. Mark Preston. Mark, slide over just a little bit, so we can get you in here. We'll talk about a star-studded night in Washington, D.C. but yet you're here in Atlanta because you want to hang out with us here. Talking about the White House correspondents dinner, gets under way soon. Mark Preston is here tonight. We're talking about the annual White House correspondents' dinner gets underway very soon. So, our Political Editor Mark Preston as I said is here tonight.

Mark, the big dinner and the president's speech, and before we do that, let's talk about and we'll get to the dinner, let's talk about this tragedy playing out on the gulf coast now. There are lots of folks who are upset because some are saying, oh, it's you know, the Obama administration's Katrina. Even in "The New York Times" today, they laid out the timeline. And it says, the administration criticized BP for response to the oil spill, but U.S. skipped chances to act. So, the government did skip chances to act. But is there a difference here? Is there some nuance here that we should be aware of?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: You know, Don. It certainly fits the story line. It is Louisiana; it is a natural -- not a natural catastrophe, this is a catastrophe though down in that neck of the woods. So, it is easy to say, this is another Katrina. I think the administration would argue that it is not and they have acted very quickly. Of course., we see in "The New York Times" however, where they question that and criticize that, the White House today puts out a blog posting where they detail everything that they have done since this tragedy occurred back on April 20th.

LEMON: That's whitehouse.gov. And that is the first -- if you go on whitehouse.gov, that's the first thing you are going to see today as the response to that.

PRESTON: The first thing you're going to see is a response and they'll going to have links to click all the way through. And they point out at this point right now, Don, that they have 2,000 people on the ground right now trying to deal with this disaster, with this oil now coming in towards the shoreline.

LEMON: I just wanted to read, there is something I wanted to read here as we were saying that. They were talking about -- the officials initially seem to underestimate the threat of the leak. Rear Admiral Mary E. Landry, the chief gulf coast official in charge of the response, said, on April 22nd, after the rig sank, that the oil was on the surface appeared to be merely residual oil from the fire, though she acknowledged it was unclear. Then it goes on and on and on, and talks about the homeland defense secretary saying, hey, listen, we don't even know exactly what it meant.

So, again, this is going to be -- this is going to play out -- for a while now and we expect the president to talk about it tonight, of course.

PRESTON: I can't imagine that he wouldn't mention it tonight. Of course, tonight, when you talk about the D.C. prom, this kind of nerd prom for wonks in Hollywood.

LEMON: What do you have there for us?

PRESTON: This shows you how important this has become, so to speak, here in Washington, D.C. They have their own magazine.

(LAUGHTER)

This is being put out actually by a local newspaper, a Capital Hill newspaper. "Politico," has put out this big glossy advertisement, or it just talks about this whole White House Correspondents' Dinner. But for all the fun that they'll talk about tonight, I can't imagine he won't talk about the seriousness.

LEMON: Let's get to some of the pictures we have, coming in by Twitter, twit picks, of course. Let's look at the first one. We have the first one? Who is this one from that we have here? OK. We're working on them. That's what we're being told.

This is Ed Henry.

(LAUGHTER)

Is that who I think it is? Is that Kim Kardashian with Ed Henry getting ready for --

PRESTON: That looks -- Let me tell you quick story about Ed Henry. 10 years ago we were sitting in my one-bedroom apartment in Washington, D.C. watching this dinner on television. And now, of course, Ed is going to all the soirees and pre-parties and he's hanging out with the likes of Kim Kardashian. I would like to say, I'm hanging out now with the likes of Don Lemon.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Who else do we have? The next one. You have another one coming up. Oh, there is our Dana Bash with Cheryl Hines from "Curb Your Enthusiasm," very funny. She plays the wife of Larry David on that show, or the ex-wife now.

So there you go. Looks like a fun, fun night. We'll have much, much more. I feel like if you ever watch TMZ and they go, now on TNN. So I feel like we're --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: So we'll see if the president talks about what is happening on the gulf coast. Should be very interesting.

Thank you very much for that, Mark Preston.

And make sure you stay with us for complete coverage of the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Kate Bolduan has reports on the red carpet coming up. And Mark and I will be here for an hour, at 8:00, with great highlights of past presidential speeches. We'll be live there as well. The coverage from the president's speech and the night's official entertainment for the president, and Jay Leno.

PRESTON: A big night.

LEMON: A big night, very interesting.

Let's move on now. We'll get to that in a minute. More of that in just a moment.

