Thread: CNN Media Watch

This is a transcript of a cnn news show this morning. I am really sick of being overfed this propaganda, the bill from an illegal aliens point of view.

I sent a comment to cnn complaining and asking that they start covering this issue fairly.

Contact Form:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form1.html?39

The shows transcripts:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... tm.01.html

(NEWSBREAK) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: There we go. A nice shot of New York City this morning. You can see the Empire State Building and a lot of new construction going on around there.

At 42 past the hour now, a fierce fight expected today in the Senate during debate on the new immigration bill. A final vote has been pushed back until next month, after the long Memorial Day recess.

Republicans are working on amendments. They want to scale back the legalization program and also make English the national language. Democrats looking to change or eliminate the proposed guest worker program.

So, a centerpiece of that bill gives the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants a so-called path to citizenship. Critics calling it amnesty.

So, what is it, and how hard will it be to actually follow?

AMERICAN MORNING'S Alina Cho joins us with that part of the story this morning.

Good to see you, Alina. You were doing some reading last night, I take it?

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A little bit of light reading, yes.

You know, here is a copy of the bill.

CHETRY: This is it.

CHO: That's it.

CHETRY: How many pages?

CHO: More than 300 pages long, and it's heavy, as you can see. Right? So you can imagine how some immigrants and everyone really might be confused by it.

CHETRY: And how many senators actually are going to read this entire thing?

CHO: Well, that remains to be seen. Right?

So, but one thing some illegal immigrants know for sure, Kiran, is if this bill passes, some people who are here illegally will have to touch back or return to their home countries in order to come back legally. Those we spoke to say that will tear families apart, and they are vowing not to comply.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHO (voice over): Juan is in the U.S. illegally, but like many immigrants, he has an American dream. He rides his bike to work every day. He's a cashier at a wine store in New York City.

JUAN, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT: Thank you very much.

CHO: And makes $400 a week, barely enough to take care of his long-time partner, Rena (ph), and their two children. If Congress passes comprehensive immigration reform, Juan would eventually have to return to Mexico and leave his family behind without knowing when he could return.

JUAN: It breaks my heart. If I've got to go back to Mexico, who is going to take care of my family?

CHO: If passed, the bill would give millions of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

Step one, illegal immigrants already here would have to apply for a Z visa. That would allow people like Juan to travel, work and pay taxes.

Step two, sometime within eight years, heads of households would have to go back to their home country, something called the touchback provision. They are guaranteed the right to return, but it's unclear how long it would take.

Step three, each illegal immigrant would have to pay a $5,000 fine.

Finally, step four, immigrants could then and only then apply for citizenship. But they automatically start the process behind those who started it legally.

CHUNG-WHA HONG, NEW YORK IMMIGRATION COALITION: What's the point of making it so complicated if we all agree that we need to do it? Let's make it real, let's make it efficient, and workable so that people actually sign up for it.

CHO: Juan calls the bill a trick and says he won't go back to Mexico because he's worried the U.S. government won't let him back in. His goal is to open a Taekwondo studio and fight for a better life for his family in the place he calls home, the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: Now, Juan's partner, Rena (ph), says if Juan is forced to go back to Mexico, she and their two kids will go with them. After all, she doesn't work and has no way of paying the bills.

Now, as for that $5,000 fine, which is actually $10,000 for this family, $5,000 each for Juan and Rena (ph), both of them say if they have trouble paying the rent, how are they going to pay the fine? Rena (ph) says she would rather save that money and stay in Mexico.

And Kiran, clearly, that is not a perfect solution, but that is what this one family would do.

CHETRY: Is there a feeling of the part of some of the illegals that you spoke to that this is, as you said, a trick, or as they said, a trick, meaning that they're hoping people will think, it's just too much trouble, let me just go back?

CHO: Oh, absolutely, they think it's a trick. At least the people we spoke to.

You know, and immigration -- this immigration coalition we spoke to in New York, basically the spokesperson said, listen, a lot of people are skeptical, they're scared. They think there's going to be a lot of bureaucratic red tape if they go back, and they don't believe that the U.S. government will let them back.

Now, Senator Kennedy's office said they are guaranteed the right to return, but they would not tell us exactly how long it would take for them to get back.

CHETRY: All right. Difficult, and debate on all sides. A lot of people have problems with various parts of this, so I guess we all better get reading.

CHO: That's right.

CHETRY: Three hundred-plus pages.

Alina Cho, thank you.

CHO: My pleasure.

ROBERTS: That is a big, fat bill.

CHO: It is.

ROBERTS: My goodness.

