Return to Transcripts main page
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Drive for Democracy; Prince Abdullah's Visit to Texas; Terror & Drugs
Aired April 25, 2005 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, the drive for democratization in the Middle East. A major victory for President Bush's drive for freedom in the region. Syrian troops quit Lebanon after more than a quarter century. Is the president's campaign against tyranny now succeeding?
Secret trade agreements. Congress debating a trade agreement with Central America. An agreement that's neither free nor fair. So says my guest tonight, the president of the Business and Industry Council, who declares the CAFTA agreement is simply another plan to outsource American jobs and industry to cheap labor markets.
And could it be the beginning of an intelligent approach to our immigration crisis? A guest worker bill that would not automatically give illegal aliens a certain pathway to citizenship. The bill's sponsor, Senator Saxby Chambliss, is our guest tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS, for news, debate and opinion, tonight.
DOBBS: Good evening.
Tonight, a major victory for President Bush's drive to promote freedom and democracy around the world. The last Syrian troops will leave Lebanon tomorrow after a 30-year occupation. Their withdrawal means Lebanon can now hold a general election without Syrian interference. The U.S. success in Lebanon is just the latest indication that President Bush's campaign against authoritarian regimes is making significant progress.
Kitty Pilgrim reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Syria withdrew the bulk of its convoys from Lebanon today after 29 years of military presence. The few hundred remaining military personnel will withdraw after a hand-over ceremony tomorrow. A success for the United States, which led the international pressure to demand Syrian withdrawal.
But, in addition to Syria, experts cite foreign policy successes in Afghanistan, Libya and even a glimmer of hope in Iraq, despite the recent violence. The essence of a beginning of a realization of a goal set by President Bush in his second inaugural address.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It's been a good three months for President Bush's doctrine of freedom and democracy. But I think we also have to remember that, A, there's a long ways to go in most of these places. And B, in many cases the local parties deserve more of the credit and have more of the influence on what's going on.
PILGRIM: The strongest case can be made for Afghanistan. Despite little progress in eradicating opium, there have been successful elections.
DANIELLE PLETKA, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Afghanistan is a miracle. If you think about where that country was several years ago, and you think about where it is now, democratically elected government, women in school, real development happening, it is absolutely amazing.
PILGRIM: Even those considered unlikely actors for democracy have shown willingness to cooperate with U.S. goals.
PETER BROOKES, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Moammar Qaddafi has made tremendous steps in coming to atone for his past support for international terrorism. That's not completely done yet. And he's begun to dismantle his weapons of mass destruction program.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now, in the case of Iraq, experts say despite the spike in violence, progress is being made in incremental ways. Election completed, the government is being formed. Progress is halting, Lou. And for that reason, few are willing to set out a timetable for success. They're just happy to report the progress.
Well, progress indeed. And much of that progress unimaginable even two years ago.
Kitty, thank you very much. Kitty Pilgrim.
President Bush today met with a leader of one of the world's last absolute monarchies, Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. But democracy was not the main item on the president's agenda today.
President Bush called upon Saudi Arabia to raise oil production to help cut energy costs in this country and around the world. Average gasoline prices in this country are now an average of $2.24 a gallon. But there are large regional differences, of course.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveax reports on Prince Abdullah's visit to Crawford, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BUSH: This is an important relationship, and I'm -- got a good personal relationship with the crown prince. I look forward to talking to him about a variety of subjects. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A complex relationship that spans the September 11 attacks, the war on terrorism, the politics and peace process of the Middle East, and a subject currently close to Americans pocketbooks, gas prices.
BUSH: The crown prince understands that it's very important for there to be a -- make sure that the price is reasonable.
MALVEAUX: President Bush wants Saudi Arabia to pump and export as much oil as possible to help keep U.S. gas prices down. But the Saudis, who've already pledged to boost their production over the next four years by as much as four million barrels a day, say there is little more they can do.
ABDEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: It will not make a difference if Saudi Arabia ships an extra million or two million barrels of crude oil to the United States. If you cannot refine it, it will not turn into gasoline.
MALVEAUX: And as for the pledge Saudis made one year ago to bring oil prices within a range of $22 to $28 a barrel, their spokesman said that's no longer realistic.
AL-JUBEIR: It is obvious given the last year, year and a half, that that price tag (ph) is unrealistic given the supply-demand situation.
MALVEAUX: And later in the day, following the formalities between the two leaders, a surreal scene. Royalty in Crawford's only hamburger joint, which also sells gas at $2.18 a gallon.
(on camera): Both U.S. and Saudi officials declared success today. The White House got more Saudi oil production, and the Saudis are on the verge of a deal to ease their way into the World Trade Organization.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Crawford, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be uncertain about whether democracy is entirely beneficial. Putin today declared that the collapse of the Soviet Empire was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the last century, in fact.
Speaking in his state of the nation address, Putin said the Soviet collapse simply encouraged the rise of separatist movements within Russia. But the Russian president also declared his key task is to continue Russia's development as a free nation.
In Iraq, an American soldier was killed today in a bomb attack on a U.S. convoy in Baghdad. There were two other attacks against U.S. convoys in Baghdad, but no reports of any casualties.
The Iraqi government today raised the death toll from four bombings in Iraq yesterday. Those bombings in Baghdad and Tikrit. The bombings killed 24 Iraqis, wounded nearly 60 others. Insurgents today also launched a new attack against Iraq's oil infrastructure, setting fire to two oil pumps near the northern city of Kirkuk.
A man accused of leading one of the world's top heroin trafficking rings is tonight in custody in the United States. Prosecutors say the Afghan man led an international trafficking organization that had close links with the former Taliban government in Afghanistan.
Deborah Feyerick has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities say he's one of the world's biggest heroin traffickers, Haji Bashir Noorzai, arrested Saturday after flying into New York's JFK Airport.
JOHN GILBRIDE, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION: His organization is responsible for sending kilos of heroin not only to the United States, but to many other countries as well. Hundreds of kilos of heroin.
FEYERICK: An amount carrying an estimated $50 million price tag on the street. The feds won't say why the drug kingpin came to the United States or who he may have been traveling with.
What they do say is that for nearly 15 years Noorzai and his associates worked with the Taliban, giving them weapons and soldiers. And in exchange, the Taliban turned a blind eye to the Afghan drug lord's opium crops, heroin labs and transport routes.
DAVID KELLEY, U.S. ATTORNEY: On one occasion in 1997, it is alleged that Taliban authorities in Afghanistan seized a truckload of morphine base that belonged to the Noorzai organization. It didn't take very long, however, for Mullah Mohammed Omar to have the drugs returned to Noorzai with Omar's personal apologies.
FEYERICK: Taliban leader Mullah Omar was an ally of Osama bin Laden. Omar and the Taliban were kicked out of Afghanistan by the U.S.-led invasion in retaliation for the 9/11 attacks.
Noorzai appeared before a federal judge in Manhattan. He entered no plea to drug conspiracy charges against him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Noorzai faces up to 10 years to life in prison if convicted. It's too soon to tell what kind of an impact his arrest will have on Afghanistan's overall heroin trade, a trade that makes up roughly half the country's economy -- Lou.
DOBBS: Noorzai obviously a leader, a chieftain in this trafficking. What is surprising here is that he is named, but the structure beneath him that would have been required, a very large structure, basically untouched? FEYERICK: Untouched. Prosecutors say that there could be more indictments later. But they said right now this is what they have got.
DOBBS: Deborah Feyerick, thank you as always.
Experts on the international drug trade say today's arrest will do in fact very little to cut opium production in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is responsible for about 90 percent of the world's production of opium poppies, the raw material for heroin.
About 15 warlords control that production nationwide, which has risen sharply since the United States overthrew the Taliban. Many of those warlords have ties to the government of President Hamid Karzai, a close ally of the United States.
Coming up next, a bitter battle in the Senate over the president's judicial nominees. How the outcome of that battle could affect courts all over the country.
And the escalating immigration crisis. I'll be talking with one U.S. senator who has a plan that would not grant citizenship to millions of illegal aliens.
Those stories and more coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A bitter battle tonight is under way in the Senate over the president's judicial nominees. Senate Democrats threatening to block some of the president's most conservative nominees using the filibuster. The Republican leadership, however, says it now has the votes to use the so-called nuclear option which would nullify the Democrats' filibuster.
Judy Woodruff reports from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Emotions are running high on both sides.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They certainly are, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist fanned the flames this weekend, taking part in a conservative Christian telecast called "Justice Sunday." The rally, held at a Kentucky mega-church, attacked Democrats for blocking the president's judicial nominees, with speakers casting the minority party as against people of faith. Frist, for his part, never invoked religion in his brief address.
FRIST: Either confirm the nominees or reject them, but don't leave them hanging. Don't leave our courts hanging. Don't leave our country hanging.
WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, in Washington, lawmakers say they are hoping to avoid a showdown over the so-called nuclear option, which would effectively take away Democrats' ability to filibuster judicial nominations by staging endless debates.
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), MINORITY WHIP: We want to avoid this constitutional confrontation. I really think it's going to do great damage to the Senate as an institution if the nuclear option is used.
