Thread: Lou Dobbs Transcript for 6/12/06 some good info

This is the Lou Dobbs Transcript for last night since it was so long I condensed it by removing that which did not pertain to illegal immigrations. There is a good report on fraud by illegals, The Dobbs Polls and lastly the most interesting part is the round table discussion with some good information.
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DOBBS: Millions of illegal aliens in this country rely on forged documents in order to work.

We have two reports tonight. Lisa Sylvester takes us inside the national crime family that controls the illegal alien document fraud industry. And Casey Wian reports on the ACLU's objections to a government plan to crack down on illegal employers.

We begin with Lisa Sylvester.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Document fraud is a multimillion-dollar industry. One family, the Castorenas, dominates the U.S. market. Headed by Pedro Castorena, a fugitive on Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 10 most wanted list.

MARCY FORMAN, ICE: Over the past decade, ICE investigations have turned up cells of the Castorena organization in virtually every major city in the United States.

SYLVESTER: Manuel Leija-Sanchez was the group's Chicago kingpin until he was arrested last year. One neighborhood, Little Village, alone brings in more than $2.5 million a year. Now his stepdaughter is providing insider information on how the group operates.

SUAD LEIJA-SANCHEZ, STEPDAUGHTER: As a little girl, I used to count their money, and I would get $50 in return. I would put envelopes of $5,000, another envelope of $2,000, and an envelope of $1,000.

SYLVESTER: Groups of six to 12 called a cell work the streets to pull in commerce. Two shifts a day, seven days a week. Venders keep a portion of the money and pass the proceeds up the chain to the parent company.

Congress' immigration reform that requires illegal aliens prove how long they've been in the country will only boost sales.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's all about documents. And they can make documents that look just as real as the documents that you and I carry in our wallets.

SYLVESTER: Suad decided to speak publicly after a conversation with her grandfather. She asked if terrorists could use these documents. He said...

LEIJA-SANCHEZ: "We are doing this for business, for money." So it doesn't really count for them whether you're a Mohammed or a Julio or somebody else, as long as you have the money to pay for it.

SYLVESTER: A set of a driver's license, Social Security card and resident alien card costs less than $250.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: Suad is now working with immigration officials. She is in hiding, afraid that her stepfather will retaliate when he gets out. And for his role in the Chicago organization, Manuel Leija- Sanchez was sentenced to only a year -- Lou.

DOBBS: Well, she is certainly a courageous woman with integrity for which we should all be grateful. One year? That's the sentence?

SYLVESTER: It's pretty astounding. And it's one of the concerns that she has, is because she's been working with immigration officials. She thought that they would put him away for a long time. But it shows you part of the problem with this entire system. Somebody can be essentially the kingpin of a major city and running the document fraud business and still only gets one year.

DOBBS: Incredible.

Lisa, thank you very much.

Lisa Sylvester.

Suad is, as I said, a very courageous young lady. I do want to ask one other question, and that is, is she receiving federal protection in this?

SYLVESTER: She's been talking to Immigration and Customs Enforcement about getting federal witness protection, and they've indicated that it's something that they would like to do with her. But she says that that's -- even that, she's not even certain.

It's very unclear now with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. They know about the family, clearly, they know about how dangerous this family is. But yet, when they have somebody who is willing to help them, they're not really giving her the protection that she needs.

DOBBS: Well, we'll continue, please, to follow her and to follow this entire -- one conviction in this. An important one, but hardly sufficient to shut it down.

Lisa Sylvester, thank you.

A retired New York City police officer used a fake Mexican matricula consular card to enter the Department of Homeland Security. Matricula consular cards, of course, are issued by the Mexican government. And federal rules say they are not valid identification at government buildings.

The retired officer is a member of 9/11 Families for a Secure America. And he used his fake I.D. to find out gaps in homeland security. His fake I.D. lists his place of birth as Tijuana, and his street address is 123 Fraud Boulevard.

DHS, in a statement, told this broadcast that it is following up on allegations and, "We seek to ensure that an incident like this does not occur again."

Still ahead here, critical to any immigration reform is a crackdown on employers of illegal aliens. A need for a crackdown on illegal employers is also one of the few points on which the House and the Senate agree. But the American Civil Liberties Union opposes efforts to require employers to verify the legal status of their workers.

Casey Wian has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The House border security bill and the Senate's immigration reform proposal don't have much in common, but both would require employers to verify the legal status of every newly hired worker. The ACLU is opposed.

TIM SARAPANI, ACLU LEGAL COUNSEL: Any employment verification system that is being proposed will create a large national identity database, which we oppose on principle because it leads to the government's collection of massive amounts of the most sensitive personally identifiable information about every single person in America.