Businesses on the brink as the gulf coast get set for oil to reach the coastline. We're talking to a restaurant owner about how his business is being affected. Plus, this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As I look out at this class tonight, I realize, for four years, Michigan, you've been exposed to diverse thinkers and scholars, professors and students. Don't narrow that broad intellectual exposure just because you're leaving here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That is the president. We'll have more of his advice to the graduating class of 2010.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: It is a very busy news weekend for you. On the Gulf of Mexico, as we told you, the gulf coast, a grim situation is growing more desperate by the hour. The oil slick is drawing closer to the gulf coast and the fragile wetlands of south Louisiana. At the same time, engineers are working frantically on solutions, but attempts to shut off a valve, called a blowout preventer, have been fruitless.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal spoke for many today when he expressed his frustration with B.P.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY JINDAL, (R), GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA: As you know, this is day 12 of this incident. For well over a week now, we have been asking both B.P. and the Coast Guard for detailed plans on how to protect our coast, how to protect our state. We still haven't gotten those plans. But let's be clear, the oil that is leaking off shore, the oil coming on to our coast and threatens more than just our wildlife, our fisheries, our coast. This oil threatens our way of life. Here in Louisiana, we're going to do everything we can do. We're going to do what it takes to protect our way of --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Dauphin Island is a popular tourist destination located along the Alabama gulf near Mobile, Mobile Bay. Tourism officials like to boast about the sugar white sand on the beaches, but the oil slick off the coast could turn that white sand black.

Stephen Denmark owns a restaurant there and he is also a member of the city council.

Thank you so much for joining us this evening, sir. Good to talk to you. How are you doing?

STEPHEN DENMARK, GULF COAST RESTAURANT OWNER & CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Thank you. I'm great. Thank you.

LEMON: Yes. Even with the impending tragedy that you're seeing there and your livelihood being threatened, you're hopeful?

DENMARK: I'm praying that B.P., the government, and the Coast Guard and all of the people trying to save this island are successful. They have got about 2,000 people on the island. It's not just a tourist trap. This is a way of life for all the people that live here. And they're all real nervous at this point.

LEMON: Listen, they are comparing this -- this is being compared to Katrina and saying the potential tragedy in all of this could far outweigh Katrina especially when you look at businesses, family's livelihoods, how it will affect the environment and so on and so forth. How do you feel about that?

DENMARK: I agree with it totally. it will be ten times worse. Basically, we're looking at a ten-year recovery on an oil spill of this magnitude. That's from an engineering standpoint. So at that point, we're talking about no seafood, no -- we got crab, we got shrimp. We are -- 70 percent of the nation's seafood crop comes from the Gulf of Mexico.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Mr. Denmark, people who are looking around the country and they are watching this, and they may not realize the shrimp they have -- in some instances, they have crawfish or catfish or oysters or whatever, which I eat weekly, that's all going to be affected. You are -- you probably won't be able to do any type of oyster netting or anything like that if that oil sinks to the bottom and it gets on where those oyster beds are. and you won't be able to do any shrimping. The prices will go up. And you won't make any money at least for a year. And it could be years to come.

DENMARK: We're probably looking at a five-year window, if it turns out as bad as they're predicting, on another good seafood crop. On oysters, we may be looking at six years. So these are some rough numbers. We have a sea lab on the island. They're putting out some tentative projections. But this is going to be a major -- it affects the people that truck it, the people that make the ice, the people that have the fuel, the labor jobs, just transporting is monumental, this impact, not just the people that catch it and process it. That would be minor compared to what it is going to be as I see it today.

LEMON: Listen, one more question for you here. And that is it, is not as if -- I don't want to be presumptuous here. It is not as if you guys are millionaires, the people that sell seafood or fish it. You are struggling anyway because of the economy.

DENMARK: It is a fun business. It is a good lifestyle. No, you're not going to be a six-figure person every year in this type of industry. And the last two years have been tough already. This will be catastrophic, will be the word I'll use, to the mom and pop businesses, which is 90 percent of our business down here on Dauphin Island.

LEMON: And Stephen Denmark, as you said when I introduced you, you said you are hoping and praying that they get a handle on this. And we're hoping and praying with you.

Thank you very much for joining us. Best of luck to you. OK?

DENMARK: Thank you, all, for reporting it.

LEMON: Appreciate it.

We'll tell you that, tomorrow, Candy Crowley is talking with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on efforts to control the oil leak. Watch "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. eastern, right here on CNN.

I want to turn now to your top stories. In cities around the country today, protesters turned out in force to demand immigration reform. Tens of thousands of protesters marched in cities across California. Much of their outrage was aimed at neighboring Arizona. A new law requiring police to ask those they stop about the immigration status has reignited the national debate.

Congress has failed to act on immigration reform, but one House member made a statement of his own. Illinois Representative Louie Gutierrez was arrested at a protest outside the White House. The Democratic lawmaker was detained while demonstrating with protesters, wearing shirts that said arrest me, not my family. Gutierrez has been a strong supporter of immigration reform.

Some popular children's drugs are being pulled off store shelves because they may not meet quality standards. The voluntary recall covers dozens of over-the-counter children's medications including children's versions of Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl. The maker, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, says there are no reports of any medical problems. It says the recall is just a precaution.

More than 8,000 University of Michigan seniors received a presidential send off this morning. The president was their commencement speaker. Mr. Obama spoke of the need for government before a packed crowd of 80,000 at Michigan stadium. He took aim at extreme labels, saying words like Socialist and Fascist hinder the process of compromise. And he said he's troubled when he hears people saying government is inherently bad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Government is the roads you drove in on and the speed limits that kept you safe. Government is what insures that mines adhere to safety standards and oil spills are cleaned up by the companies that cause them. (APPLAUSE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And we should add, the president also receives an honorary Doctors of Law degree at that ceremony.

