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American Morning

Day Without Immigrants; Fueling Politics; 'Mission Accomplished'; Empire State Building Turns 75 Today

Aired May 01, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, a day without immigrants. Massive demonstrations expected across the country today as immigration is again moved front and center in the nation's consciousness.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Bob Franken in Las Vegas. Will the glitz continue or will it fizzle out when the immigrants who keep it going walk off their jobs in protest. We'll talk about that in a few minutes.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Keith Oppenheim in Chicago where thousands of workers are expected to take the day off for an immigration rights rally. I'll tell you the story of one employer and what he's telling his employees to do.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ryan Chilcote from Baghdad. It's been three years since President Bush declared "mission accomplished." We'll take a look at what has and hasn't been accomplished for the last three years in just a few minutes.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Jacqui Jeras in the CNN Weather Center. It was a cool weekend in the northeast. Kicking off the workweek with more cool weather, but change is on the way. We'll let you know who's going to get wet and how it will affect your travel. That's coming up in about 10 minutes.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And a diamond in the sky. The king of New York skyscrapers, the Empire State Building, turns 75 today. We're on top of the world on this AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Welcome to Monday. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us on this Monday.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin by talking about immigration. Across the nation today, a call to action. Illegal immigrants and their supporters plan on rallying in a show of economic and political influence. It is an undias sin inmigrantes, which means a day without immigrants.

A recent study says there are about seven million illegal immigrants working in this country. The big question today, though, is just how many will walk off the job to attend rallies. Organizers are also urging immigrants to refuse to shop. Thousands of students will be boycotting schools across the country as well. The numbers could be staggering in Los Angeles.

And Chicago police and organizers are estimating that as many as 500,000 people could take part in these rallies. Cities across the country could see demonstrations of some kind. And because of that, some businesses are scaling back for the day. Tyson Foods, the world's largest meat producer, is closing 9 of its 15 plants, while Perdue Farms is closing 6 of its 14 plants.

Throughout the day, CNN is covering the story with correspondents from coast to coast. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken is live for us in Las Vegas. Correspondent Keith Oppenheim is live for us in Chicago.

Bob, let's start with you. Good morning.

FRANKEN: Good morning.

You can see the strip in back of me where so many come to throw away their money and so many work, mainly immigrants, to get just a little bit of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): When we think of Las Vegas, we think of lavish hotels, gourmet food. In a word, excess. But none of it would be possible without the armies of workers behind the scene, most of them immigrants. Some of them are here illegally.

Others, like Maria Cortez, legally. She works here in the Mirage Hotel restaurant kitchen and is passionate about the immigration issue.

MARIA CORTEZ, MGM/MIRAGE COOK: We are humans like everybody. And like humans, we have to have respect, because we have respect for this country.

FRANKEN: Cortez is still trying to decide whether to skip work in support of the immigration protests here or listen to hotel superiors and union leaders who ask that she remain on the job until a special demonstration tonight.

D. TAYLOR, CULINARY UNION: They are vital. I think this city would have a hard time functioning without the immigrant work force.

FRANKEN: Cortez especially takes issue with legislation that would make illegals felons.

CORTEZ: The law that they want to pass is the criminal, not us. We are not criminals because we work.

FRANKEN: Republican Jon Porter of Las Vegas disagrees.

REP. JON PORTER (R), NEVADA: And so we're spending billions trying to secure our country, but we still have about a thousand-some people a day that are just really walking across the borders.

FRANKEN: Many of the Vegas hotels and casinos are offering the workers who do show up a petition to send to Congress.

JOVITA THOMAS-WILLIAMS, LABOR RELATIONS, MGM MIRAGE: So while here working, they will be able to have their voices heard.

FRANKEN: But Cortez says it all comes down to one simple fact.

CORTEZ: We are humans. We are persons. All the immigrants, we are, even if we are legally or not legally in this country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: And she is torn between following the orders to come to work and demonstrating to demonstrate what happens here and everywhere else when the immigrants don't work -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken for us this morning in Las Vegas.

