Has the FDA Found the Source of the Salmonella Outbreak?; San Francisco City Officials Protect a Suspected Illegal Alien Gang Member
DOBBS: The Food and Drug Administration tonight says it has found salmonella Saintpaul (ph) on a jalapeno pepper from Mexico. But now nearly three months since the beginning of this outbreak of salmonella, the FDA still has not identified the source of the bacteria. So far, more than 1,200 people across the country and Washington, D.C., have been sickened. But those numbers could be much higher, 30 to 40,000 people could have been sickened by the salmonella outbreak. Louise Schiavone has the latest.</s>LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Discovered, salmonella Saint Paul, not on a tomato but on an important jalapeno pepper.</s>VOICE OF DR. DAVID ACHESON, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION: We are asking consumers to avoid eating fresh jalapeno peppers and food products made with fresh jalapeno peppers until further notice.</s>SCHIAVONE: The pepper came from a farm in Mexico. FDA investigators picked it out of a supply of jalapenos in a distribution center at the border in McAllen (ph), Texas. That's where as LOU DOBBS TONIGHT was the first to report almost three weeks ago...</s>DOBBS: Disturbing evidence tonight...</s>SCHIAVONE: ... FDA inspectors decided to sample specialty pepper imports. The FDA says it is not ready to blame the Mexican farm for the bacteria.</s>ACHESON: Our investigation has focused on the entire production chain from the farms, the distribution centers, the packing houses and we've been testing water, soil, work surfaces, packing boxes and many other areas to determine not only where the contamination originated but how it might have spread throughout the food supply to American consumers.</s>SCHIAVONE: Twelve hundred fifty-one cases of salmonella Saint Paul have been recorded in 43 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. At least 229 people were hospitalized and there were two associated deaths. As the outbreak and the investigation both continue, tomato farmers are trying to pick up the pieces.</s>TOM NASSIF, WESTERN GROWERS ASSOC.: We are asking for the Congress to tell us what is possible in order to reimburse those people who are so innocent in all of this and who have been so terribly damaged.</s>SCHIAVONE: Lou, specialty pepper growers are now wondering how long it will take the government to clear their crops. The FDA says that all growers in the U.S. will be affected and one big North Carolina grower told me that having spent $10,000 an acre to plant his crop of specialty peppers, he could lose half a million dollars. Lou?</s>DOBBS: And when Tom Nassif with the Western Growers Association talks about talking to Congress about reimbursing those who have been hurt, one has the feeling he's not talking about the at least 1,200 people sickened and two people who have died or the 30 to 40,000 people that may -- who may have been sickened in this outbreak. This is really an outrageous situation, one in which the FDA, this Congress and this president bear immense responsibility.</s>SCHIAVONE: The investigation from beginning to end has really been a mystery in terms of their methods. The CDC uses what they call epidemiology which is really questionnaires and they ask people, what did you eat, where did you eat it, so on and so forth. And if you look at -- if you just take a closer glance at some of these questionnaires, nowhere do you see questions you know round, red, Roma, plum, nothing like that. What kinds of answers were they getting and this is what the growers want to know. Let's have some transparency. What were people who got sick telling you? What did they tell you? Let's hear it all. Not just that there were tomatoes in the meal because that all happened as people were starting to eat tomatoes because they were coming on to the market fresh. What else were they eating and now they are talking about jalapeno peppers and now they're talking about a jalapeno pepper that was imported from Mexico.</s>DOBBS: And we should point out again, at this point, as far as we know, based on the lack of transparency, the FDA is talking about exactly one pepper, one jalapeno pepper with salmonella Saint Paul strain bacteria on it and that's it.</s>SCHIAVONE: You know and they know that. And that's what they say. They have these briefings and they say, so far, we have one pepper. And we don't know whether it came from the farm or it was in the warehouse or the truck or what.</s>DOBBS: Well, the FDA, this president, this Congress could do the American people a great service having done them a great injury. And that is right now begin trace-backs, put in country of origin labeling and start it right now and stop this nonsense about cross border commerce having to be protected at all costs, because right now the cost is simply outrageously too high. Thank you very much Louise Schiavone from Washington. Turning now to our illegal immigration crisis, San Francisco's long standing illegal alien sanctuary policy has now apparently led to tragedy for one family. Prosecutors say a father and his two sons were killed by a suspected illegal alien gang member who had been shielded from deportation by the city of San Francisco. Casey Wian has our report.</s>CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tony Bologna (ph) and his two sons, Michael and Matthew, were gunned down last month in their car on this San Francisco street, apparently after a brief traffic dispute.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This here could have been avoided.</s>WIAN: That's because the alleged killer, 21-year-old Salvadorian national Edwin Ramos (ph) should have been deported more than four years ago. Prosecutors say he's an illegal alien MS13 (ph) gang member with a long criminal history. But San Francisco's former policy of protecting juvenile felons from deportation by federal authorities kept Ramos on the streets. Now the wife and mother of his alleged victims is distraught.</s>DANIELLE BOLOGNA, WIDOW AND MOTHER OF VICTIMS: I don't think anybody should have to go through what I'm going through. You might be able to bury one person, but I've buried three and those men were my life.</s>WIAN: At a court hearing Monday, Ramos did not enter a plea to three counts of murder. One of his attorneys says the charges won't stick.</s>JOSEPH O'SULLIVAN, RAMOS' ATTORNEY: I feel comfortable he's never been convicted of this shooting. The act seems so inconsistent with his demeanor, his past, the way he comports himself. And just what he told me.</s>WIAN: Two weeks ago, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom reversed the city's sanctuary policy for juvenile illegal aliens convicted of felonies. The city says it has turned over at least 10 juvenile offenders to Immigration and Customs Enforcement since then.</s>WIAN: Now San Francisco city officials say they are not entirely responsible for Ramos avoided deportation. San Francisco sheriff's deputies said it notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement that Ramos was in custody on an unrelated gun charge in March and ICE declined to place Ramos on an immigration hold. However, according to ICE, they were not notified by San Francisco until two hours after Ramos was released. As for Mayor Newsom, a spokesman says the juvenile felony sanctuary policy was in place before he was elected and as soon he learned of the policy, the mayor overturned it. Lou.</s>DOBBS: Well that doesn't quite square with, does it, with Mayor Newsom's rather arrogant and presumptuous defense of sanctuary? I'm sorry. I thought the city of San Francisco was advertising the fact that it was a sanctuary city and very proudly so.</s>WIAN: And they still are, Lou. They've actually forbidden their city employees from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement because there was so much outcry about this particular instance, not this particular case, but the particular policy of shielding convicted felons from Immigration and Customs Enforcement they decided to overturn that policy. But sanctuary is still very much the law of the land in San Francisco.</s>DOBBS: Thank you very much. It's hard to square any of that up with Mayor Newsom's sudden discovery of one of those elements of that policy, isn't it?</s>WIAN: It sure is, Lou.</s>DOBBS: Casey, thank you very much. Casey Wian. Well, San Francisco is one of dozens of sanctuary cities across this country that proudly refuse to enforce U.S. immigration laws. Some of the other major cities with sanctuary policies include Los Angeles, Houston, San Diego, Chicago, New York, Denver, Dallas. In all, there are 70 sanctuary cities and towns across the country. Coming up next the search for alternative energy sources, I'll be talking with legendary oil man T. Boone Pickens. He has a plan to help the country break its dependency on foreign oil. He joins me here next. And why Congress is holding up legislation to help our middle class fighting foreclosure. We'll have that special report and a great deal more. Stay with us. We're coming right back.