WOODRUFF: Republicans say there's a simple solution: just give the president's picks an up-or-down vote.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY: I'm hoping that we'll be able to diffuse this controversy by getting back to the way we all comfortably operated until the last Congress.
WOODRUFF: But for now, stalemate, with Republicans insisting they have the votes to go nuclear, and Democrats threatening to shut down government if that happens.
Judy Woodruff, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: In the most event survey, two-thirds of all Americans say they are opposed to a rule change that would make it easier for Senate Republicans to approve President Bush's nominees. According to a new ABC News-"Washington Post" poll, 66 percent of Americans surveyed said Senate rules should not be changed. Twenty-eight percent said they should be changed.
San Diego's mayor has announced his resignation. His announcement come as federal investigators are looking into the city's finances.
Mayor Dick Murphy said it's clear the city needs a fresh start. Murphy recently won reelection after a legal battle and recount. He was named one of the country's three worst mayors by "TIME" magazine just last week. Mayor Murphy says he will leave office on the 15th of July.
The U.S. prison population, already the largest in the world, is exploding. There are now more than 2.1 million people in our prisons and jails. And women are the fastest growing segment of the prison population.
Christine Romans reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Our nation's prisons and jails are near capacity, taking in 932 more criminals every week. Much of the growth in the prison population due to violent offenders.
Since 1995, rapists, murders and armed robbers account for much of the population growth in state prisons. And it's a revolving door.
JEREMY TRAVIS, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: What do we do with the 630,000 people coming out of state and federal prison each yea?. That's four times more than came out of state and federal prison 20 years ago, 1,700 people a day. So when we put them in prison, we tend to forget that they all come out.
ROMANS: Three years after release, two out of every three prisoners are back behind bars.
The latest numbers from the Bureau of Justice Statistics are grim. 12.6 percent of black men in their late 20s are in prison, 3.6 percent of Hispanics, and 1.7 percent of white men. But women make up the fastest growing and most expensive population -- 103,000 women are locked up.
JASON ZIEDENBERG, JUSTICE POLICY INSTITUTE: Women are one of the faster growing segments of the prison population. And while it's pretty expensive to incarcerate men, you can expect to spend double the cost to incarcerate women because of the cost of their confinement and also the cost to society of their kids.
ROMANS: On average, it costs taxpayers $22,000 a year for each prisoner. There are 92,000 foreign criminals in our national prison system. That's an annual bill to American taxpayers of $2 billion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Two billion dollars, and 92,000 non-citizens may be low. When a criminal is booked, he's asked if he was born in the United States. If he says no, then immigration officials are flagged.
It's widely known on the street, you know, you don't offer that information if you get arrested. It's better to let everybody think you're an American.
DOBBS: How very accommodating of our correction officials and law enforcement to simply accept the word of a felon as to their country of origin without requiring proof.
ROMANS: Well, from looking at the numbers, it sounds like they are overwhelmed with a lot of other things in the federal prison system as well.
DOBBS: And the statistics that you offer in that report, two- thirds of all in prison within three years will return to prison?
ROMANS: It really is a revolving door, Lou. A revolving door. Two out of three will be back after three years.
DOBBS: A revolving door that now with 2.1 million people behind bars. Christine, thank you very much. Christine Romans.
There is new information tonight also about the number of people sentenced to death in this country. The Death Penalty Information Center says the number of people given death sentences last year, 125. While that may seem high, it is the lowest number since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, and the sixth consecutive year of decline. Coming up next, the Mexican government's latest effort to help its citizens cross our borders illegally. We'll have that special report. I'll be talking with a U.S. senator who has actually come up with an intelligent approach to our immigration crisis.
And ahead, the secret trade agreements. One leading expert who says CAFTA is nothing more than an outsourcing deal.
Those stories and more next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Hundreds of thousands of protesters this weekend flooded the streets of Mexico City. There to show support for that city's embattled mayor.
Mayor Andre Manuel Lopez Obrador is the leading candidate for president in 2006. He faces federal charges, however, over a land dispute.
Lopez Obrador claims political rivals, including President Vicente Fox, trumped up those charges in order to keep him out of the presidential race next year. Protesters, hundreds of thousands of them, carrying signs supporting the mayor and questioning the motives of the Mexican federal government.
New legislation proposed in Mexico would prohibit Mexican citizens from entering the United States illegally, but only at certain dangerous border crossings. The legislation would not make illegal entry into the United States a crime.
Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Crossing into the United States here or here would be against Mexican law. But apparently not here. Legislation proposed by Mexico's Senator Hector Osuna is clearly not an anti-illegal immigration bill.
SEN. HECTOR OSUNA, MEXICAN LEGISLATURE: This bill is a humanitarian-inspired bill that needs to clarify that there are dangerous areas and the government should do something to protect the lives of Mexicans, and whatever nationality they are, in crossing the desert in order to go to the United States.
TUCKER: Three hundred and sixty-nine people died in the desert attempting to enter the U.S. illegally along the Mexican border last year. For what seems like a simple humane idea, it's kicked up a lot of dirt.
JACK MARTIN, FAIR: The fact is that there are a lot of people that are making money in the smuggling business, whether it's the alien smuggling business or the drug smuggling business. And Mexico is well known for having a system that feeds that corruption money up to the top ranks of the government. TUCKER: The bill as proposed would not outlaw illegal immigration. It would instruct Mexican Police to round up would-be illegal aliens and move them to safer areas.
It's not given a good chance in passing for a reason even more emotional than money -- a rising sense of Mexican nationalism and growing anti-American sentiment ahead of next year's national elections in Mexico.
PROF. GEORGE GRAYSON, THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY: There's the sense that, oh, the U.S. is the big boy on the block, that we throw our weight around. That we, in effect, should open our borders to virtually unlimited immigration.
TUCKER: No one wants to be seen as doing America's work of securing the border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: The senator hopes that his legislation will make it out of the committee and on to the floor for a vote sometime this week. That would be ahead of the planned April 30 recess in the Mexican congress -- Lou.
DOBBS: The idea that Mexican citizens have a sense of entitlement, that they should be allowed to cross into our border illegally, migrate to this country illegally, is widespread in Mexico.
TUCKER: It's widespread. In fact, I've had people tell me they view the border as a surveyors' mistake. They don't recognize that line at all.
DOBBS: And the idea that the provincial governments, the Mexican federal government, the corruption, while no one wants to talk about it, is widespread, and no one wants to focus on this crisis and look to the southern border and say all the Mexican government has to do is stop its citizens from crossing.
TUCKER: Right. And there is -- seems to be no gain whatsoever for Mexican politicians. So they don't want to touch it in their country.
DOBBS: It is a remarkable mindset that a nation would prefer to have its citizens leave and to cross a border illegally rather than make a life better for them. That tells you just about all you need to know on this issue.
TUCKER: It does.
DOBBS: Bill Tucker. Thank you.
That brings us to the subject of our poll tonight. Do you believe the United States should hold Mexico responsible for its citizens' illegal crossing of our borders? Cast your vote, yes or no, at LouDobbs.com. We'll have the results as we always do later here in the broadcast. A group of Americans and Mexican citizens protested the Minuteman Project along the Arizona border this weekend. But those demonstrators didn't march or picket. Instead, they played a game of volleyball. You might say this is an apt metaphor.
That's right, the organizers of this protest against the Minutemen, well, the organizers set up a volleyball net, straddling the Arizona-Mexico border. The organizers said the game was intended to show unity between the residents of Naco, Arizona, and their neighbors south of the border.
Looking upon our border as nothing more than a volleyball net. Instructive.
Coming up next, the latest so-called free trade agreement. It isn't free. And it's not an agreement yet. Why one leading expert says it's just another plan to outsource American jobs to cheap labor markets.
Also ahead, could it be the beginning of an intelligent approach to our immigration crisis? I'll be talking with a U.S. senator who is sponsoring a guest worker bill that would not give illegal aliens a certain pathway to U.S. citizenship.
And an inspiring story of success and education in this country right here tonight. How one rural school in this country has been able to achieve remarkable results and with limited, very limited resources.
That story and a great deal more still ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: In just a moment, I'll be talking with the head of a group that has been fighting for American companies and American jobs for literally decades. In regard to CAFTA, our guest tonight says, when you are in a hole, stop digging.
Now here are some of the other important stories we're following tonight.
Police in Georgia have found the bodies of two missing children. The 2-year-old girl, the 3-year-old boy were found in a pond near their home in east Georgia. No arrests have been made. The cause of death uncertain tonight.
In Japan, the worst train crash in decades. Emergency workers in Tokyo tonight are still searching for survivors of the crash. More than 60 people were killed, 440 others were injured when the commuter train slammed into an apartment building.
And any signs of spring in the Midwest are now covered in snow. As much as two feet of snow falling in some parts. Temperatures dropped some 25 degrees below the average for this time of year.
Congress has begun debate on the latest so-called free trade agreement -- the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Kevin Kearns is president of the U.S. Business and Industry Council. And he says CAFTA is a just another plan to outsource American jobs and industry to cheap third world labor markets. Kearns says the CAFTA countries are too small, they're too poor to be a market for U.S. companies looking to expand exports. So what's going on here? Kevin Kearns will help us find out -- joining us tonight from Washington.