Thanks, Bob.

A massive rally also expected in Chicago today. That's where Keith Oppenheim is for us.

Hey, Keith, good morning.

OPPENHEIM: Good morning to you, Soledad.

And I'm on Randolph Street in Chicago's west loop, the main artery for an immigration rally and march later today, which could turn out to be one of the largest demonstrations in this city ever. Many children are expected to take the day off from school to participate and many workers are expected to take the day off from the job, in some cases, with a blessing of their employers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Salvador Pedroza has climbed the ladder of success. He's now a U.S. citizen who owns a small roofing company. He has five employees, all immigrants from Mexico. Pedroza plans to march today and he has given his workers the day off so they can march too.

SALVADOR PEDROZA, BUSINESS OWNER: I talked to my employees and they say, you know what, we want to go to march. And then when we come back tomorrow, we can put in two extra hours during the week or the next week and we're going to make it up.

OPPENHEIM: That kind of determination has been emerging in Chicago's Hispanic community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Latinos united will never be defeated.

OPPENHEIM: On March 10, an estimated 100,000 people took to the streets to protest legislation that would crack down on illegal immigration. Today's rally is expected to be significantly bigger.

MONIQUE BOND, CHICAGO POLICE SPOKESWOMAN: We're anticipating, at least estimates are indicating, that it could double the size of 100,000, maybe even triple.

OPPENHEIM: So on this Monday, Salvador Pedroza and his employees will lose a day of labor...

PEDROZA: This is for our immigrants, the promulant (ph) people, they need to be heard.

OPPENHEIM: ... to fight for what he believes is the right of all Mexican immigrants to keep working and living in the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

It's estimated the state of Illinois has 285,000 undocumented workers, many centered here in Chicago, and that's one reason, Soledad, this rally is expected to be so big today, despite the possibility of rain.

S. O'BRIEN: Keith Oppenheim for us this morning.

Keith, thanks.

CNN has got the day without immigrants covered coast to coast. We've got a team of CNN reporters standing by across America, into Mexico, too, from L.A. to Chicago to New York City. You can also see live reports on our Spanish language news network, CNN En Espanol. And when you're away from your television, go online. Get the latest with CNN Pipeline. It's all there at cnn.com and there all day long -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: In Texas, another kind of boycott, this one at the gas pump. It's happening in Bee County. That's between San Antonio and Corpus Christi. County Commissioners there want residents to stop buying gas at three area ExxonMobil stations until gas prices drop to $1.30 a gallon, they say. They chose ExxonMobil because of its high profile, they say.

So how much are we paying for gas? Well, listen and weep. The current national average is $2.92 a gallon for regular unleaded. That's up to -- from $2.55 last month. And it's 68 cents higher than a year ago, which was $2.23.

How is this for some insult to injury? While we pay through the nose, the government of the largest oil-producing nation in the world is lowering gasoline prices for its citizens. The Saudi king slashing prices domestically by about 25 percent. That means Saudis will pay now roughly 65 cents a gallon. They're planning even more cuts later this year.

Nothing like that on the horizon here in the U.S., however. A matter of fact, the White House says rising energy costs should be the norm for years to come.

Ed Henry in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): For the first time, a senior Bush official has declared that the nation's energy problem is a crisis, raising the political stakes for this White House.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman also said it may take up to three years for gas prices to come down. Democrat Barbara Boxer pounced on those comments, appearing on CNN's "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER." She charged this shows that President Bush's four-point energy plan unveiled last week will not put a dent in the problem.

And the White House is also facing pressure from a conservative Republican, Trent Lott, who said that he's now open to this Democratic proposal that would raise taxes on the windfall profits of oil companies. A tax that President Bush has dismissed out of hand.

Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: The energy problem isn't the only thorn in the president's side. Consider Iraq, three years ago today, President Bush stood on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, a large banner, you'll remember, proclaimed "mission accomplished."

Correspondent Ryan Chilcote joins us live from Baghdad with a reality check this morning.