Young girls lured from Nepal to India by promises of a better life, but instead they're condemned to a live of sexual slavery. This week's "CNN Hero" made it a personal mission to rescue these girls. She goes inside brothels in India to bring us their stories.

(CNN HEROES)

LEMON: To nominate someone you think is changing the world, go to CNN.com/heroes.

Prisoners may see the road to staying straight as a dead end, right? But this TV judge is trying to keep them motivated toward a better life.

And this little guy just made his first appearance in the United States. Hear why we want to be his last -- we want it to be his last one. We'll tell you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. More and more states are releasing prisoners early. Do you want to know why? To save money. Now some say the need to help inmates reform and improve their lives is more urgent than ever. One judge is taking on the challenge to inspire the incarcerated since he knows exactly where they are coming from. We are talking about Judge Greg Mathis, who has spent 11 seasons presiding on TV on his own television show, and he also leads the black prisoner initiative called PEER, Prisoner Empowerment Education and Respect, Prisoner Empowerment Education and Respect.

Thank you, Judge Mathis, for taking the time to join us. Listen, as we said, you are a big-time judge. You have a very popular and successful television show. So what made you want to take on this challenge to start this program?

JUDGE GREG MATHIS, HOST, THE JUDGE MATHIS SHOW & CREATOR, PEER PRISONER PROGRAM: Well, first of all, many people who might know of my background know I'm an ex-offender as a kid. I was able to overcome that, get an education, go to law school, become a judge. Having had my record expunged. So I know there's a path of empowerment for those who are incarcerated. And it is necessary for us as a society to have those incarcerated come home as productive citizens. That's my inspiration.

One, it worked for me, and I'm giving back to those who need the same type of motivation, and, two, I want to make sure we are safe. And I want to make sure that we don't continue to spend more on incarcerating our young people than we do on educated our young people.

LEMON: That's you. And I've heard your story. I have seen it reported on television and heard it in person from you speaking. I have met you. You care. You are passionate about it. But how do you get others to care? How do you get people at home to care about prisoners?

MATHIS: That's a great question, Don. For the most part, society doesn't. If you are convicted and are in prison, they believe you deserve to be there and don't deserve any help.

I approach it from the standpoint of fiscal conservativism, even though I'm a Democrat.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: OK.

MATTHIS: The fact is, it is certainly more fiscal conservative to invest more on education and rehabilitation than just incarceration. Right now, we very few rehabilitation programs in the prisons and very few re-entry programs when they leave prison. So what happens is the 50,000 or so that we pay for a prisoner to be housed in jail for one year, he comes back two years later and we are paying the same $50,000 over and over.

LEMON: Here's what you are saying. It should be, we think, especially in a country based on freedom of religion, you would think the least of these, you would want to help, but you're saying, get to people in their wallets. The bottom line, and that will get them interested in doing this.

Listen, we saw some video of you in prison, talking to folks. Let's listen to you and we'll come back and talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATHIS: I started at McDonald's working in the parking lot. They wouldn't even let me inside the building. They said, yes, we see you have a record. You are working in the parking lot. I went from working in the parking lot to working the grill. Then they brought me in. So once again, I'm incremental success, I'm feeling good, at McDonald's. I'm feeling good about myself. I'm flipping the burgers. Then they put me on inventory. And the last thing was the cash register.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Judge, this is my last question to you. When you are talking to these and see lots of young face there is, we have been covering a lot of stories about the violence in Chicago and other cities. I am told there's a direct pipeline from the youth to those prisons and then back again.

MATHIS: Absolutely. There is certainly a negative role model in the urban areas where the youngsters follow the old heads, as they call them, who are involved in the criminal activity. But there's also a direct pipeline between failed education systems and the prison system. 80 percent of those in prison have no GED, no high school diploma, so we must also address the failing public schools in the urban areas of America.

LEMON: And education as well. We need to work on that inside the prisons.

MATHIS: Absolutely. Yes.

LEMON: Hey, Judge, thank you so much. Come back and talk to us. Update us, OK? We appreciate it.

MATHIS: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Good to see you.

The New York City Triathlon is one of the most grueling endurance challenges an athlete can do. In today's "Fit Nation," CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, checks up on two people training for that July event. Look at their stories.

(CNN FIT NATION)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Jacqui Jeras, now severe weather? JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Extreme threat here tonight, Don. We have been watching tornadoes developing across parts of the mid-south, and we have warnings in effect for Desoto, Marshall, Fayette Shelby, Marshall, Lawrence, Giles and Coffee Counties in Mississippi and Tennessee. It's this area of thunderstorms that's been tracking across this area. The watch has been dropped in this area, but don't be surprised if they issue another one.

And then our focus tonight over here for this PBS watch, as we call it, Don, in the Arklateks (ph). That means it is a particularly dangerous situation.

LEMON: All right, Jacque, thank you very much.

We'll see you at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm Don Lemon. Beginning in one hour, at 7:00 p.m. E astern, complete coverage of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, leading up to the president's speech and also Jay Leno.

"THE SITUATION ROOM" begins now. See you then.