Good to have you with us.
KEVIN KEARNS, PRES. U.S. BUSINESS & INDUSTRY COUNCIL: It's good to be back, Lou. And I congratulate you and our staff on the great job you are doing in shining a spotlight on this critical issue.
DOBBS: Well, we thank you for that. And that issue tonight we ask you to illuminate for us, and that is CAFTA, its uncertain future in Congress, its actual affect on this country.
What's your opinion?
KEARNS: Well, CAFTA is a lot like NAFTA, which I know your viewers are familiar with. Eighty-five percent of the text is the same as NAFTA. And the 15 percent that's not the same is even worse than what was in NAFTA. And like NAFTA, CAFTA will lead to the loss of U.S. jobs. It will lead to the migration of U.S. factories to Central America. It will lead to suppression of wages for those of us who remain behind here and are still lucky enough to have a job. And it will allow China to use loopholes in the agreement to send even more textile and apparel goods to the United States.
It's a lose-lose, Lou. We have already a $2.3 billion trade deficit with these countries, and CAFTA is only going to accelerate that.
DOBBS: As you make the point, these countries have a combined GDP that approximates New Haven, Connecticut, in point of fact, hardly an attractive export market for U.S. products if we still have some to export. So the idea that this is an agreement to protect U.S. multinationals who want to outsource jobs and production, that's really all it amounts to in your view?
KEARNS: It's multinationals, and there are some textile makers that will try to set up shop down there and take advantage of it. But, you know, Lou, if we go back to 1993, the last year before NAFTA, and the World Trade Organization, and CBI, and PNTR for China, and all the trade agreements, we had roughly a 68, $69 billion trade deficit. Today it's 10 times that -- it's $618 billion. The first rule of holes is when you're in a deep one you stop digging, you figure out how to get out. Now CAFTA is an insult to the intelligence of the American people. It's a slap in the face to American workers and family owners. To think that these six little countries with this pitiful GDP, with people making $2 an hour are somehow going to help the United States compete against China and all the other East Asian countries is nonsense.
DOBBS: Kevin, let me ask you this. One does not have to be an economist to look at some rather stark numbers. You mentioned several of them. But 29 years, consecutive years of running a trade deficit on the part of this country. The argument that somehow we are -- we are not being competitive because our workers are stupid and unproductive. We created 22 million jobs in the last decade. Somehow this decade the past four or five years Americans have suddenly becoming stupid, and indolent. The idea that somehow cheap labor is going to change American industry.
What in the world is it going to take to wake up Congress to the realities that are staring all of us in the face?
KEARNS: You know, Lou, I don't know. I ask myself that question every day. What we're in is a situation you might call it a domestic manufacturing killing field. We seem to have a group of people in power, politicians, backed by multinational corporate money who -- they're going to remake the American economy, and they are oblivious to the effect. They don't care how many domestic companies close down. They don't care how many manufacturing jobs we lose. And somehow they have this religious belief in free trade. And you know at the end of this process we're going to come out of a better, stronger nation. It's not going to happen, Lou.
DOBBS: It's not going to happen. It's not happening. It hasn't happened for 29 years. You mentioned politicians in Washington, D.C. -- let's be clear. You're talking about Democrats and Republicans alike who have sold out to U.S. multinationals, multinationals, corporate America, and frankly the worker, the middle class in this country be damned. That's the bottom line.
KEARNS: Yes, the fact is the American people haven't really had a raise in these 29 years, Lou. They haven't had a raise since the conclusion of the Tokyo round of trade talks back in the early 70s. And the way they increased their standard of living was spouses went out to work, kids worked part time, et cetera. So, we're tearing the fabric of the middle class apart. And with each new trade agreement more and more American workers are tumbling down the wage and job scale. There's a Chinese proverb, trees don't grow to the sky. Well, in this case the trade deficits, they're extremely large and growing. And eventually they will cause a dollar crisis. And we're going to be in a period of world-wide recession or depression.
DOBBS: You know, we can talk about that sort of thing, Kevin, a lot of people's eyes -- just they glaze over.
KEARNS: Yes.
DOBBS: But lets talk about this conceptually, because -- and talk about 29 consecutive years of trade deficit. People say, oh, that's dry economics. But think about what those 29 years have brought, if you would. Twenty-nine years of deficits, rising debt, increased foreign ownership of U.S. assets and claims on those assets, a declining dollar. And the fact of the matter is that women have entered the work force at a -- just an astronomical rate over that period of time. Not because purely their freedom to do so, but the necessity to support a family. Look at what happened in education in this country, and our manufacturing base. There has to be some thought given about the causal relationships there, don't you think? KEARNS: Well, there certainly should be, but there doesn't seem to be in Washington. The nomination of Rob Portman -- who's a nice man, I'm sure he's a well meaning man -- to be U.S. trade representative. Here's a congressman who voted for every single one of these trade agreements. And when he's pressed at his hearing they say, what are you going to do about China, for instance? He says, well, I'll get tougher. Well, that's not good enough.
Where's the plan? We're spending all this plan debating CAFTA, no one's talking about the 800-pound gorilla in the room, which is China. Doing something, you know, which is a figleaf on China does not make CAFTA any better. CAFTA is a bad agreement on its own terms. And we have to tackle these East Asian economies that are -- have all these unfair trade practices.
DOBBS: I think I agree with you on so much of that. But I have to say as we sit here and we talk about legislation to punish, if you will, or coerce China on its trade policies, the fact is it is, in some ways to me, reflective of the fact we can't get our own house in order. We should be looking how we can adjust our trade policies to make sense. Drive exports to those markets. But people in this country need to understand we have diminished our manufacturing base to the point if things change today, and we were able to start export, we don't have the base to do it to eliminate that deficit.
KEARNS: That's true, Lou. And many of the companies that still exist are hanging on by a thread, including companies as large as General Motors and Ford. But just to be clear. I'm not saying we press China and beat up China. You are right, Lou, like immigration the solution has to start at our own borders, in our own country. That's what we can control. We can't control what the Mexicans do or the Chinese do or Central Americans do. We can control who and what we let into our country.
DOBBS: Absolutely. Kevin Kearns, as always, good to talk to you. Thank you for being here.
KEARNS: Good to see you, Lou.
DOBBS: And it reminds us that the toughest challenge for the courage of our policy makers and lawmakers is to deal with the issue at home rather than abroad. It's much easier to take on the Chinese sometimes, nearly always than ourselves. Kevin Kearns, thanks for being here.
KEARNS: Thank you, Lou.
DOBBS: "Tonight's Thought" is on being an American. "There can be no 50/50 Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100 percent Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else." One Theodore Roosevelt with some pretty wise thoughts for consideration.
Taking a look now at some of your thoughts for consideration.
Gene in Marshal, Minnesota, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that the U.S. citizens in the Minuteman Project are doing a job that American lawmakers won't do."
Mike Zimmerman in Ocala, Florida, "I have a suggestion, let's have several bus lines load up the illegal aliens at the border and take them to Washington D.C. Drop them off at the steps of the White House and explain that this is where the land of opportunity begins. After several hundred thousand arrive, let's see if Congress and the president sing the same tune."
Bobbi in New Lennox, Illinois, "Hospitals can't ask a patient if they are legal citizens? Yet, they can ask for ME for my insurance card before they will even treat me. Is there something wrong with this picture?"
Nah.
Robert Bishup in Buffalo, New York, "We need to look in both directions when patrolling our borders so that we may stop illegal workers coming in and American jobs from going out!"
And many of you wrote in about a controversial immigration bill we told you about last week that would fine illegal aliens, but allow them to stay in this country.
Roger Jones of San Diego, California: "Is Senator McCain and Senator Kennedy's immigration fine proposal really offering to 'sell' American citizenship to lawbreakers?"
And Phil in Paso Robles, California: "I was always taught that if you help someone commit illegal acts, you are an accessory (like driving the getaway car). It seems to me that me that these Congressmen and Senators who are trying to help illegal aliens stay in this country and obtain benefits through our government are just as guilty as the illegals themselves."
Send us your thoughts at LouDobbs.com. Each of you whose e-mail is read here receive as copy of my book, "Exporting America." Also, if you would like to receive our e-mail newsletter, it's on our website, LouDobbs.com. Sign up there.
Federal probation officials are investigating whether Martha Stewart has violated the terms of her house arrest. Stewart attended a dinner last week where she was honored at one of "Time" magazine's 100 most influential people. Probation officials gave Stewart permission to attend the event. That's right -- they gave her permission, but now they are investigating Martha Stewart's attendance. Second guessing their own decision because of questions raised by the "New York Post."
Stewart is only allowed to leave her home for religious services, food shopping, medical appointments and work. So, even though they gave her permission ahead of time to attend the event, now government officials want to determine whether she was actually entitled to attend the event related to work. This is your government at work -- unbelievable.
One senator's plan for a guest worker program that would not give illegal aliens a path to citizenship joins us here next.
And, how one school sharply improved the test scores of its students and changed the lives of its students forever. We will have that absolute success story on education in this country next. It's worth waiting for. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: I just want to point out -- Kevin Kearns, our guest, president of the U.S. Business and Industry Council, wanted me to remind all of you watching that the only way to succeed on CAFTA, if you are opposed to CAFTA, is to let your representatives, your congressman and your senators, know exactly how you feel. He strongly urged you to do so.