Chad Myers is up here in New York actually this week, not down at the CNN weather center. He brought the weather center with him. Have weather center, will travel.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: Coming up, those wayward whales, they didn't respond to the siren song of other whales. Will they hearken to the sound of the pipes? The latest strategy to get the humpbacks back home, next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: About four minutes now before the top of the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business". And we're talking about how much this path to citizenship would actually cost.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. CHETRY: We tried to take a look at these numbers. And if we can't figure it out, how can someone who is trying...

VELSHI: Well, and that's the important part, because...

CHETRY: ... to stay in the country figure it out?

VELSHI: ... the issue here is, it does have to work for the people who it applies to, because some people might say, why do I care what the illegals are paying? You care, because if they can't figure out how much it's going to cost them, they may simply make the decision not to turn themselves in.

Here's what we know. We know the cost per person is going to be $5,000.

CHETRY: The fine?

VELSHI: The fine, as it were, and the head of household is going to have to go back. And as Alina described, have a touchback in their country and then apply for their re-entry.

The government says it's a guaranteed re-entry. As Alina was saying, it's unclear whether they believe it's going to be guaranteed. But what is more unclear is how long this visa is going to take to be processed that allows them back into the country.

Now, that's an important consideration, because if you're earning $400 a week, like the gentleman that Alina portrayed, you're going to have to make some decisions about how long you can afford to be out for. Is this going to be a week-long process, or is it going to be an 18-month process?

We cannot get information on that, because if this law goes through, that then goes into the Department of Homeland Security, and it becomes an issue of processing visas. As we know, that's on no level a simple process, even if you were never an illegal immigrant.

So the question remains that, until people can sit there and get information from us or from the government about exactly how much this is going to cost -- we know the fine, but how long are you going to have to be out of the country for and not be working for? People will make an economic decision. It's like everything else that we face. If we don't know, the decision may not be to turn yourself in and carry on.

CHETRY: Yes. So, a lot of gray areas...

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: ... in terms of figuring out how you even come up with a total.

VELSHI: How you come up with a total. And that is going to have to be something that's done before people start making their decisions. They may risk being arrested and thrown out of the country, but they've already risked that.

ROBERTS: One critic of this bill, Republican congressman Tom Tancredo, says people aren't going to do any of this. And he's going to be joining us a little bit later on. So we'll ask him.

VELSHI: Yes, and that's a good question. They have to have an incentive to do something -- to do it. So, we'll see.

CHETRY: You know, and we're talking about all sides of this. Also coming up a little later, Robert Hoffman. He's the vice president of Oracle. He's going to talk about whether or not it makes sense for big business, and you can weigh in a little later on that as well, Ali.

VELSHI: Absolutely.

CHETRY: What are the costs and challenges of that, as well? Thank you.

VELSHI: OK.

CHETRY: Meantime, some "Quick Hits" now.

(NEWSBREAK)

ROBERTS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

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

Boo Hoo.. they CHOSE to break our laws and come illegally..

They keep talking about "they", the illegals need an incentive to do anything.. I think citizenship is a damn good incentive. Funny when all this started years ago.. you could talk to the illegals and thats what they would say.. "thats all they wanted"

Now if you listen to their leader and the media thats not enough.. I think they are doing dis-service to the illegals. All this would be easier to swallow if they seemed at least a little grateful..

Step one, illegal immigrants already here would have to apply for a Z visa. That would allow people like Juan to travel, work and pay taxes.

Step two, sometime within eight years, heads of households would have to go back to their home country, something called the touchback provision. They are guaranteed the right to return, but it's unclear how long it would take.

Step three, each illegal immigrant would have to pay a $5,000 fine.

Finally, step four, immigrants could then and only then apply for citizenship. But they automatically start the process behind those who started it legally.

MW predictions:

Step one: No prediction here, but it is a fact that up to 20 million illegal immigrants will be legalized once Bush signs the bill - that is amnesty. These folks won't become immediate citizens, but they will get to remain in the country legally.

Step two: The need for them to go home will eventually vanish, just like the promised enforcement of 1986. The Democrats have eight years to make sure the requirement fades into history.

Step three: This requirement will also vanish or be reduced to a processing cost of $1,000 or less. If a Democrat president or someone like Guiliani get into the White House this issue will be taken care of with a simple Executive Order signed by the President of the United States.

Step four: Stating they'll start in the back of the line is an empty gesture designed to make this requirement more palatable in the minds of the conservative opponents. It's already been stated that the process will be practically immediate (one day or so). I believe I heard the background check could take a day. Basically the so-called touch-back provisions are supposed to appeal to us. Step four is a shame on the American people and is not acceptable!