Skip to main content
U.S. Edition
Search
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 

Return to Transcripts main page

AMERICAN MORNING

Immigration Battle; Flooding in New England

Aired May 15, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Plugging a porous border -- the president plans to deploy National Guard troops. We'll tell you who will be applauding and who will be booing his Oval Office speech tonight.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian in Peabody, Massachusetts.

A state of emergency here as people brace for even more rain.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: New DNA evidence in the Duke rape case. It's headed to a special grand jury today.

Are more charges going to follow?

And bone marrow donors are needed -- the crusade to save one little girl's life may now save thousands.

M. O'BRIEN: And all good TV has to come to an end. We'll say good-bye to "Will and Grace" and "The West Wing" and some others. Their time has come and gone, ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you.

I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

President Bush is going to, tonight, unveil a greater role for the National Guard along the U.S.-Mexico-border. His prime time speech on immigration begins at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. The president is hoping to win support for broader immigration reform by using the National Guard.

Several Democrats, though, and some Republicans, too, oppose calling on the Guard. And the idea not sitting too well, either, with Mexican President Vicente Fox.

President Bush also expected to push for allowing undocumented immigrants to get temporary work permits. Some in the business community favor that idea.

CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry joins us this morning with more on all this -- hey, Ed, good morning.

Oh, it looks like -- oh, you know what?

Ed Henry is not available.

Let's get right to Bill Schneider -- Bill, good morning to you.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks for talking with us.

Let me ask you a couple of questions.

Does -- the latest polls -- and you and I are always talking about polls -- is your sense that the American public actually supports what -- through polls that we have seen -- what we're going to hear from the president tonight, National Guard troops along the border?

SCHNEIDER: I think yes, cautiously, skeptically. They're not convinced it'll work, but many Americans, most Americans, think there is a crisis along the border and something has to be done. But there are a lot of questions about the use of National Guard troops.

Will they be there in the long run? Is this the best use of those troops? Will they be available to deal with emergencies like -- god forbid -- another emergency like Hurricane Katrina? Will it militarize the border?

They're not convinced, I think. It'll take some convincing that this is going to work. As a long run-solution, the president's only proposing it temporarily.

Is there a crisis? Yes. We found that 69 percent of Americans say they would support measures to increase border security and make it more difficult for illegal aliens to get jobs in the United States. They want something done.

S. O'BRIEN: The debate, of course, is over amnesty and the guest worker path or, you know -- to citizenship.

The president's proposal, do you think it's strong enough to actually apse those, maybe primarily in the House, who -- who have really taken issue with what he wants to do on that front?

SCHNEIDER: Probably not. The conservative base of the Republican Party wants increased border security, but that's more or less all they want. They're not willing to contemplate any measures to give citizenship, a guest worker program. They find very suspect. And on that issue -- not border security -- most Americans want tougher border security and go along with the House on that, even if not every provision of the House bill. Like they don't want to make a felony of everyone who cross the border illegally. It should be a crime, a misdemeanor.

But where the conservative base differs with the majority of Americans is on the issue of citizenship for illegal immigrants who have been in the United States for a period of time.

We asked, just about a week ago, would you favor allowing people who have been in the United States for at least five years, have a job, pay back taxes, to stay here and apply for citizenship?

Look at that -- 81 percent said yes.

Now, a lot of critics say isn't that amnesty?

So we asked a separate half sample a slightly different question -- would you be in favor of giving amnesty to those who have been here for five years, back taxes, have a job?

Look at this -- 72 percent said yes.

You mention amnesty, support goes down a bit, but Americans are still very supportive of measures that would allow people who have proved themselves to be hardworking and now, law abiding, to apply for citizenship.

S. O'BRIEN: We'll see what the president has to say tonight.

Bill Schneider for us this morning.

Bill, thanks.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

S. O'BRIEN: You want to stay tuned to CNN for special coverage of the president's speech.

We start at 7:00 p.m. eastern with "THE SITUATION ROOM." Lou Dobbs joining Wolf Blitzer there.

Then it's the president at 8:00 p.m. followed by a special "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" at 8:30.

At 9:00, Larry King is live with more on the debate over border security.

And then at 10:00 p.m. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" is live -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Happening in American right now, in Durham, North Carolina, a grand jury expected to ponder charges against a third Duke lacrosse player. Two others already charged with the alleged rape of an exotic dancer at a party in March. New DNA evidence may link a third player to the accuser, but defense attorneys say that evidence is tainted and they say other DNA evidence indicates the accuser had sex with another man not on the team on that same night.

An Ohio man is free now, for the first time in four years. Chris Bennett and a friend crashed in this van in 2001. Bennett had amnesia. Police told him he was the driver. He pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter. But the Ohio Innocence Project proved Bennett was the passenger and yesterday he was freed on a lesser charge.