Well, my next guest has introduced legislation to create a guest worker program for illegal alien farm workers in this country. No, it's not the so-called Ag-Jobs bill. Senator Chambliss' program would allow illegal aliens to stay in the country legally for as up to as many as nine years, yet it is quite different in certain respects from that Ag-Jobs bill which would grant legal status to a million illegal aliens and their families.
Joining me now from Capitol Hill is Senator Saxby Chambliss. He's chairman of the Agriculture Committee. Good to have you with us, Senator.
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: Always good to be with you, Lou.
DOBBS: Your proposal was defeated, as was Senator Craig's, as amendments to the spending supplemental. Do you think we're going to see significant progress this year?
CHAMBLISS: Well, Lou, I hope so, because what every American needs to understand is that this is a really serious problem we have, relative to illegal aliens in this country. Just by virtue of the fact that we don't know whether it's eight million or 13 million tells you that the size of the problem. There's a five million gap there that we don't even know whether or not it exists. So, it's a serious problem.
It is a real challenge on our judicial system in this country, our educational system, as well as our healthcare system, and what Senator Kyl from Arizona and I tried to do was, first of all, defeat the Ag-Jobs bill, because I think it's a bad piece of legislation. I think you grant amnesty to anybody and give them a pathway to citizenship, that's not the American way.
But, we do need to recognize a lot of these people here illegally need to be identified. We need to know who they are, and if they are here for the right reasons then we can deal with them, but if they are here for the wrong reasons we need to load them up and ship them out. We'll never do that until we identify them, and I think we made a giant step last week.
DOBBS: That giant step just being the introduction of the legislation, the amendment, even though it was defeated.
Now, Senator Craig is adamant that he is helping agriculture, that there's not a problem with letting a farm worker, an illegal alien farm worker, in this country for a year get on the pathway to citizenship. Your bill would not do that, correct?
CHAMBLISS: It wouldn't, Lou, and I just -- Larry and I have a very serious disagreement about that. He's my good friend and he's a great conservative member of the Senate, but I think an overwhelming majority of Americans just don't want to see people break the law to come in this country and be rewarded by giving them a pathway to citizenship.
That is just -- citizenship is something that's precious, it's something that's unique to Americans, and those people who want to come to this country, as all of our forefathers did, and be here for the right reasons, come here in the right way, then, sure, we need to recognize those folks and we have immigration laws to deal with them and grant them citizenship. But those people who come here illegally, don't need to be rewarded for breaking the law and entering the United States.
DOBBS: Have you heard from any of the so-called open borders activist groups, the illegal immigration supportive activist groups, and how do they feel about your bill?
CHAMBLISS: Well, I'm not sure that I've heard from any of the groups, as such. We have a number of organizations that do support our bill, and the primary one is the American Farm Bureau which is a very conservative organization, has been very strongly supportive of us. They were supportive of the Craig bill in the last couple of sessions, but we have been contacted by a number of individuals, particularly, Lou, who are concerned about this issue and who are very much involved and wanted to see something positive happen last week, relative to migrant workers, for agriculture, but, unfortunately, we weren't able to get that done.
DOBBS: Now, you just used the expression "migrant worker" which is the term of art, if you will, when I was growing up and working in fields as a young fellow. Workers moved all over the country. By the way, they were not simply from Mexico or Central America, they were all sorts of people who took on that labor.
But one of the things that I -- that occurs to me, Senator, and I know it must have, you. You know, not only is the illegal alien breaking a law, but so are the employers. And Senator Craig said here one night, we talked about -- 80 percent of the agricultural interests in this country have hired illegal aliens. To what degree are we rewarding them and letting them prosecute their own interest at the expense of the taxpayer and our own laws? Is there any penalty imposed on them?
CHAMBLISS: What has happened, Lou, is that we have made it almost mandatory that these agricultural employers hire these illegals because it is so cumbersome to go through the process of getting folks here legally to work in agriculture. Over the years, the American government and a lot of us -- it's been due to the fact we simply don't have the manpower to police the programs -- we've simply shut an eye to these illegals that are here, and it's awful easy now to find them.
But, one of the primary differences between the Ag-Jobs bill and my bill is the fact that we did put the burden on the employer. We make the employer apply for the card that -- for the individual, which says, I need this individual, he has a job here, he's not violated the law of the United States other than being here illegally, and, most importantly, he is not displacing American worker. Now, when you put that...
DOBBS: As a requirement for the employer to proceed. Senator, we're out of time. I appreciate your time.
CHAMBLISS: Sure.
DOBBS: You and Senator Kyl are to be commended for advancing the discussion, the very critical, critically important discussion on this crisis that faces the country. Saxby Chambliss, we thank you for being here as always.
CHAMBLISS: Thank you, Lou.
DOBBS: Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint near the Arizona- Mexico border seized more than 800 pounds of contraband from a man trying to smuggle it into this country. The contraband, 800 pounds of it, was baloney.
Our quote of the day tonight is from Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner. In a statement about that seizure, Commissioner Bonner said the checkpoints now allow the Border Patrol to, quote, "better coordinate inspection and enforcement on everything from illegal drugs and illegal aliens to prohibited agricultural products." Not least among them, baloney.
And a reminder now to vote in our poll -- do you believe the United States should hold Mexico responsible for its citizens' illegal crossing of our borders. Cast your vote at LouDobbs.com. We'll have the results coming up here in just a few minutes.
At the top of the hour on CNN, "ANDERSON COOPER 360," the five biggest fears facing Americans. Rudi Bakhtiar is sitting in for Anderson tonight and joins us with a preview -- Rudi.
RUDI BAKHTIAR, GUEST HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Thank you, Lou. Coming up next on a special edition of "360," terrorism, violent crime, cocaine, crystal meth, sexual predators. What scares Americans the most? We're going to take you beyond the headlines on the top five. Anderson Cooper takes you inside one of America's most dangerous neighborhoods.
Plus, crystal meth in the heartland. How this deadly drug is invading rural neighborhoods.
Also, the mind of a sexual offender. Can they be cured, or should they be locked away for life? Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a closer look at that. That and a lot more at the top of the hour -- Lou.
DOBBS: Americans' fears -- Rudi, thank you. Americans are fearless. We'll find out what little dents in the armor there might be. Thanks, Rudi.
BAKHTIAR: A few small fears, Lou, and we're going to check them out for you.
DOBBS: A remarkable story of success in education tonight. How one small-town middle school has achieved dramatic improvement for its students with very little money and few resources. We'll have that story. A remarkable, an inspirational story next here on LOU DOBBS TONIGHT. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: We report here extensively on the problems of public education in this country -- the crisis, the tremendous challenges facing our educators. Tonight, we want to share with you a truly remarkable example of success in public education: One school that found a way to make dramatic improvements with limited resources. Lisa Sylvester reports from Warren County, Georgia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Warren County Middle School in rural Georgia is 92 percent African-American. The entire student body qualifies for the free lunch program. Usually when poverty runs high, school test scores are low. But this school proved otherwise.
PRINCIPAL TRUETT ABBOTT, WARREN COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL: We have come from being one of the, if not the, lowest scoring system in the eighth grade in 2000 to being very competitive at this point. We just -- we're not going to take a back seat to anyone.
SYLVESTER (on camera): Four years ago, only 34 percent of the eighth graders were reading at grade level, and only 14 percent had passing math scores. Now more than 83 percent of the students are passing math and reading.
(voice-over): A gain of more than 50 percentage points. The school beat the state average for math by 15 points, and eliminated the achievement gap between students in suburban wealthy school districts and minority rural areas.
MOIRA MCNEIL, TEACHER: I'll take my child in Warren County, and I'll place them anywhere -- California, New York -- and I believe -- I tell them all the time, they are just as capable as anyone else.
SYLVESTER: In 2000, Principal Abbott, a former business executive, found that students couldn't read well enough to understand test questions. A nine-week intensive review of phonics turned that around.
The school also required more at-home reading and reduced discipline problems by separating older and younger students.
CRYSTAL GILLOM, 8TH GRADE STUDENT: It makes me happy because I know that (INAUDIBLE) in a small town, but it shows that (INAUDIBLE). We're very smart.
SYLVESTER: Smart students now in a position for even greater success in the future.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Warren County, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Outstanding, Warren County. And to Principal Abbott for bringing to our attention the remarkable progress and success of that group of educators. All the best for the years ahead.
Still ahead, the results of our poll tonight. A preview of what's ahead here tomorrow. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The results of our poll tonight -- 95 percent of you say the United States should hold Mexico responsible for its citizens' illegal crossing of our borders; 5 percent disagree.
Thanks for being with us tonight. Please join us here tomorrow. I'll be talking with a Latino-American woman who is fighting to stop illegal aliens from crossing our borders. She says it has nothing to do with race.
And challenging Congress to face the escalating immigration crisis in this country. I'll be talking with a man who's taken his fight to Capitol Hill.
Please be with us. For all of us here, good night from New York. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" starts right now, with Rudi Bakhtiar sitting in -- Rudi.
