Illegal Aliens Have Little Incentive to Enter Legally; Border Between Mexico, Texas Easy to Cross; Drug Trafficking Flourishing Despite Increase Mexican Enforcement
LOU DOBBS, HOST: Tonight, the 20 million illegal aliens living in this country have little reason to seek legal status or citizenship. They enjoy most, if not all, the same benefits as U.S. citizens and legal immigrants. And there's little or no chance that they will be caught. Tonight we report on some of what's gone wrong with our immigration policies. I'll be joined by one congressman who's urging the White House to awaken to our illegal alien crisis. And the deadly drug war, hundreds of bodies are now turning up along the border where Mexican drug lords are fighting a ruthless turf battle, and Mexico's government is doing almost nothing to stop it. We'll have that report. And loom and doom, the flood of cheap Chinese clothing imports into this country is now devastating American workers. Tonight we report from one American textile shop preparing to close its doors. And I'll be joined by the head of an American trade coalition and the ranking member of a House committee on trade on the same day that the United States posted the second highest trade deficit in our history.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is Lou Dobbs, for news, debate and opinion, tonight.</s>DOBBS: Good evening. A massive manhunt under way tonight after a courthouse shooting in Atlanta. Police and federal law enforcement officials are trying to find a brutal killer who could be anywhere in the southeastern United States. And in "Heroes" tonight we feature Sergeant Shawn Ferguson, who survived numerous insurgent attacks before being severely wounded in Iraq. Now he wants his doctors to help him return to combat. And tonight, President Bush has become nothing less than a traveling salesman for his Social Security reform. But President Bush is finding that, even in the so-called red states, there's little support for any proposal to change Social Security. But first tonight, a critical issue concerning our national security. Thousands of illegal aliens are crossing our porous borders each day. Our border and immigration officials simply don't have the resources to stop them, and many of these illegal aliens could come to this country legally. But there's little incentive to do so, and an even smaller chance of being caught. Bill Tucker reports.</s>BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to immigration, there's the illegal way, and last year an estimated three million people broke the law by the way they entered the United States. And then there's the legal way, the path followed by roughly 800,000 people every year, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association. For those who come here illegally, there is no shortage of work. This man has been in the country for 12 years without a visa or work papers. He picks up work in construction waiting on this street in New Jersey.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Not a problem, no. No, I've worked a lot in Manhattan. Now I work here. It's not a problem. I haven't worried.</s>TUCKER: He's not worried, because there is little risk of him getting in trouble. State and local police aren't interested in arresting day laborers unless they break the law, other than the law they broke entering the country. In 10 states illegal aliens even can get a driver's license. This man also entered the country illegally. He, however, is in the middle of a process for applying for a visa. He is worried, which is why he's attempting to become legal.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here, we know papers is really dangerous, that anywhere they can grab you, and that's it, you know. You've got to go back to your country.</s>TUCKER: Many of the people trying to immigrate, in fact, are people who are already here, legally here, and who want to stay longer. And in order to get that green card or the legal OK, they will have to stay longer.</s>MATTHEW DUNN, AMERICAN IMMIGRATION LAWYERS ASSOCIATION: If you are a restaurant worker, or someone in one of these lower relegated jobs, it probably could take up to six, seven years. If you're someone who is more of a professional status, it takes about three, four years to go through the whole process.</s>TUCKER: The choice looks simple when looked at through a timeline: days versus years.</s>TUCKER: In its report on the underground economy published in January, Bear Stearns found that there are roughly 20 million people here illegally. Clearly, the system is broken, Lou. On the one hand, we stymie those who would enter this country legally, and then with the other, we accept people who enter it illegally.</s>DOBBS: Absolutely. Bill Tucker, thank you very much. Well, we've reported extensively here on how easy it is for illegal aliens to cross our wide-open borders. Just last week, our reporter Lisa Sylvester witnessed several illegal aliens sneaking across the border within less than an hour. She reports now from Webb County, Texas.