WIAN: Congress wants to require all employers to participate in the Basic Pilot employee verification system. It began in 1997 as a voluntary program and was plagued by inaccuracies. But by 2003, Basic Pilot correctly authorized employment nearly 98 percent of the time and was praised by 96 percent of the more than 4,000 participating employers at 15,000 job sites.

STEVEN CAMAROTA, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES: The privacy concerns don't seem to be reasonable. Right now the government, through the Social Security system and the IRS, track every job that you've ever had throughout your whole life. And then they pay you benefits based on that information. So all that this would be doing with the immigration system is preserving the integrity of that process.

WIAN: The ACLU says mandatory verification is not likely to stop employers from paying cash to illegal aliens under the table. It also warns that American citizens could be temporarily prevented from working if their file contains errors.

SARAPANI: When this system is up and running, when we have as many as 500,000 citizens who aren't able to get their next job, then people are going to be flocking to the ACLU asking us to take strong legal action on their behalf.

WIAN: The ACLU says it does want to prevent illegal aliens from working in this country. But rather than a mandatory verification system, it prefers more immigration agents to enforce existing laws at work sites.

END VIDEOTAPE)

WIAN: The ACLU says it's worried the government is about to create the employment equivalent of a no-fly list. Now, supporters of mandatory employment verification say that that would be a good idea because most of the people on the no-work list would be illegal aliens -- Lou.

DOBBS: Absolutely. The ACLU, this -- their job is law. Is, in their judgment, a legal basis right now to contest this idea?

WIAN: They haven't taken it that far yet, Lou. They say they're working with Congress and the Senate to sort of water down, if you will, the provisions of this employment verification proposal that's in both bills.

They want more protections for consumers, and I guess less burden for employers, which is something that's a concern that's shared by U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But right now they say that any thought about lawsuits is only speculative -- Lou.

DOBBS: The ACLU, for its reasons, lining up with the supporters of amnesty, illegal immigration and open borders, corporate America, demanding cheap labor and pursuing its agenda. It all adds up to the same thing: war on the middle class in this country.

Casey, thanks a lot.

Casey Wian.

Still ahead here, electronic voting machines will decide the outcome of critical congressional races in this country. But can you trust them to accurately count your vote? A lot of experts say absolutely not.

Our special report coming up.

And the most comprehensive poll of American attitudes on illegal immigration, border security and the debate under way in Washington. We'll have those exclusive definitive poll results coming right up.

And three of the nation's leading experts on illegal immigration will be here to examine the cost of illegal immigration to our economy and our society.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: This broadcast commissioned a national, comprehensive poll on illegal immigration, border security and the legislation now being debated in Washington. We did so because we felt if we're going to talk about comprehensive immigration reform, well we should have the definitive comprehensive national poll. And we went about it seriously and seeking those definitive answers from you and all of our fellow citizens across the country.

Asked who they believe would do a better job of securing this nation's borders, an interesting split. Thirty-five percent of those surveyed said congressional Democrats, 31 percent said Republicans. Unsure doing just a little better.

But nearly two-thirds are not confident that Congress and the pass will, this term, pass comprehensive immigration reform. Only one in 10 expressed their feelings as very confident. And we should point out, this poll had over 1,000 respondents.

Concerning enforcement measures, more than three-quarters of Americans surveyed in this poll say there should be more border patrol and more federal law enforcement agents on the border with Mexico to stem the tide of illegal immigration. And six in 10 Americans want stiff fines imposed on employers who hire illegal aliens.

More than half want to send national guard troops to the border with Mexico. And 45 percent agree with building a fence along the border with Mexico, that's within -- it's about an even split within just about the margin of error.

Forty percent want employers who hire illegal aliens to go to jail. And fully two-thirds of Americans surveyed agree with deportation of illegal aliens -- again, two-thirds. A quarter disagree. Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed would like to see the number of illegal aliens in this country decline. And fully 26 percent say the numbers should remain the same while two percent want to increase the number of illegals.

Robert Rector joins me now from the Heritage Foundation. George Grayson, professor at William and Mary College and one of the nation's leading analysts of Mexico's political system. And Barry Chiswick, economics professor at the University of Chicago. He joins us as well. Good to have you all here.

Professor Grayson, let me start with you. You say this legislation the Senate just passed will actually benefit Americans less than the illegal aliens who would receive amnesty.

GEORGE GRAYSON, PROFESSOR, WILLIAM & MARY COLLEGE: Yes, I think one of the ironies is, Lou, that it will make some Americans second- class citizens. And excuse my referring to notes here, but I want to be concise.