Hey, Ryan, good morning.

CHILCOTE: Morning, Soledad.

Well there's been obvious progress here, like on the democratic front, and there have been obvious setbacks, like the violence. We tried to take a look back at the last three years and take stock of exactly where we are today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHILCOTE (voice-over): May 1, 2003.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

CHILCOTE: Three years later, Iraq, as it is known on your television screen. What happened? Let's rewind back to the invasion. American troops march into Baghdad and occupation begins. The Iraqi military is disbanded. And within a few months, the insurgency begins its own war. By the end of that year, Saddam is found hiding in a hole, his regime toppled. The insurgency gathers strength.

Still, Iraqis go to the polls three times, forming their first democratically elected government. Under pressure at home to produce an exit strategy, U.S. military intensifies the training of Iraq's security forces. (on camera): Three years ago, President Bush declared U.S. military's "mission accomplished" here. Do you think that there was an under appreciation, an under estimation of the challenges that lay ahead?

GEN. PETER CHIARELLI, U.S. ARMY: I wasn't here three years ago. I'm here today. And I realize we have challenges. But with the soldiers like you saw today, we will in fact meet those challenges.

CHILCOTE (voice-over): More than 30,000 Iraqis have been killed, more than 17,000 American troops wounded, another 2,350-plus fatalities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

While one mission has been accomplished, Soledad, toppling the regime, the U.S. now faces a new challenge with the growing insurgency, with the growing conflict between Iraq's groups. That is exactly how do you form an exit strategy when the mission itself is changing -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's a tough question.

Ryan Chilcote for us this morning in Baghdad.

Ryan, thank you -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning, two boys accused of setting brushfires in Florida. The boys aged 10 and 12 being held at a juvenile detention center this morning. Police are looking for a third suspect in those brushfires in southwestern Florida. They have already charred more than 1,500 acres and destroyed a number of homes. We're going to check in with police there at 8:00 Eastern.

In Woonsocket, Rhode Island this morning, they're still trying to find out what caused a massive fire at an old mill there. Firefighters couldn't contain this one. About 35 homes evacuated nearby when the flames started spreading. At least two of those homes were in fact damaged. It took 40 fire companies to help put this one out.

In New Orleans, Bruce Springsteen headlined the opening weekend of the annual Jazz Fest. Other superstars like Bob Dylan and Dave Matthews also joined the musicians to support the city and its music. The festival itself was in doubt after Katrina. Now, it's kind of a symbol of the city's struggle to rebuild.

Chad Myers still off. Jacqui Jeras is in.

Jacqui, good to see you.

JERAS: Hey, good to see you, too.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys. S. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Jacqui.

M. O'BRIEN: Keep it coming, Jacqui, thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Exactly.

Still to come this morning, the fighting for illegal standing. Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants expected to take the day off today to make their voices heard, supported by advocates of immigrant's rights, too. We're going to have much more on that story throughout the day on CNN.

M. O'BRIEN: Plus, some celebrities lending their star power to raise awareness about the crisis in Sudan. Is it helping? We'll take a closer look at that.

And then there is this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: I'm feeling chipper tonight. I survived the White House shake-up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: President Bush and President Bush slaying them at a fancy black tie dinner for the Washington political elite over the weekend. We'll tell you how it went.

And here's a look at what else is making news on this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Top stories this morning.

A massive immigration rally and boycott. Hundreds of thousands of people expected to miss work and school in -- it's being called a day without immigrants. We'll have live coverage coast to coast, border to border.

U.S. officials pressuring leaders in Sudan to keep talking. The deadline for peace talks has been extended 48 hours. On Sunday, actor George Clooney among those attending a Darfur rally in Washington trying to raise awareness.

And jury selection begins today in Maryland for the convicted sniper John Muhammad. He'll face trial for 6 of the 10 sniper shootings back in October of 2002 in the D.C. area. He's already on death row for one of the killings in Virginia.