</s>LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are five bridges connecting the United States and Mexico in Webb County, Texas, but there are countless ways to sneak into the United States. These two men swam across the Rio Grande and made a break for it, in broad daylight, right under one of the U.S. checkpoints. Twenty minutes later, three more men scale a fence to enter the United States illegally.</s>RAY GARDNER, DIRECTOR, LCC POLICE ACADEMY: We do have a long stretch of border with the river, and they can swim across it. Don't even have to swim. In some areas they're able to wade across it.</s>SYLVESTER (on camera): In Webb County, Texas alone, there are 80 miles of riverfront. Much of it is brush. And here the only thing separating the United States and Mexico is the Rio Grande River. (voice-over): Webb County sheriff's deputies show us the paths used by human smugglers. Illegal aliens carry dry clothes in a black trash bag. Bags and inner tubes litter the riverbank on the American side. Drug dealers also use these routes, and so could terrorists. Sheriff Rick Flores is concerned about the possibility that al Qaeda could use Mexico as a back door into the United States.</s>SHERIFF RICK FLORES, WEBB COUNTY, TEXAS: For a very long time, I think we've been ignored. I don't think we've been taken serious along the border of Mexico, and I think it's time that they reevaluate the potential for -- the potential threat for terrorism in this area and how they make their way through.</s>SYLVESTER: U.S. border patrol has only 1,000 agents in the Laredo sector that stretches 110,000 square miles and includes non- border cities like Dallas and San Antonio.</s>CHIEF JOHN MONTOYA, U.S. BORDER PATROL, LAREDO SECTOR: There are some areas that at this point we can't physically get to. And again, that concerns that someone might breach our security in that area, that worries me a lot.</s>SYLVESTER: The U.S. border patrol uses mounted cameras and motion sensors for added security, but there are still miles and miles of open territory. Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Webb County, Texas.</s>DOBBS: Our nation's porous borders, or lack absolutely of border control, also keep open the flow of billions in illegal drugs into this country. Mexican drug runners are now fighting a violent battle to control the drug trade, and hundreds of people, including many Americans, are being murdered in the process. Lucia Newman reports from Mexico.</s>LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sinaloa, Mexico, is home to Mexico's biggest drug kingpins, and to a shrine, the shrine of Jesus Malverde, a former bandit revered by drug traffickers as their patron saint. The plaques a tribute to helping to clear the way for their narcotics, a symbol of the pervasiveness of the drug culture in much of Mexico, a culture with an ugly face. So far this year, nearly 200 bodies have appeared near the U.S./Mexican border, where the violence seems out of control. The killings are mainly among the traffickers themselves, but the economic, political and social instability this violence generates in the country is brutal, says investigative journalist Maria Ivalia (ph) Gomez. True, the Fox government has put record numbers of traffickers behind bars and has created an elite agency called AFI, to combat organized crime and corruption. (on camera): These agents are better educated and better paid than the rest, but even this intelligence agency, which is Mexico's version of the FBI, has not been immune to the temptation of drug money. (voice-over): Washington's recent public demands that Mexico do more to stop organized crime along the border has further poisoned already tense relations.</s>ANTONIO GARZA, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO MEXICO: But where the safety and security of U.S. citizens are at stake, I will never hesitate to speak out forcefully and unequivocally.</s>NEWSMAN: Interior Minister Santiago Creel insists progress is being made and accuses Washington of humiliating Mexico in public.</s>SANTIAGO CREEL, MEXICAN INTERIOR MINISTER: That's not the way to treat a partner, a neighbor, a friend.</s>NEWMAN: A dispute that's doing nothing to improve the cooperation needed to stop the flow and the consumption of narcotics on both sides of the border. Lucia Newman, CNN, Mexico City.</s>DOBBS: That brings us to the subject of tonight's poll. The question, "Do you believe the U.S. government should now demand that the Mexican government stop its campaign of encouragement for its citizens to break U.S. immigration laws?" Yes or no, cast your vote at LouDobbs.com. We'll have the results later in the broadcast. We'll have much more ahead on the dangerous situation that is developing along our southern border with Mexico, and the urgent need to control our southern border. Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California has taken a leading role in calling upon the White House to take immediate action. He's our guest here tonight. Coming up next, the exploding cost of so-called free trade. Cheap Chinese textile imports have caused our nation's trade deficit to surge once again. They're also putting more Americans out of work. Our special report is next. And a massive manhunt is under way for a brutal killer in the southeastern United States. Now police in several states are now searching for a criminal. Stay with us.