For example, if a guest worker alleges that he has been terminated without just cause, then he can have an arbitration hearing, which is paid for by U.S. taxpayers and possibly get his job back. If an American worker, who happens to lose his job, wants to contest the firing, he has little grounds to stand on because he's hired at will.
DOBBS: Professor Chiswick, you have said -- one of the things that's happening in this country is people won't speak directly about numbers. You, Robert Rector are certainly the exceptions, Professor Grayson. What is the impact of illegal immigration on this country? Can you tell us, professor?

BARRY CHISWICK, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: The impact is quite substantial. And probably the most significant impact on the labor market is that it reduces the employment opportunities and earnings of low-skilled workers who are citizens of the United States. And this is something that I think is unfortunate that there's too little public attention focused on this.
DOBBS: Now you testified to this before the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with a number of your colleagues and I didn't hear anybody sitting on that committee seem even remotely interested in what you were saying. Is that unfair of me?

CHISWICK: Well, I think you're on the mark in what you said. I think the people without a voice in this country are the Americans who have low levels of skill, who are competing in the labor market with others who are immigrants and native born, and they seem to lack a political voice.
DOBBS: I will tell you categorically I think the middle class and those who aspire to it in this country, professor, are the least represented group in all of Washington D.C. by either Democrats or Republicans, and if you're a Republican and a Democrat and you disagree with me, tough, because I absolutely believe it. What do you think, professor?

CHISWICK: Well, I think that's consistent with what's going on regarding this debate on immigration.

DOBBS: Let me talk to...

CHISWICK: So I think you're right on the mark.

DOBBS: ... Thank you. I'll take that University of Chicago professor every time. Robert Rector, you singlehandedly with your research got them to roll back the number of by a lousy 40 million. They were only concerned about 40 million immigrants who could have come into this country during a two decade period. They rolled that back to 66 million thanks to your research. Are these people out of their minds?

ROBERT RECTOR, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: I think that every time we do immigration, what we do is we do it completely against the will of the American people. The American people by a ratio of about 4-1 want less immigration, not more. But here we have a bill that grants amnesty and citizenship to every illegal, just about and then on top of that, it's going to double legal immigration. And mainly the people coming in are going to be people -- high school dropouts, who tend to have children without being married. We are vastly expanding the welfare state.
DOBBS: We should point out, though, as we understand them to be American citizens, one out of three children born in this country today is born out of wedlock.

RECTOR: .

DOBBS: And I believe in seven states, the number is more than 40 percent. So we have plenty of those problems before we import them.

RECTOR: We already have a vast welfare system. We spend close to $600 billion a year. What we're doing now is importing a vast new welfare clientele from Central America. And we simply can't afford to do that. That's what this bill does.

DOBBS: It's incredible. Professor Grayson, let me ask each of you the same question and I'd love for you all to chime in on this, but begin with you, Professor Grayson. Your research, that of George Borjas at Harvard, and a few other people, rigorous, intelligent, scholarly work, which, of course, Congress is ignoring -- but why in the world aren't our academic economists, sociologists, researchers and scholars, why aren't they coming into this issue with real research and weighing in on these issues of such national importance?

GRAYSON: Lou, it's not politically correct. We have to play the victimization card. And everybody in the third world are victims of the rabid (ph) dogs of capitalism, of the IMF, of Washington. And so, what you have in academia is just lots of bleeding hearts.

My view is that if the guest worker program were for college professors, editorial writers and immigration lawyers, there would be a lot more opposition to it.

DOBBS: Is that right, professor? Professor Chiswick?

CHISWICK: Oh, yes, thank you. Well, Lou, nations have myths...

DOBBS: Sorry, there's so many professors around here, I wasn't being very definitive.

CHISWICK: All nations have myths. And one of our myths is that any and all immigrants are equally desirable and equally beneficial for the national economy. And we know from substantial research that that simply is not the case. That high-skilled immigrants have very different impacts than low-skilled immigrants.

We also know that there's a limited absorptive capacity in terms of immigration, and that slower paces of immigration are easier to absorb than large, sudden influxes of immigrants. But these issues seem to not be on the table.

DOBBS: Robert Rector, let me ask you, because as Professor Grayson says about victimization, political correctness. I mean, it's not just academia. We shouldn't lay it just there. But we've become a nation of orthodoxies and you have got to have a very specific control of language before you can even discuss these issues. But the idea that our middle class working men and women in this country and their families, those who aspire to be in that middle class are the victims. Why is that not compelling to academic researchers, to our scholars?