BAKHTIAR: Thank you, Lou.
END
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 25, 2005 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, the drive for democratization in the Middle East. A major victory for President Bush's drive for freedom in the region. Syrian troops quit Lebanon after more than a quarter century. Is the president's campaign against tyranny now succeeding?
Secret trade agreements. Congress debating a trade agreement with Central America. An agreement that's neither free nor fair. So says my guest tonight, the president of the Business and Industry Council, who declares the CAFTA agreement is simply another plan to outsource American jobs and industry to cheap labor markets.
And could it be the beginning of an intelligent approach to our immigration crisis? A guest worker bill that would not automatically give illegal aliens a certain pathway to citizenship. The bill's sponsor, Senator Saxby Chambliss, is our guest tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS, for news, debate and opinion, tonight.
DOBBS: Good evening.
Tonight, a major victory for President Bush's drive to promote freedom and democracy around the world. The last Syrian troops will leave Lebanon tomorrow after a 30-year occupation. Their withdrawal means Lebanon can now hold a general election without Syrian interference. The U.S. success in Lebanon is just the latest indication that President Bush's campaign against authoritarian regimes is making significant progress.
Kitty Pilgrim reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Syria withdrew the bulk of its convoys from Lebanon today after 29 years of military presence. The few hundred remaining military personnel will withdraw after a hand-over ceremony tomorrow. A success for the United States, which led the international pressure to demand Syrian withdrawal.
But, in addition to Syria, experts cite foreign policy successes in Afghanistan, Libya and even a glimmer of hope in Iraq, despite the recent violence. The essence of a beginning of a realization of a goal set by President Bush in his second inaugural address.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It's been a good three months for President Bush's doctrine of freedom and democracy. But I think we also have to remember that, A, there's a long ways to go in most of these places. And B, in many cases the local parties deserve more of the credit and have more of the influence on what's going on.
PILGRIM: The strongest case can be made for Afghanistan. Despite little progress in eradicating opium, there have been successful elections.
DANIELLE PLETKA, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Afghanistan is a miracle. If you think about where that country was several years ago, and you think about where it is now, democratically elected government, women in school, real development happening, it is absolutely amazing.
PILGRIM: Even those considered unlikely actors for democracy have shown willingness to cooperate with U.S. goals.
PETER BROOKES, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Moammar Qaddafi has made tremendous steps in coming to atone for his past support for international terrorism. That's not completely done yet. And he's begun to dismantle his weapons of mass destruction program.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now, in the case of Iraq, experts say despite the spike in violence, progress is being made in incremental ways. Election completed, the government is being formed. Progress is halting, Lou. And for that reason, few are willing to set out a timetable for success. They're just happy to report the progress.
Well, progress indeed. And much of that progress unimaginable even two years ago.
Kitty, thank you very much. Kitty Pilgrim.
President Bush today met with a leader of one of the world's last absolute monarchies, Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. But democracy was not the main item on the president's agenda today.
President Bush called upon Saudi Arabia to raise oil production to help cut energy costs in this country and around the world. Average gasoline prices in this country are now an average of $2.24 a gallon. But there are large regional differences, of course.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveax reports on Prince Abdullah's visit to Crawford, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BUSH: This is an important relationship, and I'm -- got a good personal relationship with the crown prince. I look forward to talking to him about a variety of subjects. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A complex relationship that spans the September 11 attacks, the war on terrorism, the politics and peace process of the Middle East, and a subject currently close to Americans pocketbooks, gas prices.
BUSH: The crown prince understands that it's very important for there to be a -- make sure that the price is reasonable.
MALVEAUX: President Bush wants Saudi Arabia to pump and export as much oil as possible to help keep U.S. gas prices down. But the Saudis, who've already pledged to boost their production over the next four years by as much as four million barrels a day, say there is little more they can do.
ABDEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: It will not make a difference if Saudi Arabia ships an extra million or two million barrels of crude oil to the United States. If you cannot refine it, it will not turn into gasoline.
MALVEAUX: And as for the pledge Saudis made one year ago to bring oil prices within a range of $22 to $28 a barrel, their spokesman said that's no longer realistic.
AL-JUBEIR: It is obvious given the last year, year and a half, that that price tag (ph) is unrealistic given the supply-demand situation.
MALVEAUX: And later in the day, following the formalities between the two leaders, a surreal scene. Royalty in Crawford's only hamburger joint, which also sells gas at $2.18 a gallon.
(on camera): Both U.S. and Saudi officials declared success today. The White House got more Saudi oil production, and the Saudis are on the verge of a deal to ease their way into the World Trade Organization.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Crawford, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be uncertain about whether democracy is entirely beneficial. Putin today declared that the collapse of the Soviet Empire was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the last century, in fact.
Speaking in his state of the nation address, Putin said the Soviet collapse simply encouraged the rise of separatist movements within Russia. But the Russian president also declared his key task is to continue Russia's development as a free nation.
In Iraq, an American soldier was killed today in a bomb attack on a U.S. convoy in Baghdad. There were two other attacks against U.S. convoys in Baghdad, but no reports of any casualties.
The Iraqi government today raised the death toll from four bombings in Iraq yesterday. Those bombings in Baghdad and Tikrit. The bombings killed 24 Iraqis, wounded nearly 60 others. Insurgents today also launched a new attack against Iraq's oil infrastructure, setting fire to two oil pumps near the northern city of Kirkuk.
A man accused of leading one of the world's top heroin trafficking rings is tonight in custody in the United States. Prosecutors say the Afghan man led an international trafficking organization that had close links with the former Taliban government in Afghanistan.
Deborah Feyerick has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities say he's one of the world's biggest heroin traffickers, Haji Bashir Noorzai, arrested Saturday after flying into New York's JFK Airport.
JOHN GILBRIDE, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION: His organization is responsible for sending kilos of heroin not only to the United States, but to many other countries as well. Hundreds of kilos of heroin.
FEYERICK: An amount carrying an estimated $50 million price tag on the street. The feds won't say why the drug kingpin came to the United States or who he may have been traveling with.
What they do say is that for nearly 15 years Noorzai and his associates worked with the Taliban, giving them weapons and soldiers. And in exchange, the Taliban turned a blind eye to the Afghan drug lord's opium crops, heroin labs and transport routes.
DAVID KELLEY, U.S. ATTORNEY: On one occasion in 1997, it is alleged that Taliban authorities in Afghanistan seized a truckload of morphine base that belonged to the Noorzai organization. It didn't take very long, however, for Mullah Mohammed Omar to have the drugs returned to Noorzai with Omar's personal apologies.
FEYERICK: Taliban leader Mullah Omar was an ally of Osama bin Laden. Omar and the Taliban were kicked out of Afghanistan by the U.S.-led invasion in retaliation for the 9/11 attacks.
Noorzai appeared before a federal judge in Manhattan. He entered no plea to drug conspiracy charges against him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Noorzai faces up to 10 years to life in prison if convicted. It's too soon to tell what kind of an impact his arrest will have on Afghanistan's overall heroin trade, a trade that makes up roughly half the country's economy -- Lou.
DOBBS: Noorzai obviously a leader, a chieftain in this trafficking. What is surprising here is that he is named, but the structure beneath him that would have been required, a very large structure, basically untouched? FEYERICK: Untouched. Prosecutors say that there could be more indictments later. But they said right now this is what they have got.
DOBBS: Deborah Feyerick, thank you as always.
Experts on the international drug trade say today's arrest will do in fact very little to cut opium production in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is responsible for about 90 percent of the world's production of opium poppies, the raw material for heroin.
About 15 warlords control that production nationwide, which has risen sharply since the United States overthrew the Taliban. Many of those warlords have ties to the government of President Hamid Karzai, a close ally of the United States.
Coming up next, a bitter battle in the Senate over the president's judicial nominees. How the outcome of that battle could affect courts all over the country.
And the escalating immigration crisis. I'll be talking with one U.S. senator who has a plan that would not grant citizenship to millions of illegal aliens.
Those stories and more coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A bitter battle tonight is under way in the Senate over the president's judicial nominees. Senate Democrats threatening to block some of the president's most conservative nominees using the filibuster. The Republican leadership, however, says it now has the votes to use the so-called nuclear option which would nullify the Democrats' filibuster.
Judy Woodruff reports from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Emotions are running high on both sides.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They certainly are, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist fanned the flames this weekend, taking part in a conservative Christian telecast called "Justice Sunday." The rally, held at a Kentucky mega-church, attacked Democrats for blocking the president's judicial nominees, with speakers casting the minority party as against people of faith. Frist, for his part, never invoked religion in his brief address.
FRIST: Either confirm the nominees or reject them, but don't leave them hanging. Don't leave our courts hanging. Don't leave our country hanging.
WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, in Washington, lawmakers say they are hoping to avoid a showdown over the so-called nuclear option, which would effectively take away Democrats' ability to filibuster judicial nominations by staging endless debates.
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), MINORITY WHIP: We want to avoid this constitutional confrontation. I really think it's going to do great damage to the Senate as an institution if the nuclear option is used.
WOODRUFF: Republicans say there's a simple solution: just give the president's picks an up-or-down vote.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY: I'm hoping that we'll be able to diffuse this controversy by getting back to the way we all comfortably operated until the last Congress.