S. O'BRIEN: It was brutal for the people there, victims' families certainly.

Well today's protests, one has to imagine really are going to -- might show the economic power of immigrants, because the protests are not just for illegal immigrants attending, it's also people who support immigrants and immigrant's rights. So you know what do you think it's going to be?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Well, you know it's really one of these situations where it's going to be impossible to quantify, Soledad. Of course we're talking about the big immigration rallies held throughout the country. Exactly what is the economic power? That is the $64,000 question today.

And as you mentioned, Soledad, it's not just immigrants, it's those who support immigrants, as well, who will be staying off the job. And there are reports across the country of some businesses shutting down, some businesses running on skeleton crews.

You mentioned earlier some big food processing companies that are going to be shutting down, also some food preparation processes, agriculture certainly being impacted, lawn care, all the areas of the economy where immigrants, legal and otherwise, do a tremendous amount of work in this country. And we really don't know and it's going to be very, very interesting to find out.

S. O'BRIEN: Nobody knows exactly how many people are going to show up in the first place. And really, at the end of the day, what the economic...

SERWER: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: ... impact is going to be.

SERWER: Some other business stories to tell you about this morning as well, the price of oil still jittery because of the situation in Iran. Over the weekend, its top nuclear negotiator says that that country is allergic to the suspension of enriching uranium. So that continues there.

The price of oil actually down slightly. And as far as stocks go, well, down on Friday but mixed for the week. Looking backwards a little bit there. The Dow was up, the Nasdaq down, mostly hurt by Microsoft, which disappointed investors a little bit. And a lot of talk about Dow 12,000, but we've still got a way to go before we get there.

M. O'BRIEN: You know it's nice to see you early. I like that.

SERWER: It is early.

M. O'BRIEN: Carrie Lee boycotting this morning.

SERWER: Yes, well.

S. O'BRIEN: She's on vacation, she's not boycotting.

SERWER: Maybe she is, maybe she isn't.

S. O'BRIEN: Maybe she is boycotting, who knows?

SERWER: I don't know. We'll see.

S. O'BRIEN: All right.

M. O'BRIEN: It's good to have you here.

SERWER: OK, thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, -- Andy.

SERWER: Nice to see you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a New York landmark is celebrating a major milestone.

Carol Costello is live for us this morning at the Empire State Building.

Hey, -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, it's so windy up here, I feel like I'm going to be blown off. It's a good thing there's a railing around the 86th floor. So many things you do not know about the Empire State Building. I'll tell you about them in three minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Well happy birthday, Empire State. The iconic building that symbolizes New York officially opened 75 years ago.

Here's a little piece of trivia for you on the Empire State. That spire at the stop -- at the top, below the antenna, is actually supposed to be a mooring mast for blimps. They were going to dock blimps to the top there. People were going to come down on ladders. Such a bad idea. Can you imagine? And of course that's why it never happened.

Our very own Fay Wray, Carol Costello, is not far from the mooring mast right now.

Good morning.

COSTELLO: Man, you just blew one of my fun facts in my story.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

COSTELLO: Stop that.

M. O'BRIEN: I take it back.

COSTELLO: That's OK. Take it back. Audience, pretend you didn't hear that.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: I am standing on the 86th floor. This is where the tourists come when they visit the Empire State Building.

You know the funny thing is, tens of thousands of people visit the Empire State Building each year and most people only come one time. Just once, that's all you need. If you think about it, though, if you come to New York, you kind of have to see the Empire State Building, because it would be like going to Paris and not going to see the Eiffel Tower.

But as Miles said, there's a lot of fun facts you don't know so you should come to the Empire State Building more than once.

Here goes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): It's breathtaking in its architectural splendor. But that isn't it, there's something mythical about it. Nothing says romance like Gotham from the 86th floor. Hollywood knows it.

CARY GRANT, ACTOR: How about the top of the Empire State Building?

DEBORAH KERR, ACTRESS: Yes, that's perfect. It's the nearest thing to heaven we have in New York.

COSTELLO (on camera): OK, I have to ask you about the kiss myth. Because, to me, it sounds like a myth that if you kiss atop the Empire State Building, literal sparks will fly.

