CNN's Lou Dobbs to brodcast live town hall from Penn State Hazleton
04/27/2007 12:00 am


Hazleton, Pa. -- Penn State Hazleton will host CNN anchor Lou Dobbs for a live town hall broadcast of "Broken Borders," exploring the topic of immigration, from 8 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 2. Additionally, "Lou Dobbs Tonight" will air live from 6 to 7 p.m. from Penn State Hazleton.

The program will focus on the impact of illegal immigration in the Hazleton area and broaden the dialogue to include its nationwide effects on America's cities and towns. A panel of experts will discuss border security, community activism and the effect of corporate complicity on illegal immigration. A live, invitation-only audience will also participate in the dialogue. The programming is subject to late-minute network schedule changes.

In 2006, the Hazleton City Council passed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, a local statute designed to relieve the community's criminal, financial and social pressure associated with illegal immigration. As the city faces litigation over the constitutionality of the statute, other communities are considering similar laws.

Dobbs will facilitate the panel discussion and be joined by panelists including Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta; George Grayson, professor at the College of William and Mary; Robert Rector, a senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation; Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City; T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council; John Trasvina, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens; Russell Pearce, an Arizona state representative; and Sheriff Ralph Ogden of Yuma, Ariz.

According to John Madden, Penn State Hazleton chancellor, "Our campus is here to provide an opportunity for the exchange of ideas. It is my hope that work that has been and is being done out of the media spotlight emerges through this forum."

Dobbs is a best-selling author and award-winning journalist who joined CNN in 1980 as anchor of "Moneyline" and is the only original anchor on the air today. He received the George Foster Peabody Award for his coverage of the 1987 stock market crash, and he won an Emmy Award for his groundbreaking series "Exporting America" in 2004. In 2005, the National Academy of Arts and Sciences honored Dobbs with its Lifetime Achievement Emmy for business and financial reporting.

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