And what a Mother's Day gift. A missing daughter is found 30 years after she disappeared. The father was charged with kidnapping her Mother's Day weekend in 1976. He gave her another name and told her that her mother was dead. As you can expect, the news was a bit of a shock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was told her mom was dead and had died in an auto announced and so her whole world has been kind of built on a life of lies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: A recent tip led investigators to find the father in prison in Arizona. Last we heard, mother and daughter have not yet spoken.

Fort Lauderdale now. They say any landing you can walk away from is a good one. By that measure, this was a good one. A pilot on approach to Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. He declares an emergency, ends up landing on a highway. He and his passenger walk away from a seriously dinged Cessna 414.

The water is rising and it just keeps coming in New England this morning. Governors in New Hampshire and Massachusetts declaring states of emergency. In Manchester, New Hampshire right now, the Merrimack River is 11 feet above flood stage.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Dan Lothian is in Peabody, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston.

He has more from there -- hello, Dan.

LOTHIAN: Good morning, Miles.

Well, I'm just off Main Street. And as we pull back, you can get a sense of how widespread the flooding here is in Peabody -- two plus feet of water shooting down the town center area. And the problems not just in this town, but all across New England.

And it's not over yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LOTHIAN (voice-over): A weekend of torrential rain turned roads into rivers. The floodwaters forcing hundreds of people in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to flee their homes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just so glad we're out of the house. It's so good to be out of the house.

LOTHIAN: For some, the only way to safety was by boat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We put all our stuff on the roof. All the stuff is on the roof of the house because there's only water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the worst we've seen. Definitely the worst we've seen. We've never had it up like this.

LOTHIAN: Rescuers waded through waist-deep water, searching for stranded families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a lot of water. That's all I can tell you. There's a lot of water and there's still some more people out there.

LOTHIAN: The governors of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine declared states of emergency and the weather is expected to get worse before it gets better.

GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R), MASSACHUSETTS: There are a number of rivers which we expect, as of Monday night, to rise substantially above the flood level.

LOTHIAN: Forecasters predict as much as 15 inches of rain will fall in some areas by the time the storm passes.

GOV. JOHN LYNCH, (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: Well, five out of 10 counties have really experienced widespread flooding -- many roads closed, parts of roads washed away. We've had mandatory and voluntary evacuations. A number of shelters have been set up across -- across the state.

LOTHIAN: And there's concern across New England about weakened dams giving way and sending walls of water sweeping through areas already hit hard.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just hard. We lost everything and we just redid everything on our house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The water was at the door when we left. Who knows where it will be when we get back?

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LOTHIAN: A number of schools have been closed. Some of those schools being used as emergency shelters -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Dan Lothian in Peabody, where it is very wet. And the rain keeps coming.

Thank you very much.

Let's get a forecast now -- Jacqui Jeras, no relief in sight, is there?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, not really. I mean we're talking a good week, Miles, probably, before we'll see significant sunshine and drying weather. The good news, we think the worst of the heavy rainfall is over and done with. But still, isolated pockets of one to three inches is going to be expected today as long as we continue this flow of all of the moisture coming into the area off of the Atlantic.

Now, the good news is that the rainfall for the rest of the week is going to be a little bit more spotty. We'll see occasional showers. So especially into Wednesday and Thursday, we'll watch for a few breaks in here and maybe a little sunshine popping out on occasion. But we think the rain is going to be enough to kind of sustain the levels and not allow them to recede very much, unfortunately.

Now, we also have some concerns for travel into this area. Of course, you don't want to drive over any roads that have water over them. But check out the delays -- more than an hour at LaGuardia, 30 minute departure delays out of Newark and a 25-minute ground delay into Philadelphia. And we're expecting these to continue to add on up throughout the day -- back to you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: All right.

We'll continue to watch it.

Thank you.

We're trying something a little different today. All week in our 9:00 hour, we're doing a "30-40-50" series.

Today, we're taking a look at your finances, from debt to college savings, retirement and real estate. Some common sense advice. Experts on the set to answer all your questions. And you can call us at our new toll-free number, 877-AM6-1300. That's 877-266-1300.

We start taking calls at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

You can e-mail us starting right now, if you'd like. Our address is am@cnn.com.

M. O'BRIEN: Operators standing by, of course.

S. O'BRIEN: They come right here to the set.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And Miles will take your calls.

M. O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Right here. It'll ring right there.

Coming up on the program, the president wants to put National Guard troops on the border with Mexico. But will Democrats draw a line in the sand on this one?

We'll ask the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid.

S. O'BRIEN: Also, British Prime Minister Tony Blair reportedly making a big decision about his political future. We'll tell you about that.