WOODRUFF: But for now, stalemate, with Republicans insisting they have the votes to go nuclear, and Democrats threatening to shut down government if that happens.
Judy Woodruff, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: In the most event survey, two-thirds of all Americans say they are opposed to a rule change that would make it easier for Senate Republicans to approve President Bush's nominees. According to a new ABC News-"Washington Post" poll, 66 percent of Americans surveyed said Senate rules should not be changed. Twenty-eight percent said they should be changed.
San Diego's mayor has announced his resignation. His announcement come as federal investigators are looking into the city's finances.
Mayor Dick Murphy said it's clear the city needs a fresh start. Murphy recently won reelection after a legal battle and recount. He was named one of the country's three worst mayors by "TIME" magazine just last week. Mayor Murphy says he will leave office on the 15th of July.
The U.S. prison population, already the largest in the world, is exploding. There are now more than 2.1 million people in our prisons and jails. And women are the fastest growing segment of the prison population.
Christine Romans reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Our nation's prisons and jails are near capacity, taking in 932 more criminals every week. Much of the growth in the prison population due to violent offenders.
Since 1995, rapists, murders and armed robbers account for much of the population growth in state prisons. And it's a revolving door.
JEREMY TRAVIS, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: What do we do with the 630,000 people coming out of state and federal prison each yea?. That's four times more than came out of state and federal prison 20 years ago, 1,700 people a day. So when we put them in prison, we tend to forget that they all come out.
ROMANS: Three years after release, two out of every three prisoners are back behind bars.
The latest numbers from the Bureau of Justice Statistics are grim. 12.6 percent of black men in their late 20s are in prison, 3.6 percent of Hispanics, and 1.7 percent of white men. But women make up the fastest growing and most expensive population -- 103,000 women are locked up.
JASON ZIEDENBERG, JUSTICE POLICY INSTITUTE: Women are one of the faster growing segments of the prison population. And while it's pretty expensive to incarcerate men, you can expect to spend double the cost to incarcerate women because of the cost of their confinement and also the cost to society of their kids.
ROMANS: On average, it costs taxpayers $22,000 a year for each prisoner. There are 92,000 foreign criminals in our national prison system. That's an annual bill to American taxpayers of $2 billion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Two billion dollars, and 92,000 non-citizens may be low. When a criminal is booked, he's asked if he was born in the United States. If he says no, then immigration officials are flagged.
It's widely known on the street, you know, you don't offer that information if you get arrested. It's better to let everybody think you're an American.
DOBBS: How very accommodating of our correction officials and law enforcement to simply accept the word of a felon as to their country of origin without requiring proof.
ROMANS: Well, from looking at the numbers, it sounds like they are overwhelmed with a lot of other things in the federal prison system as well.
DOBBS: And the statistics that you offer in that report, two- thirds of all in prison within three years will return to prison?
ROMANS: It really is a revolving door, Lou. A revolving door. Two out of three will be back after three years.
DOBBS: A revolving door that now with 2.1 million people behind bars. Christine, thank you very much. Christine Romans.
There is new information tonight also about the number of people sentenced to death in this country. The Death Penalty Information Center says the number of people given death sentences last year, 125. While that may seem high, it is the lowest number since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, and the sixth consecutive year of decline. Coming up next, the Mexican government's latest effort to help its citizens cross our borders illegally. We'll have that special report. I'll be talking with a U.S. senator who has actually come up with an intelligent approach to our immigration crisis.
And ahead, the secret trade agreements. One leading expert who says CAFTA is nothing more than an outsourcing deal.
Those stories and more next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Hundreds of thousands of protesters this weekend flooded the streets of Mexico City. There to show support for that city's embattled mayor.
Mayor Andre Manuel Lopez Obrador is the leading candidate for president in 2006. He faces federal charges, however, over a land dispute.
Lopez Obrador claims political rivals, including President Vicente Fox, trumped up those charges in order to keep him out of the presidential race next year. Protesters, hundreds of thousands of them, carrying signs supporting the mayor and questioning the motives of the Mexican federal government.
New legislation proposed in Mexico would prohibit Mexican citizens from entering the United States illegally, but only at certain dangerous border crossings. The legislation would not make illegal entry into the United States a crime.
Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Crossing into the United States here or here would be against Mexican law. But apparently not here. Legislation proposed by Mexico's Senator Hector Osuna is clearly not an anti-illegal immigration bill.
SEN. HECTOR OSUNA, MEXICAN LEGISLATURE: This bill is a humanitarian-inspired bill that needs to clarify that there are dangerous areas and the government should do something to protect the lives of Mexicans, and whatever nationality they are, in crossing the desert in order to go to the United States.
TUCKER: Three hundred and sixty-nine people died in the desert attempting to enter the U.S. illegally along the Mexican border last year. For what seems like a simple humane idea, it's kicked up a lot of dirt.
JACK MARTIN, FAIR: The fact is that there are a lot of people that are making money in the smuggling business, whether it's the alien smuggling business or the drug smuggling business. And Mexico is well known for having a system that feeds that corruption money up to the top ranks of the government. TUCKER: The bill as proposed would not outlaw illegal immigration. It would instruct Mexican Police to round up would-be illegal aliens and move them to safer areas.
It's not given a good chance in passing for a reason even more emotional than money -- a rising sense of Mexican nationalism and growing anti-American sentiment ahead of next year's national elections in Mexico.
PROF. GEORGE GRAYSON, THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY: There's the sense that, oh, the U.S. is the big boy on the block, that we throw our weight around. That we, in effect, should open our borders to virtually unlimited immigration.
TUCKER: No one wants to be seen as doing America's work of securing the border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: The senator hopes that his legislation will make it out of the committee and on to the floor for a vote sometime this week. That would be ahead of the planned April 30 recess in the Mexican congress -- Lou.
DOBBS: The idea that Mexican citizens have a sense of entitlement, that they should be allowed to cross into our border illegally, migrate to this country illegally, is widespread in Mexico.
TUCKER: It's widespread. In fact, I've had people tell me they view the border as a surveyors' mistake. They don't recognize that line at all.
DOBBS: And the idea that the provincial governments, the Mexican federal government, the corruption, while no one wants to talk about it, is widespread, and no one wants to focus on this crisis and look to the southern border and say all the Mexican government has to do is stop its citizens from crossing.
TUCKER: Right. And there is -- seems to be no gain whatsoever for Mexican politicians. So they don't want to touch it in their country.
DOBBS: It is a remarkable mindset that a nation would prefer to have its citizens leave and to cross a border illegally rather than make a life better for them. That tells you just about all you need to know on this issue.
TUCKER: It does.
DOBBS: Bill Tucker. Thank you.
That brings us to the subject of our poll tonight. Do you believe the United States should hold Mexico responsible for its citizens' illegal crossing of our borders? Cast your vote, yes or no, at LouDobbs.com. We'll have the results as we always do later here in the broadcast. A group of Americans and Mexican citizens protested the Minuteman Project along the Arizona border this weekend. But those demonstrators didn't march or picket. Instead, they played a game of volleyball. You might say this is an apt metaphor.
That's right, the organizers of this protest against the Minutemen, well, the organizers set up a volleyball net, straddling the Arizona-Mexico border. The organizers said the game was intended to show unity between the residents of Naco, Arizona, and their neighbors south of the border.
Looking upon our border as nothing more than a volleyball net. Instructive.
Coming up next, the latest so-called free trade agreement. It isn't free. And it's not an agreement yet. Why one leading expert says it's just another plan to outsource American jobs to cheap labor markets.
Also ahead, could it be the beginning of an intelligent approach to our immigration crisis? I'll be talking with a U.S. senator who is sponsoring a guest worker bill that would not give illegal aliens a certain pathway to U.S. citizenship.
And an inspiring story of success and education in this country right here tonight. How one rural school in this country has been able to achieve remarkable results and with limited, very limited resources.
That story and a great deal more still ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: In just a moment, I'll be talking with the head of a group that has been fighting for American companies and American jobs for literally decades. In regard to CAFTA, our guest tonight says, when you are in a hole, stop digging.
Now here are some of the other important stories we're following tonight.
Police in Georgia have found the bodies of two missing children. The 2-year-old girl, the 3-year-old boy were found in a pond near their home in east Georgia. No arrests have been made. The cause of death uncertain tonight.
In Japan, the worst train crash in decades. Emergency workers in Tokyo tonight are still searching for survivors of the crash. More than 60 people were killed, 440 others were injured when the commuter train slammed into an apartment building.
And any signs of spring in the Midwest are now covered in snow. As much as two feet of snow falling in some parts. Temperatures dropped some 25 degrees below the average for this time of year.
Congress has begun debate on the latest so-called free trade agreement -- the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Kevin Kearns is president of the U.S. Business and Industry Council. And he says CAFTA is a just another plan to outsource American jobs and industry to cheap third world labor markets. Kearns says the CAFTA countries are too small, they're too poor to be a market for U.S. companies looking to expand exports. So what's going on here? Kevin Kearns will help us find out -- joining us tonight from Washington.
Good to have you with us.