RECTOR: I think there's a lot that you simply can't say here. I'll say another thing that can't be said here, which is the fact that Hispanics in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-Hispanics, and it seems very clear that if you basically bring in a lot of low-skilled Hispanics with dysfunctional family structure from the Central America, that both they and, in particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the United States. The data is very clear on that. But it can't be discussed.
We can't really also discuss the fact that, my goodness, if you're bringing in high school dropouts who aren't married and have children out of wedlock, what are they going to do? They're going to be on welfare. It's why this is the largest expansion of welfare in at least 35 years. It is going to cost at least $70 billion a year. Those costs are going to smash into the government, exactly at the time Social Security starts to go into crisis.
DOBBS: At the same time, the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, business' biggest lobbyist, Tom Donahue, says to me we've got to have those illegal aliens, because as baby boomers are retiring, we need somebody to support us.

Robert Rector, thank you very much. Barry Chiswick, thank you very much. And George Grayson, thank you. We appreciate you gentlemen being here. Please come back as we continue to explore what our Congress, our president is doing to us. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)



Still ahead, the results of our poll tonight, more of your thoughts. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: The results of our poll tonight: 87 percent of you respond to the question of those listed, who do you think is for the people of the USA? Eighty-seven percent of you saying none of the above. And doing best, the House of Representatives.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... dt.01.html

SYLVESTER: It's pretty astounding. And it's one of the concerns that she has, is because she's been working with immigration officials. She thought that they would put him away for a long time. But it shows you part of the problem with this entire system. Somebody can be essentially the kingpin of a major city and running the document fraud business and still only gets one year.

One year, that is abolutely ludicrous!

I'm going to immediately start sending some emails out on this issue. I would advise everyone else to do the same. ONE YEAR - unbelieveable!

This transcript would be good to email or fax to to our so called Representatives in DC.

Charlesoakisland



Thanks for posting this. Living on the Westcoast I only get to watch Lou on my one day off. I wish we could get CNN to air Lou between 7pm and 10pm pacific sandard time. I have sent them 3 requests so far.

Maybe a letter/e-mail writing campaign

I read Lou Dobb's transcripts every night. They are up about one hour after the show. Click on transcripts in the left pane here:

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

Lou comes on here at 6:00PM and then a rerun at 4:00AM. I try not to miss Lou it's the only place to get the real facts on TV.

Originally Posted by Charlesoakisland

Lou comes on here at 6:00PM and then a rerun at 4:00AM. I try not to miss Lou it's the only place to get the real facts on TV.

Same here, I never miss Lou. He is the only one who confront this issue everyday,,, head on, and he tells it like it is.

The Federal government has commissioned studies on immigration and all the reports from these studies have said the same thing: We need less immigration. We need educated immigrants.

Yet government wants to move in the wrong direction on both accounts. Who does this hurt? Poor people. The underprivileged. It is hard for citizens, in their times of need, to find even low paying jobs. There was a time in my life when I was out of work. I was refused unemployment though there were Illegal aliens collecting unemployment. I absolutly needed any job or two even at minimum wage so my wife, two year old daughter, and I could squeek by. Everywhere I applied there was no work even though I know some of those working in the places I applied were illegals. I live in Orange County, California and had applied to every fast food place and restaurant I could in the O.C. I just needed a job.

I want to know how the Senate plan and the Presidents plan helps those who find themselves in the same position I found myself in? What about American Citizens living on the streets? Who will aplogize to the homless and hungry children of American Citizens? I am sorry little one, these people are more important than you. They have been victimized by our whole country. We are not concerned that, in doing this, we have put up obsticles to your pursuit of happiness. Think instead of what you have personnaly sacrificed for the greater good; Don't you feel better now?

Over half a trillion dollars in welfare a year. How much could we save if those on welfare could take the jobs vacated by illegal aliens? We would actually have a job surplus. Prevailing wages would increase as the employment market became competative. The American People would experience a new prosperity through hard work and a fair wage. We would no longer have to suffer the indignity of the welfare state. A higher prevailing wage and lower unemployment rate would increase tax revenu. Combine that with a reduced welfare burden and government could again see a surpluss that could pay back into the failing Social Security system to make it viable once again.

Are these connections too difficult to make? Can everyone not see what I see? Who will speak for the real victims?

AI_BOT

If we did not have such a huge number of illegal aliens on tax payer funded social services, we might accually be able to take care of our eldery and veterans.

IT'S A OUT RIGHT CRIME THAT ILLEGALS GET MORE AND BETTER SERVICES THAN OUR OWN CITIZENS.

WHEN WILL THE INSANITY STOP