M. O'BRIEN: And from real life world leaders to fictional ones -- "The West Wing" bows out after seven seasons. It's not the only show saying good-bye. It's finale week. We'll tell you what you need to TiVo ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE WEST WING," COURTESY NBC TELEVISION) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't need this anymore. I thought maybe you could get some use out of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The president is poised to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico-border to support the U.S. Border Patrol. A lot of concern about this among Democrats. And there will no doubt be a debate today in the Senate on this issue in advance of the president's Oval Office speech.

Joining me now from Capitol Hill is the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid.

Good morning, Senator.

Good to have you with us.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: Thank you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The border is porous. It needs to be plugged.

What's the matter with this idea?

REID: Well, first of all, this is the second go around of immigration and on the first round, the president was nowhere to be found. Here he's involved in the debate and I think that's important.

We all believe that security is the number one issue facing this country. Border security is the number one issue as it relates to immigration and we've got to work on this to make sure we do everything possible to make sure our border is secure.

The problem is that the 9/11 Commission recommended, for example, that we add 2,000 new border agents. The president has reluctantly given us money for 1,500. We're still waiting for the 500. There was a recommendation and there's been a law passed there would be 8,000 places for -- to take these detainees so they wouldn't have to run- free in the country, as they are. The president has given us basically no money to do that -- 1,000 out of 8,000 beds.

So now coming forward at this time, we're a little suspect. In fact, Chuck Hagel, Republican senator from Nebraska, said yesterday that he was concerned that the National Guard troops are being spread too thin.

The president is going to have to be very specific what he wants these beleaguered National Guard troops to do. We know from the governors of New Mexico-and Arizona, they've been calling for National Guard troops for months. They've declared a state of emergency on the borders.

So this is a serious problem. Security is a problem. I'm glad the president's now involved. M. O'BRIEN: All right, the governors h called for it and admittedly it's a stopgap measure. We're talking about less than 10,000 troops. That doesn't seem like that is a huge commitment that would in any way hugely tax the National Guard forces and it's a support role so that the Border Patrol can be freed up to do its job.

On the face of it, a lot of Americans would say that's a good idea.

REID: Well, on the face of it, I think it is a good idea. But I say we have to be very specific what the president wants to do. I think that we have to understand that the states can't afford to do this. This is not their responsibility. It's a federal responsibility. And remember, Miles, we have 12 million people who have come here illegally over the past 20 years. We have to make sure that what we do is permanent, not temporary, in nature.

M. O'BRIEN: All right...

REID: We to secure our borders not for the next two or three months, but for the next 20 years.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

Let's listen to what your counterpart on the other side of the aisle, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, had to say yesterday to Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER")

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Securing our borders is a federal responsibility. We need to act. We have failed miserably in the past. That was what we failed with in 1986 when we last gave amnesty, but we didn't secure our borders.

This time we've got to get it right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: All right, as I understand it, federal funds would pay for these National Guard troops. They still would be under state control. That -- that seems like an appropriate use of federal money and an appropriate way to do it, don't you think?

REID: Oh, absolutely right. And that's what the governors of New Mexico-and Arizona have been calling for for months. And we're glad -- and I'm personally glad -- that the president, as I say, is now engaged in a dispute as it relates to our borders and immigration generally.

I do say, however, as Senator Hagel has said and Senator Biden said, we have to make sure that these troops, these troops -- Miles, I would disagree with one of your statements. The troops really are, really are beleaguered. They're overworked and we have to make sure that they have the ability to do this. Now, I know that they have the competency, but I have to make -- I want to make sure that they have the resources to do this. And that's what Governors Napolitano and Richards have been talking for for almost a half a year.

M. O'BRIEN: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, thanks for your time.

REID: You're sure welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program in just a few minutes, we'll get more on the immigration proposals.

We'll be joined by our own Lou Dobbs -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Also ahead this morning, an urgent mission to save a little girl's life. She's in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant.

We'll take a look at why her family had to go halfway around the world to find a donor.

Also, it looks like British Prime Minister Tony Blair has made a decision on just how much longer he is going to be in office. We've got a look at that story just ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: We're going to have a little different 9:00 Eastern hour this week. "30-40-50" is our series. And today we're going to look at your finances -- from debt to college savings, retirement, real estate, all kinds of advice for u. Experts on the set here to help you with your questions.

And there's two ways you can participate. Send us an e-mail at am@cnn.com. You can do that right now. And then, after the 9:00 hour begins, about 40 minutes from now, we invite you to call the number on your screen, 877-AM6-1300. That's 266-1300. Operators standing by and we invite you to join us and learn a little something about your finances in those important years -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: On any given day, thousands of Americans are waiting for a life-saving bone marrow transplant. To help, several cities hosted bone marrow donor drives this weekend.

One family's search, though, has taken them to the other side of the world.