LYDIA RUTH, PUBLIC RELATIONS, EMPIRE STATE BLDG.: Well, it has to be the right time of year and the right kind of temperatures. And if you're both out here, and I told you you have to come with a really handsome man.

COSTELLO: I know, I've got to do that next time.

RUTH: On a really cold winter night and you kiss, you will, you will get that static charge.

COSTELLO: Wow!

(voice-over): Maybe that's why 3.5 million people visit every year. And to think, this building cost $40 million. It took just 410 days to build. But that was back in 1929 when they had more than romance on their minds.

Bill Torterelli, chief electrician, took us to where few have gone before, beyond the 86th floor to the 103rd, you know, where Fay Wray began her long descent with her simian love.

BILL TORTERELLI, CHIEF ELECTRICIAN, EMPIRE STATE BLDG.: That's my kind of woman, right, climbing all those ladders for a man. I don't know about that today.

COSTELLO: Except the 103rd floor was not meant for rendezvousing with a giant ape, but a docking station for blimps.

TORTERELLI: This is probably where the blimp was going to moor to the top. And they were going to have some kind a ramp or like a Tarzan-type bridge going from the building -- going to this very area. And they were going to walk on this and either come in this door or there on the other side.

COSTELLO (on camera): One hundred and three stories up, they were...

TORTERELLI: One hundred and three stories high.

COSTELLO: That's crazy.

TORTERELLI: Yes, well.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Yes, that's crazy. But every fiber of your being wants to go to the top and pound your chest like King Kong.

(on camera): Wow!

(voice-over): This is exactly where King Kong sat in the movie. It's spectacular.

And, yes, they changed the light bulbs up here.

TORTERELLI: And accepting the award for CNN.

COSTELLO (on camera): Thank you. Thank you so much.

(voice-over): It takes seven men six hours to change them.

Happy 75th anniversary, Empire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And the view is spectacular from the 86th floor as well. You're looking at the Hudson River. There's a barge right now. You can see Central Park up here. You can see the Chrysler Building. You can see the East River. You can see all the way to Connecticut up here. It's just -- I just can't even describe how spectacular it really is.

Let's talk about the wind for just a second, because you think the building would be swaying, right? But this thing was built of steel, so it would take a very strong wind gust, like 200 miles per hour, to make this building sway more than two inches. Or as modern skyscrapers sway all the time, just because of the way they are built nowadays. So there's another fun fact for you, -- Miles and Soledad.

M. O'BRIEN: Very good.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Doesn't sway. Well that's good, because considering where you are, you don't want it to be swaying too much right around now. COSTELLO: No.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Swaying bad...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: ... at the top of the Empire State Building.

M. O'BRIEN: It must have been very cool to go up that high, because you know you don't get up there, people don't get up there.

COSTELLO: I felt very special.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: I did.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, excellent.

S. O'BRIEN: It's beautiful. Looks so beautiful there.

Thank you, Carol.

Let's get right to the weather. Jacqui Jeras has that.

Jacqui, that looks really, really windy, obviously, where Carol is. Does that mean that we are having a windy day here in New York City or it is just sort of always that windy there?

JERAS: Well, it's almost always that windy there. Yes, the higher up you go, the stronger the winds are.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Today it is May 1. It's May Day. It's also 31 days to the start of hurricane season. And now is the time that you want to prepare and CNN is rolling out a month of a special long series called "Hurricane 101" to help you get prepared.

Starting out today, the first topic is warning systems. And when you think back, we've got some video to show you from the 1900 hurricane in Galveston, the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history. Thousands of people lost their lives. Estimates from this anywhere between 6,000 and 12,000.

We just didn't have the technology to see these things coming back there, but now we have improved computer model forecasts, we have satellites and we can tell you when these storms are coming. Those were much frequent back 100 years ago. And today, Katrina is certainly an isolated incident.

Make sure you stay with CNN, your hurricane headquarters, to help keep you safe this hurricane season.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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