KEVIN KEARNS, PRES. U.S. BUSINESS & INDUSTRY COUNCIL: It's good to be back, Lou. And I congratulate you and our staff on the great job you are doing in shining a spotlight on this critical issue.
DOBBS: Well, we thank you for that. And that issue tonight we ask you to illuminate for us, and that is CAFTA, its uncertain future in Congress, its actual affect on this country.
What's your opinion?
KEARNS: Well, CAFTA is a lot like NAFTA, which I know your viewers are familiar with. Eighty-five percent of the text is the same as NAFTA. And the 15 percent that's not the same is even worse than what was in NAFTA. And like NAFTA, CAFTA will lead to the loss of U.S. jobs. It will lead to the migration of U.S. factories to Central America. It will lead to suppression of wages for those of us who remain behind here and are still lucky enough to have a job. And it will allow China to use loopholes in the agreement to send even more textile and apparel goods to the United States.
It's a lose-lose, Lou. We have already a $2.3 billion trade deficit with these countries, and CAFTA is only going to accelerate that.
DOBBS: As you make the point, these countries have a combined GDP that approximates New Haven, Connecticut, in point of fact, hardly an attractive export market for U.S. products if we still have some to export. So the idea that this is an agreement to protect U.S. multinationals who want to outsource jobs and production, that's really all it amounts to in your view?
KEARNS: It's multinationals, and there are some textile makers that will try to set up shop down there and take advantage of it. But, you know, Lou, if we go back to 1993, the last year before NAFTA, and the World Trade Organization, and CBI, and PNTR for China, and all the trade agreements, we had roughly a 68, $69 billion trade deficit. Today it's 10 times that -- it's $618 billion. The first rule of holes is when you're in a deep one you stop digging, you figure out how to get out. Now CAFTA is an insult to the intelligence of the American people. It's a slap in the face to American workers and family owners. To think that these six little countries with this pitiful GDP, with people making $2 an hour are somehow going to help the United States compete against China and all the other East Asian countries is nonsense.
DOBBS: Kevin, let me ask you this. One does not have to be an economist to look at some rather stark numbers. You mentioned several of them. But 29 years, consecutive years of running a trade deficit on the part of this country. The argument that somehow we are -- we are not being competitive because our workers are stupid and unproductive. We created 22 million jobs in the last decade. Somehow this decade the past four or five years Americans have suddenly becoming stupid, and indolent. The idea that somehow cheap labor is going to change American industry.
What in the world is it going to take to wake up Congress to the realities that are staring all of us in the face?
KEARNS: You know, Lou, I don't know. I ask myself that question every day. What we're in is a situation you might call it a domestic manufacturing killing field. We seem to have a group of people in power, politicians, backed by multinational corporate money who -- they're going to remake the American economy, and they are oblivious to the effect. They don't care how many domestic companies close down. They don't care how many manufacturing jobs we lose. And somehow they have this religious belief in free trade. And you know at the end of this process we're going to come out of a better, stronger nation. It's not going to happen, Lou.
DOBBS: It's not going to happen. It's not happening. It hasn't happened for 29 years. You mentioned politicians in Washington, D.C. -- let's be clear. You're talking about Democrats and Republicans alike who have sold out to U.S. multinationals, multinationals, corporate America, and frankly the worker, the middle class in this country be damned. That's the bottom line.
KEARNS: Yes, the fact is the American people haven't really had a raise in these 29 years, Lou. They haven't had a raise since the conclusion of the Tokyo round of trade talks back in the early 70s. And the way they increased their standard of living was spouses went out to work, kids worked part time, et cetera. So, we're tearing the fabric of the middle class apart. And with each new trade agreement more and more American workers are tumbling down the wage and job scale. There's a Chinese proverb, trees don't grow to the sky. Well, in this case the trade deficits, they're extremely large and growing. And eventually they will cause a dollar crisis. And we're going to be in a period of world-wide recession or depression.
DOBBS: You know, we can talk about that sort of thing, Kevin, a lot of people's eyes -- just they glaze over.
KEARNS: Yes.
DOBBS: But lets talk about this conceptually, because -- and talk about 29 consecutive years of trade deficit. People say, oh, that's dry economics. But think about what those 29 years have brought, if you would. Twenty-nine years of deficits, rising debt, increased foreign ownership of U.S. assets and claims on those assets, a declining dollar. And the fact of the matter is that women have entered the work force at a -- just an astronomical rate over that period of time. Not because purely their freedom to do so, but the necessity to support a family. Look at what happened in education in this country, and our manufacturing base. There has to be some thought given about the causal relationships there, don't you think? KEARNS: Well, there certainly should be, but there doesn't seem to be in Washington. The nomination of Rob Portman -- who's a nice man, I'm sure he's a well meaning man -- to be U.S. trade representative. Here's a congressman who voted for every single one of these trade agreements. And when he's pressed at his hearing they say, what are you going to do about China, for instance? He says, well, I'll get tougher. Well, that's not good enough.
Where's the plan? We're spending all this plan debating CAFTA, no one's talking about the 800-pound gorilla in the room, which is China. Doing something, you know, which is a figleaf on China does not make CAFTA any better. CAFTA is a bad agreement on its own terms. And we have to tackle these East Asian economies that are -- have all these unfair trade practices.
DOBBS: I think I agree with you on so much of that. But I have to say as we sit here and we talk about legislation to punish, if you will, or coerce China on its trade policies, the fact is it is, in some ways to me, reflective of the fact we can't get our own house in order. We should be looking how we can adjust our trade policies to make sense. Drive exports to those markets. But people in this country need to understand we have diminished our manufacturing base to the point if things change today, and we were able to start export, we don't have the base to do it to eliminate that deficit.
KEARNS: That's true, Lou. And many of the companies that still exist are hanging on by a thread, including companies as large as General Motors and Ford. But just to be clear. I'm not saying we press China and beat up China. You are right, Lou, like immigration the solution has to start at our own borders, in our own country. That's what we can control. We can't control what the Mexicans do or the Chinese do or Central Americans do. We can control who and what we let into our country.
DOBBS: Absolutely. Kevin Kearns, as always, good to talk to you. Thank you for being here.
KEARNS: Good to see you, Lou.
DOBBS: And it reminds us that the toughest challenge for the courage of our policy makers and lawmakers is to deal with the issue at home rather than abroad. It's much easier to take on the Chinese sometimes, nearly always than ourselves. Kevin Kearns, thanks for being here.
KEARNS: Thank you, Lou.
DOBBS: "Tonight's Thought" is on being an American. "There can be no 50/50 Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100 percent Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else." One Theodore Roosevelt with some pretty wise thoughts for consideration.
Taking a look now at some of your thoughts for consideration.
Gene in Marshal, Minnesota, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that the U.S. citizens in the Minuteman Project are doing a job that American lawmakers won't do."
Mike Zimmerman in Ocala, Florida, "I have a suggestion, let's have several bus lines load up the illegal aliens at the border and take them to Washington D.C. Drop them off at the steps of the White House and explain that this is where the land of opportunity begins. After several hundred thousand arrive, let's see if Congress and the president sing the same tune."
Bobbi in New Lennox, Illinois, "Hospitals can't ask a patient if they are legal citizens? Yet, they can ask for ME for my insurance card before they will even treat me. Is there something wrong with this picture?"
Nah.
Robert Bishup in Buffalo, New York, "We need to look in both directions when patrolling our borders so that we may stop illegal workers coming in and American jobs from going out!"
And many of you wrote in about a controversial immigration bill we told you about last week that would fine illegal aliens, but allow them to stay in this country.
Roger Jones of San Diego, California: "Is Senator McCain and Senator Kennedy's immigration fine proposal really offering to 'sell' American citizenship to lawbreakers?"
And Phil in Paso Robles, California: "I was always taught that if you help someone commit illegal acts, you are an accessory (like driving the getaway car). It seems to me that me that these Congressmen and Senators who are trying to help illegal aliens stay in this country and obtain benefits through our government are just as guilty as the illegals themselves."
Send us your thoughts at LouDobbs.com. Each of you whose e-mail is read here receive as copy of my book, "Exporting America." Also, if you would like to receive our e-mail newsletter, it's on our website, LouDobbs.com. Sign up there.
Federal probation officials are investigating whether Martha Stewart has violated the terms of her house arrest. Stewart attended a dinner last week where she was honored at one of "Time" magazine's 100 most influential people. Probation officials gave Stewart permission to attend the event. That's right -- they gave her permission, but now they are investigating Martha Stewart's attendance. Second guessing their own decision because of questions raised by the "New York Post."
Stewart is only allowed to leave her home for religious services, food shopping, medical appointments and work. So, even though they gave her permission ahead of time to attend the event, now government officials want to determine whether she was actually entitled to attend the event related to work. This is your government at work -- unbelievable.
One senator's plan for a guest worker program that would not give illegal aliens a path to citizenship joins us here next.
And, how one school sharply improved the test scores of its students and changed the lives of its students forever. We will have that absolute success story on education in this country next. It's worth waiting for. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: I just want to point out -- Kevin Kearns, our guest, president of the U.S. Business and Industry Council, wanted me to remind all of you watching that the only way to succeed on CAFTA, if you are opposed to CAFTA, is to let your representatives, your congressman and your senators, know exactly how you feel. He strongly urged you to do so.