CNN's Jonathan Freed has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These days, Kailee Wells is your typical 9-year-old, right down to her preference for, well, let's call it privacy. It wasn't long ago, though, that Kailee didn't feel normal.

KAILEE WELLS, BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT: The longest time in the hospital I had was when I first got aplastic anemia.

FREED: What she said was aplastic anemia. It's a bone marrow disease where the body stops making red and white blood cells and platelets, meaning you can have big trouble fighting off infection and controlling bleeding.

(on camera): And what are we looking at?

K. WELLS: A bone with marrow in it.

FREED (voice-over): Kailee's adoptive parents remember the night four years ago when they realized something was terribly wrong.

LINDA WELLS, KAILEE'S MOTHER: And she had just turned five years old and said, "Mommy, I have a nosebleed." And I turned on the bedside lamp and she was bleeding, bleeding -- blood was all over her clothes. It was all over the floor.

FREED: Doctors said Kailee's best chance for survival was a bone marrow transplant. And that's when the family was hit with some chilling numbers.

OWEN WELLS, KAILEE'S FATHER: In Kailee's case, her odds were considered to be 10 million to one to finding a match for her.

FREED: The problem is ethnicity. In the United States, there are six million registered potential bone marrow donors. About half are Caucasian. The rest are a mix of minorities and Asians, the group most likely to provide Kailee with a match, only make up 6 percent.

(on camera): So how rare -- how rare a problem is this?

DAVID MARGOLIS, KAILEE'S DOCTOR: About one in a million.

FREED: Kailee's doctor says finding enough donors is rarer still.

MARGOLIS: When Kailee's family said what can we do to help our child? One of the logical thoughts that we had was get more donors.

FREED: So, after raising money here, the family mounted a publicity campaign in Kailee's native China. And, after two years of waiting, finally fond a match at the end of last year.

O. WELLS: We believe now that she has a very good chance of a full recovery.

FREED: The crusade to save Kailee could help others because the Wells say the publicity added some 300,000 names to the donor registry in China and 4,000 in this country.

Six months after her transplant, Kailee appears to be doing well. K. WELLS: And in my body, like soldiers are fighting a big dragon.

FREED (on camera): And how are the soldiers doing?

K. WELLS: They're -- right now they won.

FREED (voice-over): The Wells are holding out hope this bone marrow battle turns out to be the last for Kailee.

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: For more information on the National Bone Marrow Donor program, please go to www.marrow.org or to Kailee's Web site at Kaileegetwells -- get that? -- Kaileegetwells.com -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: President Bush wants to send in some troops to the U.S.-Mexico-border. In an Oval Office speech tonight, he'll unveil the controversial plan. We'll get some advanced reaction from Lou Dobbs ahead.

Plus, a new twist in the on again, off again trial of Saddam Hussein. We'll tell you about the latest hitch in the proceedings.

But first, those two bone marrow Web sites we just mentioned, we'll leave them on the screen a little here for you so you can get an opportunity to take them down.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Retirement just isn't what it used to be. As a matter of, baby boomers seem far less likely to escape to Florida and days filled shuffleboard.

Welcome To The Future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY: Staying active physically helps to keep you alive mentally.

I am a grandmother of three beautiful little girls and I take care of them during the daytime and then I work here at Borders at night. That's a grand total of an 87-hour work week.

When I first started working, my dad said to me, don't ever be caught standing around. But I'm not so sure how pervasive that kind of work ethic is anymore.

My goal is to try and cont to work at this pace as long as my health will allow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: It turns out that Mary is not alone. As a matter of fact, nearly three out of four baby boomers say they plan on staying in the workplace beyond the age of 65. In fact, many are vowing to work well into their '80s.

Brace yourself for a graying workforce, employers.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Many people are staying at work longer for the medical benefits or the money, or they simply want to stay active.

Debra Russell of the American Association of Retired Persons says these workers are about to give retirement a whole new meaning.

DEBRA RUSSELL, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED PERSONS: Retirement is going to be much more of a cyclical type of event, where people are going to be in and out of the workplace. They many not want to work in the same job for as many hours, but they're going to want to be engaged in the workplace.

M. O'BRIEN: And while a handful of companies are embracing their older staffers, Russell says many employers are stuck in some old stereotypes about the value of seasoned workers.

In the future, those that make it easier for older workers will have an easier time finding good employees.

RUSSELL: The changing demographics is going to require them to look differently at 50-plus workers. It shouldn't matter too much how old that person is. It's really what do they bring to the table and are they getting that job done?

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

CNN U.S.
CNN TV E-mail Services CNN Mobile CNNAvantGo Ad Info About Us Preferences
Search
© 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map.
Offsite Icon External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pipeline Icon Pay service with live and archived video. Learn more
Radio News Icon Download audio news  |  RSS Feed Add RSS headlines