Well, my next guest has introduced legislation to create a guest worker program for illegal alien farm workers in this country. No, it's not the so-called Ag-Jobs bill. Senator Chambliss' program would allow illegal aliens to stay in the country legally for as up to as many as nine years, yet it is quite different in certain respects from that Ag-Jobs bill which would grant legal status to a million illegal aliens and their families.
Joining me now from Capitol Hill is Senator Saxby Chambliss. He's chairman of the Agriculture Committee. Good to have you with us, Senator.
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: Always good to be with you, Lou.
DOBBS: Your proposal was defeated, as was Senator Craig's, as amendments to the spending supplemental. Do you think we're going to see significant progress this year?
CHAMBLISS: Well, Lou, I hope so, because what every American needs to understand is that this is a really serious problem we have, relative to illegal aliens in this country. Just by virtue of the fact that we don't know whether it's eight million or 13 million tells you that the size of the problem. There's a five million gap there that we don't even know whether or not it exists. So, it's a serious problem.
It is a real challenge on our judicial system in this country, our educational system, as well as our healthcare system, and what Senator Kyl from Arizona and I tried to do was, first of all, defeat the Ag-Jobs bill, because I think it's a bad piece of legislation. I think you grant amnesty to anybody and give them a pathway to citizenship, that's not the American way.
But, we do need to recognize a lot of these people here illegally need to be identified. We need to know who they are, and if they are here for the right reasons then we can deal with them, but if they are here for the wrong reasons we need to load them up and ship them out. We'll never do that until we identify them, and I think we made a giant step last week.
DOBBS: That giant step just being the introduction of the legislation, the amendment, even though it was defeated.
Now, Senator Craig is adamant that he is helping agriculture, that there's not a problem with letting a farm worker, an illegal alien farm worker, in this country for a year get on the pathway to citizenship. Your bill would not do that, correct?
CHAMBLISS: It wouldn't, Lou, and I just -- Larry and I have a very serious disagreement about that. He's my good friend and he's a great conservative member of the Senate, but I think an overwhelming majority of Americans just don't want to see people break the law to come in this country and be rewarded by giving them a pathway to citizenship.
That is just -- citizenship is something that's precious, it's something that's unique to Americans, and those people who want to come to this country, as all of our forefathers did, and be here for the right reasons, come here in the right way, then, sure, we need to recognize those folks and we have immigration laws to deal with them and grant them citizenship. But those people who come here illegally, don't need to be rewarded for breaking the law and entering the United States.
DOBBS: Have you heard from any of the so-called open borders activist groups, the illegal immigration supportive activist groups, and how do they feel about your bill?
CHAMBLISS: Well, I'm not sure that I've heard from any of the groups, as such. We have a number of organizations that do support our bill, and the primary one is the American Farm Bureau which is a very conservative organization, has been very strongly supportive of us. They were supportive of the Craig bill in the last couple of sessions, but we have been contacted by a number of individuals, particularly, Lou, who are concerned about this issue and who are very much involved and wanted to see something positive happen last week, relative to migrant workers, for agriculture, but, unfortunately, we weren't able to get that done.
DOBBS: Now, you just used the expression "migrant worker" which is the term of art, if you will, when I was growing up and working in fields as a young fellow. Workers moved all over the country. By the way, they were not simply from Mexico or Central America, they were all sorts of people who took on that labor.
But one of the things that I -- that occurs to me, Senator, and I know it must have, you. You know, not only is the illegal alien breaking a law, but so are the employers. And Senator Craig said here one night, we talked about -- 80 percent of the agricultural interests in this country have hired illegal aliens. To what degree are we rewarding them and letting them prosecute their own interest at the expense of the taxpayer and our own laws? Is there any penalty imposed on them?
CHAMBLISS: What has happened, Lou, is that we have made it almost mandatory that these agricultural employers hire these illegals because it is so cumbersome to go through the process of getting folks here legally to work in agriculture. Over the years, the American government and a lot of us -- it's been due to the fact we simply don't have the manpower to police the programs -- we've simply shut an eye to these illegals that are here, and it's awful easy now to find them.
But, one of the primary differences between the Ag-Jobs bill and my bill is the fact that we did put the burden on the employer. We make the employer apply for the card that -- for the individual, which says, I need this individual, he has a job here, he's not violated the law of the United States other than being here illegally, and, most importantly, he is not displacing American worker. Now, when you put that...
DOBBS: As a requirement for the employer to proceed. Senator, we're out of time. I appreciate your time.
CHAMBLISS: Sure.
DOBBS: You and Senator Kyl are to be commended for advancing the discussion, the very critical, critically important discussion on this crisis that faces the country. Saxby Chambliss, we thank you for being here as always.
CHAMBLISS: Thank you, Lou.
DOBBS: Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint near the Arizona- Mexico border seized more than 800 pounds of contraband from a man trying to smuggle it into this country. The contraband, 800 pounds of it, was baloney.
Our quote of the day tonight is from Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner. In a statement about that seizure, Commissioner Bonner said the checkpoints now allow the Border Patrol to, quote, "better coordinate inspection and enforcement on everything from illegal drugs and illegal aliens to prohibited agricultural products." Not least among them, baloney.
And a reminder now to vote in our poll -- do you believe the United States should hold Mexico responsible for its citizens' illegal crossing of our borders. Cast your vote at LouDobbs.com. We'll have the results coming up here in just a few minutes.
At the top of the hour on CNN, "ANDERSON COOPER 360," the five biggest fears facing Americans. Rudi Bakhtiar is sitting in for Anderson tonight and joins us with a preview -- Rudi.
RUDI BAKHTIAR, GUEST HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Thank you, Lou. Coming up next on a special edition of "360," terrorism, violent crime, cocaine, crystal meth, sexual predators. What scares Americans the most? We're going to take you beyond the headlines on the top five. Anderson Cooper takes you inside one of America's most dangerous neighborhoods.
Plus, crystal meth in the heartland. How this deadly drug is invading rural neighborhoods.
Also, the mind of a sexual offender. Can they be cured, or should they be locked away for life? Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a closer look at that. That and a lot more at the top of the hour -- Lou.
DOBBS: Americans' fears -- Rudi, thank you. Americans are fearless. We'll find out what little dents in the armor there might be. Thanks, Rudi.
BAKHTIAR: A few small fears, Lou, and we're going to check them out for you.
DOBBS: A remarkable story of success in education tonight. How one small-town middle school has achieved dramatic improvement for its students with very little money and few resources. We'll have that story. A remarkable, an inspirational story next here on LOU DOBBS TONIGHT. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: We report here extensively on the problems of public education in this country -- the crisis, the tremendous challenges facing our educators. Tonight, we want to share with you a truly remarkable example of success in public education: One school that found a way to make dramatic improvements with limited resources. Lisa Sylvester reports from Warren County, Georgia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Warren County Middle School in rural Georgia is 92 percent African-American. The entire student body qualifies for the free lunch program. Usually when poverty runs high, school test scores are low. But this school proved otherwise.
PRINCIPAL TRUETT ABBOTT, WARREN COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL: We have come from being one of the, if not the, lowest scoring system in the eighth grade in 2000 to being very competitive at this point. We just -- we're not going to take a back seat to anyone.
SYLVESTER (on camera): Four years ago, only 34 percent of the eighth graders were reading at grade level, and only 14 percent had passing math scores. Now more than 83 percent of the students are passing math and reading.
(voice-over): A gain of more than 50 percentage points. The school beat the state average for math by 15 points, and eliminated the achievement gap between students in suburban wealthy school districts and minority rural areas.
MOIRA MCNEIL, TEACHER: I'll take my child in Warren County, and I'll place them anywhere -- California, New York -- and I believe -- I tell them all the time, they are just as capable as anyone else.
SYLVESTER: In 2000, Principal Abbott, a former business executive, found that students couldn't read well enough to understand test questions. A nine-week intensive review of phonics turned that around.
The school also required more at-home reading and reduced discipline problems by separating older and younger students.
CRYSTAL GILLOM, 8TH GRADE STUDENT: It makes me happy because I know that (INAUDIBLE) in a small town, but it shows that (INAUDIBLE). We're very smart.
SYLVESTER: Smart students now in a position for even greater success in the future.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Warren County, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Outstanding, Warren County. And to Principal Abbott for bringing to our attention the remarkable progress and success of that group of educators. All the best for the years ahead.
Still ahead, the results of our poll tonight. A preview of what's ahead here tomorrow. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The results of our poll tonight -- 95 percent of you say the United States should hold Mexico responsible for its citizens' illegal crossing of our borders; 5 percent disagree.
Thanks for being with us tonight. Please join us here tomorrow. I'll be talking with a Latino-American woman who is fighting to stop illegal aliens from crossing our borders. She says it has nothing to do with race.
And challenging Congress to face the escalating immigration crisis in this country. I'll be talking with a man who's taken his fight to Capitol Hill.
Please be with us. For all of us here, good night from New York. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" starts right now, with Rudi Bakhtiar sitting in -- Rudi.
BAKHTIAR: Thank you, Lou.
END
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
